Mesoamerican codices

One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. This article is an excerpt of pages 98-99 from the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson with a numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depicting the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Mural photograph: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

En 1584, el cacique de Tepexi de la Seda, don Joaquín de San Francisco, solicitó a la corona la exención de tributos por los méritos que don Gonzalo Mazatzin Moctezuma, su abuelo, había prestado al rey de España. Avalado por más de treinta testigos, don Joaquín relata que cuando Hernán Cortés se encontraba en Tlaxcala, su abuelo le envió embajadores para aliársele, jurando fidelidad al rey. Mientras Cortés partió al norte a someter Tenochtitlán, el nahua don Gonzalo Mazatzin, nombrado capitán, se dirigió al sur de Mesoamérica, y poco antes de que la ciudad mexica cayera, conquistó sin ayuda europea una veintena de pueblos de la Mixteca en nombre del rey de España.

Please note: all Visiting Scholar seminars are held mornings from 9-11 a.m., and afternoons from 2-4 p.m. Readings are from core Institute texts (see list of Core Required Texts below) and from readings placed on a Blackboard site accessible to participants only; the Blackboard readings will be found either on a Library e-Reserve list or in a content folder set up for each seminar date.

: El artículo plantea la relación entre las sangrías rituales, el desmembramiento, la auto-decapitación y el consumo ceremonial de sustancias naturales enteógenas, prácticas asociadas a los rituales que componen el corpus del proceso del nahualismo en la cosmovisión prehispánica. Dichas acciones eran realizadas en un plano simbólico, en un terreno sacro al que sólo se penetra por medio de los sueños, espacio en dónde se realiza, aquello que resulta inalcanzable en el mundo tangible.

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The essay examines the use of monochrome in a few illustrations of the Florentine Codex in relationship to the theme represented, the corresponding text and the general layout of the work as a whole. It argues that monochrome painting was a conscious decision employed by the painters as a strategy for commenting on the incorporation of European traditions into Nahua religion and history, as depicted in Sahagún’s General History.

Resumen: En este trabajo presentamos lo que consideramos que son los tres sistemas de análisis que actualmente se aplican al estudio de los códices mesoamericanos. Debido a sus características metodológicas los denominamos del siguiente modo: científi co, científi co galarziano y tequilamarihuana o impresionista. Además de su defi nición mostramos en el primero de ellos una serie de análisis de casos concretos que lo ejemplifi can, en el segundo la objeción principal de su desarrollo y, por último, en el tercero hemos decidido mencionar su existencia sin hacer referencia a casos concretos para evitar malas interpretaciones. En el caso del método científi co incluimos ejemplos que ya observamos en el siglo XVI en autores de la época y analizamos las causas principales de las interpretaciones erróneas. El resultado de este análisis manifi esta que todavía hoy, siglo XXI, la aplicación de este sistema no es lo adecuada que debería ser.

The almanacs on pages 27 and 28 of the Borgia Codex are rare examples  in the highland Mexican Borgia Group that record dates in the 52-year calendar.  In this paper, I propose a historical dating model for both almanacs using astronomical imagery that aligns their shared rain and maize iconography with the beginning and end of the maize planting season in central Mexico.

In a 1992 article, V. Bricker and H. Bricker detail their historical approach to dating and decoding codical almanacs in the Maya codices that lack explicit Long Count dates.  Astronomical and seasonal imagery are the key to their methodology.  In honor of their work, I apply their method to an almanac in the highland Mexican Borgia Codex.  After a discussion of Venus iconography identified in the Maya and Borgia Group codices, I discuss how similar astronomical imagery in the almanac on Borgia 49a-52a, 53b can be used to propose a model that situates the instrument in real time.

In this article, see pages 164, 166-168 for Stuart's discussion of the Grolier Codex.  It is highly significant that the Mexican State of Chiapas and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas chose to include the Grolier Codex as an authentic ancient Maya book in 1985 and make a fine color facsimile available along with the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices for further research. 

This review and essay of "Los Codices Mayas" is being posted as a personal tribute to my friend and colleague, the late George E. Stuart, Ph.D. (1935 - 2014) for his great generosity and many extraordinary contributions promoting world archaeology over several generations.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

"Selected proceedings of the “First International Conference on Ethnoastronomy: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions of the World”held at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 5-9 September 1983."

Available on Amazon.com  - see link in listing. Ships internationally from the USA.

