Pre-Columbian

The Americas were settled by Ice Age people who traveled across the Bering Straight from Siberia to Alaska and dispersed throughout the hemisphere approximately 10,000 years ago. By 5,000 B.C., these early hunter-gatherers had mastered the cultivation of corn, beans and other food crops. A settled, agricultural way of life was conducive to the development of pottery and other art forms and set the stage for the civilizations which followed. Pre-Columbian art refers to the art of these peoples before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, and the European conquerors and settlers who followed in the early sixteenth century.

The objects we have today represent only a fraction of the art that once existed, and much about the cultures that created them is still unknown. Pre-Columbian art is often defined by the archaeological sites where they were found, modern states where their cultures once existed, or artistic style. Most of the art that survived was recovered from burials and probably had some ritual significance. With few exceptions, perishables such as textiles, feather work, basketry and wood have vanished. In general, only the most durable materials such as ceramics, shell, metal and stone have survived.

Encyclopedia.com
Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/precolum_theculturesofsouthamerica.asp

Peru Gateway Travel
Peruvian Pre-Columbian Art
http://www.peru-explorer.com/preco.htm

Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College
Nayarit Artifacts
http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/catalog/camerica/westmexico/nayarit/

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