Om Thursday we made our way to the massive Chapultec Park and to the equally massive Anthropology Museum.
For less than $5 the visitor has access to 12 large salas on the ground floor with corresponding rooms on the second floor and even more in the basement. Each sala is devoted to a particular region and/or indigenous people and/or period of history in Mexico.
We managed to cover only three salas (Aztec, Oaxaca, Gulf Coast) in two hours. Even that was a bit overwhelming.
These rooms are filled with thousands of pieces from the tiny to the truly gigantic, and made from just about any material that was available during those times.
Household items, religious objects, weaponry, and jewelry seemed to predominate the displays no matter what period or people. Jade, gold, bone, obsidian, alabaster, crystal, and shell comprised some of the more durable material.
My favorites tended to be the smaller, intricately carved figurines and jewelry pieces which include some fantastic gold items and even some coinage.
The cabeza colosal (Big Head) was a major attraction in the Gulf Coast hall, but it competed with other equally gargantuan stone pieces rising 20 feet high.
Befitting a culture that places so much importance on death, there also were some carefully arranged tomb displays, one of which featured the artifacts of child sacrifice victims.
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