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A Codex-Style Mural From Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico

Edward B. Sisson and T. Gerald Lilly

Ancient Mesoamerica / Volume 5 / Issue 01 / March 1994, pp 33 - 44

DOI: 10.1017/S0956536100001012, Published online: 10 October 2008

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0956536100001012

How to cite this article:

Edward B. Sisson and T. Gerald Lilly (1994). A Codex-Style Mural From Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico. Ancient
Mesoamerica, 5, pp 33-44 doi:10.1017/S0956536100001012

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Ancient Mesoamehca, 5 (1994), 33-44
Copyright © 1994 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U.S.A.

A CODEX-STYLE MURAL FROM

TEHUACAN VIEJO, PUEBLA, MEXICO

Edward B. Sissona and T. Gerald Lilly"

department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
b
Carrow & Associates, Inc., 13 Clenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27603, USA

Abstract
Excavation at the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1300-1520) site of Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico revealed a room with a
codex-style mural. The mural is divided into two zones. The lower zone is composed of white stucco and decorated with
red circles. The upper zone is composed of mud plaster and decorated with seven and one-half shields behind which occur
crossed lances and banners. Holes in the wall above the painted shields once held wooden pegs for hanging actual shields.
The door jambs and circular columns of the eastern doorway are painted with horizontal bands representing the layers
of heaven. Streamers hang from these bands. Included in the decoration on these streamers are stylized stars and blue
butterflies. These may represent the souls of dead warriors. Symbolically, the room is the heavenly abode of these
warriors. The most likely function of the room was as an armory.

During the spring of 1991, the University of Mississippi began
an archaeological investigation of the Late Postclassic (A.D.
1200-1521) and Early Colonial (A.D. 1521-1570) sites of Tehua-
can Viejo, Puebla, Mexico. One of the objectives of this first
season was to obtain sealed stratigraphic samples from both
sites in order to refine the ceramic chronology of this crucial pe-
riod; this more sensitive chronology will facilitate subsequent
archaeological study of the economic and social consequences
of the Spanish Conquest. In one stratigraphic test pit (Sondeo 5),
a mural was discovered. Depicted on this mural are seven and
one-half circular shields behind each of which appear crossed
lances and banners.
LATE POSTCLASSIC HISTORY
OF THE TEHUACAN VALLEY
The Tehuacan Valley was invaded in the early thirteenth century
by Nonohualca Chichimeca migrants from Tula (Kirchoff et al.
1989:134-138; Velazquez 1975:15). Displacing the original
Popoloca and Mazatec-speaking inhabitants of the valley, these
Nahuatl-speaking refugees founded a series of small city states,
cacicazgos, which incorporated subject towns in the valley and
the Sierra de Zongolica to the east. At the time of the Spanish
Conquest, Teohuacan (Tehuacan), Cozcatlan (Coxcatlan), and
Teotitlan were the cabeceras (capitals) of the three cacicazgos
that controlled the valley and much of the Sierra de Zongolica
(Figure 1). Some of the subject towns and perhaps the cabeceras
themselves were multiethnic. From its cabecera of Cutha, the
Popoloca cacicazgo of Tzapotitlan controlled the Zapotitlan
side valley to the northwest.
By marriage and descent the elites of these cacicazgos (the
Teohuaque of Teohuacan, the Cozcateca of Cozcatlan, and the
Teotitlanteca of Teotitlan) were linked to one another, to Mix-
tec elites of the Mixteca Baja (Smith and Parmenter 1991:22,
54, 56) and to Chocho elites of the Coixtlahuaca Valley (Nich-
olas Johnson, personal communication 1992). In the third quar-
ter of the fifteenth century, the cacicazgos were conquered by
the Culhua Mexica armies of Moteuczomah Ilhuicamina and
began to pay tribute to the Aztec empire (Davies 1968:14-16,
1987:213; Hassig 1988:165, 170, 195, 319, 329-330).
In 1520, the caciques of Teohuacan, Tzapotitlan, and Coz-
catlan sent representatives to Tepeyacac (Tepeaca) to pledge loy-
alty to Cortes (Gerhard 1986:268). In the mid-153Os, Franciscan
friars from Huejotzingo established the church and convent of
Santa Maria de la Conception at the foot of the mesa occupied
by the Teohuacan cabecera. The church and convent were
moved to the present location of Tehuacan in the 1570s (Kubler
1983:91, 579-580; Martinez del Sobral y Campa 1988:62, 246).
Although abandoned by the friars, the general area around the
former location was probably occupied on a reduced scale to the
present (Goggin 1968:50, 55-56, 169, 180, 194-195). The early
Colonial-period site is known locally as Calcahualco or Tehua-
can Viejo; the Late Postclassic site is known as La Mesa or
Ciudad del Sol.
DESCRIPTION OF LA MESA
The Late Postclassic site of Tehuacan Viejo is located approx-
imately 6 km southeast of the main plaza of the modern city of
Tehuacan. The site occupies all of a mesa that is shaped like an
inverted "Y." The mesa has a maximum north-to-south dimen-
sion of 1.7 km, a maximum east-to-west dimension of .8 km,
and an estimated area of 100 ha. The mesa rises 60 m above the
adjacent valley floor and would have been easily defended. This
probably accounts for the site's location. During the surface sur-
vey of the mesa, more than 800 distinct structures were identi-
fied. These include "temples" atop truncated pyramids grouped
around plazas and "houses" or long narrow structures arranged

