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Art of the Aztec Empire

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Intensive scholarly study of Aztec art began in the 19th century and accelerated dramatically in the last one hundred years. Initially, it was concerned primarily with identifying the figures portrayed in monumental stone carvings made before the devastating 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec heartland. That heartland was located in central Mexico, in what is now called the Valley of Mexico, which is today almost entirely covered by the urban sprawl of Mexico City. There the Mexica—the wandering, Nahuatl-speaking ethnic group that would come to head the federation of three cities now known as the Aztec Triple Alliance—founded their capital, Tenochtitlan, and its immediate neighbor to the north, Tlatelolco. The two cities shared a small island in what was then a large lake, later drained by the Spaniards, known as Lake Texcoco. Although most of the people in the other two cities spoke Nahuatl like the Mexica, they had arrived in the area before the Mexica and were not themselves Mexica; moreover, like Tenochtitlan at its peak, those cities housed members of several different ethnic groups. For the sake of convenience, scholars therefore today often refer to the collective constituents of the Triple Alliance and its satellites as the Aztec or the Nahua—neither of which were names used by the peoples. Within a period of less than a hundred years, the Triple Alliance militarily consolidated its control of the other older, non-Mexica communities on the lake’s shores and much of the broader area known today as Mesoamerica. By the time of the conquest, the Aztec paramount ruler, Moteuczoma (Moteuczoma or Moteucçoma is the currently preferred spelling for the name previously rendered as Moctezuma, Motecuhzoma, or Montezuma) Xocoyotzin, or Moteuczoma II, was living in a densely populated, economically prosperous capital laced with canals and connected to the mainland by means of large, paved causeways. As could be expected, the Aztec state and local leaders celebrated and reinforced the Triple Alliance’s imperial success by erecting and periodically enlarging impressive buildings, some decorated with murals, and by commissioning or collecting sculptures, large and small, that were made of a variety of materials. Many of those sculptures represented and/or honored the numerous deities in the Aztec pantheon. Elites, including government officials, were also commissioning instruments, insignia, and clothing made by highly skilled craftsmen working with precious materials such as turquoise and feathers. They also recorded their myths and histories (mythohistories), as well as calendrical prognostications, in painted manuscripts that conveyed information through pictures accompanied by glyphs and signs representing names and dates. The decades since the 1950s have seen an explosion of interest in the art of the Aztec empire on the part of professionally trained educators, art historians, ethnohistorians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and museum curators. Since 1978 this interest in Aztec art has intensified further as a result of the remarkable discoveries made in the course of the ongoing excavations of the former ceremonial center of the Aztec capital.
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  5. General Overviews
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  7. There are many books on the Aztec, most of which do not deal directly with Aztec art but some of which do provide valuable information on Aztec history, social organization, life style, and culture. The latter studies are helpful in putting Aztec art into its broader context. Especially useful in this regard are books and articles on Aztec mythology and religion; the subject matter of the majority of Aztec figural artworks is in one way or another religious. In the last fifty years there has been an increasing number of general works that focus specifically on Aztec art. Some of these are surveys (Pasztory 1998), whereas others contain catalogue entries for individual art objects (Nicholson and Quiñones Keber 1983, Matos Moctezuma and Solís Olguín 2002) or scholarly essays on various aspects of Aztec art that are written by different authors (Boone 1982). Those listed here tend to be consulted frequently by art historians, in many cases because they contain more and higher quality illustrations than other sources. As always, the date of publication should be kept in mind owing to revisions necessitated by ongoing excavations and other scholarly work. Many Spanish-language articles on the Aztec that were published by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México are available online as a pdf.
  8.  
  9. Boone, Elizabeth Hill, ed. The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico: Proceedings of a Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 22 and 23, 1977. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Library & Research Collections, 1982.
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  11. Contains essays by leading, internationally renowned scholars on a variety of aspects of Aztec visual culture, including architecture. Some articles are formal analyses, others iconographic studies. Two of the essays focus on the Mixteca-Puebla pictorial style and the Mixtec pictorial sub-style.
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  13. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo, and Felipe Solís Olguín. Aztecs. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2002.
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  15. Extensively illustrated exhibition catalogue containing numerous essays and entries by experts on various aspects of Aztec material culture. When this exhibition moved to the Guggenheim Museum in New York, it was accompanied by a very similar catalogue edited by Felipe Soís Olguín titled The Aztec Empire (New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2004). Also published in Spanish.
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  17. Nicholson, H. B., with Eloise Quiñones Keber. Art of Aztec Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1983.
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  19. Together with an introduction on “The Discovery of Aztec Art,” this book by a distinguished ethnohistorian assisted by an art historian features some of the most skillfully made Aztec sculptures to have survived the conquest. Contains illustrated, detailed catalogue entries as well as a glossary of Aztec deities. Illustrations are black and white.
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  21. Pasztory, Esther. Aztec Art. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
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  23. Paperback reprint of the original hardback edition (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1983). Detailed art historical study of Aztec art, architecture, and “crafts.” Organized by genre and medium, the book is profusely illustrated, in many places with color photographs. Contains a thirteen-page glossary with a guide to pronouncing Nahuatl words.
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  25. Society, Lifestyle, and History
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  27. Many general works on the Aztec include references to, if not entire sections on, art, ritual, architecture, and/or city planning. Those written by art historians (Aguilar-Moreno 2007, Boone 1994, Townsend 2009) tend to be well illustrated and to discuss art at some length. Aguilar-Moreno 2007, a 440-page handbook, is the most comprehensive of these to date. Boone 1994, Berdan 2005, and Townsend 2009 are concise, easy-to-read introductory overviews of Aztec culture, whereas Lockhart 1992, a study that is primarily concerned with post-conquest Aztec culture change, sheds considerable light on pre-Hispanic ways of thinking about art, architecture, writing, and performance modes of expression. Smith 2003, written by an archaeologist, looks primarily at material culture. Museum book-catalogues such as Brumfiel and Feinman 2008 typically contain the greatest number of, and highest quality, photographs.
  28.  
  29. Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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  31. A comprehensive overview of Aztec civilization including chapters on topics such as religion, economy, social organization, and daily life. Written by an art historian, the book includes a chapter on Aztec art and another on Aztec architecture. Illustrations are black and white. Alternate versions are posted online.
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  33. Berdan, Frances F. The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. 2d ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
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  35. A short but detailed survey of Aztec social, economic, military, and religious organization and practices with some attention to the beliefs that underwrote them. Chapter 7 (pp. 150–166) deals with “Intellectual and Artistic Achievements.” Written by an ethnohistorian, it is particularly strong on the economy and social structure. Minimally illustrated in black and white.
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  37. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. The Aztec World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
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  39. A relatively short, very readable introduction to the Aztec, this book tells the story of the origins and rise to power of the Aztecs, relating their history and social life to their evolving belief system and ritual practices, and refuting common modern misconceptions in the process. Written by an art historian, it includes numerous color illustrations, maps, and diagrams.
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  41. Brumfiel, Elizabeth M., and Gary M. Feinman, eds. The Aztec World. New York: Abrams, 2008.
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  43. Contains short, fairly up-to-date articles by leading scholars, most of them social scientists, on various facets of the Aztec world, including one on Aztec art by the art historian Elizabeth Hill Boone. Final chapters trace the Aztecs beyond the conquest up through present-day Chicano thought and art. Well illustrated, with many photographs, maps, and diagrams in color.
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  45. Carrasco, Davíd, and Scott Sessions. Daily Life of the Aztecs. 2d ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011.
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  47. An up-to-date humanistic overview of Aztec culture and lifeways that includes a chapter on aesthetics (pp. 167–190). Minimally illustrated, this is a revised version of the original, 1998 edition.
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  49. Lockhart, James. The Nahuas after the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992.
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  51. Written by a historian working from documents written in Nahuatl, this book focuses primarily on changes in Nahua social and cultural practices that occurred after the conquest. Although unillustrated, it looks at pre-conquest Aztec art and architecture from a native perspective.
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  53. Smith, Michael E. The Aztecs. 2d ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003.
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  55. Substantial overview of Aztec history and society that takes into account the author’s recent archaeological findings at outlying Aztec sites in Morelos excavated by the author. Minimally illustrated in black and white, it includes chapters titled “Cities and Urban Planning” (pp. 172–191), “Temples and Ceremonies” (pp. 212–237), and “Science and Art” (pp. 238–293).
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  57. Townsend, Richard F. The Aztecs. 3d ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
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  59. Introduces the reader to Aztec history and culture up through the fall of the Aztec empire and includes a chart of annual ceremonies in Tenochtitlan at the time of the conquest. Written by an art historian, it is largely illustrated in black and white, with a few photographs in color.
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  61. Mythology, Philosophy, and Religion
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  63. The Aztec made no distinction between what we consider to be their myths and what they regarded as their histories, nor did they draw a fine line between distinguished ancestors, mythic beings, and the gods. For this reason, and because so many Aztec artworks depict ancestral beings and deities, just as Aztec rituals so often reenacted “mythohistories,” texts on Aztec myth, philosophy, and religion can help us to understand better many Aztec works of art. Caso 1988, a short introduction to Aztec culture, is an excellent place to start in an investigation of Aztec religion and the principal members of the Aztec pantheon. The most important and sustained studies of these topics are found in Nicholson 1971 and Tena 2009. Both attempt to categorize the Aztec’s numerous, often overlapping deities. León-Portilla 1990 and Burkhart 1989, in turn, provide insights into Aztec morality and metaphysics, while Graulich 1997 and López-Austin 1994 focus on mythology.
  64.  
  65. Burkhart, Louise. The Slippery Earth: Nahua-Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth-Century Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989.
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  67. Although the subject of this book is the Aztec encounter with, and negotiation of, Christian values after the conquest, it sheds considerable light on preconquest Aztec moral concepts. Although too specialized for some beginners, the book is clearly written and easy to read.
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  69. Caso, Alfonso. The Aztecs: People of the Sun. Translated by Lowell Dunham. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.
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  71. Concise, easy-to-read, if somewhat idealistic, discussion of the principal Aztec deities, calendar, and rituals. Illustrated in color by the Mexican artist and art collector Miguel Covarrubias. First published in Spanish in 1954 and in English in 1957, it remains an excellent introduction to Aztec religion and could be assigned to undergraduates.
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  73. Graulich, Michel. Myths of Ancient Mexico. Translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
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  75. Translation of part of a controversial book on Aztec myths and rituals published in Madrid in 1990. Focuses on colonial written records of Aztec myths about the creation of the world including a tale of a primordial transgression suspiciously similar to the biblical story of Adam and Eve.
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  77. León-Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind. 2d ed. Translated by Jack Emory Davis. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990.
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  79. Adaptation of the second edition of a work originally published in Mexico in 1956. Discusses Aztec philosophy, including cosmology, metaphysics, and theology, derived from colonial texts written in both Spanish and Nahuatl. Very clear and readable, it is a good place to start.
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  81. López-Austin, Alfredo. Tamoanchan y Tlalocan. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994.
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  83. Covers Aztec creation myths as well as modern beliefs recorded in rural areas of Mexico to reconstruct Aztec cosmogony as well as the natures of man and gods. Part 2 focuses on two mythological Aztec paradises, or afterworlds: Tamoanchan and Tlalocan. Based on both Spanish and Nahuatl sources.
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  85. Nicholson, Henry B. “Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico.” In Handbook of Middle American Indians. Robert Wauchope, general editor. Vol. 10, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part One. Edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, 395–446. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.
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  87. Concise but thorough scholarly analysis of Aztec cosmology and cosmogony, major cult themes, deities, and rituals. Contains a number of useful foldout tables and black-and-white illustrations. This is still the best overview of Aztec religion in print.
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  89. Tena, Rafael. Edición especial: La religión mexica: Catálogo de dioses. Arqueología Mexicana 30 (April 2009).
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  91. “Mexica religion: Catalogue of deities” is a well-illustrated discussion of the Mexica pantheon that divides it into three groups: creator and provider deities, fertility and pleasure deities, and deities of war and sacrifice. Although many gods are left out, it includes pictures and a short text for seventeen deities, each representative of a different “complex.”
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  93. Iconographic Studies of One or More Deities
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  95. The Aztec honored a large number of supernaturals that were depicted in art wearing complex costumes, body markings, and insignia, some of which also appear in places on other deities. Many scholarly studies focus on identifying just one of these deities or on the members of a closely related group. These studies tend to be largely iconographic, concentrating on the deity’s clothing and attributes (Aguilera 2010), but many also provide the author’s interpretation of the deities’ role and meaning (Klein 1988). All of them have to confront the problems posed by the fact that all of our textual information, and nearly all of our central Mexican painted manuscript images, were produced after the conquest. For that reason some works, such as Boone 1989, Klein 1988, and Nicholson 2000, carefully examine the written and pictorial sources for possible misunderstandings, distortions, and biases. Boone 1989 tracks images of Huitzilopochtli into the colonial period and Europe, whereas Nicholson 2000 looks back in time to prototypical images of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl made during the Preclassic and Classic periods. Klein 1988 places the goddess Cihuacoatl within the context of her cult’s history in the Valley of Mexico, while Taube 1993, by focusing on the imagery carved on a famous Aztec greenstone vase, locates the cult of the nocturnal demons known as the Tzitzimime (sing., Tzitzimitl) in the context of the New Fire Ceremony performed at the end of every fifty-two-year cycle. For other studies of Aztec’s supernaturals, see the references under the subheadings Calendar (Sun) Stone, Coatlicue, Coyolxauhqui III, and Tlaltecuhtli under Sculpture: Individual Monuments.
  96.  
  97. Aguilera, Carmen. “Iconografía de Iztac Mixcóatl.” In Ensayos sobre iconografía. Vol. 2. By Carmen Aguilera, 337–348. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2010.
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  99. Aguilera’s “Iconography of the Otomí god Iztac Mixcóatl,” which was first published in 2006 in Estudios de Cultura Otopame 5, examines the different articles of clothing, as well as the face and body paint, that appear on an image in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis of the Otomí god Iztac Mixcoatl, who was appropriated by the Aztec.
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  101. Boone, Elizabeth H. Incarnations of the Aztec Supernatural: The Image of Huitzilopochtli in Mexico and Europe. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 79, Part 2. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1989.
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  103. Illustrated monograph contrasting what we know about the Aztec’s patron god’s appearance and role before the conquest to the monstrous, demonic being that he subsequently became at the hands of European artists and writers.
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  105. Klein, Cecelia F. “Rethinking Cihuacoatl: Aztec Political Imagery of the Conquered Woman.” In Smoke and Mist: Mesoamerican Studies in Memory of Thelma D. Sullivan, Part I. Edited by J. Kathryn Josserand and Karen Dakin, 237–277. BAR International Series 402. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1988.
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  107. Iconographic and social-historical study of the image and cult of the Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, including discussion of the famous Coyolxauhqui III relief. Its conclusion that Cihuacoatl was portrayed as a defeated, dead, and prostrate enemy of the state is not accepted by everyone (see Henderson 2007, cited under Tlaltecuhtli).
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  109. Nicholson, H. B. “The Iconography of the Feathered Serpent in Late Postclassic Central Mexico.” In Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs. Edited by Davíd Carrasco, Lindsay Jones, and Scott Sessions, 145–164. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2000.
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  111. The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl had several manifestations, one of which was a giant feathered serpent. This article pulls together a large number of representations of the feathered serpent to discuss their probable original context and use. The author emphasizes their diversity.
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  113. Taube, Karl. “The Bilimek Pulque Vessel: Starlore, Calendrics, and Cosmology of Late Postclassic Central Mexico.” Ancient Mesoamerica 4 (1993): 1–15.
