Description
From the first millennium B.C. until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, artists from across the ancient Americas created small-scale architectural effigies to be placed in the tombs of important individuals. These works in stone, ceramic, wood, and metal range from highly abstracted, minimalist representations of temples and houses to elaborate complexes populated with figures, conveying a rich sense of ancient ritual and daily life. Although described as models, these effigies were created not so much as reflections or prototypes of existing structures, but rather as critical, conceptual components of funerary practice and beliefs about an afterlife.

![Huichol Painting: 300 Piece Puzzle [Misc. Supplies] Pomegranate Communications Inc.](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/51q6V2wsdWL-1-300x400.jpg)



![Panaesthetics: On the Unity and Diversity of the Arts (The Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities Series) [Hardcover] Albright, Daniel](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71tyEo5BxYL._SY385_-1.jpg)
![Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry (Metropolitan Museum of Art (Hardcover)) [Hardcover] Cleland, Elizabeth](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71eoIqSeqpL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)


![Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 19501975 [Paperback] Cooper, Harry; Breslin, David and Jolly, Matt](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61i1k-PWaAL._SY522_-1-300x450.jpg)

![Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions [Paperback] Nancy Berlinger and Edward S. Cooke, Jr.](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A10vfn5LKIL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
![Continental Drift: Installations By Joan Jonas, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Juan Munoz; Yinka Shonibare (Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida 2004) [Unknown Binding] Mark; Joan Jonas Yinka Shinobar Rosenthal](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91j6r60Oa6L._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)
![The Art of Lucy May Stanton: Essays [Paperback] Fowler, Betty Alice; Stanton, Lucy M. and Eiland, William U.](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71Qjv9o3yKL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)

![The dot man: George Andrews of Madison, Georgia [Hardcover] Gruber, J. Richard](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71nDRlTt-dL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)

