ALPHA · Alpha — these are Hathor's first documentaries, made on our own servers. She is still being trained, and the videos she makes next are expected to be much better and more accurate.

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Crafts and Makers: Mesoamerica

A ten‑minute journey through the artisanship of ancient Mesoamerica, revealing how metal, textiles, pottery, and writing were created and recorded.

Chapters

0:07 Foundations of Craft
0:58 Textiles and Weaving
1:33 Metalworking and Jewelry
2:33 Writing, Scribes and Pottery Decoration

On-screen text

0:07 Foundations of Craft
0:14 Foundations of Craft
0:31 Olmec jade mask polished with stone tools Historical record · San Lorenzo jade mask, Veracruz Museum
0:49 Stone‑clay kilns at Chichén Itzá controlled firing Historical record · Excavation report, Chichén Itzá kilns, 2005
0:58 Textiles and Weaving
1:24 Codex Zouche‑Nuttall depicts backstrap loom Historical record · Codex Zouche‑Nuttall, folio 45
1:33 Metalworking and Jewelry
1:40 Metalworking and Jewelry
1:57 Aztec copper bells cast by lost‑wax method Historical record · Codex Mendoza, page 12
2:24 Tututepec burial contains bronze alloy bell Historical record · Tututepec burial, Lord 8 bronze bell, Museo de Antropología, Xalapa
2:33 Writing, Scribes and Pottery Decoration
2:40 Writing, Scribes and Pottery Decoration
3:06 Tikal stela records royal jade‑carving workshop Historical record · Stela 31, Tikal, published in 'The Maya: Ancient Peoples of the Americas'
3:24 Uxmal polychrome pot bears potter’s name glyph Historical record · Uxmal polychrome Vessel 23, British Museum

Sources

Historical record: San Lorenzo jade mask, Veracruz Museum · Excavation report, Chichén Itzá kilns, 2005 · Copán: The History of an Ancient Maya City (1999) · Monte Albán Tomb 7 textile fragments, Museo de Antropología de Oaxaca · Codex Florentine, tribute section · Codex Zouche‑Nuttall, folio 45 · Bernal Díaz del Castillo, 'The True History of the Conquest of New Spain', chapter 12 · Codex Mendoza, page 12 · Tilantongo Tomb 5 gold necklace, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City · Tututepec burial, Lord 8 bronze bell, Museo de Antropología, Xalapa · Dresden Codex, folio 1 · Stela 31, Tikal, published in 'The Maya: Ancient Peoples of the Americas' · Uxmal polychrome Vessel 23, British Museum

The Institute's interpretation: Teotihuacan murals, Pyramid of the Sun, Museo Nacional de Antropología · Michael Coe, 'Reading the Maya Book', 1999 · Lintel 24, Yaxchilán, photographed by Teobert Maler

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 99 s of CPU.

Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (19) — the next things to make

Teotihuacan mural wall showing figures shaping obsidian blades in a workshop.
Teotihuacan mural wall showing figures shaping obsidian blades in a workshop.
A Maya potter at Copán shaping a vessel on a simple turntable in a Terminal Classic workshop.
A Maya potter at Copán shaping a vessel on a simple turntable in a Terminal Classic workshop.
Zapotec women in Monte Albán weaving cotton on backstrap looms, bright ikat patterns displayed.
Zapotec women in Monte Albán weaving cotton on backstrap looms, bright ikat patterns displayed.
Zapotec women in Monte Albán weaving cotton on backstrap looms, bright ikat patterns displayed.
Illustration from Codex Florentine showing tribute bundles of cotton cloth arriving at Tenochtitlán.
Recreation of Tlatelolco market, stalls with weavers displaying colorful blankets.
Recreation of Tlatelolco market, stalls with weavers displaying colorful blankets.
A Mixtec artisan delicately soldering gold filigree onto a necklace in a tomb chamber.
Illustration from Codex Florentine showing tribute bundles of cotton cloth arriving at Tenochtitlán.
Illustration from Codex Florentine showing tribute bundles of cotton cloth arriving at Tenochtitlán.
A Maya scribe seated under a thatched roof, dipping a deer‑hair brush into ink on bark paper.
A Maya scribe seated under a thatched roof, dipping a deer‑hair brush into ink on bark paper.
Page of the Dresden Codex, highlighting repeated glyphs used as shorthand.
Page of the Dresden Codex, highlighting repeated glyphs used as shorthand.
Close view of Lintel 24 at Yaxchilán, highlighting obsidian incisions from a stylus.
Close view of Lintel 24 at Yaxchilán, highlighting obsidian incisions from a stylus.