  114. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536100000742Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  115. Relates the imagery carved in relief on the exterior and underside of the famous so-called Bilimek Vessel in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna, to imagery in painted manuscripts, early colonial texts, and other Aztec stone carvings to identify its subject matter and broader associations.
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  117. Aesthetics
  118.  
  119. Although little is known about Aztec concepts of what Westerners call “art,” “artist,” and “beauty,” some understanding has been gleaned from linguistic and literary studies as well as from comparison to Western aesthetics. Both León-Portilla 2002 and Maffee 2005 examine Nahuatl words and terminology for insights into Aztec thought about these matters. Pasztory 2002 looks at Pre-Columbian art forms to characterize the aesthetic principles underlying them, and then shows how the Western preference for naturalism over abstraction has blocked our full appreciation of Pre-Columbian art. Carrasco 2011 (pp. 167–190) (cited under Society, Lifestyle, and History) includes a chapter on Aztec aesthetics as evident in art, literature, song, and performance.
  120.  
  121. León-Portilla, Miguel. “A Nahuatl Concept of Art.” In Art Treasures of Ancient Mexico: A Journey to the Land of the Gods. Edited by Felipe Solís and Ted Leyenaar, 47–53. Amsterdam: Die Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam/Waanders Puldshers in association with Lund Humphries, 2002.
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  123. Linguistic and textual study of Nahua words for, and concepts of, “art” and “beauty.” Includes additional notes on p. 282.
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  125. Maffee, James. “Aztec Philosophy.” In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by James Fieser and Bradley Dowden. 2005.
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  127. Brief overview of Aztec metaphysics, epistemology, morality, and aesthetics with an emphasis on the concept of the Nahuatl word teotl (sacred, extraordinary) as a root metaphor. A shorter essay by this author that is written for students can be accessed at Mexicolore cited under Reference Works.
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  129. Pasztory, Esther. “Still Invisible: The Problem of the Aesthetics of Abstraction for Pre-Columbian Art and Its Implications for Other Cultures.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 42 (Autumn 2002): 159–165.
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  131. Although this essay examining the negative impact of the West’s preference for naturalism is not specifically about Aztec art, the conclusions it draws are fully applicable to it. Reprinted in Pasztory’s 2005. Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art (Austin: University of Texas Press), pp. 119–155.
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  133. Art and Empire
  134.  
  135. Some studies chart and analyze the distribution of Aztec material culture, including art, both within the capital and throughout the imperial realm, to determine the nature and direction of the central government’s influence on its subordinates. Authors disagree about this, however. Boone 1996, Umberger 1996a, Umberger 1996b, and Umberger 2007 speak for a centripetal model, in which Aztec religion and the Aztec art style spread outward from the capital. Brumfiel 1998, in contrast, argues that at least some subordinate communities were largely resistant to the state’s official ideology while Richter 2010 posits a centrifugal model in which Aztec artists were influenced by art well to the east, in north central Veracruz. Guzmán Acevedo 2004, in turn, rejects the popular notion that the Aztec forcefully strictly imposed their will and art style on even their closest neighbors.
  136.  
  137. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. “Manuscript Painting in Service of Imperial Ideology.” In Aztec Imperial Strategies. Edited by Frances F. Berdan, Richard E. Blanton, Elizabeth Hill Boone, Mary G. Hodge, Michael E. Smith, and Emily Umberger, 181–206. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996.
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  139. Asks who the primary consumers of painted manuscripts were and what the manuscripts’ primary function was. Includes sections on the diagnostic features of the Aztec painting style, the various types of manuscripts produced, and the areas where they were found. Emphasizes the support provided by pictorial manuscripts to the central government.
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  141. Brumfiel, Elizabeth. “Huitzilopochtli’s Conquest: Aztec Ideology in the Archaeological Record.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8.1 (1998): 3–13.
  142. DOI: 10.1017/S095977430000127XSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  143. Authored by an archaeologist, this study looks at Aztec art in the capital and contrasts it and its official message with the iconography and probable uses of ceramic figurines at certain subordinate sites in the Aztec hinterland. Evaluates the degree of subordinate commoners’ acceptance of the Aztec state’s ideology of terror and violence, finding it to have been relatively minimal.
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  145. Guzmán Acevedo, Eulogio. “Sculpting Imperialism? The Diverse Expression of Local Cults and Corporate Identity in the ‘Two-Tufted’ Figure at the Templo Mayor.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2004.
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  147. Well-illustrated, formal and materials analysis of a distinctive type of stone figure found in many of the offerings at the Templo Mayor. Identifies and analyzes their differences to clarify the relationship between Tenochtitlan and its client communities. Contradicts the widespread opinion that the offerings contributed by subordinates were standardized and coerced.
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  149. Richter, Kim. “Identity Politics: Huastec Sculpture and the Postclassic International Style and Symbol Set.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2010.
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  151. Focused on sculptures made by the Huastec people of eastern Mexico, this dissertation refutes Umberger’s thesis (Umberger 1996a, Umberger 1996b, Umberger 2007) that the Aztec state exported its official art style to the Huasteca. Provides evidence that the opposite occurred.
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  153. Umberger, Emily. “Art and Imperial Strategy in Tenochtitlan.” In Aztec Imperial Strategies. Edited by Frances F. Berdan, Richard E. Blanton, Elizabeth Hill Boone, Mary G. Hodge, Michael E. Smith, and Emily Umberger, 85–106. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996a.
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  155. One of two articles by Umberger that appear in this volume. Examines the roles played by urban planning, architecture, sculpture, and costume in implementation of Aztec imperial strategies. Well illustrated in black-and-white drawings and photographs.
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  157. Umberger, Emily. “Aztec Presence and Material Remains in the Outer Provinces.” In Aztec Imperial Strategies. Edited by Frances F. Berdan, Richard E. Blanton, Elizabeth Hill Boone, Mary G. Hodge, Michael E. Smith, and Emily Umberger, 151–179. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996b.
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  159. The second article by Umberger in this volume, this is a thoroughly researched identification and analysis of the ceramic, architectural, and sculptural evidence of an Aztec presence at sites throughout the empire. Posits a centripetal model in which the Aztec art style was exported to distant sites in the aftermath of military conquest. Compare to Richter 2010.
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  161. Umberger, Emily. “Historia del arte e Imperio Azteca: La Evidencia de las esculturas.” Revista Española de Antropología Americana 37.2 (2007): 165–202.
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  163. Its title translated as “Art history and the Aztec Empire: The evidence of the sculptures,” this article presents a recent discussion of the influence of the Aztec art style in Tenochtitlan on art at sites in both Veracruz and the Toluca region, especially Calixtlahuaca. Compare with Richter 2010.
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  165. Art, Body, and Gender
  166.  
  167. Since the 1980s there have been a number of studies published that treat problems of gender representations and their implications for actual gender roles in Aztec society. Most of these have focused on women and the female gender (Arvey 1988, Diel 2007); to date no one has written an exclusive study of representations of Aztec men. Joyce 2001 addresses representations of both genders, however, and recently we have seen several studies of ambiguous gender, or androgyny, in Aztec art and culture (Klein 2001, Sigal 2011). All of these draw on the vast amount of information in López Austin 1988, a pathbreaking, in-depth analysis of Aztec understandings of the human body and its separate parts.
  168.  
  169. Arvey, Margaret Campbell. “Women of Ill-Repute in the Florentine Codex.” In The Role of Gender in Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture. Edited by Virginia E. Miller, 179–204. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988.
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  171. Examines native artists’ depictions of Aztec “pleasure women” in Sahagún’s Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1950–1982, cited under Illustrated Prose Manuscripts), compares them to Sahagún’s accompanying text, and identifies some possible European pictorial sources for them that point to European bias toward women and sexuality. Helps us, as a result, to understand better how the pre-conquest Aztec thought about women and sex.
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  173. Diel, Lori Boornazian. “Clothing Women: The Female Body in Pre- and Post-Contact Aztec Art.” In Woman and Art in Early Modern Latin America. Edited by Kellen Kee McIntyre and Richard E. Phillips, 221–245. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
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  175. Shows how Aztec manuscript painters working for Spaniards after the conquest quickly departed from their predecessors’ willingness to show the female body as completely or partially naked when appropriate. Pressed to conform to Spanish Catholic notions of female propriety, they either turned the figures to face away from the viewer or covered them with clothing.
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  177. Joyce, Rosemary A. Gender and Power in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
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  179. Analyzes archaeological, textual, and artistic sources among the Maya and the Aztec in particular to elucidate the ways in which gender was conceived of and performed. Chapter 5 (pp. 133–175), “Becoming Human,” focuses on Aztec Tenochtitlan. A good point of entry into the topic.
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  181. Klein, Cecelia F. “None of the Above: Gender Ambiguity in Nahua Ideology.” In Gender in Pre-Hispanic America: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 12 and 13 October 1996. Edited by Cecelia F. Klein, 183–253. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2001.
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  183. Lengthy analysis of iconographic, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence that the Aztec did not think about or respond to androgyny in the same way that modern peoples do. Posits a periodic ceremonial role for people representing both genders, which was viewed by the Aztec as positive and constructive.
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  185. López Austin, Alfredo. The Human Body and Ideology: Concepts of the Ancient Nahuas. 2 vols. Translated by Thelma Ortiz de Montellano and Bernard Ortiz de Montellano. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
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  187. This extensive and important study of Aztec ways of thinking about the body was first published in Spanish 1980 as Cuerpo humano e ideología: Las concepciones de los antiguos Nahuas. The book does not address visual imagery but it does provide a firm foundation for all subsequent studies of Aztec gender.
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  189. Sigal, Pete. The Flower and the Scorpion: Sexuality and Ritual in Early Nahua Culture. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 2011.
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  191. A recent, potentially controversial interpretive study of Aztec sexuality based largely on early colonial texts and illustrations. Written by an ethnohistorian, it explores the issue of ambiguous gender among other topics.
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  193. Reference Works
  194.  
  195. Useful reference works pertaining in part to Aztec art take a variety of forms: encyclopedias (Carrasco 2001, Evans and Webster 2001), collected writings (Seler 1990–1998), handbooks (Wauchope 1964–1976), dictionaries (Miller and Taube 1997, Molina 1970, Siméon 1977), and websites (Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, cited under Data Sources), among others. In contrast to the sources in Data Sources, Mexicolore, the only reference work aimed at beginners, including school children, presents original, beautifully illustrated essays written by leading scholars. All of these resources provide helpful introductions to many complex issues and terms, and some, such as Carrasco 2001, Wauchope 1964–1976, and Seler 1990–1998, should be consulted before pursuing almost any topic in greater depth. As always, the publication date of any reference work should be taken into consideration.
  196.  
  197. Carrasco, Davíd, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
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  199. Contains essays by experts that collectively draw on recent work in archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, history, ethnohistory, and art history. Covers Mesoamerican cultures from the pre-conquest through the colonial and the modern periods. Available online by subscription.
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  201. Evans, Susan Toby, and David L. Webster, eds. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 2001.
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  203. As the title indicates, this work focuses on archaeological finds and understandings of ancient Mesoamerica, including the Aztec. Treats art as an aspect of material culture.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Mexicolore.
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  207. Website established by a London-based team of educators dedicated to disseminating information and teaching resources on Mexico in general, and the Aztec in particular, to schools and museums throughout England. Posted and illustrated short articles by reputable scholars in many countries are constantly updated.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Miller, Mary, and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames & Hudson, 1997.
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  211. Paperback edition of a concise dictionary of Mesoamerican deities and symbols, coauthored by an art historian and an anthropologist, which was originally published by Thames & Hudson in 1993 under the title The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. Good place to start for those researching Aztec religion and religious symbolism.
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  213. Molina, Alonso de. Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana: Por Fray A. de Molina: Estudio preliminar de M. Leon-Portilla. 4th ed. Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1970.
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  215. Compiled by a Spanish Franciscan priest between 1555 and 1571, when it was first published, this dictionary, as its title (“Vocabulary in Spanish and Mexican, and Mexican and Spanish”) indicates, consists of two parts. The first lists Spanish words and provides their Nahuatl equivalents. The second half lists Nahuatl words with their Spanish equivalents.
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  217. Seler, Eduard. Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology/Eduard Seler. 2d ed. 6 vols. Translated and edited by J. Eric S. Thompson and Francis B. Richardson. Frank E. Comparato, general editor. Culver City, CA: Labyrinthos, 1990–1998.
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  219. Set contains reorganized English translations of Seler’s collected writings first published together in Berlin in 1902–1923 and reprinted in Austria in 1960–1961. Thanks to Seler’s prodigious linguistic and iconographic skills, the articles dealing with Aztec art, iconography, religion, calendar systems, rituals, and/or manuscripts provide important insights. Includes an extensive index.
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  221. Siméon, Rémi. Diccionario de la lengua nahuatl o mexicano. Translated by Josefina Olivia de Coll. Edited by Martí Soler and Anhelo Hernández. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1977.
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  223. First published in France in 1885, this translation provides the Spanish rather than the French equivalents of Nahuatl words. Differs from Molina’s dictionary in lacking a section listing Spanish words and their Nahuatl equivalents. Title translates into English as Dictionary of the Nahuatl or Mexican Language.
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  225. Wauchope, Robert, general editor. Handbook of Middle American Indians. 16 vols. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964–1976.
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  227. Of special relevance are Volumes 10–11, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, volume editors Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, and Volumes 12–15, Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, volume editor H. F. Cline. Volume 15 lists the sources cited and artifacts illustrated (volume editor Margaret A. L. Harrison). Seven supplemental volumes have been published as well. Some information is now out of date.
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  229. Data Sources
  230.  
  231. There is a host of websites dedicated to ancient Mesoamerica and the Aztec, but few can be trusted completely. Those listed here are managed by scholars and present information written by reputable scholars. The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI) site includes a variety of information such as codex facsimiles, research reports, and photographic archives devoted to a specific artistic genre. Early colonial Mexican written documents are accessible at the website of the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) posts news items, among other things, whereas Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) provides pdfs of scholarly articles. Mesoweb provides scholarly articles pertaining to the Aztec, high-quality photographs of some Aztec artworks, and links to other websites.
  232.  
  233. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
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  235. This virtual library of Spanish-language documents contains a number of important writings by colonial authors that provide valuable contextual information pertaining to Aztec art.
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  237. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI).
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  239. Now managed by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the FAMSI website provides links to scholarly reports and essays; bibliographies and dictionaries; photographs of the Graz and Loubat codex facsimiles; maps and catalogues; and several important pictorial databanks.
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  241. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).
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  243. Mexico’s INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) has a website that posts written and video news of recent archaeological finds and projects.
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  245. Mesoweb.
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  247. Although primarily aimed at Mayanists, this website includes high-quality photographs of some of the Aztec artworks in the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City as well as a sizable number of articles on the Aztec, most of which are written in Spanish by leading Mexican scholars.
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  249. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
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  251. Some UNAM articles pertaining to the Aztec can be downloaded online.
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  253. Journals and Magazines
  254.  
  255. Many journals and magazines carry articles and/or reviews pertaining to Aztec art. A few can be accessed online. Some are specifically directed toward readers interested in archaeological findings (Archaeology, Arqueología Mexicana, Latin American Antiquity), while others (Ancient Mesoamerica, Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl) aim at a more interdisciplinary readership. The Nahua Newsletter and Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl are unique in being prepared for subscribers specifically interested in the culture and history of Nahuas (Nahuatl speakers), both ancient and modern. The first is what its title implies: a (relatively short) (and interdisciplinary) newsletter. The second is aimed at specialists. Ancient Mesoamerica accepts articles on any Mesoamerican time period and usually contains considerable archaeological content, but it occasionally includes articles on art and iconography, including those of the Aztec. Ethnohistory, which presents research on all of the Americas that is largely based on written documents, tends to devote many of its pages to North American Indian topics. Of those periodicals listed here, only Archaeology and Arqueología Mexicana have color illustrations.
