The anastasis of the mammoth hunting diorama

Abstract

Over a period of fifty-nine years (1964–2023) the Anastasis of the mammoth hunting diorama –which is currently exhibited in the “Poblamiento de América” (“Orígenes” in the past) room of the Museo Nacional de Antropología de México– is one of the museographic supports that has a major impact in the vast amount of national and foreign visitants that year after year come to the precinct. The present dramatic sculptural piece made by the artist Carmen Carrillo de Antúnez and her sculpting team can be considered a mighty icon of how hunting large ice age animals’ practices and prehistory in Mexico’s center could be. The aim of the article is to comprehend –based on the information retrieved up to the beginning of the twentieth century second half by the research performed by geology, archeology, and paleontology in the archaeology site where mammoth remnants were found in the area of Tepexpan (Santa Isabel ll principally) and in the Cuenca de México– how that Mexican prehistoric image was constructed and became plastically materialized in the diorama. Based on a critique of the archeological narrative created from research and archaeology site retrieved data evaluation, the article posits contents that preponderate the mammoth exploitation rather than specialized hunting as prior proposed from a perspective that integrates archeology, art, and museography. It is proposed the creation of two new dioramas together with the one of the artist Carrillo de Antúnez in order to dialogue in the same room “Poblamiento de América” in an only assemblage named “Diorama de Dioramas”