Starting at the end of the eighteenth century and continuing up to the present, explorers have searched for the ruins of ancient Mesoamerica, a region that includes Central America and central and southern Mexico. With the progress of time, archaeologists have unearthed civilizations increasingly remote in age. It is as if with each new century in the modern era an earlier stratum of antiquity has been revealed. Nineteenth-century explorers, particularly John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, came upon Maya cities in the jungle, as well as evidence of other Classic cultures. Twentieth-century research revealed a much earlier high civilization, the Olmec. It now scarcely seems possible that the frontiers of early Mesoamerican civilization can be pushed back any further, although new work—such as in Oaxaca, southern Mexico—will continue to fill in details of the picture.

The process of discovery often shapes what we know about the history of Mesoamerican art. New finds are just as often made accidentally as intentionally. In 1971 workers installing sound and light equipment under the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan stumbled upon a remarkable cave that has since been interpreted by some scholars as a royal burial chamber. Archaeology has its own fashions too: the isolation of new sites may be the prime goal in one decade and the excavation of pyramids the focus in the next. In a third decade, outlying structures rather than principal buildings may absorb archaeologists’ energies. Nor should one forget that excavators are vulnerable to local interests. At one point, reconstruction of pyramids to attract tourism may be desired; at another, archaeologists may be precluded from working at what has already become a tourist attraction. Also, modern construction often determines which ancient sites can be excavated. In Mexico City, for example, the building of the subway initiated the excavations there and renewed interest in the old Aztec capital.

But the study of Mesoamerican art is not based exclusively on archaeology. Much useful information about the native populations was written down in the sixteenth century, particularly in central Mexico, and it can help us unravel the pre-Columbian past (the time prior to the arrival of Columbus in the Americas in 1492). Although many sources exist, the single most important one to the art historian is Bernardino de Sahagún’s General History of the Things of New Spain. A Franciscan friar (member of the Roman Catholic religious order), Sahagún recorded for posterity many aspects of pre-Hispanic life in his encyclopedia of twelve books, including history, ideology, and cosmogony (theories of the origin of the universe), as well as detailed information on the materials and methods of the skilled native craft workers. Furthermore, traditional ways of life survive among the native peoples of Mesoamerica, and scholars have increasingly found that modern practice and belief can decode the past. Remarkably, some scholars have been turned this process around, teaching ancient writing to modern peoples who may use it to articulate their identity in the twenty-first century.

During the past 40 years, scholars also have made great progress in deciphering and interpreting ancient Mesoamerican writing systems, a breakthrough that has transformed our understanding of the pre-Columbian mind. Classic Maya inscriptions, for example—long thought to record only calendrical information and astrological incantations—can now be read, and we find that most of them glorify family and ancestry by displaying the right of individual sovereigns to rule. The carvings can thus be seen as portraits or public records of dynastic power. Although scholars long believed that Mesoamerican artists did not sign their works, Mayanist scholar David Stuart’s 1986 deciphering of the Maya glyphs (written symbols) for “scribe” and “to write” opened a window on Maya practice; now we know at least one painter of ceramic vessels was the son of a king. Knowledge of the minor arts has also come in large part through an active art market. Thousands more small-scale objects are known now than in the twentieth century, although at a terrible cost to the ancient ruins from which they have been plundered.

从十八世纪末开始，一直延续到现在，探险家们一直在寻找古中美洲的遗迹，这一地区包括美国中部及墨西哥中部和南部。随着时间的推移，考古学家发掘出的文明越来越遥远。仿佛在新纪元的每一个新世纪，一个古老的阶层就已经显露出来。十九世纪探险家，尤其是John Lloyd Stephens和Frederick Catherwood，来到了丛林中的玛雅城市，以及其他经典文化的古迹。二十世纪的研究揭示了更早的高度文明，奥尔梅克文明。现在几乎不可能把早期中美洲文明的边界进一步往后推，尽管像墨西哥南部的瓦哈卡这样的新研究的城市将继续被深挖细节。 发现的过程常常塑造我们所了解的中美洲艺术史。新发现通常是故意造成的。1971年，在特奥提瓦坎的太阳金字塔下安装声光设备的工人偶然发现了一个奇特的洞穴，后来被一些学者解释为皇家墓室。考古学也有它自己的风格：隔离新的遗址可能是十年内的首要目标，而挖掘金字塔则是下一个重点。在第三个十年里，考古学家可能会专注于研究外围结构而不是主要建筑。人们也不应该忘记挖掘古迹是容易使当地利益受损的。重建金字塔一度是为了吸引旅游者；而另一方面，对于已经成为旅游景点的地方，考古学家则不再被允许进行考察挖掘。此外，现代建筑往往决定哪些古迹可以挖掘。例如，在墨西哥城，地铁的修建引起了当地的挖掘，使人们对阿兹特克古老的首都产生了兴趣。 但对中美洲艺术的研究并不完全基于考古学。在十六世纪，特别是在墨西哥中部，许多关于土著居民的有用信息被写了下来，它可以帮助我们解开前哥伦布时期的历史（1492年哥伦布到达美洲之前的时期）。虽然有许多来源，但艺术史上最重要的一个是Bernardino de Sahagún的《新西班牙通史》。圣方济各会的修士Sahagún（罗马天主教宗教教会的成员）曾在他的十二本百科全书中为后世记载过前西班牙时期生活的许多方面，包括历史、意识形态和宇宙观（宇宙起源的理论），以及关于技术纯熟的本土工艺工人所使用材料和方法的详细信息。此外，传统的生活方式在中美洲土著人中幸存下来，学者们越来越发现现代的实践和信仰可以破译过去。值得注意的是，一些学者已经把这一过程翻转，将古文字教授给现代人，他们可能在二十一世纪用它来表明他们的身份。 在过去的40年中，学者们在破译和解释古代中美洲书写系统上也取得了很大的进步，这一突破改变了我们对前哥伦布时期的理解。例如，长期被认为只记录日历信息和星象咒语的经典玛雅铭文现在可以被翻阅，而我们在当中发现他们中的大多数通过展示个人主权的统治权来光宗耀祖。因此，雕刻可以被看作是王朝权力的肖像或公共记录。虽然学者们一直认为中美洲艺术家没有署名他们的作品，但是玛雅学者David Stuart在1986年对“抄写”和“书写”的玛雅字形（书写符号）的解读打开了玛雅文明实践的窗口；现在我们至少知道有一个瓷器画家是国王的儿子。对小众艺术的认识也在很大程度上是通过活跃的艺术市场来实现的。现在，我们所知道的数千个小规模的物体比二十世纪还多，尽管这些古遗迹经历了损失惨重的掠夺。