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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
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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

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