Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T05:26:47.325Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

COMBINATION OF SIGNS IN THE CODICES OF CENTRAL MEXICO: EXAMPLES FROM SACRIFICE AND DISMEMBERMENT REPRESENTATIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2021

Danièle Dehouve Open the ORCID record for Danièle Dehouve [Opens in a new window]
Danièle Dehouve*
Affiliation:
Director of Research (emeritus), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, Maison Archéologie et Ethnologie, 21 allée de l'université, 92023 Nanterre Cedex, France
*
E-mail correspondence to: daniele.dehouve@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The system of communication in use in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest was made up of signs composed largely of pictorial elements, including glyphs (signs in a script) and graphic representations of the ornaments of the deities. It had a generative character that was expressed mainly in the fact that it combined basic signs to create new meanings. This article deals with the combinations between the following signs: the smoking mirror, the flint, the down ball and the skull, all belonging to the field of sacrifice and dismemberment of the human body. They were associated with each other and created the following codified and conventional combinations: mirror-flint, mirror-down, flint-skull, flint-obsidian, skull-down, and a composite pectoral called anahuatl. This article proposes a typology of these combinations, and sheds light on their meanings and the processes of their construction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , Spring 2023 , pp. 85 - 103
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acuna, René (editor) 1988 Relaciones geográficas del siglo XVI: Nueva Galicia. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcina Franch, José 1995 Lenguaje metafórico e iconografía en el arte mexica. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas 66:7–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anales de Cuauhtitlan 1945 Anales de Cuauhtitlan. In Códice Chimalpopoca. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Baquedano, Elizabeth (editor) 2014 Tezcatlipoca: Trickster and Supreme Deity. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Bassett, Molly H. 2015 The Fate of Earthly Things: Aztec Gods and God-Bodies. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batalla Rosado, Juan José 2021 La representación iconográfica de la sangre en el Códice Vaticano B. In Comentarios al Códice Vaticano B, edited by Mikulska, Katarzyna, pp. 399–434. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, and University of Warsaw, Warsaw.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances F., and Anawalt, Patricia Rieff 1997 The Essential Codex Mendoza. 4 vols. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth Hill 2007 Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth Hill 2011 The Cultural Category of Scripts, Signs and Pictographies. In Their Way of Writing: Scripts, Signs and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America, edited by Boone, Elizabeth H. and Urton, Gary, pp. 379–390. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth Hill, and Collins, Rochelle 2013 The Petroglyphic Prayers on the Sun Stone of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:225–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chávez, Ximena, Aguirre, Alejandra, Miramontes, Ana, and Robles, Erika 2012 Los cuchillos atavidos de la Ofrenda 125, Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Arqueología Mexicana 103:70–75.Google Scholar
Chávez Balderas, Ximena 2007 Rituales funerarios en el Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Chávez Balderas, Ximena 2010 Decapitación ritual en el Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan: Estudio tafonómico. In El sacrificio humano en la tradición religiosa mesoamericana, edited by Luján, Leonardo López and Olivier, Guilhem, pp. 317–345. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Chávez Balderas, Ximena 2015 Efigies de la muerte: Decapitación ritual y modificación de cráneos de la Ofrenda 141 del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Estudios de Antropología Biológica XVII(1):53–75.Google Scholar
Codex Borbonicus 1974 Codex Borbonicus: Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale—Paris (Y120). Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Codex Borgia 1976 Codex Borgia: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Messicano Riserva 28). Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer 1971 Codex Fejérváry-Mayer: 12–14 M, City of Liverpool Museums. Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Codex Laud 1966 Codex Laud: MS. Laud Misc. 678, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Codex Vaticanus B 1972 Codex Vaticanus 3773 (Codex Vaticanus B): Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
de la Orden, José Tudela (editor) 1980 El Códice Tudela. Facsimile ed. Ediciones Cultura Hispánica del Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana, Cultura Hispánica, Madrid.Google Scholar
