“Mesoamerican Influences on Southwest Rock Art” with Michael Ruggeri 

Mesoamerican influence began to filter into the American Southwest as early as 300 CE and continued to play a role in the cultures of that area right up to the Conquest. Mesoamerican architectural concepts, religious concepts, iconography, and world views found their way into the Southwest by way of long-distance trade in scarlet macaws, cacao, copper bells, pyrite, shell trumpets, and ornaments from Mesoamerica. These trade items were accompanied by major religious themes and beliefs that included major Mesoamerican deities such as Tlaloc the rain god, the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, the Venus symbolism connected to warfare and duality, and the Hero Twins. These major religious themes found their expression in the U.S. Southwest in pottery, in religious ritual, and in the rock art of the Southwest. Please subscribe to The Aztlander RU-vid page.
Michael Ruggeri takes you on an illustrated tour showing the influence of these Mesoamerican deities and religious concepts in the rock art of the Southwest which stretches across a vast area through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Four Corners region of the Southwest. Michael is Professor Emeritus from the City Colleges of Chicago. He is the moderator of the largest and oldest Ancient Americas listserv on the world wide web: Aztlan. He also moderates an Andean list and a Mound Builders list. Mike serves on the Board of the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology and the Board of the Chicago Archaeological Society. To subscribe to free monthly issues of The Aztlander newsletter, send you email address to Jim Reed: mayaman@bellsouth.net