  256.  
  257. Ancient Mesoamerica. 1990–.
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  259. A scholarly, illustrated journal published annually in Cambridge, UK, with an online site containing links to other sources, plans for future issues, and so forth. Contents chiefly concern the Pre-Columbian to early colonial archaeology of Mesoamerica and draw from several disciplines, including ethnohistory, historical archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and art history.
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  261. Archaeology. 1948–.
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  263. A popular bimonthly magazine providing up-to-date coverage of recent archaeological work around the world. Occasionally has material about the Aztec. Published in the United States by the Archaeological Institute of America.
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  265. Arqueología. 1987–.
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  267. A Spanish-language journal published by the Dirección de Monumentos Prehispánicos, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), which often features lengthy articles on Pre-Columbian Mexican artworks. Its contents are not online.
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  269. Arqueología Mexicana. 1993–.
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  271. Popular bimonthly Spanish-language magazine published in Mexico City with the support of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes and the INAH. Contains news of the most recent archaeological discoveries and short, well-illustrated articles by leading scholars. Special editions are occasionally issued.
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  273. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl. 1959–.
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  275. Published annually by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (with a few issues having been skipped), this predominantly Spanish-language periodical contains articles pertaining to Nahua culture, past and present, by scholars around the world. Many articles focus on post-conquest Nahua literature.
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  277. Ethnohistory. 1954–.
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  279. Published by the Society for American Ethnohistory, this quarterly scholarly journal features articles, review essays, and book reviews based on written sources on the history, anthropology, and art history of indigenous American groups. Seldom contains many, if any, illustrations. Those it includes are black and white.
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  281. Latin American Antiquity. 1990–.
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  283. Like the journal American Antiquity (not listed here), this quarterly journal is published by the Society for American Archaeology. It tends to feature articles and reviews on pre-conquest Mesoamerica that have been written by archaeologists. Illustrated in black and white.
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  285. Nahua Newsletter 1986–.
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  287. Published with support from the Department of Anthropology, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, this biannual newsletter is now available only online. It is devoted almost entirely to essays, field reports, and reviews pertaining to past and present Nahua culture.
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  289. Manuscripts
  290.  
  291. Like many Mesoamerican peoples, the Aztec are known to have recorded historical, calendrical, divinatory, and astronomical information on screen-folded sheets of animal hide or beaten bark paper. After the conquest native artists helped to illustrate some of the colonial prose manuscripts that were handwritten by Spaniards in central Mexico. These manuscripts were formatted like a European book and their pages were made of paper. Fortunately for scholars, some of the colonial books were amply illustrated by anonymous native artists whose pictures, despite clear evidence of European pictorial conventions and biases, retain many pre-conquest features. As such, they provide an abundance of information about Aztec culture and painting. Some can be accessed online; see Amoxcalli listed under Pictorial Manuscripts and FAMSI, cited under Data Sources.
  292.  
  293. Censuses
  294.  
  295. Several useful catalogues, or “censuses,” of colonial Mesoamerican manuscripts are available to scholars, many of them pertaining to the Aztec. Two of the most important can be found in Volumes 14–15 of the Handbook of Middle American Indians (Wauchope 1964–1976, cited under Reference Works): Glass and Robertson 1975 and Gibson and Glass 1975.
  296.  
  297. Gibson, Charles, and John B. Glass. “A Census of Middle American Prose Manuscripts in the Native Historical Tradition.” In Handbook of Middle American Indians. Vol. 15, Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Part 3. Edited by Howard F. Cline, Charles Gibson, and H. B. Nicholson, 322–400. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975.
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  299. Volume 15 of the Handbook contains a survey of Mesoamerican prose manuscripts, which is written by Charles Gibson, and a census of same written by Gibson and John B. Glass. Also includes a checklist compiled by Glass of institutional holdings in Europe and the Americas. As in Volume 14, the entries are arranged alphabetically.
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  301. Glass, John B. In collaboration with Donald Robertson. “A Census of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts.” In Handbook of Middle American Indians. Vol. 14, Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Part 3. Edited by Howard F. Cline, Charles Gibson, and H. B. Nicholson, 81–252. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975.
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  303. Includes a discussion, classification, and regional survey of native Middle American (Mesoamerican) pictorial manuscripts, or “codices,” by John B. Glass, as well as a census of same by Glass in collaboration with Donald Robertson. The manuscripts date to both the pre- and post-conquest periods and are listed in alphabetical order by their current name.
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  305. Pictorial Manuscripts
  306.  
  307. Referred to today as pictorial manuscripts or codices (the latter a misnomer), pre-conquest Mesoamerican screenfolds, painted on folded strips of bark paper or animal hide, conveyed information by means of painted pictures of human and animal figures that were attended by signs, or “glyphs,” in the indigenous writing system. Unfortunately, most scholars agree that only one demonstrably preconquest Aztec manuscript, or “codex,” survived the book burnings ordered by the earliest Spanish administrators and clergy in central Mexico (but see Robertson 1994). Most scholars concur that the lone exception, a manuscript known today as the Codex Borgia, was not painted in or near the Aztec capital, but to the east, in neighboring Puebla or Tlaxcala (but see Cassidy 2010). In addition to Codex Borgia, however, we have a number of post-conquest pictorial manuscripts that were painted by descendants of the Aztec. Too numerous to list here, they include, among others, Codex Borbonicus; Codex Boturini (Tira de la peregrinación); the Aubin Tonalámatl; Codex Mendoza and the related Matrícula de Tributo; Codex Magliabechiano and its cognates, Codex Tudela (Codice de Museo de America), Codex Ixtlilxochitl, and Codex Veytia; and Codex Telleriano-Remensis and its cognate Codex Vaticanus 3738 (Codex Ríos, Codex Vaticanus A). An illustrated overview of many of these pictorials is found in Aguilera 2001 and Boone 1992 presents a concise, easy-to-read introduction to them. Boone 2000 and Boone 2007, building on Robertson 1994, contain in-depth analyses of their contents and format. Because many of the pictorials contain annotations and/or commentary written in Spanish, and were prepared for Spanish patrons, readers must be alert to European influence, bias, and misunderstanding. Nonetheless, when approached with caution, all of these manuscripts can be used to help us begin to envision the appearance and content of pre-conquest Aztec manuscripts as well as to understand Aztec culture better. A number of high-quality color codex facsimiles, some accompanied by a scholarly commentary, were published in its Codices Selecti series by the Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) in Graz, Austria. The Fondo de Cultura Económica in Mexico City has since published a series of less expensive facsimiles together with extensive, Spanish-language commentaries by leading scholars, chief among them Ferdinand Anders and Maarten Jansen. Although many of these are no longer available for purchase, some of the facsimiles can be accessed online at Amoxcalli and FAMSI.
  308.  
  309. Aguilera, Carmen. Códices de México. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2001.
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  311. In addition to introductory chapters covering the materials, artists, content, and condition of the “codices,” this book contains short descriptions of approximately sixty pictorial manuscripts, both pre- and post-conquest, from places throughout Mesoamerica. Many are from central Mexico. Sixty-nine full-page color plates appear at the back.
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  313. Amoxcalli.
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  315. Studies and facsimiles of a number of Mexican manuscripts are available at the Amoxcalli website.
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  317. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. “Pictorial Codices of Ancient Mexico.” In The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes. Edited by Richard F. Townsend, 196–210. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1992.
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  319. A short but very readable introduction to the subject of pictorial manuscripts. Suitable for undergraduates.
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  321. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Stories in Red and Black: Pictorial Histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
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  323. In this definitive, well-illustrated book, Boone treats in depth Aztec and Mixtec modes of recording history, analyzes the native practice of writing with images, studies ways in which the histories are structured, and identifies and discusses some of the different types of painted histories, including genealogies, lienzos, tiras, and annals.
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  325. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007.
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  327. This volume focuses on painted calendrical almanacs in pre- and post-conquest pictorial manuscripts, including the Codex Borgia. Examines the various ways in which the almanacs are structured, how their imagery communicates to the viewer, and what it tells us about pre-conquest ritual and divinatory practices. Contains numerous illustrations and tables.
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  329. Cassidy, Anne Walke. “The Borgia Group Manuscripts: Postclassic Workshop Creations and a Social Network.” Latin American Indian Literatures Journal 26.1 (Spring 2010): 59–98.
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  331. Condensed version of the author’s 2004 Columbia University dissertation, which is based on a personal examination of the original manuscript in the Apostolic Library of the Vatican as well as on ethnohistorical research into its possible production, provenance, and purpose. As a counter to Boone 2007 and others, Cassidy thinks that the codex could have been painted in or near Tenochtitlan.
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  333. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI).
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  335. FAMSI (also cited under Data Sources) posts photographs of the Graz (ADEVA) and duc de Loubat codex facsimiles, as well as John Pohl’s illustrated discussions of “Highland Mexico Codices” and the “Borgia Group Codices.” The site also offers “The Ancient Maya Codices” by Randa Marhenki.
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  337. Robertson, Donald. Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period: The Metropolitan Schools. Foreword by Elizabeth H. Boone. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
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  339. This volume contains Robertson’s original text of 1959 brought up to date in the foreword by Elizabeth H. Boone. Robertson’s book was the first in-depth, comprehensive study of Mexican manuscripts, making important strides toward classifying the manuscripts by type and contextualizing them in space and time.
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  341. Illustrated Prose Manuscripts
  342.  
  343. There are five 16th-century Spanish prose manuscripts that contain an exceptionally large number of illustrations almost certainly painted by native artists working in or near the former Aztec capital. Two were written by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún, whose first illustrated manuscript (Sahagún 1993, Sullivan 1997) served as a source for parts of his later, much longer opus known as the Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1950–1982, Sahagún 1979), a pioneering, multivolume work modeled after the medieval encyclopedia that covers many aspects of Aztec history and culture. Three other heavily illustrated colonial sources were penned by a Dominican raised from childhood in Tezcoco, one of the cities that made up the Triple Alliance. Like Sahagún, Diego Durán (Durán 1971, Durán 1994) spoke and wrote Nahuatl, taking verbal and pictorial testimony from elderly native informants as a means to understanding better the people he was charged with converting to the Roman Catholic faith. When screened for possible bias and misunderstanding, the illustrations in these sources, like Sahagún’s text written in alphabetic script, can provide invaluable information about the Aztec before the conquest, including information about their artistic conventions and techniques.
  344.  
  345. Durán, Diego. Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar by Fray Diego Durán. Translated and edited by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.
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  347. Combines translations of two very important Spanish-language works by Durán, one on Aztec gods and rites that was written in 1574–1576, and another on the Aztec calendar, written in 1579. All fifty-five of Durán’s illustrations appear in black and white with seven reproduced in color as well. Foreword by Miguel León-Portilla.
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  349. Durán, Diego. The History of the Indies of New Spain by Fray Diego Durán. Translated by Doris Heyden. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
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  351. Written in Spanish around 1563, this detailed history of the Aztec lay forgotten in Madrid until the 1850s, when a copy was made for a library in Mexico City. In the original, the sixty-two color illustrations are grouped at the back in a section often referred to as the “Atlas.” In this edition, with the exception of the frontispiece, they appear in black in white. Includes annotations and introduction by Doris Heyden.
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  353. Sahagún, Bernardino de. General History of the Things of New Spain: Florentine Codex. 13 vols. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1950–1982.
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  355. This is the definitive English translation of the Nahuatl text in Sahagún’s major bilingual (Nahuatl and Spanish) opus, Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, which was written between 1575 and 1577. Unlike the original, illustrations in this edition are small, black and white, and gathered together in one place in each volume.
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  357. Sahagún, Bernardino de. Codice Florentino: Manuscrito 218–220 de la Colección Palatina de la Biblioteca Medicca Laurenziana 3. 3 vols. Mexico City: Secretaría de Gobernnación, 1979.
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  359. This is the only complete printed color facsimile edition of the Florentine Codex, which is housed in the Laurentian Medici Library in Florence. It contains no preface, introduction, translation, or commentary. The title page of the original is missing.
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  361. Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de. Primeros memoriales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
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  363. This slim but substantially illustrated treatise covers aspects of Aztec religion, cosmography, rulership, and “Things Relative to Man” (folios 82r–83v, 68r–69r, 72r–80r, 69r, 81r–81v, 70r–71r—in that order). Based on testimony by local Nahua elders, it was compiled in Tepepolco (today Tepeapulco), Hidalgo, in 1560. Today it resides in Madrid. Photography by Ferdinand Anders. Facsimile edition.
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  365. Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press, 2009.
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  367. A complete facsimile of the original document available as a boxed set of sixteen DVDs.
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  369. Sullivan, Thelma, trans. Primeros memoriales by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, in Cooperation with the Patrimonio Nacional and the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 1997.
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  371. Completed and revised, with additions, by H. B. Nicholson, Arthur J. O. Anderson, Charles E. Dibble, Eloise Quiñones Keber, and Wayne Ruwet. This collective effort made available for the first time with Thelma Sullivan’s complete paleography and English translation of the text and glosses in the Primeros memoriales. Her translation of the section titled “Things Relative to Man” appears on pp. 251–298.
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  373. Text–Image Relationships
  374.  
  375. Because Aztec glyphs were often entirely or partly pictographic, and Aztec figural images can sometimes be “read” like a language, recent years have seen an increasing number of published analyses of the relation of text to image in Aztec manuscripts and relief sculptures. Prem 1992 provides a clear and concise introduction to the Aztec writing system and Boone 2004 discusses, in a similarly easy-to-read manner, the evidence that the Aztec “wrote” with pictures just as pictures often functioned like words, a point further substantiated in Dabrowska 2010 and Johansson 2004.
  376.  
  377. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. “Beyond Writing.” In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Edited by Stephen D. Houston, 313–338. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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  379. Short, clearly written, and nicely illustrated, this is one of a number of writings by the author that address the problem of Aztec text-image relationships. Shows that Aztec art and script cannot be completely separated.
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  381. Dabrowska, Katarzyna Mikulska. “‘Secret Language’ in Oral and Graphic Form: Religious-Magic Discourses in Aztec Speeches and Manuscripts.” Oral Traditions 25.2 (2010): 325–363.
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  383. Presents a complicated argument, not for beginners, that Aztec graphic forms referring to the supernatural world contain modified elements of speech. Addressed to the gods, pictures can function like a “secret language.”
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  385. Johansson K., Patrick. “La relación palabra/imagen en los codices nahuas.” Arqueología Mexicana 12.70 (November–December 2004): 44–49.
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  387. With a title translating as “The word–image relationship in the Nahua codices,” this is a short but knowledgeable treatment of the text–image problem as it pertains to Aztec pictorials.
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  389. Prem, Hanns J. “Aztec Writing.” In Epigraphy. Robert Wauchope, general editor. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians. Vol 5: Epigraphy. Edited by Victoria R. Bricker, 104–118. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.
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  391. Lays out, in a clear manner, basic information about the structure and function of Aztec signs, or “glyphs.” A good introduction to the Aztec writing system.
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  393. Urban Planning
  394.  
  395. Because present-day Mexican towns and cities lie on top of pre-conquest Aztec communities, usually making excavation impossible, it is difficult to generalize about Aztec urban planning. Most of our knowledge about Aztec city planning pertains to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, but the density and extent of that modern city have precluded excavation of most of the area. To complicate matters, no pre-conquest Aztec maps and city plans have survived. Much of our information on the original size, shape, and spatial arrangements of Tenochtitlan and other Aztec sites must therefore be gleaned from colonial written sources and a discriminating study of early colonial maps. Important among the latter are the maps found in the Relaciones geográficas (Acuña 1985–1986, Mundy 1998), colonial compendia of information about the local geography, populations, histories, and customs of formerly native villages, towns, and cities that were compiled between 1579 and 1586 at the order of the Spanish Crown. An overview of the state of our knowledge about Aztec urban planning can be found in Nichols 2004 and Smith 2008.
