We went down to see the El Paso Museum of Archeology a few weeks ago. We've passed the building many times as we've traveled the Transmountain Highway into El Paso on our way to the airport, but never had the time to stop.
The building is much larger than it seems from the outside. We promised ourselves that we would check out the desert trails in the surrounding 15 acres the next time we visited; as it was, the hour we had available between dropping off and picking up visitors at the airport gave us time to look at only part of one of the wings of the museum. After all, the museum exhibits cover 14,000 years of prehistory!
I spent most of my time with the Mimbres Twins exhibit that illustrated a hero twin myth as commemorated by the Mimbres peoples in their pottery.
According to the Smithsonian: The Mimbres occupied the somewhat isolated mountain and river valleys of southwestern New Mexico from about 1000 to 1250 AD. (More here).
You can see a pdf version here of the Mimbres Twins pamphlet that is sold by the Museum; it contains the complete myth and more illustrations from the exhibit.
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| It's so tricky to take photos through glass cases; this one is blurry and the one below has reflections |
Next time, I plan to continue my explorations and get the whole story on this snake jug (from Mexico, as I recall) and this wonderful dog effigy, which reminds me of our own Little Pete.
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| Ancient Mexican dog effigy |
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| The modern version: Little Pete |
6 comments:
I love going to museums.
So you fly out of El Paso. I've driving through there three or four times on my way to this park or another.
Don't like what they did with their dogs but Pete is cute as ever.
xo,
JC
What incredible images, so contemporary feeling if you know what I mean. Beautiful.
Don't eat Petey!!!
This is just beautiful, and your photos show it admirably. Yes, glass is a pain, and you've done well with (despite) it!
Pete is a doll, much more handsome than his predecessors rendered in terra cotta (sp?).
I love museums, and desert trails, so I can barely imagine how wonderful this venue is. If I ever get down that way I'll be looking forward to a visit!
Oh..this looks like a good museum. I hadn't heard of the Mimbres Twins..very interesting. And I think your idea of concentrating mostly on one area of a Museum like this one is a great idea.
And P.S., of course I hope you get to go back soon to see more of the Museum.
Southwest pottery is outstanding! That's one of the draws for us, going to NM is always a huge pleasure.
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