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.


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![The Jewelry and Metalwork of Marie Zimmermann [Hardcover] Deborah Dependahl Waters; Kimberley Ahara; Bruce Barnes and Joseph Cunningham](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/51-271x8apL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
![Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes [Paperback] Ebbinghaus, Susanne; Anderson, Lisa; Bewer, Francesca G.; Bielfeldt, Ruth; Eremin, Katherine; Hemingway, Seán; Lie, Henry; Mattusch, Carol C.; Riederer, Josef and Staehli, Adrian](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/516k-q2VTKL._SY385_-1.jpg)
![In the Courts of Religious Ladies: Art, Vision, and Pleasure in Italian Renaissance Convents [Hardcover] Periti, Giancarla](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71cbGJd7edL._SY342_-1.jpg)

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

![Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film [Paperback] Schmenner, Will and Granof, Corinne](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/81D2s-ypoAL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)
![A Journey to the Centre of the Earth [Hardcover] Verne, Jules](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91IP4-MT0PL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)

![Vision and Spirit The Transcendental Painting Group [Paperback] Blankenship, Tiska & Ed Garman](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91wyvxMOO2L._SY342_-1.jpg)
![Variaciones: 1995-1997 (Spanish and English Edition) [Paperback] Manuel Alvarez Bravo; Patricia Mendoza and Alberto Ray Sanchez](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41OZ5QPd6L._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
![Itchiku Kubota: Kimono in the Tsujigahana Tradition [Paperback] Kitamura, Tetsuro & Tomoyuki Yamanobe (Essays) and Well-illustrated](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/31oJwwY33gL-1.jpg)

![The Path to the Guru: The Science of Self-Realization according to the Bhagavad Gita [Paperback] Teitsworth, Scott](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/911q0UrKVNL._SY385_-1.jpg)