33
34 Sisson and Lilly

room is from the east through a wide doorway with two circu-
lar columns. The columns and door jambs are also painted.
The preserved portion of the room is 8.25 m long and 1.64 m
wide (Figure 2). The southern end of the room was destroyed
when the stairwell of the final construction stage was built. Orig-
inally, the room would have been 9.22 m long. The western wall
of the room is preserved to a height of 1.90-2.27 m. A low plat-
form 27 cm high, 1.87 m deep, and 1.64 m wide fills the north-
ern end of the room. There is no comparable platform in the
southern end.
Entrance to the room was through a doorway 5.54 m wide.
Two circular columns divide this opening into three parts. A low
raised bump from jambs to columns and between the columns
served to keep water out of the room. Similar room complexes

LIMITS OF
EXCAVATION

Figure 1 . Cabeceras of Late Postclassic cacicazgos (A) and contemporary

towns descended from them (•).

around four sides of sunken patios. The number of individual

plazas exceeds 20.

SONDEO 5

Sondeo 5 was excavated in the northeast corner of the North

Platform. This platform rises 9 m above the Main Plaza of the
site and closes it on the north. Access to the North Platform
from the Main Plaza is by a stairway that rises in two stages.
Atop the platform is a large, enclosed plaza. A narrow, higher
platform encloses the North Platform on its north and east
sides. Sondeo 5 was placed on this second higher platform.
Three Late Venta Salada phase (Late Postclassic) construc-
tion stages were exposed by Sondeo 5. The uppermost of these
was partially excavated revealing two rooms connected by a
stairway descending on the south to a third, lower room. Refuse L E G E N D
thrown down the stairwell included typical Late Venta Salada UNEXCAVATED AT LEVEL
ceramics, animal bones, and two pieces of ferrous metal. The OF ROOM WITH MURAL
pieces of metal indicate that the rooms were still being used in ROOM WITH MURAL
the Colonial period. Built in the Late Postclassic, this structure
continued in use until sometime after the Spanish Conquest.
Beneath the two upper rooms of this final construction stage
were the fragmentary remains of a stucco floor —all that re-
mained of the second construction stage. This intermediate
structure was destroyed by the later building. A single room of METERS
the earliest construction stage has been excavated. This room
displays a mural painted on its back (west) wall. Entrance to the Figure 2 . Plan of room with mural in Sondeo 5.
A codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo
elsewhere in the valley (Sisson 1973, 1974) have four rooms ar-
ranged around the sides of a sunken patio. Here too there are
probably rooms preserved on the north and east sides of a pa-
tio to the east of the excavated room. The room on the south
side would have been destroyed during the final construction
stage.
The preservation of the room and its mural results from its
having been filled so as to serve as a platform for the later struc-
tures. A wall of uncut stones set in mud mortar and standing
1.23 m high was built in front of the wall showing the mural.
This wall was probably built to reinforce this exterior wall and
to make the platform more stable. When the wall was com-
pleted, the room was filled with old adobes and trash to a depth
just above the stone wall. Above this, a loose fill of stones and
numerous potsherds was laid down. Finally, a thin, hard-packed
layer of fine fill was added as a base for the stucco floor of the
second construction stage. The destruction of the southern end
of the room when the stairwell of the last structure was dug may
indicate that the builders were unaware of the room and mural
beneath.
MURAL OF THE CHIMALES (SHIELDS)
Two distinct horizontal zones divide the walls of the room (Fig-
ures 3 and 4). The lower zone consists of a 75-cm-high stucco
wainscot, which continues from the stucco floor up the wall.
Twenty-six red circles averaging 35 cm in diameter are painted
on the wainscot.
The upper zone is composed of an unburnished mud-plas-
ter base applied to the underlying adobe wall. A burnt-sienna
pigment was painted on this base as a ground color for the mu-
ral. The color of the ground and the unburnished surface give
the upper zone a warm rich texture. Thin carbon-black lines out-
line the designs with great precision. These outlines were filled
with red, rose, yellow, orange, blue, white, and black; fine black
lines added details.
Seven complete circular shields and half of an eighth are pre-
served on this upper zone. The symmetrical arrangement of the
shields around the fifth or central shield and the reconstructed
length of the room indicate that there were originally 9 shields
on this back wall. Although the shields vary slightly in diame-
ter, they appear uniform to the eye. The mean horizontal diam-
eter is 57 cm, the mean vertical diameter 54.5 cm. That is, the
shields are slightly flattened vertically. The borders defining the
Figure 3. View of room with Manuel Castillo pointing to Shield 3.
35
shields are black (Shield 1), blue (Shields 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8),
and white (Shield 5). The symmetrical arrangement of the
shields would suggest that the border of Shield 9 should be
black. For reasons discussed below, red is a likely alternative.
Lances and banners cross diagonally behind each shield. The
banners hang from the lance which leans away from the fifth
central shield. A "bull's-eye device" adorns the other lance that
is inclined toward the central shield. The only exception to this
pattern is the fifth shield itself. Here, a bundle of horizontal
darts, an atlatl, and a hunter's bag replace the crossed lances and
banners. The designs on the shields and on the banners vary
from shield to shield. Above each shield is a small circular hole
in the wall.
The lance shafts are elaborately decorated with red and white
diagonal stripes and ties. Above the "bull's-eye device" the
lances are tipped with paired streamers and an anthropomor-
phic blade. The blade typically has red and white fangs beneath
a yellow lip, a blue "headband," blue eyebrows, an eye of three
concentric black circles with the lateral third painted red, and
red vertical streaks of blood on its cheeks. The lance from which
the banners hang was also tipped with an anthropomorphic
blade. These are only preserved on the lances behind Shields 4
