Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-68ccn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T01:25:16.483Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Forms and Usage of Notation at Teotihuacan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

James C. Langley
James C. Langley
Affiliation:
539 Prospect Avenue, Rockcliffe Park, Ontario K1M OX6, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

No evidence of writing in the form of inscriptions or documentary records has been found at Teotihuacan, the most populous, urbanized, and mercantile society of its period in Mesoamerica (circa a.d. 500), although it had close contact over several centuries with other cultures that had developed writing systems. What do exist are glyphic signs that form part of the iconography of mural paintings and pottery decoration. Analysis of over a thousand of these artifacts suggests that the Teotihuacanos developed an unusual notational system comprising, at present count, about 120 signs. This article discusses the sign system and the ways in which it was used to supplement the information conveyed pictorially by Teotihuacan art.

Type
Special Section: Imagery and Notation at Teotihuacan
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , Fall 1991 , pp. 285 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

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

References

REFERENCES

Barthel, Thomas S. 1988 Deciphering Teotihuacan Writing. Indiana 11: 9–18.Google Scholar
Berlo, Janet C. 1989 Early Writing in Central Mexico: In Tlilli, in Tlapalli before A.D. 1000. In Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan, A.D. 700–900, edited by Diehl, Richard A. and Berlo, Janet C., pp. 19–47. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Kathleen, Berrin (editor) 1988 Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Brown, David 1988 The Linguistic Affiliation and Phoneticism of Teotihuacan Iconography. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Art and Art History, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Cabrera, Castro R., Cowgill, George, and Sugiyama, Saburo 1990 El Proyecto Templo de Quetzalcoatl y la práctica a gran escala del sacrificio humana. In La época clásica: Nuevos hallazgos, nuevas ideas, edited by de Méndez, A. Cardos, pp. 123–146. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1966 Dioses y signos Teotihuacanos. In Teotihuacán: Onceava mesa redonda, pp. 249–279. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Terrence 1976 Archaeological and Linguistic Correlations in Mayaland and Associated Areas of Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 8(1):101–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langley, James C. 1986 Symbolic Notation of Teotihuacan: Elements of Writing in a Mesoamerican Culture of the Classic Period. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 313. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langley, James C. 1991 Teotihuacan Sign Clusters: Emblem or Articulation? In Art, Polity and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Berlo, Janet C.. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Love, Bruce 1987 Glyph T93 and Maya “Hand-scattering” Events. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 5, Center for Maya Research, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur G. 1973 The Mural Painting of Teotihuacan. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Millon, Clara 1973 Painting, Writing and Polity in Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 38(3):294–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millon, Clara 1988 A Reexamination of the Teotihuacan Tassel Headdress Insignia. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Berrin, Kathleen, pp. 114–134. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Millon, Rene 1973 The Teotihuacan Map. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, Rene 1988 Where Do They All Come From? The Provenance of the Wagner Murals from Teotihuacan. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Berrin, Kathleen, pp. 78–113. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1976 The Murals of Tepantitla, Teotihuacan. Garland, New York.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988a A Reinterpretation of Teotihuacan and Its Mural Painting Tradition. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Berrin, Kathleen, pp. 45–77. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988b Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees with Glyphs. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Berrin, Kathleen, pp. 136–161. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1990 El poder militar como realidad y retórica en Teotihuacán. In La época clásica: Nuevos hallazgos, nuevas ideas, edited by de Méndez, A. Cardos, pp. 181–204. Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio 1900 Teotihuacán: Estudio histórico y arqueolágico. Oficina Topográfica de la Secretaria de Fomento, México.Google Scholar
Sahagun, Fray Bernardino de 1961 Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain, Book 10, edited and translated by Dibble, Charles E. and Anderson, Arthur J.O.. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Séjourné, Laurette 1962 Interpretación de un jeroglífico Teotihuacano. Cuadernos Americanos CXXIV(5): 137–158.Google Scholar
Séjourné, , 1969 Teotihuacan, metropole de l'Amérique. François Maspero, Paris.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1915 Die Teotiuacan-Kultur des Hochlands von Mexico. In Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde V: 405–585. Behrend, Berlin.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1989a Burials Dedicated to the Old Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 54: 85–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1989b Iconographie Interpretation of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan. Mexicon XI/4: 68–74.Google Scholar
Winning, Hasso von 1948 The Teotihuacan Owl and Weapon Symbol and Its Association with “Serpent Head X” at Kaminaljuyu. American Antiquity 14: 129–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winning, Hasso von 1958 Figurines with Movable Limbs from Ancient Mexico. Ethnos 23(1): 1–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winning, Hasso von 1987 La iconografía de Teotihuacán: Los dioses y los signas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar