Now that a sketch has been given of the beliefs and mode of life of
the Ancient Mexicans, it is necessary to deal in some measure with
the remains of their culture scattered over the country. As far as
architecture is concerned, the greater proportion of ruined buildings
must be considered to have been either temples or structures associated
in some way with religion, and perhaps government. The Mexicans
gave of their best to the gods, and though the _corvée_ system
enabled large numbers of men to be employed at one time on works of
considerable magnitude, the rulers seem to have spent more care on
the buildings erected for the service of their deities than on their
own habitations. The peculiar feature of Mexican architecture lies
in the fact that every building of importance was erected upon a
substructure, terrace or truncated pyramid, which, though essentially
secondary in importance to the building or buildings with which it was
crowned, yet represented a vast amount of labour, many hundred times
greater than that expended on the superstructure. This feature has been
unfortunate, in a sense, for Mexican archæology, since the pyramidal
mounds, once the superimposed buildings have disappeared, present
a superficial analogy to the pyramids of Egypt. There can however
be no real comparison, the Egyptian pyramid represented a building
in itself, while the Mexican was in essence a mere accessory. The
foundation-mounds must be distinguished from the mounds of the northern
Pueblo region, which are formed for the most part of the debris
of buildings which have fallen into decay. True foundation-mounds
are rarely found north of a line drawn, roughly, from La Quemada in
Zacatecas to the Gulf of Mexico in the region of the Panuco valley;
but south of it, right down to Honduras, they are a characteristic
feature of architecture. There was a large number of temple pyramids,
of varied dimensions, in Tenochtitlan (Sahagun gives a long list), but
two were of outstanding importance, one in Tenochtitlan proper, the
other in the suburb of Tlaltelolco. Both were so utterly destroyed by
the Spaniards that it is not easy at the present time to fix their
exact position. The most recent, and most successful, attempt to
work out the details of the great Mexican temple from all sources,
literary and archæological, is that of Maudslay, to which reference
can be made by those wishing for more minute particulars (see also
Fig. 12; p. 87). The pyramid, or teocalli, stood at the eastern end of
a large court, about 300 by 350 yards, surrounded by a wall on which
were carved snakes. It was built in five tiers, of earth and stones
faced with masonry; the base measured something over 100 yards, and
the upper surface over 70 yards square. A flight of more than 100
steps on the west side gave access to the summit, and on the eastern
edge of the latter were two shrines, each of two storeys, built, as
seems most probable, chiefly of wood. These two shrines were dedicated
respectively to Uitzilopochtli (towards the south) and Tlaloc (towards
the north), and faced west, but the priests and worshippers would face
east, the direction of the rising sun, and there is reason to believe
that the equinox was calculated by observing the rising of the sun
between the two shrines. In front of the latter was the sacrificial
stone, and below, in the court, a number of other temples, priestly
residences, and other ceremonial buildings, including a tlaxtli-court
and the tzompantli, or frame upon which were erected the skulls of
sacrificial victims. The other temples in the court included one to
Tezcatlipoca, one in circular form to Quetzalcoatl, and one to the
planet Venus (Tlauizcalpantecutli), whose image was painted on a pillar
in the shrine. The Tlaltelolco temple was similar, though a little
larger, and supported two shrines dedicated, the one to Uitzilopochtli
and the other to Tezcatlipoca. Larger than either of these imposing
buildings was the teocalli of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula. This still
exists, though in sadly mutilated form; the length of its base was
calculated by Humboldt as nearly 440 metres. For an example of an
ordinary Mexican shrine, as exemplified in ruins, it is necessary to
go outside what is strictly Aztec territory. Near Cuernavaca, in the
Tlalhuica district, among rocky peaks towering above the valley, is
the temple of Tepoztlan (Pl. XIV, 2), dedicated probably to one of the
octli-gods (Tepoztecatl). This region formed one of the early Mexican
conquests and the temple bears the name of the Mexican king Auitzotl
and the date of his death. Seen from the east, the building appears to
be a three-tiered pyramid, the upper tier in reality being the back of
the shrine. The walls are of porous volcanic stone set in mortar, and
the roof was similarly constructed. The shrine is a simple rectangular
building with an inner chamber (of the type Fig. 76, 4; p. 327), and
the interior is ornamented with carvings. The front wall is pierced by
three doorways, separated by quadrangular pillars, which are in reality
sections of the wall. In front, on the lower terrace, is a quadrangular
“altar,” probably corresponding to the quauhxicalli at Mexico. Another,
and somewhat similar temple, also apparently of Aztec origin, is found
at Teayo, near Tuxpan in the Huaxtec country. This is a three-tiered
pyramid, about forty feet high, faced with sandstone blocks over which
a coat of stucco has been laid. At the top is a simple quadrangular
shrine (of the type Fig. 76, 1), with stuccoed and frescoed interior,
standing on a low terrace. The stairway is on the west side, and
the worshippers therefore faced east, as in the case of the temples
already mentioned. This, we are told, was the proper orientation for
Mexican temples of the first importance. But of far greater interest
and importance than these two small temples are the extensive remains
at Teotihuacan, close to Mexico, a site intimately connected with the
Toltec and mentioned in Mexican myth as the scene of the rising of the
historical sun. At the present day this site presents the appearance
of a conglomeration of mounds varying greatly in size and spread over
so large an area that their bulk is difficult to realize. The two
principal features are two vast pyramids, from the smaller of which
runs a depressed road, two to three hundred feet wide, past the other
for a distance of nearly two miles in a straight line. This road is
interrupted by several low embankments and small pyramids, and bordered
by a large number of mounds arranged in series. At the southern end
of the road and to the east is a complex of mounds, arranged in a
square and including a pyramid of some size. The photograph figured
on Pl. XII is taken from the summit of the lesser of the two great
pyramids, usually called the “pyramid of the moon,” and looks down
the sunk roadway, called the “road of the dead.” The greater pyramid,
or “pyramid of the sun,” appears in the centre of the picture, but
the complex of mounds towards the southern end of the road is barely
visible. The “pyramid of the sun” measures about 700 feet along the
base, and the sides rise at an angle of 45 degrees to a platform about
100 feet square. Both it and the surrounding mounds are composed of
masses of local earth and stone and adobe (unbaked clay). It was
originally faced with roughly dressed stone and received a final coat
of stucco. Beneath the outer facing a second has been discovered at
some depth, and it may be that several such were constructed during
the process of building in order to give solidity to the mass; but
it is more likely that the outer layer represents an addition to the
original building. Other evidence of phases in construction have been
discovered in some of the mounds, in cases where an entire building
has been filled solid in order to support a later edifice above it.
Growth by accretion of this nature was a feature of many of the Maya
sites, as will be seen later. It is probable that this mighty pyramid
was approached by a stairway on its western face from the “path of the
dead.” The general assemblage of the lesser mounds seems to exhibit
more evidence of design than many Mexican ruins, and the whole site
bears the stamp of considerable antiquity as well as long-continued
occupation. In particular is to be noticed a tendency to group the
mounds round quadrangular courts, a tendency which, as will be seen
later, is characteristic of the Zapotec area. The district from early
times bore the reputation of a burial-ground of great sanctity, and
the lesser mounds were at first believed to be burial-tumuli (whence
the name “path of the dead” given to the sunk roadway). Excavation
however, as far as carried out, seems to prove that the greater number
supported buildings of a residential nature, many of them of an
unusually complex ground-plan. The walls were of lava fragments and
adobe, dressed with mortar. The roofs of the larger apartments were
supported on pillars, probably of wood, of which the rectangular bases,
similar in construction to the walls, have been found. Stone-carving is
practically non-existent, probably for the same reason that there are
no well-dressed stone facings, viz. unsuitability of local material;
but the interiors were ornamented with frescoes in beautiful colours in
which plant motives play an important part.
[Illustration: 1]
[Illustration:
_Photo F. J. Cooper Clark_
2
MEXICO
1. TEMPLE AT XOCHICALCO, RESTORED (AFTER HOLMES)
2. TEMPLE AT XOCHICALCO, PRESENT CONDITION]
The ruins most nearly resembling those at Teotihuacan are found at
Monte Alban in Zapotec territory, on a lofty ridge overlooking the city
of Oaxaca. Holmes describes the appearance of the site as it struck him
when he had climbed the long ascent from the latter city as follows:
“The surface was not covered with scattered and obscure piles of ruins
as I had expected, but the whole mountain had been remodelled by the
hand of man until not a trace of natural contour remained. There was
a vast system of level courts enclosed by successive terraces, and
bordered by pyramids upon pyramids. Even the sides of the mountain
descended in a succession of terraces, and the whole crest, separated
by the hazy atmosphere from the dimly seen valleys more than a thousand
feet below, and isolated completely from the blue range beyond, seemed
suspended in mid-air.” The quadrangular assemblage of foundation-mounds
round courts is even more noticeable here than at Teotihuacan,
though the limitations of the available building space rendered the
arrangement less free on the whole. Most of the mounds seem to have
been faced with quartzite blocks, barely dressed at all owing to the
hard nature of the stone, and carved ornament is not very common. Few
traces of buildings have been discovered, but excavation is by no
means complete; however, the foundations of at least one structure
with a complex arrangement of chambers have been laid bare, and it
is earnestly to be hoped that some properly qualified archæologist
may be entrusted with the task of thorough investigation. Monte Alban
is further remarkable for the presence of sculptured grave-slabs and
pillars bearing designs and inscriptions in a peculiar style (similar
to Fig. 15; p. 106). Many Mexican day-signs can be recognized, but
some of the glyphs are enclosed in “cartouches” of Maya style (to
anticipate), and are accompanied by numerals in which five is expressed
by a bar, another Maya characteristic. Carvings in similar style
are found at other sites in the Zapotec area. Not unlike Monte Alban
are the better preserved ruins at Quiengola, near Tehuantepec, and
here the quadrangular arrangement of foundation-mounds round courts
takes a very definite form. Some of these mounds are in the form of
three-tiered pyramids (Fig. 32, _b_), others of long terraces
supporting buildings divided into a succession of simple chambers,
each opening on the terrace, and occasionally enclosing a small shrine
(Fig. 32, _a_). The latter bear a striking resemblance to Maya
buildings, as will be seen later (compare Figs. 76, _b_, and
77; pp. 327 and 329). Adobe was used in large quantities in these
buildings, and clay as mortar, and certain groups of structures are
found which are decidedly complex in arrangement. At Tlacolula, a site
rather similar to Quiengola, cyclopean masonry is found, and at Xoxo in
the same district we have mounds built of earthy material with frequent
horizontal layers of mortar, a peculiarity also seen at Tlacolula at
Monte Alban, and again at Cholula, a city closely associated with
Toltec culture. In the same district are found sculptured slabs in a
style similar to those of Monte Alban, and in both regions occur stone
heads, usually so flattened as to present an axe-like appearance, with
a projection at the back for insetting in a wall (Fig. 33, _c_).
[Illustration:
_PLATE XIV_
[Illustration: 1]
_Photos. C. B. Waite_
2
ZAPOTEC
1. INTERIOR OF CHAMBER AT MITLA, OAXACA (_See
Plate XV_)
MEXICO
2. TEMPLE AT TEPOZTLAN]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Plans of remains at
Quiengola, Oaxaca.
A. Court with terrace supporting buildings.
B. Pyramid with Temple.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--_a._ Stone slab from
near Xochicalco.
_b._ Pottery beaker, bearing the date _2. xochitl_,
Zapotec.
_c._ Stone head, Oaxaca.]
The characteristic Oaxaca slabs, with their dates in mixed Mexican
and Maya style, have their parallel in the carvings on what must have
been an extremely beautiful temple at Xochicalco in the Tlalhuica
region. This ruin, though in the same district as the Aztec temple
of Tepoztlan, is of an entirely different type and the style of its
rich ornamentation bears a close resemblance to the remains at Tulan,
one of the Toltec cities. Its present condition is shown on Pl. XIII
together with a restoration by Holmes. It is only fair to state that
this distinguished archæologist has since modified his ideas regarding
its original form, and it should be said that the pillars dividing
the doorway would almost certainly have had perpendicular faces. With
this exception and with the further exception of some doubt attaching
to the exact form of the roof, the picture gives a very good idea of
what the temple must have been. The substructure, with the noticeable
“batter” of its walls and projecting cornice, is over four yards high,
of rubble faced with andesite; the carving represents great undulating
snakes, between the coils of which are human figures, and glyphs in
the style of those of Oaxaca described above. Originally the details
of sculpture were emphasized by coloured stucco and therefore appeared
far less complicated than in a photograph. In this building again the
stairway was on the west side.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Plan of a court and
buildings at Mitla. The building to the right is shown on Pl.
XV.]
[Illustration:
_PLATE XV_
_Photo. C. B. Waite_
ZAPOTEC
RUINS AT MITLA, OAXACA; PARTLY RESTORED]
To return to Oaxaca, the most important group of ruins awaits
consideration. These are at Mitla, the sacred Zapotec city, and are
distinguished by many peculiarities which render them almost unique.
Here the quadrangular arrangement of buildings round courts attains its
most definite form. In two cases one of these buildings, on the east
side, is a pyramid, and therefore presumably approached, as usual, from
the west. The rest consist of long low buildings upon terraces, opening
as a rule only upon the court which they surround, though in two cases
one such building gives access at the back to another court, entirely
enclosed by similar buildings, which has no other entrance (Fig. 34).
The material is rubble, faced with trachyte blocks set in mortar;
the wall-surfaces are broken by sunk panels filled with the mosaic
geometrical ornament which gives this site a character of its own (Pls.
XIV, 1, and XV). Each block constituting the mosaic bears on its face
in relief some detail entering into the design, but the blocks are not
uniform, and each therefore was cut and fitted to its particular place,
a method entailing enormous labour, especially when it is realized
that over eighty thousand were employed in the ornamentation of one
quadrangle alone. The blocks taper somewhat at the back, so that they
were set in the mortar as a tooth in the gum, a feature seen also in
Maya buildings. The designs are obviously based on the textile art,
and find their closest parallel in some of the coastal buildings of
Peru (though similar mosaics have been found at Tlacolula, also in
Zapotec territory). Stucco was not used here for moulded ornament,
though it was employed for finishing defective points in the facing.
Traces of red colour are found on the mosaic panels. The durable yet
comparatively soft trachyte found in the neighbouring hills afforded
the Zapotec builder far more tractable material than at other sites;
the result was that large masses of stone were used in construction,
such as lintels from ten to twenty feet long and weighing from ten to
fifteen tons, as well as cylindrical pillars used to support the roof
in the broader buildings. Indications show that the roof consisted of
logs, probably covered with canes supporting a layer of masonry and
cement. The quarries of the ancient builders have been discovered in
the hills, together with the rude stone picks by means of which they
hewed out the blocks, and, as Holmes writes, “the feats of engineering
necessary to transport masses of stone many tons in weight down a
thousand feet of precipitous mountain-face, accomplished by these
stone-age quarry-men, would be regarded as important undertakings, even
by our enterprising engineers of to-day.” It is an interesting fact
that numbers of stone flakes and cores are found in the mortar of the
constructed buildings, and it is possible that these may have been used
in the final dressing of the stone on the spot. In one of the buildings
a fresco in red and white has been discovered on the cornice. This is
in a style rather resembling certain Oaxacan and Cholulan pottery, and
bears also an analogy to certain frescoes in British Honduras (compare
Figs. 79 and 80; pp. 335 and 336). Various mythological figures are
represented, including Mixcoatl (Fig. 35) and his double-headed
deer, and it would seem probable that they have been added at a date
considerably later than the construction of the buildings. Of the
use of the buildings Burgoa gives particulars, assigning one group
to the king, another to the priests, and so forth. But as he speaks
of upper storeys, of which no traces are apparent, his account can
hardly be considered sufficiently trustworthy to be given in detail.
The same author writes also of extensive subterranean chambers, but
with the exception of two cruciform souterrains of comparatively small
dimensions, nothing of that nature has yet been discovered.
[Illustration: Fig. 35.--Portion of a fresco at Mitla; figure
of the god Mixcoatl.
