Mesoamerican Codices Research Articles

РЕПРОДУКЦІЯ ТА РЕКОНСТРУКЦІЯ МЕЗОАМЕРИКАНСЬКИХ КОДЕКСІВ: ПРОБЛЕМИ І ВИКЛИКИ

The paper meticulously analyses the developmental trajectory of the reproduction and restoration of Mesoamerican codices within the context of historical and cultural studies pertaining to the region. The significance of qualitatively documenting such sources is underscored. Various technologies employed in the creation of reproductions are tackled, and their respective advantages and disadvantages delineated. The author sheds light on the interplay between technological advancements and the progress made in historical, archaeological, and art historical studies. Specifically, it addresses the improvements in existing documentation methods and the emergence of modern techniques, coupled with the easy access to the information through the Internet. The research primarily relies on freely accessible image sources. The study examines several facsimile editions of the codices that have been published since the 19th century, paying particular attention to the reproductions of the Borgia codex. Through comparative analysis the author evaluated the quality and accuracy of these reproductions, both among themselves and in relation to the original. Additionally, the article presents the author's findings on the digital restoration of two pages of the Borgia codex, undertaken between 2021 and 2023. The manuscript reconstruction process is elucidated, accounting for factors such as image complexity and fragment preservation. Within this framework, the article unveils certain aspects of Mexican mythology and iconography, and explores different perspectives on the interpretation of several scenes depicted in the codex. The results of this study are compared with other extant restorations and reproductions, thereby substantiating their relevance and accuracy. The paper concludes by examining the present state and future prospects of using graphic editors for the restoration of artworks more generally.

Non-destructive and non-invasive methodology for the in situ identification of Mexican yellow lake pigments

According to historical sources, yellow colorants have been used since ancient times; despite this, their identification in textiles, Mesoamerican codices and other colonial documents is still a difficult task to perform. Most of the analytical techniques traditionally employed in the identification of yellow dyes, like HPLC-mass spectrometry, require object sampling, an undesirable and often forbidden procedure when dealing with cultural heritage objects. While some information can be obtained by non-invasive and non-destructive multi-technique analyses with portable equipment (allowing in situ studies); only few works have dealt with the in situ analysis of yellow dyes using such techniques, most of them with unsuccessful results. This is due to a combination of factors, mainly the low concentration of the dye on the object (caused by their high coloring power), their fast degradation, and the similarity of the molecule structures responsible for the yellow hues. In this work we present a non-destructive and non-invasive multitechnique methodology for the in situ analysis of Mexican yellow lake pigments with portable equipment: Raman spectroscopy, colorimetry, and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), as well as UV, false color infrared (FCIR) and false color ultraviolet imaging. The colorant specimens studied include: zacatlaxcalli (Cuscuta tinctoria), xochipalli (Cosmos sulphureus), annatto (Bixa orellana), old fustic (Maclura tinctoria), marigold (Tagetes erecta), sweet-scented marigold (Tagetes lucida) and weld (reseda luteola), the latter of European origin. The results presented in this paper shed some light on the non-destructive identification of yellow lake pigments - elaborated with the Mexican traditional specimens mentioned above - with the aim to allow their in situ identification on original artworks.

Non-invasive investigations on Mesoamerican codices: the MOLAB approach

The article illustrates the MOLAB research project devoted to the non-invasive investigation of pre-Hispanic and colonial Mesoamerican manuscripts. In the present paper, we provide a description of the project and its aims, listing the artworks so far investigated and describing analytical techniques we employed. A presentation of the data obtained by the scientific analyses is then followed by a description of the main cultural and historical interpretive venues that can be pursued through a strongly interdisciplinary approach such as the one adopted by the MOLAB.

Shades of blue: non-invasive spectroscopic investigations of Maya blue pigments. From laboratory mock-ups to Mesoamerican codices

Maya blue is a hybrid pigment where an organic component, indigo, is incorporated in a porous clay. Despite its widespread use in the Mesoamerican artistic production and numerous studies devoted to understand the type of interactions between indigo and the host framework, its technology has not been completely unravelled yet. In this study portable non-invasive UV–vis reflection spectroscopy is proposed as a robust method for in situ investigation of Maya blue pigments. Laboratory mock-ups of powder Maya blue have been prepared employing different synthesis procedures (varying the nature of: clays, indigo–clay ratios, heating temperatures and time). The goodness of the prepared Maya blue samples—namely the occurrence of indigo–clay interactions—have been probed by micro-Raman spectroscopy and related UV–vis spectral markers have been identified. DFT calculations as well have been performed to deeply explain UV–vis profiles. The set of spectral markers have been finally exploited to interpret spectra recorded on Mesoamerican pictorial codices, through a multi-technique approach based on exploring the UV–Vis properties of the blue paint supported by the FT-IR vibrational study of the inorganic clays. The characterization of blue colours on pre-Hispanic and colonial Mesoamerican codices contribute to a better understanding of the compositional variability of these painting materials and to point out the existence of different technological traditions of colour preparation in ancient Mesoamerica.

