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Painting, Writing, and Polity in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Clara Millon
Clara Millon*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester
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Abstract

Two hitherto unrelated Teotihuacan mural paintings, no longer in situ, probably are companion pieces from upper and lower walls in the same portico or room or in related porticos or rooms of the same compound. The tassel headdresses worn by the figures in the paintings appear to be insignia of "Rain God"-related social units or institutions, signifying leadership and authority, with military associations. The contexts in which the tassel headdresses occur, both within the ancient city and outside its borders, suggest that persons with rights to the headdress may have been members of or attached to the ruling establishment or the bureaucracy of the Teotihuacan state. The unique two-part notation on the upper wall painting appears to be hierarchically ordered, corresponding to a ranking either of the social units to which the figures belong, or of institutions which they represent, or of places associated with them.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , July 1973 , pp. 294 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1973

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