Dehouve, Danièle 2009 El lenguaje ritual de los mexicas: Hacia un método de análisis. In Image and Ritual in the Aztec World, edited by Peperstraete, Sylvie, pp. 19–33. BAR International Series 1896. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Dehouve, Danièle 2018 Entre glotogramas e iconos: El glifo “hua” y el simbolismo de la doble raya en los códices mexicas. In El arte de escribir: El centro de México, del Posclásico al siglo XVII, edited by Batalla Rosado, Juan José and Ruz Barrio, Miguel Ángel, pp. 47–71. El Colegio Mexiquense, A.C., Mexico City.Google Scholar
Dehouve, Danièle 2020 The Rules of Construction of an Aztec Deity: Chalchiuhtlicue, the Goddess of Water. Ancient Mesoamerica 31:7–28.Google Scholar
Dehouve, Danièle 2021 Les règles de construction des dieux aztèques. Annuaire de l’École pratique des hautes études (EPHE): Section des sciences religieuses 128:507–510.Google Scholar
Elkins, James 1999 The Domain of Images. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London.Google Scholar
Groupe μ 1992 Traité du signe visuel: Pour une rhétorique de l'image. Seuil, Paris.Google Scholar
Hébert, Louis 2018 Introduction à la sémiotique. Signo, directed by Hébert, Louis. December 14, 2018. Electronic document, http://www.signosemio.com/introduction-semiotique.pdf, accessed June 28, 2021.Google Scholar
Hergé, 1946 Le crabe aux pinces d'or. Casterman, Tournai.Google Scholar
Jansen, Maarten 1982 Huisi Tacu: Estudio interpretativo de un libro mixteco antiguo: Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I. CEDLA, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Kindl, Olivia 2016 Ritual Uses of Mirrors by the Wixaritari (Huichol Indians): Instruments of Reflexivity in Creative Processes. In Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, edited by Gallaga M., Emiliano and Blaincy, Marc G., pp. 255–285. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo 1980 Cuerpo humano e ideología: Las concepciones de los antiguos nahuas. 2 vols. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo and Luján, Leonardo López 2009 Monte Sagrado/Templo Mayor: El cerro y la pirámide en la tradición religiosa Mesoamericana. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon 2006 On Pre-Columbian Narrative: Representation Across the World–Image Divide. In A Pre-Columbian World, edited by Quilter, Jeffrey and Miller, Mary, pp. 55–106. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2010 ¿Cuchillos de sacrificio? El papel del contexto en la expresión pictórica mesoamericana. Itinerarios 12:125–154.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2015a Tejiendo destinos: Un acercamiento al sistema de comunicación gráfica en los códices adivinatorios. University of Warsaw, Warsaw, and El Colegio Mexiquense, A.C., Mexico City.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2015b Los cielos, los rumbos y los números: Aportes sobre la visión nahua del universo. In Cielos e inframundos: Una revisión de las cosmologías mesoamericanas, edited by Díaz, Ana, pp. 109–174. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2018 Les métaphores visuelles dans le Codex Borbonicus et dans d'autres manuscrits religieux: Signes de boules de zacate et de la nuit. In Hernest Hamy du Museum à l'Amérique, edited by Contel, José and Priotti, Jean-Philippe, pp. 369–390. Presses universitaires du Septentrion, Villeneuve d'Ascq.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2020a Tres componentes de codificación en el sistema de comunicación gráfica de los códices Vaticano B y Borgia. In Nuevo comentario al Códice Vaticano B (Vat. Lat. 3773), with facsimile reproduction of the Ms. Codex Vaticanus B, edited by Mikulska, Katarzyna, pp. 345–397. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, ISIiI, Mexico City, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, and Vatican Library, Vatican City.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2020b Los dioses y sus nombres: El caso de los dioses solares. In Nuevo comentario al Códice Vaticano B (Vat. Lat. 3773), with facsimile reproduction of the Ms. Codex Vaticanus B, edited by Mikulska, Katarzyna, pp. 509–553. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, ISIiI, Mexico City, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, and Vatican Library, Vatican City.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna, and Offner, Jerome A. 2019 Indigenous Graphic Communication Systems: A Theoretical Approach. University Press of Colorado, Louisville.Google Scholar