Macroscopic reflectance spectral imaging to reveal multiple and complementary types of information for the non-invasive study of an entire polychromatic manuscript

Abstract In the last decade, Mesoamerican codices have been the subjects of numerous characterization studies. Due to their large sizes, a limited number of areas were effectively analyzed, but considered representative of the manuscripts material constituents. In order to overcome this necessary assumption, a complementary approach is presented here, with the use of macroscopic diffuse reflectance spectral imaging (also known as “hyperspectral” imaging), in the visible to short wave infrared range (400–2500 nm). It allowed to study the entire surface of the Codex Borbonicus, a 16th century Aztec manuscript, used as an example of application for our innovative methodology. Numerous types of information (colorimetric data, visualization of underdrawings, spectral segmentation and chemical mappings) were obtained, and the entire document material composition was examined. These new data enrich the current knowledge on traditional Mesoamerican manuscript manufacturing techniques. More importantly, this demonstrates the great potential of this approach for the non-invasive study of large polychromatic surfaces. For the first time, an entire manuscript is analyzed using this approach providing several types of information on the same document with a single analytical technique.

Further Insight into Mesoamerican Paint Technology: Unveiling the Colour Palette of the Pre‐Columbian Codex Fejérváry‐Mayer by Means of Non‐invasive Analysis

Here, we report on the analytical findings and their cultural implications of a multidisciplinary study of the pre‐Columbian Codex Fejérváry‐Mayer. Today conserved at the World Museum in Liverpool, it is one of the finest Mesoamerican codices among the few extant. Thanks to the exploitation of non‐invasive analytical methodologies accessible through the MOLAB European mobile facility, the study allowed us to disclose the chemical composition of the painting materials used in the codex, which have never been analysed before. The results are discussed and compared with the outcomes of previous studies on other Mesoamerican codices.

Mistakes and "Mistakes": to the Ambivalence of Mistakes. A Proof of Theses

In my doctoral thesis (in prep.) I discuss in an appendix (title: Mistakes and "Mistakes": To the ambivalence of mistakes methodological problems at the example Codex Madrid 75-76 (orig. in German) whether a correction of mistakes can uncritically be done. This is done as an examplarian study of methods analysing mistakes at the example of the cartouche of day-signs (named thus by me) that is arranged around the central picture. (The correction itself isn't affected or doubted). Taken a casual distribution of the mistakes there as decisive criterion, one finds facts that can't be decided or are contradictory in tendency to the aim. At last, as result of case studies, it had to be concluded that the mistakes are intentional, set in directedly and can be interpreted without any contradiction in Codex Madrid (short: CM) as a reflex of the shift of yearbearers, and, second place, taken the numerical equivalents of the day-signs in the long-count, as a system grouping sidereal months. While there especially interested in the consequences in respect of the grades of complexity of texts and systems in Mesoamerican codices and Maya-inscriptions, a possible objection against result and election of CM 75-76 as object of study will be prooved on the soundness of its foundation. This objection might be formulated like this: The source CM 75-76 is because of faultyness and hasty of its drawing-style unreliable and therefore unfit for such an examination.

Colouring materials of pre-Columbian codices: non-invasive in situ spectroscopic analysis of the Codex Cospi

Ancient Mesoamerican codices represent the religious and historical legacy of the pre-Columbian people, they were produced to record the historical and religious matters. Codex Cospi, a divinatory book, is one of the fifteen extant pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican books which survived the destruction of the Spanish conquest. Thanks to the use of a set of portable non-invasive analytical techniques it was possible to study the Codex Cospi revealing valuable information on its constituting materials (dyes, pigments and substrates). The analytical results were compared with historical references contained in early colonial Mexican documents showing interesting parallels and providing hints for probable identification of colouring materials.