  396.  
  397. Acuña, René, ed. Relaciones geográfias del siglo XVI. Vols. 6–8, Relaciones geográfias del siglo XVI: Mexico. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1985–1986.
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  399. Geographic reports of the 16th century: Mexico. These three volumes of the Relaciones contain reports, based on local answers to a set of prescribed questions, on many 16th-century Nahua towns and cities. A few of the reports include maps, made after the conquest by native artists, of a particular region, town, or city.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Mundy, Barbara E. “Mesoamerican Cartography.” In Cartography in the Traditional African, American Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies. Vol. 2, Book 3, The History of Cartography. Edited by David Woodward and G. Malcolm Lewis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
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  403. Detailed overview of our current knowledge of pre- and post-conquest Mesoamerican cartography.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Nichols, Deborah L. “The Rural and Urban Landscapes of the Aztec State.” In Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Julia A. Hendon and Rosemary A. Joyce, 265–295. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.
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  407. Provides a broad view of Aztec settlement planning, population distribution, and levels of social complexity drawn from archaeology as well as ethnohistory. Refers not only to communities in the Valley of Mexico, but to some well outside the valley as well.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Smith, Michael E. Aztec City-State Capitals. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.
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  411. Comprehensive overview of current knowledge of Aztec cities, urban layouts, and public architecture in the Valley of Mexico and beyond, including the modern state of Morelos, where the author excavated for many years. A condensed version suitable for undergraduates can be found in the Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, 2d ed. (Berlin and New York: Springer, 2008).
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Beyond Tenochtitlan
  414.  
  415. With one exception there are no sources that focus exclusively on the urban layout of a single Aztec town or city other than Tenochtitlan. This is due in part to the fact that most archaeological work at Aztec communities on the mainland is relatively recent. The exception concerns Tenochtitlan’s immediate neighbor on the island, Tlatelolco (González Rul 1998). For additional information on city planning outside of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco, see Nichols 2004 and Smith 2008 (both cited under Urban Planning).
  416.  
  417. González Rul, Francisco. Urbanismo y arquitectura en Tlatelolco. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1998.
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  419. One of three detailed reports on the second season of archaeological work at Tlatelolco, “Urbanism and architecture in Tlatelolco” combines a discussion of architecture at Tlatelolco with an examination of the urban plan of that site. The report is illustrated with numerous foldout maps and plans.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Tenochtitlan
  422.  
  423. Current understandings of the size, shape, and internal physical and social arrangement of the Aztec capital come from combining conquest-period Spanish eyewitness accounts (León y Gama 1927), early colonial maps and archival documents (Calnek 2003; Gonzalez Aparicio 1980; Lombardo de Ruiz 1973; Toussaint, et al. 1990), archaeology and land surveys (Matos Moctezuma 2006, Sanders 2003), and frank speculation. Because some aspects of the problem cannot be definitively resolved, the city plans that scholars publish do not always agree on every point.
  424.  
  425. Calnek, Edward. “Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco: The Natural History of a City.” In Urbanism in Mesoamerica. Vol. 1. Edited by William T. Sanders, Alba Guadelupe Mastache, and Robert H. Cobean, 149–202. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania State University, 2003.
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  427. English-Spanish text copublished by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City that presents an up-to-date discussion of the probable dimensions and administrative arrangement of the Aztec capital and Tlatelolco. Locates the major causeways connecting the island to the mainland; the main streets and canals; and the principal areas of chinampa (raised field) cultivation.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Gonzalez Aparicio, Luis. Plano reconstructivo de la region Tenochtitlan. 2d ed. Mexico City: Secretária de Educación Pública/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1980.
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  431. Its title translating as “Reconstruction of the plan of the Tenochtitlan region,” this is a pioneering study of the conquest-period Valley of Mexico, first published in 1973, which includes a large foldout map of the Valley of Mexico at the time of the conquest.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. León y Gama, Antonio de. “Descripción de la ciudad de México antes y después de la llegada de los conquistadores españoles.” Revista Mexicana de Estudios Históricos 1 (1927): 8–58.
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  435. Containing a “Description of Mexico City before and after the arrival of the Spanish conquerors,” this study offers a detailed discussion of descriptions of Tenochtitlan written by colonial authors.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Lombardo de Ruiz, Sonia. Desarrollo urbano de México-Tenochtitlan según las Fuentes históricos. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Departamento de Investigaciones Históricas, 1973.
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  439. The first part of “Urban development of Mexico-Tenochtitlan according to the historical sources” traces the history of the city’s urban development while Part 2 examines its various ethnic, administrative, and public service sections. Includes a few black-and-white illustrations.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. Tenochtitlan. Mexico City: El Colegio de México/Fideicomiso Historia de las Américas/Fondo de Cultural Económica, 2006.
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  443. A small, illustrated book about the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan that discusses, among many other things, the arrangement of the city in relation to Aztec concepts of sacred space.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Sanders, William T. “The Population of Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco.” In Urbanism in Mesoamerica. Vol. 1. Edited by William T. Sanders, Alba Guadalupe Mastache, and Robert H. Cobean, 203–216. Philadelphia and Mexico: Pennsylvania State University/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2003.
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  447. Proposes, using bilingual, English-Spanish text, approximate measurements of the island on which Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco were built, and estimates the size of the island’s population, broken down by social class and location within the city.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Toussaint, Manuel, Federico Gomez de Orozco, and Justino Fernandez. Planos de la Ciudad de México siglos XVI y XVII: Estudio histórico, urbanistico y bibliográfico. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Departamento del Distrito Federal, 1990.
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  451. Reprint of the original 1938 edition of a still important compilation and analysis of early colonial maps and plans of Tenochtitlan, the title of which translates as “Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Plans of Mexico City.” Contains reproductions of the maps and a bibliography for each one.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Architecture
  454.  
  455. To date there is no in-depth, comprehensive book-length study of Aztec architecture. Instead, most discussions of the subject are part of a broader study of Mesoamerican or Pre-Columbian architecture (Marquina 1990, Uriarte and Vit Suzan 2009). Ongoing excavations at Aztec sites, in particular, Tenochtitlan, are constantly expanding our repertoire of known Aztec structures, however. Up-to-date information on these can be found in the magazine Arqueología Mexicana cited under Journals and Magazines, miscellaneous publications from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), and postings on the INAH website cited under Data Sources. With archaeologists increasingly choosing to work at Aztec sites on the mainland, we are coming to know more about architecture in rural towns and cities beyond the capital; see especially Smith 2008 (listed under Urban Planning).
  456.  
  457. Marquina, Ignacio. Arquitectura prehispánica. 2d rev. ed. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia/Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1990.
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  459. “Prehispanic architecture” is a facsimile edition of the original 1951 publication. It contains what are still the best discussions, drawings, and plans of major Aztec structures at a number of sites. Later works on Aztec architecture often reproduce the plans and drawings in this volume.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Uriarte, María Teresa, and Ilán Vit Suzan. “Desarrollo arquitectónico en el Altipano Central.” In La Arquitectura precolombina en Mesoamérica. Edited by María Teresa Uriarte, 83–119. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2009.
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  463. Though the text devoted to Aztec architecture in “Architectural development in the central highlands,” is brief, the color photographs of important Aztec buildings are a rarity.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Beyond Tenochtitlan
  466.  
  467. There are a number of studies of Aztec architecture that focus on a single Aztec site (González Rul 1998 [Tlatelolco]; Secretaría de Educación Pública/Departmento de Monumentos 1935 [Tenayuca]; Solís, et al. 2006 [Cholula]; Townsend 1982 [Malinalco]). Others look at a single building or a small group of buildings (Elson 1999, Evans 1991). Elson 1999 and Evans 1991 represent a current trend among Mesoamericanists to focus on larger buildings that appear to have served as royal or noble residences and administrative buildings. Among the Aztec, a building of this kind was called a tecpan.
  468.  
  469. Elson, Christina M. “An Aztec Palace at Chiconautla.” Latin American Antiquity 10.2 (1999): 155–167.
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  471. Focuses on a building excavated by George Vaillant in 1935 at an Aztec site on the north shore of Lake Texcoco. On the basis of her own survey of the remains of the structure and its associated artifacts, the author confirms Vaillant’s opinion that it was an elite residence and discusses some of the activities that probably took place there.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Evans, Susan T. “Architecture and Authority in an Aztec Village: Form and Function of the Tecpan.” Paper presented at a symposium organized for the Forty-fifth International Congress of Americanists held in Bogotá, Colombia, in July 1985. In Land and Politics in the Valley of Mexico: A Two-thousand Year Perspective. Edited by H. R. Harvey, 63–92. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.
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  475. Evans has excavated several sites in the Teotihuacan Valley northeast of Tenochtitlan. This article describes a building at an Aztec site called Cihuatecpan, which Evans shows was probably a palace (tecpan).
  476. Find this resource:
  477. González Rul, Francisco. Urbanismo y arquitectura en Tlatelolco. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1998.
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  479. One of three detailed reports on the second season of archaeological work at Tlatelolco, “Urbanism and architecture in Tlatelolco” is illustrated with numerous foldout maps and plans.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Secretaría de Educación Pública/Departmento de Monumentos. Tenayuca: Estudio arqueológico de la pirámide de este lugar, hecho por el Departamento de Monumentos de la Secretaría de Educación Mexico. Mexico City: Talleres Gráficos del Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Ethnografia, 1935.
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  483. “Tenayuca: Archaeological study of the pyramid at this place made by the Department of Monuments of the Secretary of Education” is a monumental compilation of essays written by major Mexican scholars on various aspects of excavators’ findings at the Aztec site of Tenayuca, today a suburb of Mexico City.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Solís, Felipe, Gabriela Uruñuela, Patricia Plunket, Martín Cruz, and Dionisio Rodríguez. The Great Pyramid: Cholula. Mexico City: Grupo Azabache: CONACULTA-INAH, 2006.
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  487. The scholarly essays in this extensively illustrated book about the largest, and one of the two most sacred, structures in Mexico at the time of the conquest address its mythic and construction histories, murals, and ceramics, as well as providing a historiography of the literature on the pyramid.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Townsend, Richard F. “Malinalco and the Lords of Tenochtitlan.” In The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico: Proceedings of a Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 22 and 23, 1977. Edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, 111–140. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Library & Research Collections, 1982.
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  491. Looks at the unusual architecture and sculpture at Malinalco, a Matlatzinca town under the control of the Aztec government headquartered in Tenochtitlan, to understand how they functioned to create a setting for Aztec rituals laying claim to the area. A clearly written introduction to this site.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Tenochtitlan
  494.  
  495. Much has been written about the architecture of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan but most of it focuses on the central part of the city, where the largest and most important religious and administrative buildings were located. Colonial writers describe some of those buildings and a few colonial manuscripts contain native artists’ depictions of a few of them. Prior to 1978 there were also some random finds made in the course of burrowing beneath the city to install, first, a drain pipe and, later on, a subway line. Our knowledge of the central section of Tenochtitlan has since been greatly augmented by the extensive excavations conducted there since the 1978 discovery of the famous stone monument known as Coyolxauhqui III. Information on the houses and properties of commoners is scant by comparison, but Bernardino de Sahagún 1950–1982 (cited under Illustrated Prose Manuscripts) does illustrate a few commoner houses and is our best ethnohistorical source of information on Aztec architecture in general.
  496.  
  497. Main Ceremonial Precinct
  498.  
  499. Ongoing archaeological work at the site where the Aztec constructed their most important religious and administrative buildings has changed our understanding of the structures’ exact locations, ground plans, and, in some cases, decoration. Because this work is continuing, it is important to consult the most recent reports on archaeologists’ findings. One important source is the magazine Arqueología Mexicana (cited under Journals and Magazines). Two recent reports appear in Barrera Rodríguez 2006 and Matos Moctezuma 2003. Both authors have led excavations in the main ceremonial precinct.
  500.  
  501. Barrera Rodríguez, Raul. “Excavaciones recientes del recinto sagrado de Tenochtitlan.” In Arqueología e historia en el Centro de México: Homenaje a Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Paper originally presented at a conference in honor of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, organized by INAH and Harvard University, and held 20 and 24 October 2003 at the Museo Nacional de Antropología. Edited by Leonardo López Luján, Davíd Carrasco, and Lourdes Cué, 273–289. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2006.
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  503. “Recent excavations at the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan” provides an update, as of 2005, on archaeological finds within the area that was once the location of the main ceremonial precinct of Tenochtitlan.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. “Buildings in the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan.” In Urbanism in Mesoamerica. Edited by William T. Sanders, Alba G. Mastache, and Robert H. Cobean, 119–147. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.
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  507. In this 2003 bilingual, English-Spanish overview of the main ceremonial precinct, Matos Moctezuma discusses the most recent archaeological evidence of the locations of many of the most important Aztec structures.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Templo Mayor (Great Temple)
  510.  
  511. Without any doubt, the most important building in the minds of those who governed the Aztec empire was the giant twin-temple pyramid known today as the Templo Mayor, or “Great Temple,” which is still usually referred to by its Spanish name. At the time of the conquest, the Templo Mayor dominated the main ceremonial precinct in Tenochtitlan. For well more than a century, Aztec rulers had, in turn, enlarged and partially or entirely overbuilt their predecessor’s structure in order to reflect their own greatness and superiority, as well as the glory and might of the imperial government. Because the Spaniards, on arriving in Tenochtitlan, razed the temple, destroying all but the floors and/or foundations of the earlier construction stages beneath it—and because they built their own, colonial structures on top of it—little was known about the Templo Mayor until the excavations initiated in 1978. Prior to that time, scholars largely depended on conquerors’ eyewitness descriptions of the building, the few depictions of Aztec twin-temple-pyramids that were created after the conquest by native artists, and archaeological reports of other Aztec temple-pyramids such as the one at Tenayuca (see Architecture: Beyond Tenochtitlan). Boone 1987, which presents the proceedings of an important symposium held in 1983, contains specialized scholarly essays addressing a variety of these issues, including the history of investigation of the building up to that year. Broda, et al. 1987 and Matos Moctezuma 1988 provide shorter, clearly written, and nicely illustrated introductions to the subject. Although they were written more than twenty years ago, a fact that would have to be accommodated, they could be useful to undergraduates. Sanders 2006 brings the subject further up to date. Many authors include discussions of the hundreds of cached offerings, which collectively contained thousands of objects that were buried in the foundations of the Templo Mayor (Boone 1987; Broda, et al. 1987). To date the definitive source on the offerings is López Luján 2005. A monumental study recently published in Mexico (López Austin and López Luján 2009) gathers all of this information together in order to speculate on the building’s symbolism. Today we know much more about the Templo Mayor than we once did and, because work continues at the site, we are likely to know more in the future.
  512.  
  513. Boone, Elizabeth Hill, ed. The Aztec Templo Mayor: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1983. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1987.
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  515. Contains articles by leading US and Mexican scholars that present the state of our knowledge, as of 1983, regarding the history, architecture, offerings, symbolism, and functions of the Templo Mayor. Five of the essays were written by art historians. Intended primarily for scholars.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Broda, Johanna, Davíd Carrasco, and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan: Center and Periphery in the Aztec World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
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  519. Discusses the history, interpretation, and symbolism of the Templo Mayor. A clearly written, well-illustrated introduction to the building that would be suitable for undergraduates.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. López Austin, Alfredo, and Leonardo López Luján. Monte Sagrado-Templo Mayor: El cerro y la pirámida en la tradición religiosa mesoaméricana. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2009.