Molina, fray Alonso de 1977 Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana, y mexicana y castellana. 2 vols. Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Moser, Christopher L. 1973 Human Decapitation in Ancient Mesoamerica. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B. 1973 Phoneticism in the Late Pre-Hispanic Central Mexican Writing System. In Mesoamerican Writing Systems: A Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 30th and 31st, 1971, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P., pp. 1–46. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Karl, Nowotny (editor) 1968 Codex Cospi: Calendario Messicano 4093, Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna. Facsimile ed. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Olivier, Guilhem 2004 Tezcatlipoca: Burlas y metamorfosis de un dios azteca. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Olivier, Guilhem 2018 Tlazolteotl-Ixcuina ou les aspects guerriers de la déesse de l'amour charnel. In Hernest Hamy du Museum à l'Amérique, edited by Contel, José and Priotti, Jean-Philippe, pp. 295–312. Presses universitaires du Septentrion, Villeneuve d'Ascq.Google Scholar
Olivier, Guilhem, Balderas, Ximena Chávez, and Santos-Fita, Dídac 2019 A la búsqueda del significado del uso ritual de mandíbulas humanas y animales en Mesoamérica: Un estudio interdisciplinario. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pereira, Grégory 2008 La materia de las visiones: Consideraciones acerca de los espejos de pirita prehispánicos. Diario de Campo 48(May–June):123–135.Google Scholar
Pereira, Grégory 2017 Las prácticas funerarias en Vista Hermosa. In Vista Hermosa, Vol. 1: Camino al inframundo, edited by Stresser-Péan, Claude and Pereira, Grégory, pp. 259–378. Secretaría de Cultura, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Fundación Stresser-Péan, Centro de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Quiñones Keber, Eloise 1995 Codex Telleriano-Remensis: Ritual, Divination, and History in a Pictorial Aztec Manuscript. Facsimile ed. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Ragot, Nathalie 2018 A en perdre la tête: Observations sur l'usage et la symbolique du tzompantli aztèque. In Hernest Hamy du Museum à l'Amérique, edited by Contel, José and Priotti, Jean-Philippe, pp. 353–368. Presses universitaires du Septentrion, Villeneuve d'Ascq.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortés, Robles, Lucero, Erika, Balderas, Ximena Chávez, and Molina, Alejandra Aguirre 2019 Imágenes de la muerte en la Ofrenda 141: El simbolismo de los cráneos efigie. In Al pie del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan: Estudios en honor de Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Vol. II, edited by Luján, Leonardo López and Balderas, Ximena Chávez, pp. 207–233. El Colegio Nacional, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, fray Bernardino de 1950–1982 Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, 13 vols., edited and translated by Anderson, Arthur J. O. and Dibble, Charles E. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, fray Bernardino de 1956 Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España. Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, fray Bernardino de 1993 Primeros memoriales. Facsimile ed. Photographed by Anders, Ferdinand. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1963 Comentarios al Códice Borgia. 2 vols. Translated by Frenk, Mariana. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1992a The Iconography of Mirrors at Early Classic Teotihuacan. In Art, Polity, and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Berlo, Janet Catherine, pp. 169–204. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1992b The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred Warfare at Teotihuacan. Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 21:53–87.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 2001 Mirrors. In The Archeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia, edited by Evens, Susan and Webster, David, pp. 473–474. Garland Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 2016 Through a Glass, Brightly: Recent Investigations Concerning Mirrors and Scrying in Ancient and Contemporary Mesoamerica. In Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, edited by Gallaga M., Emiliano and Blaincy, Marc G., pp. 285–315. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Townsend, Richard F. 2010 Moctezuma II y la renovación de la naturaleza. In Moctezuma II: Tiempo y destino de un gobernante, edited by Luján, Leonardo López and McEwan, Colin, pp. 124–181. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Valentín Maldonado, Norma, and Arellano, Belem Zúñiga 2007 Los moluscos de la ofrenda 107 del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 78: 61S–70S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vauzelle, Loïc 2018 Tlaloc et Huitzilopochtli: Éléments naturels et attributs dans les parures de deux divinités aztèques aux XVe et XVIe siècles. Ph.D. dissertation, PSL Research University, Université de recherche Paris Sciences Lettres, École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris.Google Scholar
Vesque, Martine 2020 Réalités et métaphores du miroir dans les documents pictographiques. Une brève approche. Lecture given at École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, February 3.Google Scholar
Whittaker, Gordon 2009 The Principles of Nahuatl Writing. Göttinger beiträge zur sprachwissenschaft 16:47–81.Google Scholar