image: John Weinstein © The Field Museum |
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This is a digital model of the entire exhibition. The Ancient Americas combines two east-west galleries adjoining Stanley Field Hall on the main floor of the museum. The exhibition space is divided into six sections, each of which corresponds to a definable level of cultural complexity, ranging from hunter-gatherer societies to multiethnic empires. Each section houses several exhibits that represent diverse cultures that nonetheless developed to reflect similar patterns of social organization. In addition, the exhibition's entrance gallery gives a preview of the breadth of cultural diversity visitors will encounter. The archaeological exhibits open into an encounter with today's descendents of these many ancient cultures. |
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The exhibition begins with a sweeping view of the vanished northern landscape that early people might have experienced. Photorealistic animations of woolly mammoths and other late Pleistocene megafauna appear to move in the distance. |
image: John Weinstein © The Field Museum |
In keeping with the Field's tradition of reconstructed cultural spaces, this exhibit of early agriculturalists in the North American Southwest shows typical dwelling styles, agricultural products, and household items that visitors can touch. |
image: John Weinstein © The Field Museum |
The Field's extensive collection of Southwest pottery bears the early markings of emergent ethnicity among sedentary societies. Arranged to form a space reminiscent of a Kiva -- a ceremonial gathering place -- this exhibit can be explored independently or utilized by educators for groups of visitors. A potsherd sorting activity in the center directs the attention of users to the diversity of cultural markings from different areas and times. This is an example of how Thinc attempts to create flexible exhibit resources that can be used differently depending upon the time of day or type of circumstance. |
image: John Weinstein © The Field Museum |
This collection of gold objects from many different cultures represents the emergence of class-based society and the beginning of craft specialization when leadership becomes more powerful, organized, and centralized. |
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Each major section of The Ancient Americas is marked by a signpost which states where visitors are in the exhibition and what form of society they are about to explore. This is the entrance to States, the section about stable polities that typically develop when leadership gains control of three legs of power: ideology, finance and the military. This "Triad" is depicted in a media theatre that draws references from both ancient and modern societies, including the United States. |
image: John Weinstein © The Field Museum |
This is the interior of the Triad media theater, looking into the Rulers and Citizens portion of States. |
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This exhibit utilizes a model of Teotihuacan, the huge center of power near present-day Mexico City, along with artifacts and environmental reproductions to tell the story of power centralization and societal stratification that occurs under a state government. |
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The Rulers and Citizens section features an exhibit on the Moche people, which showcases choice pieces from the Field's extensive collection of Moche pottery. One of the main challenges in creating this exhibit was editing the vast amount of possible material down to a quantity that could be accommodated in the space. |
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The Empire section depicts the Aztecs in Central America and the Inca in South America. The gilded entrance reveals a spectacular replica of an Aztec Sun Stone. |