Exploring the Early Americas

The Jay I. Kislak Collection

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Interactives

Pre-Contact America - Language and Context

Reading Pre-Columbian Artifacts Interactive

Investigate the Maya writing system by exploring the writing and hieroglyphs on vessels and artifacts.

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Pre-Contact America - Recording History

Recording History Interactive

Explore the nature of recorded history among the Maya and select examples from other areas of the world.

You need Flash 9 or higher to use this interactive.
 

Tortuguero Box Interactive

The Maya recorded dynastic lineage in varied ways, including architecture, ceramic vases and even wooden boxes. This wooden box, called the Tortuguero Box because its inscriptions are comparable to those found in Tortuguero, Mexico, is one such object. Its narrative begins with an image of the seventh-century lord who owned it. The subsequent hieroglyphs tell the dynasty of this ruler. An important class of ritual object, such wooden boxes were probably used to house bloodletting implements and other sacrificial paraphernalia.

You need Flash 9 or higher to use this interactive.
 

Explorations and Encounters - Conquest of Mexico Paintings

Conquest of Mexico Paintings Interactive

Explore the paintings that tell the story of the 1521 conquest of the Aztecs by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.

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Aftermath of the Encounter - Competition for Empire - Pirates and Privateers

The Buccaneers of America Interactive

Explore the pages of The Buccaneers of America, chronicling the bold feats of raiders who disrupted shipping on the high seas and terrorized Caribbean settlements.

You need Flash 9 or higher to use this interactive.
 

Aftermath of the Encounter - Documenting New Knowledge

Heavens And Earth Interactive

From children’s stories to modern science, people across the ages have explained and ordered the universe in visual forms in order to better comprehend it.

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Aftermath of the Encounter - Documenting New Knowledge - Cartographic Treasures

Waldseemüller Maps Interactive

Examine the only surviving copies of what are arguably two of the most important maps in the history of cartography, the 1507 and 1516 world maps by Martin Waldseemüller.

You need Silverlight 1 or higher to use this interactive.
 

Aftermath of the Encounter - Documenting New Knowledge - Natural History

Historia Naturae Interactive

The Historia Naturae is an encyclopedic work that describes and categorizes the flora and fauna of North and South America, particularly of Mexico.

You need Flash 9 or higher to use this interactive.