Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T10:25:30.381Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE ART OF WAR: IMAGERY OF THE UPPER TEMPLE OF THE JAGUARS, CHICHEN ITZA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

William M. Ringle
William M. Ringle*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Davidson College, Box 1709, Davidson, NC 28035-1709, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reexamines the art and architecture of the Upper Temple of the Jaguars, Chichen Itza, in light of new unpublished digital images of Adela Breton's copies of the murals. Following discussion of the construction date of the building and previous interpretations of the murals, examination of costume, setting, and house form suggests that rather than depicting mythic or symbolic episodes, these murals illustrate actual military encounters between Chichen and its enemies. The occasion for their production seems to be the utilization of the Upper Temple of the Jaguars by a specific sector of Chichen Itza's military, perhaps for rites of investiture. This sector is argued to have been associated with the Cloud Serpent, either as the title of its leader or as a patron deity, and the structure itself is perhaps related to later Nahua buildings associated with penitential rites involving warfare and investiture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 15 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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

Acosta, Jorge R. 1956 Resumen de los informes de las exploraciones arqueológicas en Tula, Hgo., durante las VI, VII y VIII temporadas, 1946–1950. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia VIII:37–115.Google Scholar
Acosta, Jorge R. 1957 Resumen de los informes de las exploraciones arqueológicas en Tula, Hgo., durante las IX y X temporadas, 1953–1954. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia IX:119–169.Google Scholar
de Alva Ixlilxóchitl, Fernando 1985 Obras históricas. 2 vols. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, México.Google Scholar
Anders, Ferdinand, Jansen, Maarten, and Pérez-Jiménez, Gabina Aurora 1992 Origen e historia de los reyes mixtecos: Libro explicativo del llamado Códice Vindobonensis. Codices Méxicanos No. 1. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt/Fondo de Cultura Economica, Vienna.Google Scholar
Angulo Villaseñor, Jorge 2001 Conceptos generales y controversiales sobre la cultura Maya. In La pintura mural prehispánica en México II, Área Maya: Tomo IV, edited by de la Fuente, Beatriz and Cicero, Leticia Staines, pp. 1–39. Universidad Autónoma de México, México.Google Scholar
Barlow, Robert H. 1987 Lo que vieron los conquistadores. In Tlatelolco: Rival de Tenochtitlan, edited by Monjarás-Ruiz, Jesús, Limón, Elena, and de la Cruz Paillés, María, pp. 37–58. Obras de Robert H. Barlow, Vol. I. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.Google Scholar
Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo (editor) 1980 Diccionario Maya Cordemex. Ediciones Cordemex, Mérida, Mexico.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances F., and Anawalt, Patricia Rieff 1997 The Essential Codex Mendoza. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Berrin, Kathleen (editor) 1988 Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Beyer, Hermann 1933 Shell Ornament Sets from the Huasteca, Mexico. Middle American Research Series, Publication No. 5, pp. 153–216. Tulane University, Middle American Research Institute, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Bolles, John S. 1977 Las Monjas: a Major Pre-Mexican Architectural Complex at Chichén Itzá. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth Hill 2007 Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Breton, Adela C. 1907 Wall Paintings at Chichen Itza. XV International Congress of Americanists, 1901, pp. 165–169. Quebec. Reprinted in The Art of Ruins: Adela Breton and the Temples of Mexico, edited by Giles, Sue and Stewart, Jennifer [1989], pp. 55–57. City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol.Google Scholar
Breton, Adela C. 1917 Preliminary Study of the North Building (Chamber C), Great Ball Court, Chichén Itzá, Yucatan. XIX International Congress of Americanists, 1915, pp. 187–194. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Pedro 1966 Documentos sobre el rango de tecuhtli entre los Nahuas tramontanos. Tlalocan 5:133–160.Google Scholar
Cobos, Rafael 2007 Multepal or Centralized Kingship? New Evidence on Governmental Organization at Chichén Itzá. In Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Kowalski, Jeff K. and Kristan-Graham, Cynthia, pp. 315–343. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Coggins, Clemency C. 1984 Murals in the Upper Temple of the Jaguars, Chichén Itzá. In Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itza, edited by Coggins, Clemency C. and Shane, Orrin C. III, pp. 156–165. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coggins, Clemency C., and Shane, Orrin C. III 1984 Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itza. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Cohodas, Marvin 1978 The Great Ball Court of Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Garland Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Díaz, Gisele, and Rodgers, Alan 1993 The Codex Borgia. Dover Publications, New York.Google Scholar