"Secret Language" in Oral and Graphic Form: Religious-Magic Discourse in Aztec Speeches and Manuscripts

"Secret Language" in Oral and Graphic Form:Religious-Magic Discourse in Aztec Speeches and Manuscripts Katarzyna Mikulska Dąbrowska (bio) Introduction On the eve of the conquest, oral communication dominated Mesoamerican society, with systems similar to those defined by Walter Ong (1992 [1982]), Paul Zumthor (1983), and Albert Lord (1960 [2000]), although a written form did exist. Its limitations were partly due to the fact that it was used only by a limited group of people (Craveri 2004:29), and because the Mixtec and Nahua systems do not totally conform to a linear writing system.1 These forms of graphic communication are presented in pictographic manuscripts, commonly known as codices. The analysis of these sources represents an almost independent discipline, as they increasingly become an ever more important source for Mesoamerican history, religion, and anthropology. The methodology used to study them largely depends on how the scholar defines "writing." Some apply the most rigid definition of a system based on the spoken language and reflecting its forms and/or structures (e.g., Coulmas 1996:xxvi), while others accept a broader definition of semasiographic systems that can transmit ideas independent of actual spoken language (yet function at the same logical level) and thus also constitute writing (e.g., Sampson 1985:26-31). The aim of this study is to analyze the linguistic "magical-religious" register of the Nahua people, designated as such because it was used for communication with the sacred realm. In this respect, it represents one of the "sacred languages," as classified by Zumthor (1983:53). Since such registers are less liable to change, they permit the reconstruction—although always imperfectly—of this type of speech as it existed immediately prior to the arrival of the Europeans and in addition the decipherment of (at least some) of the characteristic elements of Nahua oral tradition. In the discussion that follows we develop a hypothesis, namely that in the Mesoamerican codices that focus on calendar-religious subjects, in other words on matters strictly linked to the supernatural world, a similar magical-religious register should be evident. Far from considering the information presented in these sources as resulting from the direct transcription of oral language, my idea is that the graphic form represents elements emblematic of orality, although adapted to this particular context for expression. Magical-Religious Discourse The magical-religious speech of the Nahua is one of the ceremonial and esoteric languages described by Zumthor as "sacred," "erudite," or "poetic." Referring to the Mesoamerican context in particular, Alfredo López Austin (1967:1) termed these as "magical," whereas Maarten Jansen (1985:3) described them as "divine languages." Jansen demonstrates that this type of language, iya, also existed in Mixtec culture and was remarkable for its "metaphors and elegant expressions" (7-10). At the present time these expressions continue to be used in ritual discourse, for example in the Mixtec sahu (López García 2007; Jansen and Pérez Jiménez 2008:88) and in the yectlatolli, "formal speech" of the Nahua from Puebla and the State of Mexico (Peralta Ramírez 2004:175). Without doubt, there also existed a similar form of ceremonial speech among the Maya. In the colonial-era book entitled Chilam Balam de Chumayel (CHBCH 2002:78-89, 112-19), a "figurative language" is described, termed "of Suyua Tan," the understanding of which was obligatory for those assuming the position of leader. The candidate's knowledge of it was tested by means of a contest headed by a representative from the supreme authority, the halach uinic, and was carried out periodically in certain dominions in post-classical Yucatan. The challenge consisted of interpreting certain riddles, expressed in figurative language, which shrouded "a secret code, even more exclusive than any common metaphor" (Rivera Dorado, in CHBCH 2002:78).2 One of the most famous riddles included in this Mayan book asks for "an old nurse maid to care for the milpa (maize patch), her whole body black, her rear of seven palms"3 (ibid.:89): the answer is a squash. Almost the same riddle appears in Toltec culture, where the only difference is that it asks for a woman with hips four palms wide (HTCH 1989:133ff.; Jansen...