Las altas culturas mesoamericanas prehispánicas desarrollaron un sistema de escritura jeroglífica o logosilábica que, unido a la información iconográfica, les permitía dejar constancia por escrito de diversos aspectos de su cultura. Uno de los soportes que utilizaban para ello eran el papel realizado con fibras vegetales y el pergamino confeccionado generalmente con piel de venado. Por ello estos documentos son denominados códices. Tras la llegada de la cultura occidental perduraron escasamente una veintena de los miles de códices que podría haber. No obstante, la propia administración colonial civil y religiosa demandó nuevos códices de estas características para comunicarse con los indígenas, introduciendo paulatinamente el soporte de papel europeo. En la actualidad estas obras son fuentes fundamentales para el conocimiento de las culturas indígenas mesoamericanas, pero hay que tener cuidado, pues los códices mesoamericanos han sido objeto de distintos tipos de falsificación debido a diversos intereses. Las primeras de las que tenemos constancia, los llamados Códices Techialoyan, fueron realizadas a finales del siglo XVII y principios del XVIII por los indígenas y no tuvieron un carácter económico en el sentido de engañar a posibles coleccionistas, sino que sus razones eran otras ya que trataban de límites de tierra de los pueblos. Pero a mediados del siglo XVIII creemos que se llevaron a cabo nuevas falsificaciones para venderlas como originales a coleccionistas privados. No obstante, la mayoría de falsificaciones surgirá desde principios del siglo XIX hasta la actualidad, buscando exclusivamente un beneficio económico, debido a su elevado precio en el mercado. En este estudio presentaremos algunas de las falsificaciones conocidas y el carácter de las mismas, junto con el problema de autenticación de los códices mesoamericanos y otras cuestiones relacionadas con los mismos, como es el caso de la validez de los documentos que se consideran copias "legales" de originales.

La exploración del ciclo del año en el Códice Borgia en relación con las ceremonias de fin de año representadas en las páginas 49-52 del Borgia permite entender mejor el ciclo de las 18 veintenas (periodos de veinte días) en las comunidades orientales
nahuas, especialmente del valle de Puebla-Tlaxcala, lugar de origen de este códice. Los rituales de las veintenas representados en este almanaque y la sección narrativa de las páginas 29-46 proporcionan evidencia de que las veintenas realmente estaban ligadas a
las estaciones. Las fechas del año, sin embargo, siguieron un sistema diferente, coordinado con el ciclo continuo de 260 días en el tonalpohualli. Ningún ajuste fue posible en el ciclo de
52 años, pero este no es el caso de las veintenas, que nunca se nombran como parte del xiuhmolpilli. Parece probable que la flexibilidad del sistema de las veintenas permitiera
que los «meses» se ajustaran para mantenerse en sintonía con las estaciones.

Abstract: An exploration of the cycle of the year in the Codex Borgia in relation to the year-end ceremonies represented on pages 49-52 of the Codex Borgia allows us to better understand the cycle of 18 veintena festivals (periods of 20 days) in the eastern Nahua communities, especially the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, the point of origin of the
Codex Borgia. The veintena rituals depicted in this almanac and the narrative section on pages 29-46 provide evidence that the veintenas were tied to the seasons. The year dates, however, followed a different system, coordinated with the continuous cycle of 260 days
in the tonalpohualli. No adjustment was possible in this cycle of 52 years, but this is not the case with the veintenas, which were never named as part of the xiuhmolpilli. It seems that the flexibility of the veintena system allowed the «months» to be adjusted to stay in tune with the seasons.

El siguiente articulo analiza iconográficamente el contenido del Lienzo de Analco, un manuscrito histórico-cartográfico producido por los aliados indígenas de los conquistadores de la sierra Norte de Oaxaca. Narra la historia multifacética de la conquista de la sierra durante un trascurso de al menos cinco décadas, partiendo de la entrada dual de Figueroa y Barrios, en 1526. Ilustra un panorama detallado de las condiciones históricas y sociales de la región, sirviendo de documento unificador y mérito de servicio para los indígenas que, de otro modo, se encontraron privados de derechos y enajenados por la autoridad colonial.

