Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-29
ART OF THE AZTECS.
THE CURIOUS TERRA GOTTA HEADS
WHICH SHOW THEIR SKILL.

THE CURIOUS TERRA GOTTA HEADS
WHICH SHOW THEIR SKILL.
What the Images Are Thought to Rep
rescnt-The Accounts Given by Span
/ ish WrIter~-In All Probability Por-
/ traits Of Persons.
/ 1t Is long time since students Of American
antiquities had their attention first called To
the strange little heads which have been dug
up in immense quantities in Mexico, upon the
plain call,I the Path Of the Dead. at Seotihua-
can. They are generally quite small, from
one to two inches long, and invariably have
a neck OF handle attached to them behind, not
/ to represent the human neck, but merely as =
/ convenient means Of fastening them To some
sort nf hrly made of other material At
/ least that is the inference from the appear
ance. Thcest little terra Gotta heals have been
often commented upon and have h"en used Rs
arguments in favor Of this or that view Of
/ Aztec origin or custom, but no systematic
study of them has iecn made, although they
exist in great number, in various museums
/ The Academy Of Natural Sciences has some
of them. which were once in Peale's museum;
at the Smithsonian there is a large collection,
and at the National museum in the City Of
Mexico Il still larger. There they are labeled
inqulringly, Idols or ex -voto,f"
WHAT THEY REPRESENT.
| In the last numher of The American Jour
nal Of Archaeology, Zeha Nuttall, perhaps a
daughter Of the author Of the North Amer
icau SYLVIA has Il very interesting paper
upon these heals In il an attempt Is made
| TO classify them and to show that they repre-
sent Individuals men or women, among the
AzteCs, and that the strange head dresses up
on many uf them correspond exactly with
| tho>e deSrihed by the Spanish eye witnesses
as woTI at different tlmes-SometImes accord
Ing to caprice of fashion, sometimes at re
/ hgiOus festivals, or in the exercise OF military
or judicial functions. In classifying them 1t
Is found that they correspond TO three orders
1 of development. The earliest are simply like
masks, without backs to the heals or orna-
ments of any sort; those Of the middle class
have rounded heads, with grooves and holes
for the adjustment nf head dresses, which
were aftcrward afiiNe,i, while in the latest
class the head dresses, including very elaborate
and extraordinary arrangements Of cur!S and
putfs OF the hair, ART represented in the nodded
clay. we'll rs feathers anil skins, gold and
precious stones.
FINE CLAY FIGURES.
Extracts arr given from Spanish writers,
who describe the CURES of their Idols and Of
their priests and victims, the military classes
and the fashionable women, and they are
found to correspond with what is found
nodded in these terra cOttas. Moreover it Is
shown that to this day the manufacture Of
small wax and clay figures, which are dressed
a. dolls, is carried on extensively, and that at
Puebla are rIadc by Indians Of the Aztec race
truly wonderful groups of fine clay fig
ureS not half an inch in height The skill Of
the Indian pOttcrs Of GHadalaj jaI u is lauled
throughout Mexico. and the writer has often
been told of certain individuals there who,
after few moments ul ulservatina only, can
reproduce III clay with extraordinary fidelity
not only the features Of stranger, but the
whole figure, with the details Of a complex
modern cu~;um"
PORTRAITS OF PERSONS
Tho con luSion. therefore, is come To that
the little heads nre in all probability portraits
of persons. The heads are always Ia rUVose,
and in somc thc eyes arr Clu~,vl, viii ii. il the
picture writings, means death The same
head dres,,s ar found ulon faces young and
smooth. or with sunken yhrckS and ClHu. ,atCd
jaws. A deity would not bc ~ r,prrS.nt~l
but a conventional chag..,tcr having keen de-
cided upon he would he always portrayed
accordingly The heals are made Of too
many varieties Of clay for them 10 have all
come from the same place. They are in
pGriSnable material They may he arranged
III classes, representing her different periods
or merely exhibiting greater or les skill of
workmanship They wear in common a linz
ited variety Of hccdGrar, and the reasons
given by recent writers for assigning the clay
heads of Se-ntihuaCan to remote and unknown
periods cca>e 10 exist. a. the evidence of
trustworthy writers show that closely similar
headgcar was worn by the Mcxicans at or
about the period of the Spanish conquest
Philadelphia Times