artful nomad

Off-the-beaten-path guidebooks and marketplace designed for the independent traveler

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Sensitive Cultural Artifacts: On Sale!

All museum reproductions are 20% off. Our featured artifact is a reproduction of the Mask of Death and Rebirth. The Maya belief in the never-ending cycle of life and afterlife is illustrated in this sculpture, with each layered face representing a specific stage of life. The original is from the ruins of Tikal in Guatemala and dates to about 900 AD.

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Artful Nomad Co. Names ShelliusMax "Best Person Ever"

“Assuming she is a real person,” says ANC Editor Dave Berg. Berg is referring to ShelliusMax’s recent blog on belizeforum.com, an excellent forum for info about traveling in Belize.

According to ShelliusMax (not her real name):

“Thanks Steve, the book came on Monday already. It looks fantastic! What I have read so far is very useful and your writing is also funny in places which is great. Terrific photos too. I’m really glad I ordered it.”

Shellius will retain the BPE title and accompanying notoriety until the ANC sees fit to award a new Best Person Ever at a future date.

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Artful Nomad Company Unveils Newsletter

— Staff Report

“Why fend off success any longer?” queries operations manager Dewey James. “Actually, I was thinking about keeping our company under wraps until I could drown it in the bathtub.” James frustration is of course related to her intolerance of the enormous throng of shoppers and curious onlookers amassed outside the front door of the ANC’s south Minneapolis headquarters.

“They’re relentless,” says James. “I can’t get one foot out of the door before someone’s in my face grilling me about Chac Mool, or flippant questions like what’s the least circuitous yet most beautiful and culturally fascinating route through northern Thailand.”

Ancient Relic “Chac Mool” Discovered on Shelf in Company Warehouse

A coterie of self-proclaimed anthropologists became interested in the company soon after an extremely well preserved, ancient artifact representing the Toltec fallen warrior known as Chac Mool was discovered on a dimly lighted, and mysteriously dusty pallet in a fairly scary corner of the company’s artifact warehouse.

“I’ve told them a thousand times that it is actually a beautifully crafted museum reproduction, but you know how those academic types can be.” The Artful Nomad Company’s artifact expert Dave Berg had this to say during a round of media questions:

Chac Mool
“Representations of Chac-Mool are found across Mesoamerica. Believed to represent a fallen warrior delivering offerings to the gods, Chac-Mool is typically portrayed in a half-reclining position holding a bowl on his chest as a receptacle for offerings. In at least one Aztec version, the bowl held the hearts of sacrificial victims. The original of this Toltec style statue is found in front of the Temple of the Warriors in Chichen Itza, positioned between two magnificently carved feathered serpent columns symbolizing the god Kukulcal. Casting stone with an antique stone finish, standing 8” high by 12” wide.”

“$95.00”

“Artifact expert my ass,” says James, “he’s a copywriter. Well actually he’s the Editor, and quite talented I should add. But we pay him to write, not think.”

Shown on the left is a 7000lb Chac Mool excavated by Augustus Le Plongeon from the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars at Chichen Itza, Yucatan in Mexico. On the right is the 8lb Artful Nomad Company museum reproduction. “Please query the comment box if you have questions about the museum reproductions instead of trampling the dogwood tree in my yard,” instructs James.

“And leave your website in the website box, it will deflect some commerce congestion your way.”

Comment

  1. Go Green! Maybe you could fence the throng at your headquarters building and heat your buildings. Great read!

    — SCotKU · Mar 2, 09:53 AM · #

  2. Chest or loins? Let,s call a spade a club, shall we?

    — chris rieffer · Mar 13, 08:41 AM · #

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