(_After Seler_)]
The quadrangular grouping of buildings round courts recalls at once
the statement of Sahagun respecting the pre-Aztec temples at Tulan.
One of these, he writes, was composed of four buildings, that to the
east being ornamented with gold, that to the north with red jasper
and red shells, that to the west with turquoise, and that to the south
with silver and white shells. The other temple was similar, save that
the interior decoration of the buildings was of feathers, yellow, red,
blue and white respectively. If the tradition is founded on fact, we
may safely conclude that the buildings were arranged round a court,
and the colours of their ornamentation suggest that this arrangement
was connected with the regard paid by the Mexicans generally to the
world-directions (see p. 78).
Passing further north, the remains of pyramids and terraces have been
found at Placeres del Oro in Guerrero; these are built of natural or
roughly-worked boulders, but they have not yet been excavated and it
is impossible to say yet what may be their arrangement or what class
of buildings they may have supported. The peculiar stone slabs found
there (Fig. 16; p. 107) have been mentioned, which bear a certain
resemblance to one found in the neighbourhood of Xochicalco (Fig. 33,
_a_; p. 176), which itself appears to be related to those from
Oaxaca (Fig. 15; p. 106). The Placeres del Oro slabs, however, are
almost more like certain Peruvian work than anything else, and full
excavation of this extremely interesting site is highly desirable; it
is worthy of note that the latter slabs bear no glyphs. At Pazcuaro
in Michoacan we hear of a three-tiered pyramid of flat stones piled
together without mortar, the corners being formed of unworked blocks;
but in Tarascan territory are found foundation-mounds of a specialized
type, consisting of a terrace from the centre of which a spur projects
at right angles, terminating in a circular platform. These are known
by the name _yacata_, the term applied locally to Michoacan
temples, and photographs seem to show horizontal layers of cement in
their construction as in the Tlacolula buildings. On the evidence
of manuscripts the temple buildings in this district seem to have
been of a tower-like nature. Two varieties are shown, one on a square
foundation, the other on a circular ground-plan and sometimes with a
peculiar domed roof. Further north still, at La Quemada in Zacatecas,
occurs an extremely interesting group of ruins, built along a lofty
ridge. These remains, the most northerly yet discovered bearing a
distinctly “Mexican” character, cover an extensive area and display
considerable complexity. The flanks of the hills forming the ridge are
built up steeply with terraced walls, and the summits are artificially
levelled and broadened with terraces. The lower works seem to be of a
defensive nature, and the more important buildings above consist of
an intricate series of foundation-mounds, sunk courts, and occasional
pyramids. From the summit radiates a system of stuccoed roads, most
of which terminate in small pyramids lower down. The quadrangular
arrangement of the more important structures is very noticeable, and
one of the larger halls evidently possessed a roof supported on large
circular pillars, built, like the walls and terraces, of unsquared
stone blocks set in earth mixed with grass. The Spaniards found the
ruins uninhabited, and the surrounding agricultural and hunting
population of Zacatec stated that the inhabitants had migrated in the
direction of Mexico after a drought lasting several years.
With the exception of the pyramid at Teayo, described above, which
seems to be an Aztec ruin, the architectural remains of the Huaxtec
and Totonac appear in certain respects to resemble rather those of
the Maya, their linguistic relations to the south. At the same time
it is advisable to make some mention of them in this place, firstly
because the coastal region in this direction had been subjected for
some time to Aztec influences, and secondly because Aztec pottery
cannot be adequately described without reference to the ceramic art of
the Huaxtec and Totonac. Foundation-mounds occur throughout the whole
region from the mouth of the Panuco to Vera Cruz, and afford a splendid
field to future explorers. The Panuco district shows abundant traces of
settlement from very early times; the mounds are of earth, sometimes
faced with cut stone, but traces of walls are rare throughout the whole
of the Huaxtec region. In the Cerro de Nahuatlan, the pyramids are
again of earth or rubble, faced with more or less regularly squared
sandstone blocks; some are circular in ground-plan, and the corners
of the rectangular ruins are often formed of well-worked monoliths.
At Papantla is a remarkable pyramid, faced with cut stone, the
distinguishing feature of which is constituted by a series of niches,
which may at some time have contained images. This is figured on Pl.
XVI, and further description is unnecessary, though it may be said that
niches of this character may be found to be a characteristic of Totonac
architecture.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XVI_
_Photo. Prof. Seler_
TOTONAC
TEMPLE AT PAPANTLA, VERA CRUZ]
In the neighbourhood of Cempoala a very interesting series of ruins
is to be found. These consist of mounds on which traces of buildings
remain, and which, owing to the lack of stone suitable for building
in the district, are constructed of a core of waterworn stones set
in concrete with good concrete facing. The highly polished concrete
facing of Totonac buildings attracted the notice of the Spaniards, who
thought at first that they were ornamented with silver plates. The
mounds are either of the normal step-pyramid type, or are built in
two very distinct tiers, each with a separate balustraded stairway,
of the types Fig. 73, _c_ and _e_; p. 321. Both are erected
on slightly-raised artificial bases, and the buildings found on the
summits are rather more complicated than the simple shrines believed
to be characteristic of the Aztec temples. In this respect they bear
a closer resemblance to certain of the Maya remains which will be
described later. One of these buildings consists of a series of
chambers, like the buildings at Quiengola described above (Fig. 32,
_a_; p. 175), though on a smaller scale; another consists of a
shrine standing free within an exterior building. Other similarities to
Oaxaca remains include the presence of pillars to support a roof, found
in a building in the neighbourhood, and again on a foundation-mound at
San Isidro, immediately south of Misantla; and also numbers of heads,
but in this case of clay, which appear to have been inset in the walls.
At Texolo are mounds some of which are of earth alone, and these are
occasionally arranged in a double row to enclose a court. Stone facing
however is not unknown in this district.
Of architectural remains as a whole it may be said that the Aztec
buildings show a tendency to simplicity and exhibit on the whole fewer
traces of arrangement on a large and comprehensive plan, such as may
be observed at Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan itself, as far as actual
buildings are concerned, has many points in common with Tulan, and in
its general arrangement shows a considerable similarity to Monte Alban.
The last-named site is obviously closely connected with other remains
in Oaxaca; and Xochicalco, from its decoration, has similar affinities,
affinities which extend to the pre-Aztec remains of the valley. Mitla
stands practically by itself as far as artistic ornamentation is
concerned, though the arrangement of the buildings is quite Oaxacan
in character. The Totonac ruins display a certain affinity with the
ruins at Quiengola, though this affinity cannot be said to be direct.
The true relation between the two will be more apparent after the Maya
remains have been considered. It is unsafe to draw any conclusion from
structural points alone, since so much depended upon the presence in
the neighbourhood of suitable materials; it was, for instance, the
presence of trachyte in the Mitla region which enabled its builders to
make use of large masses of stone, and provided the long lintels which
distinguish this group of ruins. Where suitable stone was lacking, the
deficiency was usually supplied by cement, and much use was made of the
latter to correct irregularities in construction, though its employment
appears to have been more frequent in Oaxaca and the Totonac region
than elsewhere.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Mexican pottery forms (see
also Pls. XVII-XIX).
1–3. Valley of Mexico. 4. Oaxaca.
5–9. Island of Sacrificios.
(_British Museum_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Designs from Mexican
pottery; late valley type.]
The art of pottery was highly developed amongst all the tribes hitherto
mentioned, in spite of the facts that the use of the potter’s wheel was
unknown, and that the method of firing was very primitive. No kilns
were constructed, but the pots were fired by means of wood fuel in the
open air, perhaps in a hole in the ground. The quality of the potting
varies considerably according to locality, but the finer examples,
such as the ware from Cholula and the Totonac district, exhibit a
very high standard of paste, form and technique, though the potters
of this region of America cannot boast such consummate mastery over
their material as the early inhabitants of the Peruvian coast. The
fact, that in the later years prior to the conquest pottery had become
an article of trade and tribute, led to a wide dispersal of local
types from centres of manufacture which had acquired a reputation for
skill in the art; and considerable borrowing of forms and ornament
had resulted. At the same time, provided that the possibility of
importation be not overlooked, the pottery remains afford much valuable
evidence as to the interrelation of the tribes and the early history
of the country. The coordination of this evidence is however only
just at its commencement; careful excavations with due regard to the
stratification of remains have been made at a few points in the valley,
and the results have proved of such importance that similar researches
throughout the whole of Mexico and Central America are most earnestly
desired by all students of American archæology. In the valley of Mexico
the local ware manufactured under the Aztec _régime_ is easily
recognizable. Fragments of coarse undecorated vessels are found,
which appear to have been made by the simple expedient of plastering
a basket over with clay and then firing, the basket being destroyed
in the process. But the most characteristic ware falls into two main
varieties. The first is moulded of an orange or reddish yellow clay,
fairly well baked, but often showing a dark line down the middle of
a fracture; the walls of the vessels are very thin, and the surfaces
carefully smoothed, though not highly burnished. The commonest forms
are shallow tripod bowls (Fig. 36, 3), standing cups and jugs with
handles, and the ornament consists of small geometrical designs in
black (Fig. 37). Moulded ornament is not common, though gadrooned
bodies are occasionally found; incised decoration is confined to the
utilitarian process of scoring the bottoms of bowls for use as graters
in the preparation of peppersauce (_chilmolli_), and applied
ornament is practically non-existent. Miniature tripod bowls with
smooth bottoms are found, used to support the revolving spindle in the
operation of spinning, and incense-spoons were also manufactured in
this ware. The second main type consists chiefly of hour-glass shaped
standing cups, of reddish, softer paste, with thicker walls coated with
a burnished red slip and painted with black and white linear designs
also in slip (Fig. 36, 2). Less common are bowls of greyish paste
with burnished red and yellow slip coating, on which are well-drawn
curvilinear patterns in black, or bowls of grey ware with a very
highly burnished yellow slip with a matt design in slip of similar
colour. Characteristic, too, of this district are two-handled censers,
heavy and solid in construction, of grey clay with a black burnished
surface, or of reddish clay with a burnished red slip (Fig. 36, 1).
Besides vessels, pottery figurines are found in great numbers, in the
form of various gods, warriors, miniature temples, and so forth (Pl.
IX, 2–6). These are in a hard red ware or a very soft pale cream clay;
some are solid, while others are hollow and form rattles or whistles;
most of these figurines were evidently made in moulds. Excavations
have shown that the valley type of pottery occurs only in the surface
layers, and is therefore comparatively recent and represents a period
of short duration; beneath it, and extending to a considerable depth,
are found fragments of a ware which is especially associated with the
ruined city of Teotihuacan. The most characteristic form belonging to
this period is a circular bowl with vertical, or almost vertical, sides
supported on three feet, either flat or of the cascabel type (Fig. 38).
These vases are usually coated with a burnished red, yellow, brown or
black slip, and are either plain or are ornamented with bold incised
curvilinear patterns, or human and animal masks moulded in relief.
Impressed designs were also applied by means of stamps. Flat shallow
bowls of this ware are also found, and graceful vases with everted
lip, but the finest specimens are covered with polychrome ornament of
a peculiar technique. The design is engraved in the outer slip, and
the background cut away, leaving the former standing out against the
matt colour of the paste; in some cases the intaglio portions have
received a coating of cinnabar or vermilion, and in the most beautiful
examples the excised portions have been filled with slip of various
colours, rendering the finished vase a kind of polychrome champ-levé
in clay, a vivid blue-green being the most prominent colour. Vases
are also found with a design produced by the alternation of matt and
burnished surfaces. A peculiar feature of Teotihuacan is constituted by
the innumerable small pottery heads which are found there (Pl. IX, 3).
These are in a hard reddish clay, and appear to have been made by hand
and not in moulds. Many are without attributes, and among the others
only the god Tlaloc can be identified with certainty. One class of head
is shown with a turban-like head-dress, which, as will be seen later,
is characteristic of the Maya (e.g. Fig. 81; p.339); a figure with
similar head-dress usually forms the support of the circular pattern of
censer characteristic of this Teotihuacan culture.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Pottery vase from Teotihuacan.]
[Illustration:
_PLATE XV._
_British Museum_
MEXICO
1. SPEAR-THROWER, _ATLATL_
TARASCAN
2–6. POTTERY FROM GUADALAJARA
ZAPOTEC
7–9. FUNERARY VASES, FROM OAXACA
(Scale: 1, ⅙th; 2–9, ⅛th)]
Mixed with the lowest layers of fragments of this type, are ruder
remains of a different character. This pottery is yellow or red and
often unburnished, though a red or white slip is sometimes found;
it is thick and not so well baked, and moulded rims are common. The
ornament consists in bands or knobs in relief, and in series of incised
lines or circles. Vase-feet are found in numbers, and occasionally
handles, often in the form of a human hand. Pottery figurines are
frequent, but of a type different from those of the superior cultures;
they are hand-made, with applied details, the heads are long, the
waists narrow and the thighs exaggerated. For the most part they are
represented in the nude, and red and white paint is used as ornament.
The close correspondence which these remains bear to those of the
Tarascans (Pl. XVII, 2–6) described below, seems to prove that before
the blossoming of the “Toltec” culture, the valley was peopled by
tribes similar in ethnography to the inhabitants of Michoacan. With
regard to the relative positions of these three types of remains, it
should be mentioned that at Azcapotzalco the earliest and coarsest
occupied a stratum of 2·10 metres and it must be concluded that the
culture which they represent was of some considerable duration; while
their overlapping with the superimposed Teotihuacan types, indicates
a gradual change from the one to the other. The Teotihuacan stratum
was found to be no less than 3·25 metres in thickness, representing
an even longer period; while the “valley” type occurs on the surface
and to a depth only of 0·40 metres, and shows no overlapping with the
remains below, thus indicating an abrupt transition.
The Tarascan remains (Pl. XVII, 2–6) which are found in numbers
from Lake Pazcuaro to Lake Chapala, bear a close resemblance to the
fragments from the lowest strata of the valley. The paste is usually
well-mixed, but not so well fired as the Aztec and Teotihuacan ware,
and constantly shows at a fracture a dark line at the core, the
properly baked portion being in the main a greyish buff. A burnished
red slip is often employed, with pattern in white, the latter being
frequently furnished with an incised outline. The most common shapes
are vases and bowls with three solid or cascabel feet, the latter
enclosing rattles, vases with moulded bodies or in human or animal
form, and plain vases with rounded bases, a feature uncommon throughout
the rest of the area which forms the subject of this section. Bowls
with incised bottoms, to serve as graters, are common, and the incised
lines are sometimes arranged swastika-wise, a feature found again in
Cuicatlan pottery. Miniature tripod bowls to use in connection with
the spindle also occur, and the painted ornament of these and larger
vessels shows a tendency to asymmetry. In the Tarascan area, extending
far to the north, are found occasional vases in the clay “champ-levé”
described above, together with traces of the brilliant blue-green
ornament. Figurines of all sizes are common in this area, often covered
with a red slip and painted black and white. Many of these represent
men and women engaged in their ordinary occupations, and illustrate
well the shoulder-cloaks, large ear-rings and head-bands worn by this
people. Some are flat and solid, others hollow, but most show elongated
heads, and often exaggerated thighs and slender waists.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Polychrome pottery vase;
Tlaxcalan or Cholulan style, found in Mexico city.
(_After Seler_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Polychrome pottery vase
from Tlaxcala.
(_After Seler_)]
We must now consider the finest pottery in Mexico, viz. the ware
characteristic of Cholula and Tlaxcala, which seems to bear certain
relations to that of Oaxaca on the one hand, and, though less
obviously, to that of the Totonac region on the other. The fact that
Cholula was recognized as the leading centre of pottery manufacture
and exported its wares in considerable quantity in times preceding
and up to the conquest, renders the distinction between local types
difficult, especially as the Totonac region seems to have been affected
by Mexican conquest, and to have furnished tribute in pots. The typical
ware of Cholula and Tlaxcala is hard and reddish, very well-mixed and
fired, and rarely shows a dark line in the centre of a fracture. Forms
include standing-bowls and -cups, tripod bowls and vases, handled
jugs, plates and bowls with a slightly flattened base. Footed beakers
also occur, but I am inclined to regard this form as one adopted from
the Totonac. The vases are usually covered with an even and highly
burnished red or yellow slip, on which are painted designs in a variety
of colours, red, yellow, white, grey and black (Pl. IX, 1, and Figs.