and 6.
DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL SHIELDS
Shield 1
Remnants of white paint in the lower-right quadrant indicate
that the design in the center of this shield was painted on a white
ground (Figure 5). The white pigment used to paint the mural
is very powdery and easily detached from the surface. Many of
the areas of the shields and banners that now appear to have
only the burnt-sienna ground were probably painted white.
Blowing on the surface was often sufficient to dislodge the white
paint.
The design on the first shield is the only anthropomorphic
figure in the mural. Iconographic clues easily identify the fig-
ure as Xipe Totec, "Our Lord of the Flayed Skin." He is de-
picted in profile facing left (south) and is adorned with his
distinctive red and white nose piece, ear plugs, and swallow-tail
neck drapes. Copper bells hang from his blue necklace, and on
his head appears a feather device with two white feathers and
two quetzal feathers attached to a down ball.
This representation of Xipe is quite similar to those in the
Codex Borgia (Nowotny 1976:2, 24-25, 49, and 67). In addition
to the features mentioned above, other shared characteristics in-
clude the recurved eye, the empty open mouth, the flaccid lower
lip, the golden hair below a headband and framing the face, the
golden locks down the back of the head, the two erect golden
forelocks, the layer of down covering the hair, and the form of
the ear. The most striking difference between the Xipe of the
mural and versions in the Codex Borgia is the color of the face.
In the Codex Borgia, the face is yellow with a red vertical line
through the eye. In the mural, the face is red with a black ver-
tical line on the cheek and black paint about the mouth.
Xipe Totec belongs to the Tezcatlipoca complex (Nicholson
1971:398) and is often depicted as the Red Tezcatlipoca. The red
color of his face in the mural emphasizes this aspect of Xipe
Totec. The artist chose to stress his affiliation with Tezcatlipoca
by painting his face red.
36
Figure 4. Perspective drawing of room and mural.
The overlapping, vertical banners associated with this shield
have a rose ground on which there are dark red stripes and dots.
The lower banner has vertical stripes, and the upper one has
diagonal stripes. Two streamers top each banner and hang down
Figure 5. Shield 1.
Sisson and Lilly
to the right. The ends of the two upper streamers are painted
on the north wall. By painting these ends on the north wall,
the artist visually includes the north wall in the composition.
This is one of the techniques that unites the room visually and
leads us to believe that the room should be viewed as a single
composition.
The red and white diagonal stripes on the shafts of the lances
are like those painted on Xipe Totec's rattle staff. The ends of
the ties are scalloped like the tail of a swallow as are the ends
of Xipe Totec's loincloth.
Shield 2
The circular shield is divided in half diagonally (Figure 6). The
lower-right field is predominantly black, and the upper-left field
predominantly red. A set of three white parallel stripes is super-
imposed on each field. Between these two sets of stripes and
overlapping the two fields along the diagonal is a row of three
feather devices. Rows of two white feather devices occur out-
side the sets of white stripes. Each feather device consists of four
components: "antennae," plume ball, red and white collar, and
two feathers. The feather devices resemble the aztaxelli, or
forked heron-feather device, associated with Tezcatlipoca, sac-
rificial victims, and the souls of dead warriors on the roof of
the Red Temple in the Codex Borgia (Nowotny 1976:33).
The division of the shield into red and black halves is re-
peated on the lance shafts, the ties, the "bull's-eye device," the
banners, and the streamers. This pronounced red and black di-
vision in combination with the aztaxelli-like feather devices
A codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo
Figure 6. Shield 2.
strongly suggest that the Red and Black Tezcatlipocas are the
referents of this shield and its associated banners and lances.
The pairing of the Red and Black Tezcatlipoca are common in
the Codex Borgia.
Shield 3
This shield has the simplest design (Figure 7). A solid red cir-
cle in the center is circumscribed by a red band. The background
is painted white as is the space between the red band and cen-
ter circle. The design and color patterns of the banners and
lances repeat those of Shield 1.
Figure 7. Shield 3.
37
Individuals impersonating Xipe Totec in the Codex Borboni-
cus (Nowotny and de Durand-Forest 1974:24, 27, 34) and the
Codex Vaticanus 3738 (1979:8r, 9r, 43r) often carry shields with
simple designs like the one on this shield. This correspondence
and the similarity between the banners and lances of Shield 1
and those of Shield 3 may indicate that Shield 3 also refers to
Xipe Totec. A similar design but with the colors reversed is
painted on the left half of the shield carried by Moteuczomah
Xocoyotl on p. 85v of the Codex Vaticanus 3738. Victorious
over Tolohcan (Toluca), Moteuczomah Xocoyotl wears the Xipe
Totec costume.
Shield 4
The background of the fourth shield is a checkerboard of red
and black squares on the burnt-sienna ground (Figure-8). The
checkerboard is divided in half vertically so that the squares on
the left are red and those on the right are black. In the center
of the shield is a "night eye," or stylized star, surrounded by six
concentric bands painted yellow, blue, red, white(?), blue, and
yellow. Seven red and blue rays emanate from the fifth band.
Flowing from the "night eye" are a blue and black stream
and a yellow and black stream. These streams are separated by
a twisted rope adorned with feather devices like those of Shield 2
(aztaxelli). These streams represent atl-tlachinolli, "water and
burned thing," the Nahuatl metaphor for "war." The rope sep-
arating the two streams is the aztamecatl, the feathered chord
used to bind sacrificial victims.
The "night eye," or star, and "war" association suggests a re-
lationship with Venus, the bright heavenly body in the night sky
that is associated with warfare all over Mesoamerica. But Ve-
nus is usually represented by its own distinctive symbol, which
does not occur here. The division of the checkerboard into black
Figure 8. Shield 4.
38 Sisson and Lilly

