Images

7th century BCE pectoral (brooch on the chest) from the Tartessian Culture. Archaeological Museum of Seville.

An Inca textile bag with typical tassle decoration. (Lombards Museum)

A detail from an Inca textile showing a geometric cross design. (Museo de America, Madrid)

An Inca royal tunic with the typical geometrical designs and colours favoured by Inca weavers. (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collections, Washington D.C.)

An exquisitely carved plaque of a supine bull. Note the black burn mark. Probably, this was part of a group which once supported an ivory tray. Neo-Assyrian period, 9th-7th centuries BCE. From Nimrud, Mesopotamia, Iraq. (The Sulaimaniya Museum...

Carved ivory plaque of an Egyptian-looking woman. Note the black burn marks. Neo-Assyrian period, 9th-7th centuries BCE. From Nimrud, Mesopotamia, Iraq. (The Sulaimaniya Museum, Iraq).

A relief panel from the south ballcourt of El Tajin, Veracruz showing two players holding down and extracting the heart of a third player. A skeletal figure rises from a pot on the left side. 700-900 CE.

The eastern facade with stairway of the Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajin, Veracruz, 6th century CE.

The central plaza of El Tajin, Veracruz, Mexico. The 6th century CE Pyramid of the Niches is on the right.

The Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajin, Veracruz, 6th century CE.