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  523. “Sacred mountain-Templo Mayor: The mountain and the pyramid in Mesoamerican religious tradition” is a monumental study that argues that the Templo Mayor symbolized a cosmic mountain. Coauthored by the two lead excavators of the site, it presents the most complete and up-to-date descriptions of the building that we have.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. López Luján, Leonardo. The Offerings of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan. Translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano. Rev. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
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  527. Revised edition of a 1993 Spanish text, titled Las ofrendas del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan, offers a thorough report on the many offerings found in the buildings’ ruins. In addition to describing and classifying the offerings and diagramming their locations, the author analyzes their apparent meanings.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. The Great Temple of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. Translated by Doris Heyden. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988.
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  531. A profusely illustrated book presenting the state of the excavations of the building as of 1988. Discusses the offerings found in it as well as its mythic and cosmological symbolism. Written by the first archaeologist to lead the excavation of the building.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Sanders, William T. “The Templo Mayor: History and Archaeology.” Paper originally presented at a conference in honor of Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, held 20 and 24 October 2003 at the Museo Nacional de Antropología. In Arqueología e historia en el Centro de México: Homenaje a Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Edited by Leonardo López Luján, Davíd Carrasco, and Lourdes Cué, 291–304. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2006.
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  535. A good, if short, bilingual English-Spanish overview of the state of our knowledge of the Templo Mayor as of 2006.
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  537. House of the Eagles
  538.  
  539. A number of structures other than the Templo Mayor have been excavated in the area that once served as the Aztec’s main ceremonial precinct. Many of these have been identified on the basis of descriptions of them in the ethnohistorical sources. Among them are the calmecac, or school for aristocratic children; the so-called Red Temple; the temple dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca, the Temple of the Sun; and most recently, the circular-plan Temple of the god Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. The building that has received the most attention, however, is the Casa de las Águilas, or House of the Eagles, which is located directly to the north of the Templo Mayor. Like the Templo Mayor, the House of the Eagles was overbuilt and enlarged several times. At one point the building was decorated with murals (now lost) and painted sculptures in stone, stucco, and clay (see Large, Hollow Clay Sculptures). The most comprehensive and informed source on the House of the Eagles is López Luján 2006, by the archaeologist who led the excavation of the building.
  540.  
  541. López Luján, Leonardo. Casa de la Águilas: Un ejemplo de arquitectura sacra mexica. 2 vols. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2006.
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  543. Volume 1 of “House of the Eagles: An example of Mexica sacred architecture” is the definitive study of this building. It addresses the history of the excavation, as well as the building’s construction history; sculptures; mural paintings; artifacts; offerings; and functions. Volume 2 contains a catalogue of the operations and offerings, a glossary, and the illustrations, which are black and white.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Murals
  546.  
  547. Although we know that the Aztec often decorated walls with mural paintings, not many of those murals have survived. Nor to date has anyone written a comprehensive study of Aztec murals. Thus many discussions of Aztec murals are found within broader discussions of the site or the building where they were discovered. An example is Miguel Ángel Fernández’s article on the murals at Tenayuca, which appears in Secretaría de Educación Pública/Departmento de Monumentos 1935 (cited under Architecture: Beyond Tenochtitlan). Solís 1995 provides a short overview of the state of our knowledge of Aztec murals as of 1995, whereas Boone 1982 looks at the formal characteristics of Aztec painting that distinguish it from other, contemporary painting styles.
  548.  
  549. Boone, Elizabeth Hill. “Towards a More Precise Definition of the Aztec Painting Style.” In Pre-Columbian Art History: Selected Readings. Edited by Alana Cordy-Collins, 153–168. Palo Alto, CA: Peek, 1982.
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  551. Analyzes the proportions and details of figures depicted in both murals and pictorial manuscripts painted by the Aztec and contrasts them with figures in other Mixteca-Puebla style manuscripts. Defines the Aztec painting style as a distinct substyle of the Mixteca-Puebla style. See also Boone 2000 and Boone 2007 (cited under Pictorial Manuscripts).
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Solís, Felipe. “Pintura mural en el Altiplano central.” Arqueología Mexicana 3.16 (November–December 1995): 30–35.
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  555. Although short, “Mural painting in the central highlands” presents excellent color photographs of the now lost mural at Malinalco, as well as murals at Tizatlán, Tenayuca, and the Templo Mayor.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Tenochtitlan
  558.  
  559. The majority of articles on Aztec murals report on and interpret murals at a particular site. The few murals found in the ruins of Tenochtitlan are located in the main ceremonial precinct. They include those decorating the earliest known construction stage (Stage II) of the Templo Mayor, where they appear on the outer and inner facade of its northern temple dedicated to the rain and vegetation god Tlaloc, and those now lost murals that once decorated the interior walls of the House of the Eagles (see López Luján 2006, cited under House of the Eagles). The most comprehensive recent study of Aztec mural painting—López Luján, et al. 2005—reflects the recent interest in the pigments and colors used for some of the murals and sculptures.
  560.  
  561. López Luján, Leonardo, Giacomo Chiari, Alfredo López Austin, and Fernando Carrizosa. “Linea y color en Tenochtitlan: Escultura policromada y pintura mural en el recinto sagrado de la capital mexica.” Estudios de Cultural Nahautl 36 (2005): 15–45.
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  563. “Line and color in Tenochtitlan: Polychrome sculpture and mural painting in the sacred precinct of the Mexica capital” is a study of the sources for, and placement of, paint colors used in the decoration of some of the sculptures in the main precinct and in the wall murals at the Templo Mayor and House of the Eagles.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Tlatelolco
  566.  
  567. In 1987 a partially preserved Aztec mural was found at the Templo Calendárico (Temple of the Calendar) in the Plaza de los Tres Culturas (Plaza of the Three Cultures) in Tlatelolco, the city that shared the island on which Tenochtitlan was built. The archaeologist who made the discovery has published the most important reports of the find and interpretations of the mural’s subject matter (Guilliem Arroyo 1991, Guilliem Arroyo 1998).
  568.  
  569. Guilliem Arroyo, Salvador. “Discovery of a Painted Mural at Tlatelolco.” In To Change Place: Ceremonial Landscapes. Edited by Davíd Carrasco, 20–25. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1991.
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  571. This first printed report of the Tlatelolco mural, which describes its location and main features, includes a black and gray drawing of the mural. Proposes that it represents the deities Cipactonal and his consort Oxomoco as the creators of the Aztec calendar. (Reprinted in paperback in 1998 in Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes).
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Guilliem Arroyo, Salvador. “El Templo Calendárico de México-Tlatelolco.” Arqueología Mexicana 6.34 (November–December 1998): 46–53.
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  575. “The Temple of the Calendar of Mexico-Tlatelolco” includes a color photograph and a diagram of the mural there, arguing that it depicts the creator pair Cipactonal and Oxomoco.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. Malinalco
  578.  
  579. The first relatively well preserved Aztec mural to be discovered is no longer extant; it was found in the 1930s on an interior wall of a rock-carved temple known today as Structure III, at Malinalco, an Aztec outpost well to the south of Lake Texcoco. A color painting of what remained of the mural was made for the site’s first excavator, José García Payón, before it disappeared. It appears, together with a report on its architectural and historical context, in García Payón 1974. A reproduction of García Payón’s painting appears in Marquina 1990 (cited under Architecture), and in Solís 1995 (cited under Murals).
  580.  
  581. García Payón, José, ed. Los monumentos arqueológicos de Malinalco: Commemoración del sesquicentenario de la erección del Estado de México, 1824–1974. Ed. preparada por María Colín. Mexico City: Biblioteca Enciclopédica del Estado de México, 1974.
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  583. “The archaeological monuments of Malinalco: Commemoration of the one hundred and fifty year anniversary of the foundation of the State of Mexico, 1824–1974” is a reprint of the original study in the Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos 8 (1946): 5–63. Contains a color foldout of the author’s copy of the Malinalco mural as well as a detailed discussion of its context and possible subject matter.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Tizatlán and Ocotelulco
  586.  
  587. Painted altars have been found at two sites in the present-day state of Tlaxcala, which is located to the east of the Valley of Mexico. Although the Aztec were never able to conquer Tlaxcala, its inhabitants were Nahuatl speakers who shared much of the culture of the Aztec capital. Initial descriptions of the Tizatlán altar and its painted decorations, with preliminary analyses of the subject matter, was published in Caso 1993, a reprint of an essay first published in 1927, and in Noguera 1996. Contreras Martínez 1993 reported on the murals at Ocotelulco. Unfortunately, all three of these studies are poorly illustrated with crude line drawings; only Noguera includes, in addition to numerous line drawings, a few poorly reproduced black-and-white photographs. Better illustrations can be found in Pohl 1998, which examines the possible function and use of both altars.
  588.  
  589. Caso, Alfonso. “Las ruinas de Tizatlán, Tlaxcala.” In La escritura pictográfica en Tlaxcala: Dos mil años de experiencia mesoaméricana. Edited by Luis Reyes García, 37–53. Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, 1993.
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  591. Reprint of an article published in 1927 in Revista Mexicana de Estudios Históricos 1.4. Its title translates into English as “The ruins of Tizatlán, Tlaxcala.” This is one of the first thorough iconographic studies of the altar murals at Tizatlán.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Contreras Martínez, José Eduardo. “La pintura mural de la zona arqueológica de Ocotelulco, Tlaxcala.” In La escritura pictográfica en Tlaxcala: Dos mil años de experiencia mesoaméricana. Pictographic Writing in Tlaxcala: Two Thousand Years of Mesoamerican Experience. Edited by Luis Reyes García, 54–61. Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, México, 1993.
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  595. “The mural painting in the archaeological zone of Ocotelulco, Tlaxcala” is a short description of the painted altar at Ocotelulco that includes black-and-white line drawings of its paintings.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Noguera, Eduardo. “Los altars de sacrificio de Tizatlán, Tlaxcala.” In Antología de Tizatlán. Edited by Ángel García Cook, Beatriz Leonor Merino Carrión, and Lorena Mirambell Silva, 71–120. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1996.
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  599. Reprint of a much-reproduced article, first published in 1927, the title of which translates as “The altars of sacrifice at Tizatlán, Tlaxcala.” Examines in depth the iconography of the altar paintings at Tizatlán.
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  601. Pohl, John. “Themes of Drunkenness, Violence, and Factionalism in Tlaxcalan Altar Paintings.” Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 33 (1998): 184–207.
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  603. Compares the altar paintings of both Ocotelulco and Tizatlán to polychrome ceramics, pictorial manuscripts, and greenstone statuary from the region, and situates them amid local beliefs and rituals. Concludes that the altars were used in the course of palace drinking at feasts focused on the Tzitzimime, destructive spirits of the dead whose benevolence was petitioned by midwives and diviners.
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  605. Tehuacan Viejo
  606.  
  607. In 1991 a mural was discovered inside a room at Tehuacan Viejo, located a few miles southeast of the center of the modern city of Tehuacan, Puebla. Sisson and Lilly 1994 proposes that the mural, which depicts seven shields with darts and part of an eighth shield, was painted by Nahuatl speakers. This conclusion is reached in part because of the mural’s similarities to the Codex Borgia.
  608.  
  609. Sisson, Edward B., and T. Gerald Lilly. “A Codex-Style Mural from Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico.” Ancient Mesoamerica 5 (1994): 33–44.
  610. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536100001012Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  611. Describes the location of the Tehuacan Viejo murals and each of the shield designs, proposing that the room in which the murals appear was used by warriors devoted to the cult of the Aztec sun god Tonatiuh. Carefully drawn black-and-white line drawings help readers understand the context and decoration of the shields.
  612. Find this resource:
  613. Sculpture
  614.  
  615. By far the majority of books and articles on Aztec art deal with, if they do not focus on, sculpture, whether it be sculpture-in-the-round or sculpture in relief. Pasztory 1998 (cited under General Overviews) and Umberger 1996a, Umberger 1996b, and Umberger 2007 (all cited under Art and Empire) are examples, as are many of the articles in Seler 1990–1998 (cited under Reference Works). Nicholson 1971 provides a relatively short, concise and clearly written introduction to the subject that, like the majority of studies of Aztec sculpture, tends to focus on the larger, more skillfully executed “monuments.” The most recent, extensive, and lavishly illustrated study of the major Aztec monuments is found in Matos Moctezuma and López Luján 2009. Some authors, however, discuss sculptures relevant to a particular theme or topic (Barnes 2008, Townsend 1979); some focus on specific types of sculptures (Gutierrez Solana Rickards 1983, Seler 1990–1998); some strive to identify the formal characteristics or styles of Aztec sculpture (Solís 1991); and some are lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogues with collected essays by leading scholars (see, e.g., Matos Moctezuma and Solís Olguín 2002, cited under General Overviews; Nicholson and Quiñones Keber 1983). Other studies focus on a small number of sculptures or on individual monuments. Some of these sources are dissertations that can be obtained from Proquest. As is the case for architecture and painting, because new sculptures still come to light from time to time, the most recent studies provide the most up-to-date reportage. For alerts and notices of these finds, see the Spanish-language magazine Arqueología Mexicana cited under Journals and Magazines and the website managed by Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia listed under Data Sources.
  616.  
  617. Barnes, William Landon. “Icons of Empire: The Art and History of Aztec Royal Presentation.” PhD diss., Tulane University, 2008.
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  619. Four-volume dissertation on the role of art in shaping the image of the Aztec ruler, which includes detailed discussion, and provides revised interpretations, of a number of major Aztec stone monuments, among them the Tizoc Stone, the Calendar Stone, the Acuecuexatl (Ahuitzotl) Stone, and the Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada (God’s House of the Sacred War).
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  621. Gutiérrez Solana Rickards, Nelly. Objetos ceremonials en piedra de la cultura mexica. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Dirección General de Publicaciones, 1983.
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  623. “Mexica ceremonial objects in stone” presents formal and iconographic analyses of Aztec stone boxes and other receptacles as well as stone blocks, stone cylinders, and sacrificial stones. Includes 206 black-and-white photographs and drawings.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo, and Leonardo López Luján. In collaboration with Marie-France Fauvet-Berhelot. Monumental Mexica Sculpture. Mexico City: Fundación Commemoraciones, 2009.
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  627. This large, magnificently illustrated volume contains introductory general essays on Mexica-Aztec sculpture as well as separate essays on each of six of the largest and most complex Aztec stone monuments known. Some of these essays are listed under Individual Monuments. Contains many large color photographs. Photography by José González Manterola. See pp. 38–39, 123, 167, and 169.
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Nicholson, Henry B. “Major Sculpture in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico.” In Handbook of Middle American Indians. Robert Wauchope, general editor. Vol. 10, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part One. Edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, 92–134. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.
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  631. Short but comprehensive survey as of 1971 of sculpture in central Mexico from the Preclassic through the Postclassic period. Pages 112–133 cover Aztec sculpture. Illustrations are black and white.
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  633. Nicholson, H. B., with Eloise Quiñones Keber. Art of Aztec Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1983.
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  635. Like many exhibition catalogues, this one focuses on “masterpieces” brought together temporarily for exhibition in a major art museum. This one differs from the others, however, in having been authored throughout by one person, in this case a leading Aztec art specialist assisted by an art historian.
  636. Find this resource:
  637. Seler, Eduard. “Stone Boxes, Tepetlacalli, with Sacrificial Representations and Other Similar Remains.” In Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology. 2d ed. Vol. 3. Frank E. Comparato, general editor. Translated and edited by J. Eric, S. Thompson, and Francis B. Richardson, 87–113. Culver City, CA: Labyrinthos, 1990–1998.