Why Maps Matter: New Geographies of Early American Culture

Why Maps Matter: New Geographies of Early American Culture Joanne van der Woude (bio) Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. Edited by James R. Akerman Jr.Robert W. Karrow. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2007. 400 pages. $55.00 (cloth). Heartless Immensity: Literature, Culture, and Geography in Antebellum America. By Anne Baker. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. 173 pages. $60.00 (cloth). The Geographic Revolution in Early America: Maps, Literacy, and National Identity. By Martin Brückner. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. 276 pages. $22.50 (paper). American Literary Geographies: Spatial Practice and Cultural Production 1500–1900. Edited by Martin BrücknerHsuan L. Hsu. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2007. 367 pages. $65.00 (cloth). Creole America: The West Indies and the Formation of Literature and Culture in the New Republic. By Sean X. Goudie. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. 275 pages. $55.00 (cloth). Hemispheric American Studies. Edited by Caroline Field LevanderRobert S. Levine. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2008. 356 pages. $ 27.95 (paper). Maps are all the rage. Though we may spend less time with Rand McNally and more on Google Earth, the basic principle—reducing three-dimensional space to flat text or screen—remains the same. The thrill of marking, separating, and naming (see the streets appear, let’s color the different countries!) plays into a primal urge for self-definition according to location. The idea that knowing where we are will help us understand who we are is, surely, as old as maps themselves. From medieval T-O (terrarum orbis) schemes, which set Jerusalem [End Page 1073] squarely at the center of the world, to modern satellite imagery, which renders even familiar neighborhoods maze-like from above, maps have always represented unwieldy territories as tidy, governable units and, in so doing, functioned as primary political and ideological tools of empire. The story of the mapping of America plots, unsurprisingly, the history of colonization, westward expansion, and hemispheric hegemony. It also charts other issues of interest, such as early representations of national identity, the problems of property rights and race, and how soil supposedly creates character. This piece describes how America was mapped and why that matters, while reviewing the six books listed above. First, however, a look back to the time before Europeans arrived and the landmass was “found,” when there were maps with only one hemisphere and globes without America. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. The Mappa Mundi of Fra Mauro, a Camaldolese monk from the monastery of San Michele in Murano, 1459. Courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library. There are two ways of visualizing the earth without Old or New Worlds: the first is to think like Ptolemy; the second is to think like an Aztec. In the second century CE, Claudius Ptolemy had the brilliant idea to project a sphere onto a plane using two variables known as longitude (360 degrees from an arbitrarily chosen “prime” meridian) and latitude (180 degrees between the [End Page 1074] poles). This scheme allowed places to be mapped according to their coordinates, of which Ptolemy positioned some eight thousand across the inhabited earth or oikoumene, according to the Greeks. The Romans, true to form, were less interested in communities than in empire, and introduced the concept of imperium ad termini orbis terrarum (empire to the ends of the earthly sphere), also known as “let’s map all we own.” Islamic scholarship sustained Ptolemy’s influence for centuries, blending it with Aristotelian and Persian cosmologies. These traditions, in combination with the aforementioned European medieval maps, led to today’s collector’s items: the charmingly incomplete overviews with monsters and angels at the margins. Even before Columbus, however, times were changing: a particularly famous monk’s map from 1459 (fig. 1) leaves out all celestial elements, depicting a big pancake of land in an image that, as Denis Cosgrove points out in his essay in Maps, “in its secularism and emphasis on earthly power (denoted through flags and enthroned rulers) anticipates an emerging purpose for the world map” (81). At the same pre-Columbian moment, Mesoamerican codices featured characteristics similar to Eurasian maps such as...

The Medicinal Use of Chocolate in Early North America

The medicinal use of chocolate has a long history in North America dating back to the 16th century. From Mesoamerican Codices and European Treatises scholars have determined that for hundreds of years the beverage called chocolate was administered to the sick and prescribed homeopathically to prevent illness. Yet, little scholarship exists that focuses on medicinal chocolate usage in early North America (18th-19th century). This paper examines medical practices during this era and associated medicinal norms with special attention given to chocolate/cocoa usage. Given the current scientific attention on the relationship between dark chocolate consumption and heart disease attenuation it is timely to investigate and chronicle America's medical forebears' understanding of, and practices related to, the medicinal use of chocolate. Indeed, there is a significant amount of literature to suggest that chocolate was used for wellness and to treat illness.

The Path from Aztlan to Mexico: On Visual Narration in Mesoamerican Codices

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Path from Aztlan to Mexico: On Visual Narration in Mesoamerican CodicesFederico NavarreteFederico Navarrete Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Res Volume 37Spring 2000 Published in association with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/RESv37n1ms20167492 Views: 162Total views on this site Copyright President and Fellows of Harvard CollegePDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Uma visão da Europa em expressões plásticas ameríndias

Os códices mesoamericanos têm o mérito adicional de nos fazer ver traços inesperados de imagens de Europa de maneira mais precisa quando ganham nova expressão em outras culturas. Com isso em mente, o objetivo de nossa apresentação é explorar determinadas formas que surgem quando o intérprete dos códices mesoamericanos pára para pensar sobre o tipo de relação que os diferentes sistemas semióticos - pictográfico, ideográfico e fonético - mantêm no espaço plástico do texto. Dessa perspectiva poderemos valorizar o significado poético das metáforas nas quais os ameríndios expressam visões peculiares das gentes e coisas européias.