Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:44:43.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spearthrower Owl Hill: A Toponym at Atetelco, Teotihuacan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jesper Nielsen  and
Christophe Helmke
Jesper Nielsen
Affiliation:
Department of American Indian Languages and Cultures, Institute of Crosscultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Artillerivej 86, 2300 København S, Denmark ([email protected])
Christophe Helmke
Affiliation:
Department of American Indian Languages and Cultures, Institute of Crosscultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Artillerivej 86, 2300 København S, Denmark ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The important Classic period site of Teotihuacan is renowned for its great size, ancient influence, and intricately decorated polychrome murals. The latter are the focus of the present study, in particular the unique landscape scene from Murals 2 and 3 from Portico 1 of the North Patio of the Atetelco residential compound that depicts a row of toponymic hill signs. The three hills have identical qualifying elements embedded, identified as combinations of an owl and a spearthrower. The murals thus make a repeated reference to a place named “Spearthrower Owl Hill.” The dating of the murals to the Early Xolalpan phase (ca. A.D. 350–450) makes them contemporary with the so-called Teotihuacan entrada into the Maya lowland sites such as Tikal, where hieroglyphic texts make mention of a Teotihuacan-affiliated individual known as “Spearthrower Owl.” From these findings—and based on Mesoamerican naming practices—we go on to suggest that the Atetelco toponym and the historical individual share the name of a common forebear, possibly that of a previously unidentified Teotihuacan martial patron deity. As such, the Early Classic Teotihuacan “Spearthrower Owl” deity has much in common with the legendary Huitzilopochtli of the Late Postclassic Mexica. Our reexamination of the murals from Atetelco shows the enormous potential that further studies in Teotihuacan writing and iconography still have for our understanding of the history and religion of this major Mesoamerican site.

Resumen

Resumen

El importante sitio arqueológico de Teotihuacan del período Clásico, es famoso para su gran tamaño, su influencia en la antigüedad y sus murales adornados por dibujos policromos detallados. Los últimos son el foco del presente estudio; particularmente el paisaje de los Murales 2 y 3, del Pórtico 1 en el Patio Norte del compuesto residencial de Atetelco que representa una cordillera de colinas toponímicas. Las tres colinas aparecen marcadas por elementos nominales idénticos incrustados, identificados como combinaciones de búhos y lanzadardos (propulsores de dardos o lanzas, conocidos también como atlatls). Los murales hacen así una referencia reiterada a un lugar nombrado ‘Colina del Búho con lanzadardos’. La datación de los murales a la fase del Xolalpan Temprano (hacia el 350-450 d.C.) es contemporánea con la supuesta ‘entrada’ de Teotihuacan en sitos tales como Tikal en las tierras bajas mayas, donde los textos jeroglíficos hacen mención a un individuo histórico de afiliación teotihuacana conocido como ‘Búho Lanzadardos’ (“Spearthrower Owl”). Basándonos en estas conclusiones y apoyándonos en las prácticas onomásticas mesoamericanas, sugerimos que el topónimo de Atetelco y el apellido del individuo histórico, que incluyen el elemento común ‘Búho Lanzadardos’, comparten el nombre de un precursor común. Por tanto, el precursor se refiere posiblemente a una deidad marcial patronal de Teotihuacan, previamente no identificado. Como tal, dicha deidad de Teotihuacan del Clásico Temprano tiene mucho en común con el Huitzilopochtli legendario de los mexica del Postclásico Tardío. Nuestro análisis de los murales de Atetelco demuestra el potencial enorme que otros estudios de la escritura e iconografía de Teotihuacan pueden tener para nuestra comprensión de la historia y de la religión de este importante sitio Mesoamericano.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 459 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Angulo V., Jorge 1972 Reconstrucción etnográfica a través de la pintura. In Teotihuacan - XI Mesa Redonda, pp. 43–68. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Angulo V., Jorge 1996 Teotihuacán: Aspectos de la cultura a través de su expresión pictórica. In La Pintura Murales Prehispánica en México I, Teotihuacan. Tomo II, Estudios, edited by Beatriz de la Fuente, pp. 63–186. UNAM and Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Benson, Elizabeth P 1997 Birds and Beasts of Ancient Latin America. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Berlo, Janet C. 1983 Conceptual Categories for the Study of Texts and Images in Mesoamerica. In Text and Image in Pre-Columbian Art: Essays on the Interrelationship of the Verbal and Visual Arts, edited by Janet C. Berlo, pp. 1–39. BAR International Series 180. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Berlo, Janet C. 1989 Early Writing in Central Mexico: “In Tlilli, In Tlapalli” before A.D. 1000. In Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan A.D. 700–900, edited by Richard A. Diehl and Janet C. Berlo, pp. 19–47. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth H. 2000 Stories in Red and Black: Pictorial Histories of the Aztecs and the Mixtecs. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth H. 2007 Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. 2003 Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 1–43. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Browder, Jennifer 2005 Place of the High Paint ed Walls: The Tepantitla Murals and the Teotihuacan Writing System. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Riverside.Google Scholar
Cabrera Castro, Rubén 1995 Atetelco. In La Pintura Mural Prehispánica en México I, Teotihuacan. Tomo I, Catálogo, edited by Beatriz de la Fuente, pp. 203–258. UNAM and Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Codex Azcatitlan 1995 Bibliothèque nationale de France and Société des Américanistes, Paris.Google Scholar
Codex Ixiud 1966 Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Codex Mendoza 1992 Volume 3. Edited by Frances F. Berdan and Patricia R. Anawalt. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Colas, Pierre Robert 2006 Personal Names: A Diacritical Marker of an Ethnic Boundary among the Classic Maya. In Maya Ethnicity: The Construction of Ethnic Identity from Preclassic to Modern Times, edited by Frauke Sachse, pp. 85–98. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol.19. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben.Google Scholar
Corona Sánchez, Eduardo 2002 Territorio y estado en Teotihuacán. Los topónimos de Techinantitla. In Ideología y política a través de materiales, imágenes y símbolos. Memoria de la Primera Mesa Redonda de Teotihuacan, edited by María Elena Ruiz Gallut, pp. 371–398. CONACULTA and INAH, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1993 The Ceramics of Tikal: Vessels from the Burials, Caches and Problematical Deposits. Tikal Report, No. 25, Part A. University Museum Monograph 81. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Durán, Diego 1964 The Aztecs - The History of the Indies of New Spain. Translated and annotated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas. Orion Press, New York.Google Scholar
Durán, Diego 1971 Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar. Translated and edited by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. University of Oklahoma, Norman.Google Scholar
Freidel, David, Escobedo, Héctor, and Guenter, Stanley 2007 A Crossroads of Conquerors: Waka’ and Gordon Willey’s “Rehearsal for the Collapse” Hypothesis. In Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology, edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and William L. Fash, pp. 187–208. University of Oklahoma, Norman.Google Scholar
Freidel, David, Scheie, Linda, and Parker, Joy 1993 Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path. William Morrow, New York.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 1989 The Aztec Kings: The Construction of Rulership in Mexico History. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 2002 Onomastica de los gobernantes mayas. In La organization social entre los mayas: Memoria de la Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. II, edited by Vera Tiesler Bios, Rafael Cobos and Merle Greene Robertson, pp. 321–353. Instituto Nacionalde Antropología e Historia and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México, D.F. and Mérida.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 2006 Ancient Maya Royal Biographies in a Comparative Perspective. In Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque - Reconstructing the Life and Death of a Maya Ruler, edited by Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina, pp. 146–166. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai, and Martin, Simon 2000 Tikal and Its Neighbors. In Notebook for the XXIYth Maya Hieroglyphic Forum at Texas, edited by Nikolai Grube, pp. II. 1–II.73. Department of Art and Art History, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Austin.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai, and Scheie, Linda 1994 Kuy, the Owl of Omen and War. Mexicon XVI(1):10–17.Google Scholar
Guenter, Stanley 2002 Under a Falling Star: The Hiatus of Tikal. Unpublished M.A. thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Headrick, Annabeth 1999 The Street of the Dead … It Really Was: Mortuary Bundles at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 10 1:69–85.Google Scholar
