Main content
Course: World History Project - Origins to the Present > Unit 4
Lesson 2: Systems Collapse | 4.1READ: The Xalla Sculpture of Teotihuacan (Graphic Biography)
When the city of Teotihuacan was destroyed, so was the Xalla sculpture. Its reconstruction by archeologists provides a window into the belief system of the Teotihuacanos.
The Graphic Biography below uses “Three Close Reads”. If you want to learn more about this strategy, click here.
First read: skimming for gist
This will be your quickest read. It should help you get the general idea of what the graphic biography will be about. Pay attention to the title, headings, images, and layout. Ask yourself: what is this graphic biography going to be about?
Second read: understanding content
For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed.
By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- What was the Xalla statue made of, and where did it come from? How does the artwork tell us something about the people that built the statue, and what significance do you think this has?
- What did the Xalla sculpture represent to the people of Teotihuacan?
- According to the biography, why do we think that the sculpture may have been destroyed by a group inside the city What might this tell us about the community of Teotihuacan?
- What happened to the city and the sculpture after they were destroyed?
Third read: evaluating and corroborating
In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in the course.
At the end of the third read, you should be able to respond to these questions:
- How does this biography of the Xalla figure, and the history of Teotihuacan, support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the collapse of societies? How does it support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about what happens after that collapse?
Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to read! Remember to return to these questions once you’ve finished reading .
The Xalla Sculpture of Teotihuacan (Graphic Biography)
Writer: Trevor Getz
Artist: Peter Quatch
When the city of Teotihuacan was destroyed, so was the Xalla sculpture. Its reconstruction by archeologists provides a window into the belief system of the Teotihuacanos.
Download the Graphic Biography PDF here or click on the image above.
Want to join the conversation?
If there were no written records, how did they determine why the eyes were red or the purpose of the lines on it's face? How do you know it was representative of a world view? How do you know it represented a prisoner, much less that it's blood would be shed?(5 votes)
Paint doesn't typically disappear absolutely, there's usually some faded amount, even if it's just tiny spots with trace amounts of faded paint. Archaeologists most likely* examine these sculptures very, very closely, and thus found those traces of paint.
*Definitely(3 votes)
hehehe doom music(0 votes)
fr what music ??(0 votes)