Freidel, David, Schele, Linda, and Parker, Joy 1993 Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path. William Morrow and Co., New York.Google Scholar
Galindo Trejo, Jesús, Gutiérrez, Daniel Flores, and Gallut, María Elena Ruiz 2001 Senderos celestes con visiones divinas: un estudio arqueoastronónico del Templo Superior de los Jaguares en Chichén Itzá. In La pintura mural prehispánica en México II: Área Maya: Tomo III Estudios, edited by de la Fuente, Beatriz, pp. 258–264. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, México.Google Scholar
Giles, Sue, and Stewart, Jennifer 1989 The Art of Ruins: Adela Breton and the Temples of Mexico. City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol.Google Scholar
Graña-Behrens, Daniel, Prager, Christian, and Wagner, Elisabeth 1999 Hieroglyphic Inscription of the High Priest's Grave at Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico. Méxicon 21(3):61–66.Google Scholar
Kelley, David H. 1982 Notes on Puuc Inscriptions and History. In The Puuc: New Perspectives, Central College Scholarly Studies in the Liberal Arts, Publication No. 1, Supplement 1, edited by Mills, Lawrence. Central College, Pella, Iowa.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia F. 1987 The Ideology of Autosacrifice at the Templo Mayor. In The Aztec Templo Mayor, edited by Boone, Elizabeth H., pp. 293–370. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kowalski, Jeff Karl 2007 What's “Toltec” at Uxmal and Chichén Itzá? Merging Maya and Mesoamerican Worldviews and World Systems in Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic Yucatán. In Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Kowalski, Jeff K. and Kristan-Graham, Cynthia, pp. 250–313. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kubler, George 1982 Serpent and Atlantean Columns: Symbols of Maya-Toltec Polity. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians XLI:93–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Plongeon, Augustus 1900 Queen Móo and the Egyptian Sphynx. K. Paul, Trench, Truebner, New York.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Charles E. 1990 Ethnicity and Social Organization at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
López de Cogolludo, Fray Diego 1957 Historia de Yucatán, edited by Mañe, J. Ignacio Rubio. Colección de Grandes Crónicas Mexicanas, 3. Editorial Academia Literaria, México.Google Scholar
López Luján, Leonardo 2005 The Offerings of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, Rev. ed. Translated by de Montellano, Bernard R. Ortiz and de Montellano, Thelma Ortiz. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
López Luján, Leonardo 2006 La Casa de las Águilas. Fondo de Cultura Económica/Conaculta, México.Google Scholar
López Luján, Leonardo, Chiari, Giacomo, Austin, Alfredo López, and Carrizosa, Fernando 2005 Línea y Color en Tenochtitlan. Escultura Policromada y Pintura Mural en el Recinto Sagrado de la Capital Mexica. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 36:15–45.Google Scholar
Lothrop, Samuel K. 1952 Metals from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 10, No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
McVicker, Mary F. 2005 Adela Breton: a Victorian Artist amid Mexico's Ruins. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio 1964 Arquitectura Prehispánica. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and the Secretaría de Educación Pública, México.Google Scholar
Martinez de Luna, Lucha Aztzin 2005 Murals and the Development of Merchant Activity at Chichen Itza. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.Google Scholar
Maudslay, Alfred P. 1974 Biologia Centrali-Americana. Archaeology, edited by Francis Robicek Milpatron Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Susan 1988 Astronomical Images and Orientations in the Architecture of Chichen Itza. In New Directions in American Astronomy, edited by Aveni, Anthony F.. Proceedings of the 46th International Congress of Americanists, pp. 57–79. BAR International Series 454, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Susan 1999 Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur G. 1977 “Captains of the Itza”: Unpublished Mural Evidence from Chichén Itzá. In Social Process in Maya Prehistory, edited by Hammond, Norman, pp. 197–226. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Miller, Virginia E. 2005 Representaciones de sacrificio en Chichén Itzá. In Antropología de la eternidad: la muerte en la cultura maya, edited by Ruiz, Andres Cuidad, Sosa, Mario H. Ruz, and de Leon, María Josefa Iglesias Ponce, pp. 383–404. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas/Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.Google Scholar
Morris, Earl H., Charlot, Jean, and Morris, Ann A. 1931 The Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itzá, Yucatan. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 406, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B, and Keber, Eloise Quiñones 1983 Art of Aztec Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Nuttall, Zelia 1975 The Codex Nuttall: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient Mexico. Dover Books, New York.Google Scholar
Piho, Virve 1972 Tlacatecutli, tlacochtecutli, tlacatéccatl y tlacochcálcatl. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10:315–328.Google Scholar