El presente trabajo estrí basado exclusivamente en la información que encontramos presente en los autores del siglo XVI que trataron del Imperio Afeca o Mexic4 dest¿cando que todos ellos ensalzan la importancia de la educación y mencionan sus principales cenÍos educativos. Ninguna cosa mqs me hq admirado ni parecido más digna de alabaraa y memoria, que el cuidado y ordm que en criar a sus hijos tenían los mexica. Porque entiendo bien que en Ia crianza e institución de la niñez y juvenlud consisfe tada la buena esperanza de tma república (...) dieron en apartqr sus hijos de regalo y liber-Íad, que son las dos pestes de aquella edad, y en ocapar-Ios en ejercicios provechosos y honestos,l Consideradas las cosas dichas en este capítulo con ánimo justo, bien hay cosas en que tomen ejemplo los cristianos de estos infeles, como los señores criaban a sus hijos é hijas en buena disciplina, é honestidad é castigo.z La educación de h juventud (...) fue tal entre los mesicanos que ella por sí basla a confundir el orgulloso desprecio de ciertos críticos que ímaginan reducido a los Iímites de Europa el inperio de la razón (...) el celo que tenían en h educación de sus hijos debe confundir Ia negligencia de nuestros padres de fanilia, y muchos de los doclmenlos que daban a su juvenlud Wedan servir de lecciones a Ia nuestra.3 Los gobemantes mexicas, conscientes de la importancia de la educación para el sostenimiento de su Imperio, impartieron una serie de normas y leyes que les permitieron controlar ésta, e inculcar en sus súbditos un nuevo concepto de Ia vida y una nueva versión de la historia de su pueblo. Así, durant€ el gobierno de Itzcóatl, una vez vencidos los tepanecas de Azcapotzalco y sometidos los señoríos de Xochimilco, Cuitláhuac y Chalco; se decidió consolidar el poder mexica por medio de una reforma ideológica que consistió en la supresión de los datos historicos existentes hasta entonces, y la creación de una historia nueva donde los mexica ocupasen el lugar preponderante. Para ello, se ordenó quemar todos los códices o libms de pinturas que recogieran la historia de los I Acost¡, Joseph dei Histofia Natural ! moral de tas Indiat, FCE, México, 1985, p.315. pueblos vencidos y los propios códices mexicas que reflejasen la poca importancia de su pueblo, con el fm de sustituirlos por otros en los cuales se ensalzase el nuevo poder actual, pero dotrindolo de una nueva "conciencia histórica". Es decir, modificaron simple y llanamente la historia.

The work is one of the final drafts of a study about the Nahua system of writing employed in the Codex Xolotl and published as Chapter 13 the homage to Karen Dakin. Chapter 13 compares the Nahuatl of the folio that Thouvenot classified as X.010 to posit that a portion of this segment was included in Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl's Historia de la Nación Chichimeca. It also argues that this folio contains two Nahuatl graphemes: a logogram standing for polihui and a new phonogram for Tollan.

Codex Bodley (Codex Ñuu Tnoo - Ndisi Nuu) is a precolonial Mexican pictorial manuscript, stemming from the Mixtec region (Ñuu Dzaui). It tells the history and genealogy of the rulers of the Mixtec city-states Tilantongo (Ñuu Tnoo) and Tlaxiaco (Ndisi Nuu) during the five centuries before the Spanish conquest (1521).
This book contains a general introduction to ancient Mixtec pictography, which discusses the history of the manuscript, its cultural-historical context and indicates how to read the manuscript, as well as a full page-by-page reading of both the obverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tilantongo) and of the reverse part of the codex (dealing with the dynasty of Tlaxiaco).

This selective Finding List is not intended as a bibliographical document; it is intended solely as a convenient jump-starter listing the URL's for major collections and for major and lesser known individual codices that have been made available for online consultation. The editors have tried to ensure the ongoing efficacy of the URL's as of the spring of 2019, but we realize that these are often in flux, and need perpetual updating, as the need may arise.

En este escrito, pretendo hablar brevemente sobre el trabajo de los primeros frailes misioneros que llegaron a la Nueva España; y abordar las dificultades culturales que presentaron al realizar este proceso. Además, mencionaré la influencia que tuvieron los códices prehispánicos en el proceso de evangelización. Finalmente, hablaré sobre el factor "demoniaco" que se creía tenía la cultura de los pueblos indígenas.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

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This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex, the only one discovered in the twentieth century, was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the  Grolier Codex is half of a 20-page, 104-year divinatory hybrid-style Mesoamerican Venus Almanac, probably the physically oldest surviving pre-Columbian book, and with new radiocarbon dates that place it in the thirteenth century CE. It is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research, it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure, as it has never been officially recognized. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare, the goal of which was to obtain captives for sacrifice, their blood shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The  Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus, greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions. The present study offers a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; presents a documented photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the Codex Mayano-Mexicanus is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.


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This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.