Painting, Writing, and Polity in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Two hitherto unrelated Teotihuacan mural paintings, no longer in situ, probably are companion pieces from upper and lower walls in the same portico or room or in related porticos or rooms of the same compound. The tassel headdresses wo by the figures in the paintings appear to be insignia of "Rain God"-related social units or institutions, signifying leadership and authority, with military associations. The contexts in which the tassel headdresses occur, both within the ancient city and outside its borders, suggest that persons with rights to the headdress may have been members of or attached to the ruling establishment or the bureaucracy of the Teotihuacan state. The unique two-part notation on the upper wall painting appears to be hierarchically ordered, corresponding to a ranking either of the social units to which the figures belong, or of institutions which they represent, or of places associated with them. Department of Anthropology University of Rochester December, 1971 FOR CENTURIES early in the first millennium A.D., the metropolis of Teotihuacan exerted power and influence over large areas of Middle America. Situated high on the Central Mexican plateau, about 25 mi northeast of modern Mexico City, Teotihuacan developed into one of the largest and most complex ancient cities now known in the New World, extending over an area of 8 mi2, with a permanent population estimated to number 125,000 persons around A.D. 600. Within its crowded environs, in the densely built residential structures which lined its many streets, a relatively large number of its people worked as craft specialists for the export market, as well as for internal exchange (R. Millon 1970). Apparently to house in proximity the political leaders of the city-its highest ranking religious and politico-bureaucratic personnel-and an enormous central marketplace, the Teotihuacanos built the huge "Ciudadela-Great Compound" complex in the very center of their city, at the intersection of the north-south and east-west axes, flanking both sides of their " ia Sacra," the majestic "Street of the Dead" (see R. Millon 1970, map). Today we see the bare bones of the city's excavated structures, splendid as they are. We do not see them as they were, their lime-plastered walls covered with colorful paintings. More than 200 paintings from about 40 structures have been found, representing a minute sample of Teotihuacan mural art (C. Millon 1972). What sculpture was to te Lowland Maya, mural painting was to the Teotihuacanos. As their major art form, it constitutes a major source of data for the study of Teotihuacan society and culture. Two relatively unknown paintings appear to be crucial sources of such data (Figs. 1, 2). Although they are no longer in situ, unfortunately, and are now in different parts of the United States, taken together, they provide us with new evidence about the city's writing system and its polity. PUTTING THE PAINTINGS TOGETHER In 1965 I saw a Teotihuacan mural in a private gallery, which, so far as I know, has not been reproduced or published until now (Fig. 2). William Coe had called the painting to the attention of my husband and myself (personal communication, 1965). The painting, in tones of red, had decorated a lower wall, and measured perhaps 1 m in width and somewhat under 1 m in height, a standard size for a single figure painting on lower walls in the ancient city. The Teotihuacan mural canon is such, that the figure probably would have been repeated a number of times in the room from which it came. Coe had noticed that the tassel headdress of the principal figure resembled the headdress of what appears to be a Teotihuacan "Rain God" decorating a shield held by a helmeted, armed figure who seemed to be a Teotihuacano, carved on Stela 31 at Tikal (Fig. 3a right, b) (personal communication, 1965). The headdress reappeared as the headdress of the same