Middle and South America Department of Anthropology holds an exceptional collection of ancient Aztec pottery collected in the 19th century by Frederick Starr. This collection consists of several hundred pieces of exhibition-quality decorated pieces, a number of which have been exhibited in The Field Museum's Mesoamerican Hall. Portions of the collection were previously loaned to the Mexican Fine Arts Center and the Art Institute of Chicago. As part of a major scientific study in the early 1990s, microscopic quantities of clay from several pieces were analyzed using a technique known as neutron activation. This technique enabled two Field Museum Research Associates to determine the geographic origin of the pottery, which allowed staff in the Department of Anthropology to define the nature of Aztec economic exchange during the Late Post-Classic Period (ca. AD 1450-1521). Montez Collection of Peruvian Artifacts-The Department of Anthropology also holds an exceptional collection of ancient Peruvian objects purchased in the 19th century from a private Peruvian collector. This collection consists of approximately 1,200 objects, of which the vast majority are ceramic vessels from the Inca Period. Several important pieces have previously been loaned to the Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles. Andes Collection-The Museum's collection of rare Andean textiles, dating to the 18th and 19th centuries, was purchased in the 19th century by Field Museum collectors. These ethnographic textiles originate from the high Andean areas of Peru and Bolivia and represent an indigenous weaving tradition that is now virtually extinct due to the influence of industrial dyes and the effects of tourism on the local society. Maya Pottery Collection-The Museum's important scientific and exhibit-quality collection of Maya archaeological specimens was collected at the turn of the century from the Yucatan of Mexico and sites in Belize. These archaeological objects were scientifically collected (according to the standards of the time) and are valuable because there is reasonable provenance and documentation available for the entire collection. Cerro Narrio Collection-In the late 1940s, Curator Emeritus Donald Collier excavated Cerro Narrio, an early agricultural site and one of the most important archaeological settlements in the northern Andes in Ecuador. The Field Museum holds the type collection from this site as well as thousands of objects from the systematic excavations. The collection has been repeatedly studied over the years and serves as the basis for several critical theories on the early prehistory of Ecuador. Coastal Peru Collection-In the 1920s and 1930s, anthropologist Alfred Kroeber excavated a number of important archaeological sites on the Peruvian coast. The Field Museum possesses the systematically collected and well documented objects from the three main sites. The collection includes ceramic pieces and textiles from at least BC 1000 to AD 1300, some of which are on display in the Museum's South American Hall, and are extensively studied by scholars. The Nazca collection of ceramic objects, in particular, ranks as one of the finest in North America. Guatemala Collection-The Department of Anthropology holds a fine collection of contemporary Guatemalan textiles purchased throughout the 20th century. Guatemala is known for the rich diversity of its indigenous and mestizo ethnic groups and communities who express their social affiliation through dress. This ethnographic textile collection is displayed extensively in the Museum's Mesoamerican Hall. Brazil Collection-This collection is comprised of select, well preserved archaeological and ethnographic objects from the Amazon and Central Brazil. It includes fifty important vessels of polychrome archaeological pottery from Marajo Island, excavated around 1918 by anthropologist William Farabee of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania. The pottery, excavated from well-known artificial earth mounds at the mouth of the Amazon, dates to AD 400-1100. The Brazilian collection, specifically its ethnographic material, also includes more than 200 items of ceremonial paraphernalia and musical instruments from Tukanoan and Arawakan speaking Indians of the Northwest Amazon region; more than 200 articles of dress, artwork, containers, and tools for daily living from native tribes and rural peoples of the Middle and Lower Amazon and Northeast Brazil, including the well-known Caraja and Tapirape Indians and lesser known groups such as the Karapana. Theodor Koch-Gruneberg collected many of the objects from the Northwest Amazon, while the Museum acquired its Caraja collection from the collections of Erland Nordenskiold, an important synthesizer of South American anthropology, which were previously held at the Goteborg Ethnographic Museum. Other Anthropology Collections: Africa | Asia | Australia | Europe | Middle and South America | North America | Pacific | Textiles-Asia and Africa