Images

A detail of a turquoise mosaic mask representing Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire, 1400-1521 CE. The mask is of cedar wood with mother-of-pearl eyes, conch shell teeth and once with gold leaf on the eyelids. (The British Museum, London).

An Aztec pendant representing an animal head and covered in turquoise mosaic and with eyes rendered in shell and pyrite. 1400-1521, Mexico. Height 10 cm. (British Museum, London)

An example of the assignat banknote for 400 livres, issued in 1792 during the French Revolution. From the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Image by Godot13.

A c. 1930 photograph showing the use of horses to thresh grain across a threshing floor.

A c. 1900 photograph showing Lebanese agriculturalists engaged in the ancient process of winnowing grain. (Matson Collection, Library of Congress)

A traditional flat threshing floor.

A panoramic view of Potosí, Bolivia, location of the richest silver mine in the Spanish empire during the 16th-18th centuries.

This artist's illustration shows Bantu farmers using slash-and-burn agriculture to clear arable land. Created by Amplitude Studios for the video game Humankind.

A hammered silver nose ornament from Mesoamerica. Colima or Mixtec, 12-14th century. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

A silver beaker in the form of a hunchback figure. Chimu civilization, Peru, 14-15th century. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)