Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T01:29:12.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SOWING THE BLOOD WITH THE MAIZE: ZAPOTEC EFFIGY VESSELS AND AGRICULTURAL RITUAL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2011

Adam T. Sellen
Adam T. Sellen*
Affiliation:
Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales UNAM (CEPHCIS), Ex-Sanatorio Rendón Peniche, Calle 43 por 44 y 46, Col. Industrial, C.P. 97150, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
*
Email correspondence to: adamtsellen@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines how maize and blood were central elements in ancient Zapotec religious practices and how they were conceptually linked. I analyze the iconography of different types of Classic period Zapotec ceramic effigy vessels. Using a comparative approach, I identify elements that frequently appear on the urns, such as maize plants in different stages of growth, or representations of the milpa. Framing these observations with early colonial historical accounts and ethnographic studies, I suggest that the main theme involved in these ancient representations was fertility, maintained by a sacred pact forged between humans and their deities that required sacrifice through bloodletting. The drawing and offering of blood insured a cycle of sustained and abundant growth for their most important crop: maize. Though many advances have been made in recent years regarding Zapotec iconography, I will offer some new interpretations regarding specific forms represented on the urns.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , Spring 2011 , pp. 71 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

Alcina Franch, José 1993 Calendario y religión entre los zapotecos. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Anders, Ferdinand, Jansen, Maarten, and García, Luis Reyes 1993 Los templos del cielo y de la oscuridad: Oráculos y liturgia. Libro explicativo del llamado códice Borgia. Fondo de Cultura Económica and Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Mexico City and Graz, Austria.Google Scholar
Asensio, Gaspar 1984 [1580] Relación de Macuisúchil. In Relaciones Geográficas del Siglo XVI: Antequera, Vol. I, edited by Acuna, René, pp. 329–340. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Balsalobre, Gonzalo de 1900 [1656] Tratado de las idolatrías, supersticiones, dioses, sitios, hechicerías, y otras costumbres gentilicias de las razas aborígenes de México. Anales de Museo Nacional de México 6:225–260.Google Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth (editor) 1984 Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Boos, Frank 1966 The Ceramic Sculptures of Ancient Oaxaca. A.S. Barnes, New York.Google Scholar
Boos, Frank 1968 Two Zapotec Urns with Identical Unclassified Figures Display a Unique Maize Fertility Concept. Baessler-Archiv XVI:1–8.Google Scholar
Burgoa, Fray Francisco de 1989 [1674] Geográfica descripción. Vols. I and II. Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Pedro 1951 Una cuenta ritual entre los zapotecos del sur. In Homenaje al Doctor Alfonso Caso, edited by Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 91–100. Editorial Nuevo Mundo, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1928 Las estelas zapotecas. Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, Mexico.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, and Bernal, Ignacio 1952 Urnas de Oaxaca. Memoria No. 2, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, Bernal, Ignacio, and Acosta, Jorge R. 1967 La cerámica de Monte Albán. Memoria No. 13, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Córdova, fray Juan de 1987a [1578] Vocabulario en lengua çapoteca. Ediciones Toledo, Mexico.Google Scholar
Córdova, fray Juan de 1987b [1578] Arte del idioma zapoteco. Ediciones Toledo, Mexico.Google Scholar
Deimel, Claus, and Ruhnau, Elke 2000 Jaguar and Serpent: The Cosmos of Indians in Mexico, Central and South America. Translated by Davis, Ann Leslie. Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover, Völkerkunde and Ethnologiches Museum–Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Reimer.Google Scholar
Drennan, Robert D. 1976 Fábrica San José and Middle Formative Society in the Valley of Oaxaca. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology No. 8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durán, Fray Diego de 1995 [1581] Historia de las indias de Nueva España e islas de tierra firme. 2 vols. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Eubanks, Mary 1999 Corn in Clay. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Feliciano Velázquez, Primo (translator) 1992 Códice Chimalpopoca. Anales de Cuauhtitlán y leyenda de los Soles. 3rd ed. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent 1976 Ritual Paraphernalia from Formative Oaxaca. In The Early Mesoamerican Village, edited by Flannery, Kent V., pp. 333–345. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fuhrmann, Ernest 1923 Mexiko III. Hagen and Darmstadt, Germany.Google Scholar
Furst, Jill 1978 Codex Vindobonensis I: A Commentary. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York, Albany.Google Scholar
Furst, Peter 1976 Fertility, Vision Quest and Auto-Sacrifice: Some Thoughts on Ritual Blood-Letting Among the Maya. In The Art, Iconography & Dynastic History of Palenque, Part III: Proceedings of the Segunda Mesa Redonda de Palenque, December 14–21, 1974, edited by Robertson, Merle Greene, pp. 181–193. Pre-Columbian Art Research, The Robert Louis Stevenson School, Pebble Beach, CA.Google Scholar