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  639. First published in 1904 in Germany as “Ueber Steinkisten, Tepetlacalli, mit Opferdarstellungen und andere ähnliche Monumente,” this article describes, interprets, and illustrates—in black and white—some of the most elaborately carved Aztec stone boxes to have survived. Compares the iconography on the boxes to imagery on other sculptures and in painted manuscripts.
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  641. Solís, Felipe. Gloria y fama mexica. Edited by Mario de la Torre. Mexico City: Smurfit Cartón y Papel de México 1991.
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  643. “Mexica glory and fame” contains chapters on myth and nature; remembrance of the past; the human figure; animals and plants; art, religion and power; and war and commerce. Illustrated with color photographs of many of the major Aztec sculpted monuments.
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Townsend, Richard Fraser. State and Cosmos in the Art of Tenochtitlan. Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology 20. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, 1979.
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  647. Monograph discussing themes in monumental art, ritual attire as a visual metaphoric language, and cult effigies. The last chapter focuses on four major monuments: the Dedication Stone, the Stone of Tizoc, the Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada (God’s House of the Sacred War), and the Calendar (Sun) Stone.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Style Analyses and Connoisseurship
  650.  
  651. Other than Umberger 1996a, Umberger 2007, and Guzman 2004 (all cited under Art and Empire), few scholars have conducted sustained formal analyses of Aztec sculptures or attempted to define the Aztec carving style. Exceptions are the short article Robertson 1986 and the lengthier study Solís Olguín 1982. The latter takes into consideration a wide array of factors, including the sex and the age of the subject. Even fewer scholars have tackled the issue of the quality and authenticity of those smaller objects that, owing to their size and portability, tend to appeal to museums and collectors but are easy to fake. A notable exception to this rule is Pasztory 1982.
  652.  
  653. Pasztory, Esther. “Three Aztec Masks of the God Xipe.” In Falsifications and Misconstructions of Pre-Columbian Art. Edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, 77–106. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1982.
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  655. Identifies and examines iconographic evidence that an Aztec stone mask in the British Museum is a fake. This article was reprinted in Pasztory’s 2005 book Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art (Austin: University of Texas Press), pp. 209–224.
  656. Find this resource:
  657. Robertson, Donald. “The Styles of Aztec Sculpture.” In Research and Reflections in Archaeology and History: Essays in Honor of Doris Stone. Edited by E. Wyllys Andrews V, 179–188. Middle American Research Institute Publication 57. New Orleans: Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University, 1986.
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  659. Brief, preliminary art historical attempt to sketch out some of the principal characteristics of Aztec sculpture.
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  661. Solís Olguín, Felipe R. “The Formal Pattern of Anthropomorphic Sculpture and the Ideology of the Aztec State.” In The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico: A Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 22nd and 23rd, 1977. Edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, 73–110. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection, 1982.
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  663. Analyzes the shapes and surface treatment of Aztec sculptures-in-the-round on the basis of composition, sex, age, pose, activity, physical aberrations, apparel, hair style, bilateral symmetry (or lack thereof), and objects carried by the figures.
  664. Find this resource:
  665. Individual Monuments
  666.  
  667. Most of the large-scale Aztec carved monuments, as well as what are deemed the most important smaller sculptures, come from Tenochtitlan, the majority from the main ceremonial precinct. Scholars have been writing in-depth articles and books on one or another of these since the 19th century. Their analyses tend to focus on the pieces’ physical context, original appearance, probable date of manufacture, and meaning.
  668.  
  669. Calendar (Sun) Stone
  670.  
  671. The famous Aztec Calendar Stone, also known as the “Sun Stone,” has been analyzed by scholars since the late 18th century. Many of the sources listed in this bibliography address and illustrate the Calendar Stone. Although most scholars agree that the stone originally lay horizontally as part of a platform used during certain sacrificial rites, debate continues regarding the identification of the deity whose face appears at the center of the upper surface. The first lengthy and detailed iconographic study of the Calendar Stone was published as a monograph in the early 20th century (Beyer 1921). Since then a number of scholars in the United States, Mexico, and Europe have weighed in on this question. Collected excerpts from all of the major sources on the Calendar Stone have been recently published in Villela and Miller 2010.
  672.  
  673. Beyer, Hermann. El llamada “Calendario Azteca”: Descripción e interpretación del Cuauhxicalli de la “Casa de las Aguilas.” Mexico City: Verband Deutscher Reichsangehöriger, 1921.
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  675. The title of this early, now classic monograph translates as “The so-called ‘Aztec Calendar’: Description and interpretation of the Cuauhxicalli [Sacrificial Receptacle, literally, “Eagle House”] of the House of the Eagles.” It provides the most in-depth and reputable iconographic analysis of the complex imagery on the top and sides of the Calendar Stone and contains the largest number of (black and white) illustrations of it. The stone is no longer believed to have stood in front of the House of the Eagles.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Villela, Khristaan D., and Mary Ellen Miller, eds. The Aztec Calendar Stone. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2010.
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  679. Anthology of all major articles and excerpts of longer works on the Calendar Stone that were written between 1792 and 2004. Contains many illustrations, including a number in color. An excellent starting point for anyone researching the Calendar Stone and the ongoing controversy over the identity of the face at its center.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada (God’s House of the Sacred War)
  682.  
  683. Often referred to as the Pyramid of Sacred War for its roughly miniaturized pyramidal form, this monument was discovered in the foundations of the palace of the ruler Moteuczoma Xocoyotzin (II), over which was built Mexico’s National Palace. Because every surface except the underside is covered with relief-carved imagery, the monument has been the frequent subject of scholarly analysis. The first detailed study of the stone, which laid the foundation for subsequent interpretations, was Caso 1927. Scholars disagree, however, about the monument’s function. Umberger 2010 suggested that it served as a throne for Moteuczoma II, an opinion not shared by everyone. Others propose that it was a small shrine of the kind called momoztli, or simply a commemoration of Moteuczoma II’s celebration of the 1507 New Fire ceremony. For a complex recent interpretation of the stone, see Barnes 2008 (cited under Sculpture).
  684.  
  685. Caso, Alfonso. El Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada: Descripción y estudio del monolito encontrado en los cimientos del Palacio Nacional. Monografías del Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Ethnografía 3. Mexico City: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 1927.
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  687. “The God’s House of the Sacred War: Description and study of the monolith found in the foundations of the national palace” is the earliest in depth iconographic study of this monument. The monograph identifies its imagery as being related to warfare conducted on behalf of the gods, which gives it the name it bears today. Contains black-and-white line drawings often reproduced by subsequent scholars.
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  689. Umberger, Emily. “Montezuma’s Throne.” ARARA 8 (2010).
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  691. This is the English original of an article published as “El trono de Moctezuma” in Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 17 (1984): 63–87. It argues that the Teocalli served as a royal throne for Moteuczoma II.
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  693. Tizoc Stone
  694.  
  695. Discovered one year later than the Calendar (Sun) Stone, this monument, too, has been discussed and depicted in many sources on Aztec art. Cylindrical in shape, it is carved on its upper surface and around its sides with relief images. On the top is a giant solar disk; around the sides is a row of single warriors, each seizing the hair of a captive identified with a place or ethnic group by means of a sign to the right of its head. One of the conquerors, the only one wearing an elaborate feather headdress (and having a plume of smoke replacing one foot), is accompanied by the name sign of Tizoc, the man who ruled the Aztec empire between 1481 and 1486. The identities of the other warriors and their captives have been debated in the literature. Until Umberger 1998, which does not see them as historical personages, most scholars followed the interpretation in Wicke 1976, which identifies the figures as Mexica war leaders grasping the patron deities of the towns and cities conquered before and during Tizoc’s reign.
  696.  
  697. Umberger, Emily. “New Blood from an Old Stone.” Estudios de Cultural Nahuatl 28 (1998): 241–256.
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  699. Rejects Wicke 1976 on the identifications of the captors and their captives depicted on the sides of the Tizoc Stone. Argues instead that the captors are mythical ancestral figures and that the captives may represent regional or ethnic groups.
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  701. Wicke, Charles R. “Once More around the Tizoc Stone: A Reconsideration.” In Actas del XLI Congreso Internacional de Americanistas Mexico, 2 al 7 de septiembre de 1974. Vol. 2, 209–222. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1976.
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  703. An important study of the imagery on the Tizoc Stone with particular emphasis on the paired figures of captives and their accompanying signs. Wicke identifies the warriors as past members of the Aztec military and the captives as patron deities of places conquered by Tizoc’s predecessors.
  704. Find this resource:
  705. Cuauhxicalli of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina
  706.  
  707. Found in 1988 underneath the former Mexican archbishop’s palace, which had been built in 1530, this large, cylindrical block, with reliefs carved on its upper surface and around its sides, was initially referred to as “the Archbishop’s Stone” and attributed to the reign of the Aztec ruler Axayacatl. It was reassigned to the reign of Moteuczoma I in Pérez-Castro, et al. 1989. The stone was recognized at once as a predecessor of the Tizoc Stone, to which it is often compared (see the section on Tizoc Stone). The word cuauhxicalli translates literally as “Eagle House,” a term used to designate a sacrificial receptacle. Graulich 1992 follows others in identifying the Tizoc Stone as a receptacle for human hearts.
  708.  
  709. Graulich, Michel. “On the So-Called ‘Cuauhxicalli of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina’: The Sánchex-Nava Monolith.” Mexicon 14.1 (1992): 5–10.
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  711. Agrees with some previous scholars that the monument was a cuauhxicalli-temalacatl (“eagle house-stone disk”), which would have served as a gladitorial sacrificial stone. Rejects the theory that the block was carved for Motecuhzoma Illhuicamina (Motecuhzoma I), arguing instead that it was made during the reign of his successor, Axayacatl.
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  713. Pérez-Castro Lira, Guillermo, Pedro Feo. Sánchez Nava, Ma. Estéfan, Judith Padilla y Yedra, and Antonio Gudiño Garfías. “El Cuauhxicalli de Moctezuma I.” Arqueología 5 (1989): 131–151.
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  715. This is the first detailed scholarly report on this stone, coauthored by its discoverers. Well illustrated with a map, drawings, and (poor) black-and-white photographs. Describes the monument’s original location and appearance, proposes that it was carved during the reign of Moctezuma I, and rejects the opinion that it was a gladiatorial sacrificial stone (temalacatl).
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  717. Dedication Stone
  718.  
  719. A carved plaque possibly once embedded in the side of the Templo Mayor, the so-called Dedication Stone depicts the Aztec ruler Ahuitzotl and his deceased predecessor Tizoc, identifiable by their name signs, shedding some of their own blood. The large year glyph “8 Reed” (8 Acatl) beneath them dates the plaque to 1487, the year in which Ahuitzotl was crowned and the year in which he dedicated his late predecessor’s renovation of the Templo Mayor. The first major iconographic analysis of this plaque was published in Orozco y Berra 1877. From that year until 2002, scholars added little to the subject. Umberger 2002, however, contextualizes the dates on the stone within her broader understanding of the Aztec calendar.
  720.  
  721. Orozco y Berra, Manuel. “Dedicación del Templo Mayor de México.” Anales del Museo Nacional de México 1.1 (1877): 60–74.
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  723. The first intensive examination of the imagery on the Dedication Stone, “Dedication of the Templo Mayor of Mexico,” lays the foundation for all subsequent studies.
  724. Find this resource:
  725. Umberger, Emily. “Notions of Aztec History: The Case of the Great Temple Dedication.” Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 42 (2002): 86–108.
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  727. Complicated analysis of the significance of the dates on the Dedication Stone that shows how cosmic and historical events were correlated in the Aztec mind. Emphasizes the polyvalency of monuments like the Dedication Stone that have dates on them. For an extension of this line of thinking, see Barnes 2008 (cited under Sculpture).
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  729. Acuecuexatl Stone (Stone of Ahuitzotl)
  730.  
  731. Recently renamed the Stone of Ahuitzotl for the man who ruled the Aztec empire between 1486 and 1502, this monument is a fragment of a once much larger stone block carved in relief on the front, back, sides, and top. Scholars previously called it the Acuecuexatl Stone because they believed it was in some way associated with the disastrous 1499 flooding of Tenochtltlan, which, sources agree, was caused by overflow from a new aqueduct carrying water from a stream called Acuecuexatl. The association with the flood seemed confirmed by the presence, on both sides of the block, of the date 7 Acatl (7 Reed), which corresponds to 1499 (Wicke 1984). Because half of the stone is missing and some of the imagery on the extant piece is obscure, however, there is still no consensus regarding the monument’s original function and meaning. Quiñones Keber 1993 takes issue with previous interpretations, linking the stone instead to Ahuitzotl’s patronage of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl.
  732.  
  733. Quiñones Keber, Eloise. “Quetzalcoatl as Dynastic Patron: The ‘Acuecuexatl Stone’ Reconsidered.” In The Symbolism in the Plastic and Pictorial Representations of Ancient Mexico: A Symposium of the 46th International Congress of Americanists, Amsterdam, 1988. Edited by Jacqueline de Durand-Forest and Marc Eisinger, 149–155. Bonner Amerikanische Studien/Estudios Americanistes de Bonn 21. Bonn, Germany: Holos Verlag, 1993.
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  735. This is the article that first refuted the usual opinion that the monument refers to the 1499 flood. The author argues instead that it was carved to legitimize Ahuitzotl’s reign by associating him with the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl) and the Aztec’s Toltec predecessors.
  736. Find this resource:
  737. Wicke, Charles R. “Escultura imperialista mexica: El monumento del Acuecuexcatl de Ahuitzotl.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 17 (1984): 51–61.
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  739. “Mexica imperialist sculpture: The Acuecuexatl monument of Ahuitzotl.” Building on a 1935 argument by Ignacio Alcocer, who was the first to identify the stone with the 1499 flood, Wicke presents his interpretation of the iconography of the stone, seeing their details that, he believes, refer to water. Some of these details were later reinterpreted in Quiñones Keber 1993 as having nothing to do with water or the flood.
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  741. Coatlicue
  742.  
  743. The over eight-foot-high stone statue named for the Aztec goddess Coatlicue (Snakes-Her-Skirt) stands together with the Calendar (Sun) Stone and the giant Coyolxauhqui III relief (both listed under Individual Monuments) as the most famous of all known Aztec monuments. Sources in the literature on the Coatlicue and its companion statue, known today as Yolotlicue (Hearts-Her-Skirt), tend to disagree on the significance of the statues’ curious shape, their deeply carved skirts—intertwined snakes in the one case and rows of human hearts (or cactus tunas) in the second—their names, the date carved on both of them, and their possible use and meaning. Fernández 1990 (first published in 1972), a classic study of the Coatlicue, offers a brilliant formal analysis of the statue, which the author identifies as Coatlicue in her role of mother of the Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli. Boone 1999, in contrast, suggests that both the Coatlicue and the Yolotlicue originally belonged to a group of four or five statues collectively representing the greatly feared stellar demons, the Tzitzimime (sing. Tzitzimitl). Klein 2008 subsequently argued that because the iconography of the figures closely matches that of the creator goddesses, and because there are myths that suggest that Coatlicue and Yolotlicue were revered for having sacrificed themselves during the Creation so the sun would begin moving, the statues would have been seen in a largely positive light.
  744.  
  745. Boone, Elizabeth H. “The ‘Coatlicues’ at the Templo Mayor.” Ancient Mesoamerica 10 (1999): 189–206.
  746. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536199102098Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  747. Thorough discussion of the discovery and probable original contexts of the Coatlicue and Yolotlicue statues. Relates them to carved stone fragments in the storeroom of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico, which appear to be from additional, highly similar statues, and identifies them as representations of the Tzitzimime.
