Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T14:44:54.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Codex-Style Mural From Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Edward B. Sisson and
T. Gerald Lilly
Edward B. Sisson
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
T. Gerald Lilly
Affiliation:
Garrow & Associates Inc., 13 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27603, USA
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Excavation at the Late Postclassic (a.d. 1300–1520) site of Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico revealed a room with a codex-style mural. The mural is divided into two zones. The lower zone is composed of white stucco and decorated with red circles. The upper zone is composed of mud plaster and decorated with seven and one-half shields behind which occur crossed lances and banners. Holes in the wall above the painted shields once held wooden pegs for hanging actual shields. The door jambs and circular columns of the eastern doorway are painted with horizontal bands representing the layers of heaven. Streamers hang from these bands. Included in the decoration on these streamers are stylized stars and blue butterflies. These may represent the souls of dead warriors. Symbolically, the room is the heavenly abode of these warriors. The most likely function of the room was as an armory.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1994, pp. 33 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Caso, Alfonso 1927 El teocalli de la guerra sagrada. Monografías. Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía, Mexico.Google Scholar
Codex Vaticanus 3738 1979 Codex Vaticanus 3738. Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Davies, Nigel 1968 Los señorios independientes del imperio azteca. Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Davies, Nigel 1987 The Aztec Empire: The Toltec Resurgence. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Galindo y Villa, J. (editor) 1979 Colección Mendoza, or Códice Mendocino. Reprinted Editorial Cosmos, Mexico. Originally published 1925, Museo Nacional, Mexico.Google Scholar
Gerhard, Peter 1986 Geografía histórica de la Nueva España, 1519–1821. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico.Google Scholar
Goggin, John 1968 Spanish Majolica in the New World: Types of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. Publications in Anthropology Vol. 72. Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven.Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Kirchoff, Paul, Guemes, Lina Odena, and Garcia, Luis Reyes 1989 Historia Tolteca Chichimeca. Centro de Investigaciones Superiores del Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Estadode Puebla, y Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia F. 1976 The Identity of the Central Deity on the Aztec Calendar Stone. The Art Bulletin 58(1):1–12. College Art Association of America, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kubler, George 1983 Arquitectura mexicana del siglo XVI. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico.Google Scholar
Margarita, Martinez del Sobral y Campa 1988 Los conventos franciscanos poblanos y el número de oro. Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B. 1971 Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico. In Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, pt. 1, edited by Ekholm, Gordon F. and Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 395–446. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B., and Keber, Eloise Quiñones 1983 Art of Aztec Mexico: Treasures of Tenochititlan. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Nowotny, Karl A. (editor) 1968 Codex Cospi: Calendario messicano 4093: Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Nowotny, Karl A. 1976 Codex Borgia. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Nowotny, Karl A., and Durant-Forest, Jacqueline de (editors) 1974 Codex Borbonicus. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1983 Aztec Art. Abrams, New York.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1963 Comentarios al Códice Borgia. Translated by Frenk, Marian. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1992a Stone Boxes, Tepetlacalli, with Sacrificial Representations and Other Similar Remains. In Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology, vol. 3, edited by Comparato, Frank E., pp. 87–113. Labyrinthes, Culver City, CA.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1992b The Religious Songs of the Ancient Mexicans. In Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology, vol. 3, edited by Comparato, Frank E., pp. 231–301. Labyrinthos, Culver City, CA.Google Scholar
Sisson, Edward B. 1973 First Annual Report of the Coxcatlan Project. Reports No. 3. Tehuacan Project, Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA.Google Scholar
Sisson, Edward B. 1974 Second Annual Report of the Coxcatlan Project. Reports No. 4. Tehuacan Project, Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA.Google Scholar
Mary Elizabeth, Smith, and Parmenter, Ross 1991 The Codex Tulane. Publication No. 61. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Primo Feliciano, Velázquez (translator) 1975 Códice Chimalpopoca: Anales de Cuauhtitlan y Leyenda delos soles. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico.Google Scholar