39 and 40). Geometrical and textile patterns are common, and also
figures and emblems of gods and men, animals and plants. The treatment
is often bold and free, and though at times the designs suffer from
over-conventionalization, they are always highly decorative. Relief
ornament is occasionally seen in the shape of animal heads (Fig. 40)
or small pierced handles, and the designs are sometimes furnished
with an engraved outline, though I believe both these features to be
characteristic rather of Totonac art. The legs of tripod bowls, which
are found in numbers, are usually moulded in the form of grotesque
faces, or the heads of birds, beasts and snakes. Peculiar to Tlaxcala
are interesting vases of black ware in the form of a Tlaloc face
or figure, the details of which are applied. The scroll-work which
constitutes a feature of the painted art bears a close analogy to the
Xochicalco designs, and it is not surprising to find similar pottery
in Oaxaca. It is quite true that Cholulan pottery may have found its
way in some quantity to the last-named region, by the great trade-route
which ran from Teotitlan to Oaxaca, but I am inclined to think that
much at least of it must have been manufactured locally, especially as
a certain form of tripod vase (Fig. 36, 4; p. 185) seems peculiar to
this country. Most remarkable of the finds in the Oaxaca district is
that of pottery designs which any archæologist unaware of their real
provenance would attribute unhesitatingly to the Peruvian coast. One of
these is illustrated in Fig. 41, and a glance will show how it differs
entirely from anything Mexican, and yet is absolutely identical with
one of the patterns most commonly found on the polychrome tapestries
of the Truxillo district of Peru. A peculiar class of Zapotec pottery
may be mentioned here, consisting of figure vases of coarse red-brown
or black ware, usually very brittle, found in tombs (Pl. XVII, 7–9).
These seem to have been made solely for funerary purposes, since the
figure element has been developed so as almost to eliminate the vase
portion. The figures are represented as sitting or standing; they wear
mantles with capes, and head-dresses in the form of a monster’s jaws
with feather plumes. Many of them are shown with a peculiar mouth-mask,
rather resembling the mouth-mask worn by the wind-god in Mexico and
Guatemala, and also by certain figures on vases from Nasca in Peru; and
occasionally the figure represents a bat. Many of them show traces of
red paint, and the faces are very skilfully modelled. On the whole they
are more Mayan than Mexican in appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Design on a vase from
Cuicatlan, Oaxaca.
(_After Seler_)]
From Monte Alban and Xoxo come pottery fragments of rather thick ware,
ornamented with broad red stripes on a red or yellow ground, somewhat
similar to certain fragments from Teotihuacan; and elsewhere in the
Zapotec country are found beakers with designs incised in outline
and the background cut away (Fig. 33, _b_; p. 176), similar in
technique, though not in art, to beakers from the island of Sacrificios
described below (e.g. Pl. XVIII, 10).
Quantities of pottery heads have been discovered in Cholula, similar to
those of Teotihuacan, though rather coarser in paste, and ornamented in
some cases with blue, red and white slip. Polychrome figurines in much
the same style have been found at Teotitlan del Camino.
To turn now to the Totonac region; the island of Sacrificios off Vera
Cruz has produced a store of pottery which is in no respect inferior to
that of Cholula with the exception that fewer colours are employed in
ornament and the surface is not highly burnished. The paste is either
pale red, grey or cream, admirably mixed and fired, and the shapes
exhibit considerable variety (Fig. 36, 5–9, and Pls. XVIII and XIX).
Especially characteristic are footed beakers and vases, tripod bowls
with cylindrical or cascabel feet containing rattles, standing-bowls,
bowls with slightly flattened bases, and plates. Handles are not
common, but a type of vase with single long projecting handle seems
confined to this area. Ornament is most commonly applied in the form of
slip, white, cream, red (more than one shade), yellow, brown and black.
In the most characteristic specimens the designs, monsters or formal
patterns, are painted in thick white slip, and usually outlined with
red or brown, or, especially in the case of plates, in deep orange on
a brown background or _vice versa_. Engraved ornament is far more
common in Totonac pottery than Cholulan; sometimes the engraving merely
follows the outline of a painted design, sometimes it constitutes the
sole ornament. In more elaborate specimens the entire background
is cut away, or an intaglio design produced which is filled with a
coloured slip. Fragments of the “champ-levé” ware, with its blue-green
filling, have also been found. Moulded ornament again is very common,
ranging from the mere gadrooning of a vase-body (Fig. 36, 5) to animal
heads in relief, with the other details painted in slip on the sides
of the vase (Pl. XIX). The vases with a bird’s (or beast’s) head in
relief, and the details of the body incised, as figured on Pl. XVIII,
2, are very characteristic, and are, further, of particular interest
since they, as well as vases in other forms, are often found to be
coated with a leaden-coloured glaze hard enough to resist the point
of a knife. This is of course an accidental earth-glaze, produced in
firing by the action of the smoke or heat on the surface of the slip.
Vases, identical in form and with the same accidental glaze, have
been found at Atlixco, and also in the neighbourhood of Coban in the
Alta Vera Paz district of Guatemala. It seems probable that they have
reached these localities as articles of trade. Many vase-feet also are
moulded in the form of animal heads (Pl. XIX).
