About the Database
This website is built around a database that contains numerous examples of artworks and popular culture that reference the ancient American past. In addition to images and links to related online sources, each item is accompanied by information pertaining it and which can be used to facilitate refined sorting. Because the types of information associated with artworks differs from that associated with popular culture, separate browsing pages have been set up for each of these categories. There is also a page to browse the full database with slightly different format and search capabilities, as well as a page that shows the Item Sets Tree, a series of nested categories that the items have been added to. Each of these is discussed in more detail below.
Content Warning
This database is intended to catalogue all manner of modern representations of or allusions to ancient American art and culture. The images associated with some items may contain depictions of violence or sexual content not suitable for all viewers, and/or racist portrayals that viewers could find offensive. The inclusion of these items in the database is in no way an endorsement of such content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Browse Artworks
The Browse Artworks page displays all of the database entries for artworks. You can use the categories at the left to limit the displayed items by Date (with "Date After" and "Date Before" selections currently set to ten-year intervals); by Type (the broad categorization, such as "Painting," "Sculpture," "Photography," etc., with some artworks being categorized in multiple types as appropriate; precise media is recorded as a separate property that is not set as a browse facet); and by Cultural Reference (i.e. the Item Sets pertaining to geographic region, culture, site, proper name, or other cultural references made by the artwork). Finally, the "Search Full Text" feature allows you to enter terms and search properties not included in the preceding categories, such as the name of an artist, a more specific type of media, or a term used in the title of an artwork. (Note that only exact terms can be searched in this way; portions of words will not return results.) You can use these search tools in any combination, and the results will be reflected each time you make a change. Note that all of them function to further limit the displayed items (i.e. as Boolean "AND" search terms).
Cultural References are set up as nested terms, such that the more expansive term contains all items for the more specific terms that fall within it. For example, "Mesoamerica" contains "Aztec," "Maya," "Olmec," and other cultures, as well as "Codices," "Ballgame," and other shared cultural terms; "Aztec" contains "Tenochtitlan," "Coatlicue," "Tlaloc," and other proper nouns that pertain to this culture. So, when selecting a Cultural Reference, choose the most specific term that you are interested in seeing results for. The full list of these with their nested relationships visualized can be accessed via the "Item Sets Tree" link.
Also note that artwork items in the database are not exhaustive. Some artists have made dozens—or even hundreds—of individual works that reference ancient American art or culture, and it would be impractical to include all of them. In those cases, an effort has been made to include a representative sample of the variety of works. Interested users of this database are encouraged to follow the provided links to the websites of the artists, their galleries, and other online resources, where further examples may be found.
Results of searches are given in a table that can be sorted (organized alphabetically or numerically) by the artists' names, the titles of the artworks, the types of artworks, or the dates they were made. You can use the "Copy Permalink" button to obtain a link to return to the page displaying your chosen search results at any time in the future. Clicking on the Title (or the accompanying image) of any item will take you to its page in the database, which contains all the images and information associated with it. Clicking on any of the other terms will give a browse result for all items associated with that term.
Browse Pop-Culture Examples
The Browse Pop-Culture Examples page displays all of the database entries for items related to popular culture. You can use the categories at the left to limit the displayed items by Date (with "Date After" and "Date Before" selections currently set to ten-year intervals); by Country of origin; by Language; by Type (the broad categorization, such as "Literature," "Film," "Game," etc.); by Format (more narrow categorization, such as "Novel," "Poem," Short Story," etc.); by Cultural Reference (i.e. the Item Sets pertaining to geographic region, culture, site, proper name, or other cultural references made by the item); and by the Theme or trope that the content invokes (e.g. "Sacrifice," "Extraterrestrials," "Lost City," etc.). Finally, the "Search Full Text" feature allows you to enter terms and search properties not included in the preceding categories, such as item titles, creator names, publishers or distributors, etc. (Note that only exact terms can be searched in this way; portions of words will not return results.) You can use these search tools in any combination, and the results will be reflected each time you make a change. Note that all of them function to limit the displayed items (i.e. as Boolean "AND" search terms).
Cultural References are set up as nested terms, such that the more expansive term contains all items for the more specific terms that fall within it. For example, "Mesoamerica" contains "Aztec," "Maya," "Olmec," and other cultures, as well as "Codices," "Ballgame," and other shared cultural terms; "Aztec" contains "Tenochtitlan," "Coatlicue," "Tlaloc," and other proper nouns that pertain to this culture. So, when selecting a Cultural Reference, choose only the most specific term that you are interested in seeing results for. The same is the case for Themes, so "Lost City" will include all results for "El Dorado," but not vice versa.
Note that only the earliest completed instance of any title is included in the list and subsequent versions in the same media type (e.g. reissues, redubbed or recut films, translations, etc.) are omitted (but may be mentioned in the Note field). An exception to this is remakes, in which the entirety has been completely redone anew. While multiple versions in the same media have been omitted, instances of adaptation into different media (e.g. a novel being made into a movie, or a movie being spun-off into a television series) have been included as separate entries, and a note is included with each entry.
Note that In entries that span multiple years, such as full television or comic book series, the date range has been given as an interval (e.g. 1991–1994). Unfortunately, entries with dates given in this format do not seem to be captured by Date Before and Date After limiting, and will not be included in these results.
Note that, as far as is possible, titles have been provided in the language of the initial version, with English translations as well as variant titles (“aka,” or “also known as”) provided in the full database entry under "Alternate Title."
Results of searches are given in a table that can be sorted (organized alphabetically or numerically) by title, date, country, language, type, and format. You can use the "Copy Permalink" button to obtain a link to return to the page displaying your chosen search results at any time in the future. Clicking on the Title (or the accompanying image) of any item will take you to its page in the database, which contains all the images and information associated with it. Clicking on any of the other terms will give a browse result for all items associated with that term.
Browse Full Database
The Browse Full Database page displays all of the database entries, including items related to both artworks and popular culture. The Advanced Search button at the top of this page will take you to a form where you can search by Full Text, by the Value of any Property used in a database entry, or by Item Set.
Note that some properties are only used by pop-culture examples (e.g. country, language) and others are only used by artworks (e.g. collection). Moreover, some properties are used differently for artworks and pop-culture examples (e.g. for pop-culture examples, "Format" narrows down the type of item it is, such as "Animation" or "Novella," whereas for artworks "Format" refers to the dimensions).
Also, note that it isn't possible to search date ranges from this page, with one exception. Searching the "Date" property using the "contains" (rather than "is exactly") qualifier, and then entering only the first three numerals of a year, will return all results from the full decade. For example, entering "Date contains 197" will give all results from the 1970s.
The Advanced Search page allows you to select "AND" or "OR" when you seach multiple property values. You can also add multiple Item Sets to your search, but these will always be returned as "OR" functions, expanding rather than narrowing your search. The "Search Full Text" feature, on the other hand, is always treated as an "AND" function and will therefore narrow your search results.
A spreadsheet containing the values for all properties (except images) associated with all items in the database can be downloaded as a .csv file by clicking on this link.
Item Sets Tree
The Item Sets Tree page lists all Item Sets, which are groupings of items according to different topics to which their content relates. Item Sets are nested, so that broader terms encompass narrower terms and automatically contain all the items for those terms. Thus, any item included in the Item Set "Cusco" will also show up under "Inca" as well as "Central Andes." The Item Sets Tree not only lists all Item Sets used to categorize Items in the Database, but it also visualizes the nested relationships between them. Clicking on any Item Set will open a page with all Items associated with it.