Galindo y Villa, Jesús 1905 Algo sobre los zapotecos y los edificios de Mitla. In Anales del Museo Nacional de México, Tomo II, pp. 193–257. Imprenta del Museo Nacional, Mexico.Google Scholar
Goedicke, Christian, Henschel, Sabine, and Wagner, Ursel 1992 Thermolumineszenzdatierung und Neutronenaktivierungsanalyse von urnengefassen aus Oaxaca. Baessler-Archiv XL:65–86.Google Scholar
Graulich, Michel 1997 Myths of Ancient Mexico. Translated by de Montellano, Bernard R. Ortíz and de Montellano, Thelma Ortíz. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Joralemon, Peter David 1974 Ritual Blood-Sacrifice among the Ancient Maya: Part I. In Primera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Part II, edited by Robertson, Merle Greene, pp. 59–75. Pre-Columbian Art Research Center, The Robert Louis Stevenson School, Pebble Beach, CA.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 2000 The Founding of Monte Albán: Sacred Propositions and Social Practices. In Agency in Archaeology, edited by Dobres, Marcia-Anne and Robb, John, pp. 71–91. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A. 2004 Sacred Space and Social Relations in the Valley of Oaxaca. In Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice, edited by Hendon, Julia A. and Joyce, Rosemary A., pp. 192–216. Blackwell, Malden.Google Scholar
Kerr, Justin 2011 A Precolumbian Portfolio. An Archive of Photographs Created by Justin Kerr. Electronic document, http://research.mayavase.com/portfolio, accessed September 15, 2010.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia F. 2006 “Autosacrifice and Bloodletting.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Carrasco, David. Oxford University Press. Electronic document, http://www.oxford-mesoamerican.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/entry?entry=t221.e32, accessed January 5, 2010.Google Scholar
Landa, Fray Diego de 1973 [1560] Relación de las cosas en Yucatán. 10th ed. Porrúa, Mexico.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo 1988 The Human Body and Ideology. Concepts of the Ancient Nahuas. 2 vols. Translated by de Montellano, Thelma Ortíz and de Montellano, Bernard Ortíz. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Long, Rebecca, and Cruz, Sofronio 1999 Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca, México. Insitituto Lingüístico de Verano, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Looper, Matthew G. 1993 Observations of the Morphology of Sprouts in Olmec Art. Texas Notes on Precolumbian Art, Writing, and Culture 58(1):1–4.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1974 The Iconography of Power among the Classic Maya. World Archaeology 6:83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent 1994 Ancient Zapotec Ritual and Religion: An Application of the Direct Historical Approach. In The Ancient Mind: Elements of Cognitive Archaeology, edited by Renfrew, Colin and Zubrow, Ezra, pp. 55–74. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez Gracida, Manuel 1910 Los indios Oaxaqueños y sus monumentos arqueológicos. Civilización Mixteca-Zapoteca: Vol. I, Cerámica. 5. Microfilm: Archivo Histórico en Micropelícula Antonio Pompa y Pompa, Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Martínez López, Cira, Winter, Marcus, Markens, Robert, and Lind, Michael 2000 Cerámica de la fase Xoo (Época Monte Albán IIIB-IV) del valle de Oaxaca. Contribución No. 8 del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992–1994. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Oaxaca.Google Scholar
Messer, Ellen 1996 Plantas alimenticias zapotecas: Transformación de dos culturas. In Conquista y Comida, edited by Long, Janet, pp. 311–337. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar
Monaghan, John 1995 The Covenants with Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revelation in Mixtec Sociality. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Monaghan, John, and Hamann, Byron 1998 Reading as Social Practice and Cultural Construction. Indiana Journal of Hispanic Literatures 13:131–140.Google Scholar
Mongne, Pascal 1985 Les Urnes zapotèques: Objets de fouilles, objets de musées. Essai d'analyse et d'authentification des Récipients-Effigie de la civilization zapotèque classique. 2 vols. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Art and Archaeology, University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne).Google Scholar
Mongne, Pascal 1987 Les Urnes funéraires zapotèques: Collectionnisme et contrefacon. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 73:7–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mongne, Pascal 2000 Le faux zapotèque et la collection Gustave Bellon: Iconographie, thermoluminescence et nouvelles considerations. Techne 11:53–64.Google Scholar
Motolinia, Fray Toribo de Benavente 1989 [1541] El libro perdido. Ensayo de reconstrucción de la obra histórica extraviada de Fray Toribio. Edited by O'Gorman, Edmundo. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Münch, Guido 1983 La teogonía zapoteca y sus vestigios en Tehuantepec. Anales de Antropología 20:39–63.Google Scholar
Nájera Coronado, Martha Ilia 1987 El don de la sangre en el equilibrio cósmico. El sacrificio y el autosacrificio sangriento entre los antiguos mayas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar
Nellis, Neil, and Nellis, Jane Goodner de 1983 Diccionario zapoteco de Juárez. Insitituto Lingüístico de Verano, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Nuttall, Zelia 1904 A Penitential Rite of the Ancient Mexicans. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 1, No. 4. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Parsons, Elsie Clews 1936 Mitla: Town of Souls and other Zapoteco-Speaking Pueblos of Oaxaca, Mexico. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Parsons, Lee A. 1980 Pre-Columbian Art. The Morton D. May and the Saint Louis Art Museum Collections. Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar
Pickett, Velma 1971 Vocabulario zapoteco del Istmo. Insitituto Lingüístico de Verano y Secretario de Educación Pública, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pohl, John M.D. 2000 The Four Priests: Political Stability. In The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica: A Reader, edited by Smith, Michael E. and Masson, Marilyn A., pp. 342–359. Blackwell Publishers, London.Google Scholar
Española, Real Academia 1963 [1737] Diccionario de autoridades. 6 vols. Editorial Gredos, Madrid.Google Scholar
Rickards, Constantine 1938 Monograph on Ornaments on Zapotec Funerary Urns. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 30:147–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandstrom, Alan R. 1991 Corn is our Blood: Culture and Ethnic Identity in a Contemporary Aztec Indian Village. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Miller, Mary Ellen 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. George Braziller, Inc. and the Kimball Art Museum, New York and Fort Worth.Google Scholar
Schuler-Schömig, Immina von 1970 Figurengefässe aus Oaxaca. Neue Folge, No. 20, Abteilung Amerikanische Archäologie I. Veroffentlichungen des Museums für Völkerkunde, Berlin.Google Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2002 Storm God Impersonators from Ancient Oaxaca. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2004 Is this the Face that Launched a Thousand Fakes? Rotunda 36(3):32–39.Google Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2005 The Lost Drummer of Ejutla: The Provenance, Iconography and Mysterious Disappearance of a Polychrome Zapotec Urn. Baessler-Archiv 51:115–138.Google Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2006 Re-evaluation of the Early Archaeological Collections from Oaxaca: A Trip to the Seler Archives in Berlin. Grantee report submitted to The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.Google Scholar
Sellen, Adam T. 2007 El Cielo compartido: Las vasijas efigie zapotecas. Serie Monografías No. 4, Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Mérida, Mexico.Google Scholar
Sepúlveda y Herrera, María Teresa 1999 Procesos por idolatría al cacique, gobernadores y sacerdotes de Yanhuitlán 1544–1546. Serie Etnohistoria, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Shaplin, P. D. 1975 An Introduction to the Stylistic Study of Oaxacan Urns. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Art, Wellesley College, Boston.Google Scholar
Siméon, Rémi 1992 [1885] Diccionario de la Lengua Náhuatl o Mexicana. Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico.Google Scholar
Sologuren, Fernando 1907 Catálogo de la colección Sologuren vendida al Museo Nacional. Manuscript on file at the Archivo Histórico del Museo Nacional de Antropología, Vol. 90, File 32:209–259.Google Scholar
Spencer, Charles S. 1982 The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán. A Study of Primary State Formation. Academic Press, New York and London.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 1984 Royal Auto-Sacrifice among the Maya: A Study of Image and Meaning. Res 7/8:6–20.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 2000 Lightning Celts and Corn Fetishes: The Formative Olmec and the Development of Maize Symbolism in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by Clark, John E. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 297–337. Studies in the History of Art No. 58. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1985 Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1961 A Blood Drawing Ceremony Painted on a Maya Vase. Estudios de Cultura Maya I:13–20.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier 2001 Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier 2004 Las urnas del barrio zapoteca de Teotihuacan. Arqueología Mexicana 64(2):54–57.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier 2005 Zapotec Scribal Tradition: Knowledge, Memory, and Society in Ancient Oaxaca. Electronic document, www.famsi.org/zapotecwriting/, accessed September 15, 2010.Google Scholar
von Winning, Hasso, and Stendahl, Alfred 1968 Pre-Columbian Art of Mexico and Central America. Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Weitlaner, Robert J. 1961 Datos diagnósticos para la etnohistoria del norte de Oaxaca. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e História, Mexico.Google Scholar
Whittaker, Gordon 1980 The Hieroglyphs from Monte Alban. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus 1994 Tesoros del Museo Regional de Oaxaca, compiled by Museo Regional de Oaxaca. Honorable Ayuntamiento de Oaxaca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus, and Peeler, Damon E. 1994 El contexto sociopolítico de la escritura zapoteca prehispánica. In Escritura zapoteca prehispánica, edited by Winter, Marcus, pp. 81–96. Contribución No. 4 del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992–1994, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Oaxaca.Google Scholar
Ximénez Ortíz, Juan 1905 [1579] Relación de Iztepexi. In Papeles de Nueva España, Vol. 4, edited by Troncoso, Franciso Paso y, pp. 9–23. Talleres Gráficos del Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Madrid.Google Scholar