Conchas y caracoles en las pictografías de la obra de fray Bernardino de Sahagún

Lourdes Suárez Diez is professor-researcher Emerita in the Ethnohistory Department of INAH and has been a pioneer in the investigation of the archaeological materials elaborated in shell, has developed multiple works throughout his career, whose main research topics are evidently the prehispanic techniques of manufacture applied to shell objects; the analysis of the functions of the shells in the cultures of ancient Mexico, as well as the study of the conchiological material embodied in the Mesoamerican codices of the Altiplano of Mexico. The foregoing leads us to the publication where Dr. Suarez exposes us, from her experience working with these materials, the identification she makes concretely in the illustrations of two documents: The first memorials and the Florentine Codex. In the first one, he concentrates on the study of the first chapter, where the festivities and rituals of the solar calendar of the Nahuas and of the first gods identified by Sahagún are discussed, since it is in this where the objects of shell and shell are spoken. his representations. The author explains throughout the book that the conchiological material was given multiple uses and formed part of ritual scenes, architectural elements, musical instruments, characteristic ornaments of deities, was raw material to elaborate them, and was part of exchange in networks of trade and tribute given to the mexicas. What is reflected in the documents of Sahagun and his study shows how this material had an undeniable sacred connotation and a strong symbolic charge in the religion of the highlands. It is interesting the description that Dr. Suárez makes of the trappings of the gods and their ornaments because she mentions that generally the shapes of shell objects are not discussed in Sahagún's text despite being represented, which made identification tasks difficult , but his experience in these materials allowed him to propose and present the elements he identifies as shell representations. As for the Florentine Codex, it goes deeper in terms of content and highlights the eleventh book: natural history, since it is pointed out that it is the richest in shell illustrations, whose drawings are very well laid out; also explains that it is in this part of the document where it is possible to observe a taxonomy that describes different species of mollusks that I can identify and infer their origin; He was also able to observe the biological knowledge of the people who drew them, who had very

Year

2017

Language

Spanish

Series

Científica

Publisher

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

Editions

1

Pages

151

ISBN

9786075390031

Data source: Wikidata