Pollock, Harry E. D. 1980 The Puuc. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 19. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Prem, Hanns J. 1999 Los reyes de Tollan y Colhuacán. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 30:23–70.Google Scholar
Ringle, William M. 2004 On the Political Organization of Chichen Itza. Ancient Mesoamerica 15:167–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringle, William M., and Bey, George J. III 2010 The Face of Chichen Itza. In The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Kingdoms Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery, edited by Fash, William L. and Luján, Leonardo López, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Robertson, Merle Greene 2007 Merle Greene Robertson's Rubbings of Maya Sculptures. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. Online image database, http://www.mesoweb.com/rub/rubbingsdatabase.html, accessed November 16, 2007.Google Scholar
Ruppert, Karl 1943 The Mercado, Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Contributions to American Anthropology and History, No. 43. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 546, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ruppert, Karl, and Smith, A. L. 1957 House Types in the Environs of Mayapan and at Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Chichen Itza, and Chacchob. Current Reports, No. 39. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
de Sahagún, Fray Bernardino 1979 Historia general de las cosas ce Nueva España, edited by Kintana, Angel María Garibay. Editorial Porrúa, México.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Freidel, David 1990 A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. William Morrow, New York.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Mathews, Peter 1998 The Code of Kings. Scribner, New York.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Peter J. 1998 Chichén Itzá: los contactos con el centro de México y la transición al período Posclásico. In Los Mayas, edited by Schmidt, Peter J., de la Garza, Mercedes, and Nalda, Enrique, pp. 426–449. Conaculta—Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Peter J. 2003 Proyecto Chichen Itza: Informe de Actividades julio de 1999 a diciembre de 2002. Report submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Peter J. 2007 Birds, Ceramics, and Cacao: New Excavations at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan. In Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Kowalski, Jeff K. and Kristan-Graham, Cynthia, pp. 151–203. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1998 The Ruins of Chichen Itza in Yucatan. In Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology, Vol. 6, edited by Thompson, J. Eric, Richardson, Francis B., and Comparato, Frank E., pp. 41–165. Labyrinthos, Lancaster, CA. Originally published 1908 (in German).Google Scholar
Smith, J. Gregory 2000 An Analysis of Domestic Architecture at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico: The Mural Evidence. Paper presented at the 99th Meeting of the American Anthropological AssociationSan Francisco.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard English 1955 Archaeological Reconnaissance in Central Guatemala. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 608, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stephens, John L. 1963 Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. Dover Press, New York.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1994 The Iconography of Toltec Period Chichen Itza. In Hidden among the Hills, edited by Prem, Hanns J., pp. 212–246. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 7. Verlag Von Flemming, Möckmühl, Germany.Google Scholar
Thompson, Edward H. 1904 Archaeological Researches in Yucatan: Reports of Explorations for the Museum. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 3, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric 1937 A New Method of Deciphering Yucatecan Dates With Special Reference to Chichen Itza. Contributions to American Archaeology, No. 22. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 483, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1957 Chichen Itza and Its Cenote of Sacrifice. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vols. 11 and 12. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Trik, Helen, and Kampen, Michael E. 1983 The Graffiti of Tikal. Tikal Report No. 31. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umberger, Emily 2007 The Metaphorical Underpinnings of Aztec History: The Case of the 1473 Civil War. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:11–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, Diane 1982 Reporte de las ofrendas excavadas en 1978. In El Templo Mayor: excavaciones y estudios, edited by Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos, pp. 119–142. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.Google Scholar
Wauchope, Robert 1934 House Mounds of Uaxactun, Guatemala. Contributions to American Archaeology, No. 7. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 436, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Wauchope, Robert 1938 Modern Maya Houses: A Study of Their Archaeological Significance. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 502, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Willard, Theodore A. 1926 The City of the Sacred Well. The Century, New York.Google Scholar