Headrick, Annabeth 2001 Merging Myth and Politics: The Three Temple Complex at Teotihuacan. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Rex Koontz, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, and Annabeth Headrick, pp. 169–195. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Houston, S. D. 1989 Maya Glyphs. University of California Press and British Museum, Berkeley and London.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 2004 Writing in Early Mesoamerica. In First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 274–309. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen, Stuart, David, and Robertson, John 2004 Disharmony in Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: Linguistic Change and Continuity in Classic Society. In The Linguistics of Maya Writing, edited by Søren Wichmann, pp. 83–101. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Jones, Christopher, and Satterthwaite, Linton 1982 Monuments and Inscriptions of Tikal: The Carved Monuments. Tikal Report, No. 33, Part A. University Museum Monograph 44. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kidder, Alfred V., Jennings, Jesse D., and Shook, Edwin M. 1946 Excavations at Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 56. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Kirchhoff, Paul, Odena Güemes, Lina, and Reyes García, Luís 1976 Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca. Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Lacadena, Alfonso, and Wichmann, Søren 2004 On the Representation of the Glottal Stop in Maya Writing. In The Linguistics of Maya Writing, edited by Søren Wichmann, pp. 103–162. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel 1987 The Ethnohistorical Record for the Huey Teocalli of Tenochtitlan. In The Aztec Templo Mayor, edited by Elizabeth H. Boone, pp. 71–95. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1992 Mesoamerican Writing Systems—Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon 2003 In the Line of the Founder: A View of Dynastic Politics at Tikal. In Tikal: Dynasties, Foreigners, and Affairs of State, edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff, pp. 3–45. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Thames & Hudson, London and New York.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur G. 1973 The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Miller, Mary E. and Taube, Karl 1993 An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. Thames & Hudson, London and New York.Google Scholar
Millon, Clara 1973 Painting, Writing, and Polity in Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 38:294–314.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1992 Teotihuacan Studies: From 1950to 1990 and Beyond. In Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Janet C. Berlo, pp. 339–429. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Mundy, Barbara 1996 The Mapping of New Spain: Indigenous Cartography and the Maps of the Relaciones Geográficas. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry 1971 Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico. In Handbook of Middle American Indians Vol.10, Part 1, edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, pp. 395–446. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry 1988 The Iconography of the Deity Representations in Fray Bernardino de Sahagiin’s Primeros Memoriales: Huitzilopochtli and Chalchiuhtlique. In The Work of Bernardino de Sahagun: Pioneer Ethnographer of Sixteenth-Century Aztec Mexico, edited by J. Jorge Klor de Alva, H.B. Nicholson and Eloise Quiñones Keber, pp. 229–253. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, The University of Albany, State University of New York, New York.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Jesper 2003 Art of the Empire: Teotihuacan Iconography and Style in Early Classic Maya Society (A.D. 380–500). Ph.D. dissertation, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Jesper 2004 The Coyote and the Tasseled Shield: A Possible Titular Glyph on a Late Xolalpan Teotihuacan Tripod. Mexicon XXVI(3):61–64.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Jesper 2006a The Coming of the Torch: Observations on Teotihuacan Iconography in Early Classic Tikal. In Maya Ethnicity: The Construction of Ethnic Identity from Preclassic to Modern Times, edited by Frauke Sachse, pp. 19–30. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 19. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Jesper 2006b Mountains and Magueys: Landscapes and Toponyms in Teotihuacan Iconography and Writing. Paper presented at the symposium Escritura e iconografía mesoamericana con enfoque especial en Teotihuacan, University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988a Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees with Glyphs. In Flowering Trees and Feathered Serpents: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Kathleen Berrin, pp. 137–161. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988b Large Birds. In Flowering Trees and Feathered Serpents: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Kathleen Berrin, pp. 162–167. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988c Small Birds with Shields and Spears and Other Fragments. In Flowering Trees and Feathered Serpents: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Kathleen Berrin, pp. 168–183. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988d A Reinterpretation of Teotihuacan and its Mural Painting Tradition. In Flowering Trees and Feathered Serpents: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan, edited by Kathleen Berrin, pp. 45–77. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Peñafiel, Antonio 1885 Nombres geográficas de México. Catálogo alfabético. Oficina Tipográfica de la Secretaría de Fomento, México. D.F. Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P 2000 Tarascans and Their Ancestors: Prehistory of Michoacán. In Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico, edited by Michael S. Foster and Shirley Gorenstein, pp. 59–70. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn C 2001 Teotihuacan: Ceramics, Chronology and Cultural Trends. INAH and University of Pittsburgh, Mexico, D.F and Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 1957 General History of the Things of New Spain. Book 5, The Omens. Translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J.O. Anderson. Monographs of the School of American Research, No. 14, Parts 5 and 6. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Sejourné, Laurette 1966a Arqueología de Teotihuacan - la cerámica. Fondo Cultural Economica, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Sejourné, Laurette 1966b El lenguaje de las formas en Teotihuacan. México, D.F. Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., and Martin, Simon 2005 Strangers in the Maya Area: Early Classic Interaction with Teotihuacan. In Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship, edited by Virginia M. Fields and Dorie Reents-Budet, pp. 80–89. Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Scala Publishers Ltd., London.Google Scholar
Smith, Mary E 1973 Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico–Mixtec Place Signs and Maps. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1960 The Use of the Atlatl on Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacán. Anthropological Papers, No. 59, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 173. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stuart, David 2000 “The Arrival of Strangers”: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya Texts. In Mesoamerica “s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by David Carrasco, Lindsay Jones and Scott Sessions, pp. 465–513. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Stuart, David, and Houston, Stephen 1994 Classic Maya Place Names. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 2005 Human Sacrifice, Militarism, and Rulership: Materialization of State Ideology at the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo, and Cabrera Castro, Rubén 2003 Hallazgos recientes en la Piramide de la Luna. Arqueología Mexicana XI(64):42–49.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 1992a The Iconography of Mirrors at Teotihuacan. In Art, Ideology and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Janet C. Berlo, pp. 16–204. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 1992b The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred Warfare at Teotihuacan. RES 21:53–87.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 2000a The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan. Ancient America 1:1–56.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 2000b The Turquoise Hearth: Fire, Self Sacrifice, and the Central Mexican Cult of War. In Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by Davíd Carrasco, Lindsay Jones, and Scott Sessions, pp. 269–340. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 2004 Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, No. 2. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1962 A Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Torquemada, Juan de 1969 [1615] Monarquía Indiana. Tomo Segundo. Editorial Porrúa, S.A., Mexico, D.F. Google Scholar
Tovalín Ahumada, Alejandro, and Ceja Manrique, Gabriela 1996 Desarrollo arquitectónico del Grupo Norte de Palenque. In Palenque Round Table - 1993, Vol. X, edited by Martha Macri and Jan McHargue, pp. 93–101. The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier S. 2001 Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
von Winning, Hasso 1948 The Teotihuacan Owl and Weapon Symbol and its Association with “Serpent Head X” at Kaminaljuyu. American Antiquity 14:129–132.Google Scholar
von Winning, Hasso 1985 Two Maya Monuments in Yucatan: The Palace of the Stuccoes at Acanceh and the Temple of the Owls at Chichén Itzá. Southwest Museum, Highland Park, Los Angeles. 1987 La iconografía de Teotihuacan: Los dioses y los signos. Tomos I-II. UNAM, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren, and Brown, Cecil H. 2000 Panchronic Mayan Dictionary. Electronic database.Google Scholar