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COMBINATION OF SIGNS IN THE CODICES OF CENTRAL MEXICO: EXAMPLES FROM SACRIFICE AND DISMEMBERMENT REPRESENTATIONS

COMBINATION OF SIGNS IN THE CODICES OF CENTRAL MEXICO: EXAMPLES FROM SACRIFICE AND DISMEMBERMENT... Abstract The system of communication in use in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest was made up of signs composed largely of pictorial elements, including glyphs (signs in a script) and graphic representations of the ornaments of the deities. It had a generative character that was expressed mainly in the fact that it combined basic signs to create new meanings. This article deals with the combinations between the following signs: the smoking mirror, the flint, the down ball and the skull, all belonging to the field of sacrifice and dismemberment of the human body. They were associated with each other and created the following codified and conventional combinations: mirror-flint, mirror-down, flint-skull, flint-obsidian, skull-down, and a composite pectoral called anahuatl. This article proposes a typology of these combinations, and sheds light on their meanings and the processes of their construction. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ancient Mesoamerica Cambridge University Press

COMBINATION OF SIGNS IN THE CODICES OF CENTRAL MEXICO: EXAMPLES FROM SACRIFICE AND DISMEMBERMENT REPRESENTATIONS

Dehouve, Danièle
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 34 (1): 19 – Apr 1, 2023
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Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press
ISSN
0956-5361
eISSN
1469-1787
DOI
10.1017/S0956536121000249
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract The system of communication in use in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest was made up of signs composed largely of pictorial elements, including glyphs (signs in a script) and graphic representations of the ornaments of the deities. It had a generative character that was expressed mainly in the fact that it combined basic signs to create new meanings. This article deals with the combinations between the following signs: the smoking mirror, the flint, the down ball and the skull, all belonging to the field of sacrifice and dismemberment of the human body. They were associated with each other and created the following codified and conventional combinations: mirror-flint, mirror-down, flint-skull, flint-obsidian, skull-down, and a composite pectoral called anahuatl. This article proposes a typology of these combinations, and sheds light on their meanings and the processes of their construction.

Journal

Ancient Mesoamerica – Cambridge University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2023

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