  748. Find this resource:
  749. Fernández, Justino. “Coatlicue: Estética del arte indígena antíguo.” In Estética del arte mexicano: Coatlicue. El Retablo de los Reyes. El Hombre. By Justino Fernández, 27–165. 2d ed. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 1990.
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  751. First published in 1972, “Coatlicue: Aesthetic of Ancient Indigenous Art” remains the most thorough formal analysis of any Aztec sculpture. Associates the Coatlicue with a myth recorded in Sahagún 1950–1982 (cited under Illustrated Prose Manuscripts) in which Coatlicue gives birth to the god Huitzilopochtli.
  752. Find this resource:
  753. Klein, Cecelia F. “A New Interpretation of the Aztec Statue Called Coatlicue, ‘Snakes-Her-Skirt.’” Ethnohistory 55.2 (2008): 229–250.
  754. DOI: 10.1215/00141801-2007-062Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  755. Recent reinterpretation of the Coatlicue and Yolotlicue statues, and related fragments. Relates them to a myth other than the one in which the goddess Coatlicue is the mother of the Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli, seeing them instead as ancient creator goddesses who allowed themselves to be sacrificed to save the world and then returned to earth in the form of their skirts.
  756. Find this resource:
  757. Coyolxauhqui III
  758.  
  759. Discovered in 1978, the large stone disk carved on its upper surface with the naked figure of a bound, dismembered, decapitated, and bleeding woman has become one of the most written about Aztec monuments. Scholars agree that the woman is the mythical, defeated subversive Coyolxauhqui (Bells-Her-Cheeks) because of the bells strapped to her face. The monument is specifically named Coyolxauhqui III, however, because there are five other sculptures or sculpture fragments that likewise represent Coyolxauhqui. Archaeologists have assigned a number to each of these that refer not to the order in which the pieces were carved but to the order in which they have become known to modern scholars. All of these images of Coyolxauhqui are known or thought to have originally been placed at the Templo Mayor. Recent conservation efforts by conservators at the Templo Mayor have produced a new color reconstruction of the pigments used on the Coyolxauhqui III stone; for a photograph of the color reconstruction, see the well illustrated and informative discussion of the stone in Matos Moctezuma 1991 and López Luján 2010 (p. 364; cited under Sculpture). The conclusions drawn from an early and important iconographic analysis of the monument (Aguilera García 1978) have largely stood the test of time. Emily Umberger (Umberger 2007), however, has since proposed that the monument referred to a key event in Aztec history, Tenochtitlan’s defeat of the 1473 ruler of Tlatelolco.
  760.  
  761. Aguilera García, Ma. del Carmen. Coyolxauhqui: Ensayo iconográfico. Mexico City: Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1978.
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  763. This is the first monograph on the Coyolxauhqui III relief to appear in print; in 2001 the author published another study, a book titled Coyolxauhqui: The Mexica Milky Way (Lancaster, CA: Labyrinthos). The color reconstruction in the 1978 monograph is now known to be incorrect.
  764. Find this resource:
  765. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. “Las seis Coyolxauhqui: Variaciones sobre un mismo tema.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 21 (1991): 15–30.
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  767. “The six Coyolxauhquis: Variations on a single theme” is the definitive study of all six of the sculptures representing Coyolxauhqui that are believed to have originally stood at the Templo Mayor. Illustrations are in black and white only.
  768. Find this resource:
  769. Umberger, Emily. “The Metaphorical Underpinnings of Aztec History: The Case of the 1473 Civil War.” Ancient Mesoamerica 18 (2007): 11–29.
  770. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536107000016Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  771. Argues that the Coyalxauhqui sculptures refer to the ruler of Tlatelolco’s humiliating defeat in that city’s 1473 war with Tenochtitlan. Provides further evidence that the Aztec characterized their enemies and military weakness in general as feminine, a point first made in Klein 1988 (listed under Iconographic Studies of One or More Deities).
  772. Find this resource:
  773. Tlaltecuhtli
  774.  
  775. The most recently discovered Aztec monument—and the largest known—is the huge stone relief known today as Tlaltecuhtli (Earth Ruler), one of the Aztec names for the animate, divinized earth. The image carved on the upper surface of the slab, which was discovered in 2006 at the Templo Mayor, differs from all other images thought to represent Tlaltecuhtli in presenting the figure in full frontal view, its head right side up. Although some scholars have argued that images of Tlaltecuhtli in which the face is human rather than bestial are always male (Henderson 2007, Matos Moctezuma 1997) (and others see all images of the personified earth as dual gendered), the imposing figure in this relief, to judge by its visible pendant breasts, is clearly female. Although no tomb has yet been found, the lead excavator of the monument (López Luján 2009) suspects that the slab covered the tomb or remains of the ruler Ahuitzotl. Excavations beneath the slab’s original location are ongoing.
  776.  
  777. Henderson, Lucia. Producers of the Living, Eater of the Dead: Revealing Tlaltecuhtli, the Two-Faced Aztec Earth. BAR International Series 1649. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007.
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  779. This was clearly written before the discovery of the monument now named “Tlaltecuhtli,” which has greatly complicated the author’s thesis that reliefs of the earth depicted with a human face are always male. Nonetheless, the monograph contains a useful review of previous interpretations made up to 2006.
  780. Find this resource:
  781. López Luján, Leonardo. “The Tlaltecuhtli.” In Monumental Mexica Sculpture. By Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Leonardo López Luján, in collaboration with Marie-France Fauvet-Berthelot, 381–445. Mexico City: Fundación Commemoraciones, 2009.
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  783. Well-illustrated, comprehensive, definitive study of the newly discovered Tlaltecuhtli monument, written by the archaeologist in charge of the excavation that uncovered it in 2006. Photography by José González Manterola. Contains many color photographs, a color reproduction with the relief’s original pigmentation, and an exhaustive bibliography. Published separately in Spanish in 2010 as Tlaltecuhtli.
  784. Find this resource:
  785. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. “Tlatecuhtli, Señor de la tierra.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 27 (1997): 15–40.
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  787. Published long before the discovery of the new Tlaltecuhtli monument, “Tlaltecuhtli, lord of the earth” is a lengthy, extensively illustrated article that presents formal and iconographic analyses of numerous Aztec sculptures and manuscript paintings identified by the author as the earth deity Tlaltecuhtli. Divides the images into four categories, assigns the first three either a male or a female gender, and concludes that the fourth type is dual-gendered.
  788. Find this resource:
  789. Ritual
  790.  
  791. Many of the most common visual experiences in Aztec society took the form of a ritual or ceremony. These occurred throughout the year to mark various points in the Aztec calendar. In addition, there were domestic rituals, military rituals, coronations, dedication ceremonies, and a host of other performances that involved prescribed and carefully orchestrated movements often replete with special costumes, music, and other sounds. Studies of Aztec rituals are legion, with most taking the form of a scholarly article or a book chapter and focusing on a specific rite or types of rites. Two books on Aztec ritual that stand out for their comprehensive coverage of the subject are Graulich 1987 and Quiñones Keber 2002.
  792.  
  793. Graulich, Michel. Mythes et rituels du Mexique ancien préhispanique. Brussels: Académie Royale, 1987.
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  795. Textual synthesis of Graulich’s many years of work on Aztec rituals that focuses on tying them to certain Aztec myths. A good introduction to the subject for beginners, “Myths and rituals of ancient prehispanic Mexico” lacks consideration of the aesthetic aspects of ritual as well as illustrations.
  796. Find this resource:
  797. Quiñones Keber, Eloise, ed. Representing Aztec Ritual: Performance, Text, and Image in the Work of Sahagún. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2002.
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  799. An anthology of scholarly essays on some of the many Aztec rituals described and, in many cases, illustrated, in Sahagún 1979 and Sahagún 1950–1982 (both cited under Illustrated Prose Manuscripts).
  800. Find this resource:
  801. Types of Rituals
  802.  
  803. The majority of studies of Aztec rituals focuses on an in-depth analysis of a single ritual, a small number of closely related rituals, or a particular type of ritual. Arnold 1999, which looks at rituals dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc, and Boone 2000, which examines foundation rituals, represent the second type of study. Graulich 2005 and Klein 1987 both concentrate on sacrifice, whether the sacrifice of others (Graulich) or the shedding of one’s own blood (autosacrifice) (Klein). Oliver 2006 and Townsend 1987 investigate coronation rituals and Pohl 2007 takes a rare look at rituals conducted by diviners, midwives, and other agents of what we sometimes call the occult.
  804.  
  805. Arnold, Philip P. Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1999.
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  807. Written by a historian of religions, this study interprets the four Aztec month ceremonies dedicated to the rain and vegetation god Tlaloc, as well as the “ritual cosmology” of Tlaloc’s mythical paradise, Tlalocan, as means of marking and occupying land.
  808. Find this resource:
  809. Boone, Elizabeth H. “Bringing Polity to Place: Aztec and Mixtec Foundation Rituals.” In Códices y documentos sobre México: Tercer simposio internacional. Edited by Constanza Vega Sosa, 547–573. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2000.
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  811. Examines colonial pictorials and texts to identify the nature and role of rituals enacted to officially mark possession of a territory.
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  813. Graulich, Michel. Le sacrifice humain chez les Aztèques. Paris: Fayard, 2005.
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  815. Thoroughly researched and comprehensive analysis of the controversial Aztec practice of human sacrifice, “Human sacrifice among the Aztec” is also available in Spanish translation. A lengthy but important study suitable for beginners and scholars alike.
  816. Find this resource:
  817. Klein, Cecelia F. “The Ideology of Autosacrifice at the Templo Mayor.” In The Aztec Templo Mayor: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1983. Edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, 293–370. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection, 1987.
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  819. Lengthy examination of the iconography and probable use of monuments and images in the main ceremonial precinct that depict or allude to the ritual shedding of one’s own blood. Reinterprets a number of the artworks and argues that autosacrificial rites at the Templo Mayor served the interests of the state.
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  821. Oliver, Guilhem. “The Sacred Bundles and the Coronation of the Aztec King in Mexico-Tenochtitlan.” In Sacred Bundles: Ritual Acts of Wrapping and Binding in Mesoamerica. Edited by Julia Guernsey and F. Kent Reilly III, 199–225. Barnardsville, NC: Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, 2006.
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  823. Explores the role in Aztec coronation ceremonies of bundles containing powerful and sacred relics of ancestors and supernaturals.
  824. Find this resource:
  825. Pohl, John. Sorcerers of the Fifth Heaven: Nahua Art and Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico. PLAS Cuadernos 9. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Program in Latin American Studies, 2007.
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  827. This slim book uses ceramics, pictorial manuscripts, and colonial texts to reconstruct pre-Hispanic Aztec rituals involving sorcery and divination that were conducted for both groups and individuals.
  828. Find this resource:
  829. Townsend, Richard F. “Coronation at Tenochtitlan.” In The Aztec Templo Mayor: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1983. Edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, 371–409. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection, 1987.
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  831. Discusses the architectural context of the Aztec coronation rituals held at the Templo Mayor; examines the rites of kingship in Tenochtitlan in relation to Victor Turner’s theory of separation and retreat; describes the costumes and objects used in the rites; and shows how the cosmic symbolism of the temple-pyramid established kingship as divinely preordained.
  832. Find this resource:
  833. Specific Rituals
  834.  
  835. There are a number of useful articles, as well as a few short monographs, about a particular Aztec ceremony, of which a few of the more substantive are listed here. The high standard was set in 1984 in Broda de Casas 1970, which provides an unusually lengthy article offering an insightful rethinking of the significance of the rituals that took place during the Aztec month festival called Tlacaxipehualiztli. Although not widely accepted, that same year Brown 1984 similarly offered a provocative reinterpretation of a specific rite during the month of Ochpaniztli that tied it to an important political event in Aztec history. Two decades later, Broda de Casas 2002 took up the subject of the all important Aztec New Fire Ceremony, this time emphasizing its astronomical and calendrical context. Recent years have seen the first publication of an entire English-language book on a single month festival, Ochpaniztli (DiCesare 2009).
  836.  
  837. Broda de Casas, Johanna. “Tlacaxipehualiztli: A Reconstruction of an Aztec Calendar Festival from 16th Century Sources.” Revista Española de Antropología Americana 5 (1970): 197–273.
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  839. Classic, in-depth look at the political functions of the rites of Tlacaxipehualiztli (Flaying of Men), which had been previously interpreted to have an exclusively astronomical and agricultural meaning. Shows how religion and politics within intertwined in Aztec rituals.
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  841. Broda de Casas, Johanna. “La fiesta azteca del Fuego Nuevo y el culto de las Pléyades.” In Huizachtepetl: Geografía sagrada de Iztapalapa. Edited by Arturo Montero García, 145–168. Mexico City: Delegación de Iztapalapa, 2002.
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  843. “The Aztec New Fire ceremony and the cult of the Pleiades” examines the calendrical and astronomical contexts and meanings of the famous Aztec New Fire ceremony, which was held every fifty-two years, a period equivalent to our century, on the hill near Iztapalapa called Huizachtepetl. Today the hill is known as the Cerro de las Estrellas (Hill of the Stars).
  844. Find this resource:
  845. Brown, Betty Ann. “Ochpaniztli in Historical Perspective.” In Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica: A Conference at Dumbarton Oaks, October 13th and 14th, 1979. Edited by Elizabeth H. Boone, 195–210. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1984.
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  847. Controversial but provocative political interpretation of the month festival called Ochpaniztli in which, according to the author, an art historian, the Aztec reenacted the historical defeat of an important enemy.
  848. Find this resource:
  849. DiCesare, Catherine R. Sweeping the Way: Divine Transformation in the Aztec Festival of Ochpaniztli. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009.
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  851. First book-length English-language examination of a single Aztec month ceremony. Written by an art historian, it concludes with a careful reexamination of pp. 23–37 in the Codex Borbonicus, which depict the events of the month festival Ochpaniztli.
  852. Find this resource:
  853. Other Materials and Techniques
  854.  
  855. Aztec artworks were made of a variety of materials and involved a number of often-distinctive technologies. Some of the materials, other than pigment and stone, that were frequently used to create skillfully crafted works of high quality were spun cotton or maguey fibers that were woven on a backstrap loom; cut and trimmed, brightly colored feathers used for clothing and war shields; wood; turquoise and other precious stones and minerals, including jadeite (greenstone); metals, including gold, silver, and copper; sea shells; indigenous paper made of soaked and beaten tree bark (amate); and clay. In the past, scholars often classified these products as “crafts.” Today scholarly literature recognizes the artistry, skill, and complexity manifested by these technologies.
  856.  
  857. Weaving, Textiles, Clothing, and Costume
  858.  
  859. The Aztec were consummate weavers. Many of the textiles they produced were, we know, taken to the marketplace, where they were exchanged for other goods or used as a form of currency in economic transactions. Unfortunately, owing to the damp climate in the central highlands, as well as the relative dearth of archaeological work conducted in and near the Aztec capital, very few Aztec textiles have survived. Those that have survived are typically damaged fragments of once larger pieces, often items of clothing (Anawalt 1981). Textiles were also used to make elaborate costumes created for officials, warriors, and ritual performers, the most prestigious of which often included feathers and other precious materials (Olko 2005, Textiles del Mexico de ayer y hoy). Many Aztec rituals also involved wearing masks and carrying ritual objects, which were made of a variety of materials (Klein 1986). The first scholar to write extensively about Aztec costume was Seler 1990–1998 (cited under Reference Works).
  860.  
  861. Anawalt, Patricia Rieff. Indian Clothing before Cortés: Mesoamerican Costumes from the Códices. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981.
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  863. Definitive, well-illustrated study of Aztec clothing and costumes that brings the subject up to 1981. This book is still the best source for beginners and advanced scholars alike.
