Rivera is renowned for fusing the innovations of European modernism with the traditions of his country's pre-Columbian past and its indigenous peoples.

Whether or not the artist's disappearance had political implications,his sympathies are clearly with the peasantry, and he seems to have identified with his country's pre-Columbian past.

In general, Nicaragua does not value its pre-Columbian past as Mexico and Guatemala do; this museum is the exception.

Peruvians now like to define themselves by the pre-Columbian past that makes them the most ancient civilisation on the continent - and, these days, one of the most prosperous.

Michael Mansoor, chairman of the ANSA Awards' Eminent Persons Panel, said that the project "might cause history books about the pre-Columbian past of the Americas to be radically rewritten".

Purists are especially irritated by her recreations of Mexico's pre-Columbian past.

His pencil drawings, half mazes and half contour maps continue to fascinate in their seeming attempt to blend the pre-Columbian past with the technological present.

One of its missions is to provide an educational focus for people who want to see and learn about the pre-Columbian past of Guatemala with the preservation, research, and diffusion of information.

There he filled three adjoining walls with his interpretation of Mexican history, depicting class conflict in the pre-Columbian past and tracing Mexico's trajectory through colonial oppression, imperialism, and revolution to a future inspired by Marx.

Returning to the National Palace in 1942, Diego Rivera began a series of fresco panels on the second level portraying in great detail scenes from an idealized pre-Columbian past.