[Illustration:
_PLATE XVI_
_British Museum_
MEXICO
1. STONE SACRIFICIAL KNIFE; WOODEN HANDLE ENCRUSTED WITH
MOSAIC
TOTONAC
2–10. POTTERY FROM THE ISLAND OF SACRIFICIOS, VERA
CRUZ
(Scale: 1, ¼th; 2–10, ⅙th)]
Similar vase-feet are found at Tehuantepec, at Cuicatlan, at Teotitlan
and, as we have seen, at Cholula. Of these localities the first pair
seem to stand in close relation one to the other, and also the second
pair, from the fact that the Cholulan and Teotitlan vase-feet are most
commonly in the form of grotesque human heads, those of Cuicatlan and
Tehuantepec in the form of heads of snakes. However, the distinction is
by no means absolute. As far as the Totonac region is concerned, the
beast heads seem to be in the majority. Impressed patterns are found on
the bottoms of bowls from Sacrificios (Pl. XVIII, 9), but these form
regular designs, instead of being, as in Mexico, mere series of incised
lines. Similar bowls are found at Atlixco and at Cuicatlan, though
at the latter locality they are made in black ware. An interesting
characteristic of Totonac pottery ornamentation is seen in more or
less naturalistic painted designs, usually in yellow and brown slip,
representing animals, such as the Mexican porcupine, the coati,
monkeys, snakes, bats, lizards and insects. Quantities of fragments of
pottery figurines occur throughout the Totonac area. These are made
of a ware inferior to that of the vases, and though the treatment of
the bodies and limbs is apt to be clumsy, yet the faces are modelled
with considerable skill. Many of the details are applied, such as
head-dresses, sandal ties and the like; the teeth are often shown filed
to a point, or even mutilated in characteristic Maya fashion. The last
peculiarity emphasizes the general resemblance which these figurines
bear to those of British Honduras.
The pottery of the Totonac has been investigated carefully by
Strebel, who distinguishes several local types within the area. In
a general work of this nature it is impossible to deal at length
with minor variations, and it will be sufficient to state that the
careful investigations of this archæologist seem to indicate four
culture centres for the coastal region between the rivers Nautla and
Papaloapan. The two first are in the north, and close together, and are
associated respectively with sites at Cerro Montoso (E.N.E. of Jalapa,
near the coast) and Ranchito de las Animas (immediately N.E. of the
last). At the former of these the style is akin to and influenced by
the neighbouring highlands and the district beyond, while the latter
is probably more purely aboriginal. The two second lie to the south,
one including the Rio de Cotaxla, the other extending thence to the Rio
Papaloapan.
The pottery of the Huaxtec (Figs. 42–44) is peculiar from more than
one point of view. The paste of the most characteristic specimens is
hard and well-fired, of a pale cream colour, and the most typical
shape is a handled vase with a spout, rather like a teapot (Fig. 42),
with moulded and painted ornament, in red and black, on the body. The
latter is frequently in the form of an animal, with a large human face
modelled upon its back near the tail. Other vases in human shape, with
a spouted handle and similar painted decoration were also moulded from
this pale clay (Fig. 43). The presence of a spout distinguishes Huaxtec
pottery from Mexican, though an appendage of this nature is not unknown
from the Totonac country, since the tail of the animal vase figured on
Pl. XIX is pierced by a hole. Red pottery is also found in the Huaxtec
country, in the form of large vases and smaller tripod bowls, often
with engraved ornament on the outer surface. Grater-bowls, similar in
pattern to those of the Mexican valley, but in the pale cream ware, are
also found, together with many figurines and fragments of such which
are not mould-made.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Huaxtec pottery vase;
Tanquian.
(_After Seler_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Huaxtec pottery vase;
Panuco.
(_After Seler_)]
To speak generally, the earliest type of pottery of which we have
cognizance is similar in type to that manufactured later by the
Tarascans. Following this came the far finer ware characteristic of
Teotihuacan, the product of the Toltec culture. In pottery-making the
mantle of the Toltec seems to have fallen upon the people of Cholula
and Tlaxcala, districts associated with them in legend, and upon the
Totonac, whose art shows certain affinities with that of Cholula.
Between the ware of the Cholula-Tlaxcala region and that of the
Mixtec-Zapotec district considerable similarity exists, a similarity
which extends to the decoration of the pyramid of Xochicalco. It is
usually held that the Cholulan style penetrated into Oaxaca _via_
Teotitlan, but I do not feel certain that the reverse may not be truer,
and that the real home of the highly-burnished polychrome ware may
not eventually be found to lie in Oaxaca. The form of ornament does
not seem to be a direct descendant of the Teotihuacan art, and there
are found in the Oaxaca region certain original forms, such as the
“Peruvian” designs mentioned above, as well as a tendency to elaborate
textile motives as ornament (for instance, the wall-mosaics of Mitla),
many of which motives constantly recur in the decoration of vases
in the “Cholula” style, while they are wanting on the Teotihuacan
pottery. However that may be, Teotitlan is a site of great importance,
constituting as it does a meeting-point of the three best schools of
pottery, Cholula, Oaxaca and Totonac. Further consideration of the
questions involved in the study of Mexican pottery must be deferred
until something has been said about the art and culture of the Maya.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Huaxtec pottery vase;
Tampico.
(_After Seler_)]
[Illustration:
_PLATE XIX_
_British Museum_
TOTONAC
POTTERY FROM THE ISLAND OF SACRIFICIOS, VERA CRUZ
(Scale: ¼th)]