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  865. Barrera Rivera, José Álvaro, María de Lourdes Gallardo Parrodi, and Aurora Montufar López. “La Ofrenda102 del Templo Mayor.” Arqueología Mexicana 8.48 (March–April 2001): 70–77.
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  867. First detailed report of the spectacular costume items buried in Offering 102 at the Templo Mayor. Photographs of the wooden mask found in the offering, taken after it had been cleaned and reconstructed, and of the painted tunic can found in Arqueología Mexicana 28.108, pp. 59, 62, and 64–65.
  868. Find this resource:
  869. Klein, Cecelia F. “Masking Empire: The Material Effects of Masks in Aztec Mexico.” Art History 9.2 (1986): 135–167.
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  871. The only in-depth scholarly art historical study to date of Aztec masks in general. Focuses on the sources and significance of the materials used in making the masks, the identities of those who owned and wore them, the ways they were used, and the purposes they served. Argues that mask ownership and use were controlled to serve the interests of the imperial state.
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  873. Olko, Justyna. Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office: Elite Costume and Insignia of Power in Aztec and Early Colonial Mexico. Warsaw: Polish Society for Latin American Studies and Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition, University of Warsaw, 2005.
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  875. A lengthy, thorough study of Aztec costumes worn or owned by the elite, with attention to individual items of clothing and accoutrements, as well as the gestures and postures seen in Aztec imagery, as signs of rank and status. Indispensable source for those conducting advanced research on Aztec costume.
  876. Find this resource:
  877. Special Issue: Textiles del Mexico de ayer y hoy. Arqueología Mexicana 19 (2005).
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  879. Bilingual issue devoted to past and present textiles from Mexico, which includes articles by Imgard Weitlaner Johnson, Patricia Rieff Anawalt, and Alba Guadalupe Mastache on pre-Hispanic Mexican cloth, clothing, and weaving, as well as an article by María Teresa Pomar on indigenous textiles and clothing among Mexican peoples today.
  880. Find this resource:
  881. Featherwork
  882.  
  883. The most prestigious craft in Aztec society involved obtaining, preparing, and attaching to a backing the feathers of brightly colored birds, many of them from distant, tropical lands. Feathers were often used to adorn elite clothing items, ceremonial war shields, and other prestigious objects. In Tenochtitlan feather workers lived together, tax free, in the ward known as Amantlan, where entire families participated in the industry. We know quite a bit about the process of featherworking from the text and its illustrations in Book 9 of Sahagún 1950–1982 (cited under Illustrated Prose Manuscripts). Chapter 9 of Pasztory 1998 (cited under General Overviews) also discusses Aztec featherworking and illustrates some of the outstanding pieces that have survived. See also Aguilar-Moreno 2007 (cited under Society, Lifestyle, and History). An excellent, lavishly illustrated introduction to the subject is Cue 1993.
  884.  
  885. Cue, Alberto. “Featherwork among the Mexica.” In The Art of Featherwork in Mexico. Edited by Teresa Castello Yturbide, 45–73. Mexico City: Fomento Cultural Banamex, 1993.
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  887. The book in which this essay appears traces featherworking in Mexico from its pre-Hispanic roots into the modern era, accompanied throughout by high-quality color photographs. This essay is to date the best overall discussion of Aztec featherworking.
  888. Find this resource:
  889. Woodwork, Turquoise Mosaics, and Other Lapidary Arts
  890.  
  891. Like textiles and featherwork, wood objects from pre-Hispanic central Mexico have not survived in large numbers owing to the region’s damp climate (Saville 1925). Many of those that have survived form the support for elaborate inlays or encrusted mosaics made of small pieces of precious stones and minerals. Of these, turquoise mosaics have received the most scholarly attention (McEwan, et al. 2006; Saville 1922). For an overview, see chapters 7 and 8 in Pasztory 1998 (cited under General Overviews).
  892.  
  893. McEwan, Colin, Andrew Middletown, Caroline Cartwright, and Rebecca Stacey. Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 2006.
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  895. Discussion of the exceptional pieces of Aztec and Mixtec turquoise mosaic work in the British Museum, which includes a report on recent microscopic analysis of the mosaics. Builds on Elizabeth Carmichael’s 1970 book of the same title. With contributions by Adrían Veláquez, Maria Eugenia Marín, Theya Molleson, and Helen Liversidge.
  896. Find this resource:
  897. Saville, Marshall H. “Turquoise Mosaic Art in Ancient Mexico.” Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Contributions No. 6 (1922).
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  899. An early and lengthy study of pre-Hispanic Mexican objects made of turquoise and the technology used to create them.
  900. Find this resource:
  901. Saville, Marshall H. “The Wood-Carver’s Art in Ancient Mexico.” Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Contributions No. 9 (1925).
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  903. Examines the preconquest Mexican art of wood-carving with attention to that of the Aztec. Includes sections on wood-carved mirror frames, drums, and so forth.
  904. Find this resource:
  905. Metalwork
  906.  
  907. Most of the literature on Aztec metalwork focuses on gold, a metal that, together with silver, had been worked with great skill by Mixtec artists before the Aztec’s rise to power. It seems clear that the Aztec court employed Mixtec metalworkers for many of their own needs and that they received some of their gold and silver objects as tribute from communities in the Mixteca. Saville 1920 was the first to discuss Aztec goldwork, which the author correctly linked to metalworking in the Mixteca. Gold objects crafted by artists in both cultures are featured in Solís Olguín and Carmona Macías 2004. Baquedano 2005, a lengthy study, brings the topic up to date, emphasizing gold’s symbolic association with plant fertility and warfare. To date there has been no separate, in-depth study of preconquest Aztec objects made of silver.
  908.  
  909. Baquedano, Elizabeth. “El oro azteca y sus conexiones con el poder, la fertilidad agrícola, la guerra y la muerte.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 36 (2005): 359–381.
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  911. Its title translating as “Aztec gold and its connections to power, agricultural fertility, war and death,” this article serves as a good introduction to the subject of Aztec metalwork with special attention to the ways in which objects made of gold were used.
  912. Find this resource:
  913. Saville, Marshall. H. The Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico. Indian Notes and Monographs 7. New York: Museum of the American Indian, 1920.
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  915. An early general but thorough study of goldwork in pre-Hispanic Mexico, in particular that of the Mixtec and Aztec.
  916. Find this resource:
  917. Solís Olguín, Felipe R., and Martha Carmona Macías. El oro precolombino de México: Colecciones mixteca y azteca. 2d ed. Mexico City: Landucci, 2004.
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  919. The first edition of this work, the title of which translates as “Precolumbian gold of Mexico: Mixtec and Aztec collections,” was published in 1995 by América Arte Editores. It focuses solely on goldwork from the Mixteca and Central Mexico. Contains color photographs. Photography by Mark Mogilner, a prologue by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, and an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla.
  920. Find this resource:
  921. Shellwork
  922.  
  923. Recently, pre-Hispanic Mexican use and decoration of shells—in particular shellwork by Aztec craftsmen—has received scholarly attention. Many worked and unworked shell objects have been found among the offerings at the Templo Mayor. Aztec artists shaped shells, carved openwork designs in them, and incised images on them. To date all substantial studies of this medium are in Spanish. The scholar who has worked most closely with shell objects found at the Templo Mayor is Velázquez Castro (Velázquez Castro 2000, Velázquez Castro 2011).
  924.  
  925. Velázquez Castro, Adrian. El simbolismo de los objetos de concha encontrados en las ofrendas del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2000.
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  927. “The symbolism of shell objects found in the offerings at the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan” offers descriptions and interpretations of the symbolism of the many shell objects found at the Templo Mayor.
  928. Find this resource:
  929. Velázquez Castro, Adrian. “El reinado de Axayacatl y la creación del estilo tenochca del trabajo de la concha.” Ancient Mesoamerica 22.2 (2011): 437–448.
  930. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536111000356Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  931. “The reign of Axayacatl and the creation of the Tenochca shell-working style” looks at the creation of the official style of shell working in Tenochtitlan during the reign of Axayacatl.
  932. Find this resource:
  933. Paperwork
  934.  
  935. The Aztec made paper, called amatl (Spanish, amate), from the beaten bark of a fig tree or other suitable local plant. Amatl was used not only to form the pages of many screenfolded codices, but for ritual costumes, insignia, and banners as well. Early studies focused on the process of making amate (Hagen 1999); more recently, attention has been paid to its uses in ritual performances (Arnold 1995, Seemann Conzatti 1990).
  936.  
  937. Arnold, Philip P. “Paper Ties to Land: Indigenous and Colonial Material Orientations to the Valley of Mexico.” History of Religions 35.1 (1995): 27–60.
  938. DOI: 10.1086/463406Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  939. This study is the prequel to Arnold’s “Paper Rituals and the Mexican Landscape,” in Quiñones Keber 2002 (cited under Ritual). Examines the ritual uses of paper in Aztec and early colonial central Mexican society in relation to the landscape, as well as the ways in which those uses have been interpreted.
  940. Find this resource:
  941. Hagen, Victor Wolfgang von. The Aztec and Maya Papermakers. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1999.
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  943. This classic little book, first published in 1944, investigates Aztec and Maya processes of making paper from beaten tree bark as well as examining the materials.
  944. Find this resource:
  945. Seemann Conzatti, Emilia. Usos del papel en el calendario ritual mexica. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1990.
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  947. Monograph on “Uses of paper in the Mexica ritual calendar” that focuses on the many purposes to which paper was put in Aztec calendrical ceremonies.
  948. Find this resource:
  949. Objects of Clay and Copal
  950.  
  951. Clay was an important medium in Aztec society. It was used to form vessels by hand as well as small solid and hollow figurines; large, usually hollow effigy vessels; and much larger, almost life-size hollow sculptures. In the literature, these genres are usually treated separately owing to the past practice of classifying vessels and figurines as “crafts” (but see Pasztory 1998, cited under General Overviews). Recently, some attention has been paid to the use of copal, a sticky tree resin that, when burned, emits a pleasant odor that was believed to please and nourish the gods. Figurines made of copal have been found in some of the Templo Mayor offerings as well as at a few sites on the mainland.
  952.  
  953. Ceramic Vessels
  954.  
  955. Little has been written about Aztec ceramic vessels as works of art, but see chapter 11 of Pasztory 1998 (cited under General Overviews). The finest Aztec ceramics came from Cholula, Puebla, where they were decorated in a manner related to Mixtec polychrome ceramics. Both types are regional substyles of the Mixteca-Puebla style distributed over much of Mesoamerica in the Late Postclassic period. Hernández 2012 looks at the probable uses of Cholula ware within the royal palace at Tenochtitlan. Much of the literature on Aztec ceramic vessels tends, however, to focus on defining and dating phases of the Aztec substyles, but a few focus on the symbolism of the painted motifs (e.g., Brumfiel 2004).
  956.  
  957. Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. “Meaning by Design: Ceramics, Feasting, and Figured Worlds in Postclassic Mexico.” In Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice. Edited by Julia A. Hendon and Rosemary A. Joyce, 239–264. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.
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  959. An attempt to understand the sociopolitical implications of the changing meanings of painted decorations on central Mexican ceramic vessels from the Early, Middle, and Late Postclassic periods, with special attention to the relation of the designs to the vessels’ uses, especially in large feasts. Examines the iconography of the decorations.
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  961. Hernández, Gilda. “El estilo Mixteca-Puebla y la cerámica policroma de Cholula: La loza en que comía Moctezuma.” Archaeology Mexicana 20.115 (May–June 2012): 60–65.
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  963. Short but well-illustrated essay written in Spanish, the title of which reads in English as “The Mixteca-Puebla style and the polychrome ceramics of Cholula: The earthenware from which Moteuczoma ate.” Describes the Mixteca-Puebla ceramic style, comparing it to Mixteca-Puebla painted manuscripts, and discusses the vessels’ probable uses, including feasts.
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  965. Clay and Copal Figurines
  966.  
  967. The Aztec crafted thousands of small and large, unfired clay figurines as well as some figurines made of copal. Most of these figurines are anthropomorphic in form, but there are a number that represent animals and some are in the form of a miniature temple-pyramid. Until recently, Aztec figurines received little sustained attention from scholars. Those who did choose to work with figurines were primarily interested in typologizing them and with determining the relation of the anthropomorphic figurines to specific deities in the official Aztec state pantheon. Social scientists have tended to support such identifications, whereas art historians have not. In the past fifteen years, some scholars have turned their attention to the formal and functional relation of clay figurines made outside the Aztec heartland to larger clay artworks from Tenochtitlan that were likely commissioned by the state, as well as to the slightly larger figurines made of the magical resin known as copal (Brumfiel 1996, Klein and Victoria Lona 2009).
  968.  
  969. Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. “Figurines and the Aztec State: Testing the Effectiveness of Ideological Domination.” In Gender and Archaeology. Edited by Rita P. Wright, 143–166. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
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  971. Compares changes in the subject matter and symbolism of clay figurines found at Huexotla, Xico, and Xaltocan—communities on the mainland that were subordinate to Tenochtitlan—to state-commissioned images of deities in the capital in order to determine whether the official Aztec state ideology was broadly accepted by subordinates and commoners. It wasn’t.
  972. Find this resource:
  973. Klein, Cecelia F., and Naoli Victoria Lona. “Sex in the City: A Comparison of Aztec Ceramic Figurines to Copal Figurines from the Templo Mayor.” In Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena. Edited by Christina T. Halperin, Katherine A. Faust, Rhonda Taube, and Auroroe Giguet, 327–377. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009.
  974. DOI: 10.5744/florida/9780813033303.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  975. In-depth, comprehensive iconographic study of Aztec anthropomorphic clay figurines in a number of modern collections that tests and ultimately rejects previous attempts to identify all of them with specific deities in the official government pantheon. Contrasts the subject matter and contexts of the clay figurines to those of usually larger figures made of clay or copal.
  976. Find this resource:
  977. Large, Hollow Clay Sculptures
  978.  
  979. In addition to ceramic vessels and clay figurines, the Aztec used clay to create large, in some cases almost life-size, often hollow, painted statues. Six of these have been found at the Temple of the Eagles in the main ceremonial precinct. See Volume 1, chapter 5, of López Luján 2006 (cited under House of the Eagles) for a report on these sculptures and his Figures 240–253 in Volume 2 of that same study for line drawings of them; López Luján 1996 provides an in-depth report on, and interpretation of, the two clay skeletal figures there that he identifies as the death god Mictlantecuhtli. Some clay braziers and large vessels either take the form of an effigy or have a clay effigy modeled on the front or attached to it. See the color photographs and catalogue entries in Matos Moctezuma and Solís Olguín 2002 (cited under General Overviews). Additional color photographs are available in Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso 1995.
  980.  
  981. Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. Dioses del México antiguo. Mexico City: Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, 1995.
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  983. “Gods of ancient Mexico” contains high-quality color photographs of a number of large clay Aztec sculptures accompanied by catalogue entries written by Alfred López Austin, Miguel León-Portilla, Felipe Solís, and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. The photographs of the Aztec pieces (not to be confused with photographs of large ceramic sculptures from other cultures) appear on pp. 18, 32, 116, 121–123, 134–135, 157–158, 185, and 187.
  984. Find this resource:
  985. López Luján, Leonardo. “Dos esculturas de Mictlantecuhtli encontradas en el Recinto Sagrado de México-Tenochtitlan.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 26 (1996): 41–68.
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  987. “Two sculptures of Mictlantecuhtli [Death Ruler] found in the sacred precinct of Mexico-Tenochtitlan” reports on the two hollow clay sculptures of a semifleshed figure found flanking the doorway to a large room adjacent to the House of the Eagles. The author argues that they both represent the Aztec death god Mictlantecuhtli.
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