and red halves is like that of Shield 2. We suggested earlier that

this shield may be associated with Tezcatlipoca.
Conceptually, the shield's central motif is very similar to the
representation of Tonatiuh, the sun god, in the Codex Borgia
(Nowotny 1976:71). Here, Tonatiuh is shown seated on his
wooden throne in front of a solar disk. On the left side of the
throne, a stream of water, atl, flows from the solar disk. On the
right side is a stream of burned things, tlachinolli. Hanging be-
neath the throne and between the two streams is the aztamecatl.
Thus, Shield 4 may be associated with Tonatiuh. The "night
eye" in the center of the disc may identify this as either the night
sun (Seler 1963:11:42) or the rising sun aspect of Tonatiuh (Caso
1927:34).
An anonymous reviewer pointed out to us that a "night eye"
appears in the center of the olin sign on the wooden drum from
Malinalco. Here, Nahui Olin represents the fifth and final sun
or creation and is flanked by eagle and jaguar warriors who
carry sacrificial banners and spout atl-tlachinolli from their
mouths (Nicholson and Quinones Keber 1983:146; Pasztory
1983:273). In fact, a "night eye" is common at the center of
many representations of Nahui Olin. On a cuauhxicalli (eagle
vessel) in the Museum fiir Volkerkunde in Berlin (Pasztory
1983:Color plates 46-48), the "Stone of the Five Suns" in the
Time Museum in Rockford, Illinois (Nicholson and Quinones
Keber 1983:41-42), the Bilimek Pulque Vessel in the Museum
fiir Volkerkunde in Vienna (Pasztory 1983:Plates 280, 282), and
the "temple stone" in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in
Mexico (Pasztory 1983:Plates 125, 127, 130), Nahui Olin with
a central "night eye" appears to fall into or be inside Tlalteuctli,
the earth monster. On the "Aztec Calendar Stone," a god with Figure 9. Shield 5.
features of Tlalteuctli appears in the center of Nahui Olin. Ce-
celia Klein (1976:12) has identified this figure as Yohualteuctli,
"Lord of the Night," a fusion of the night sun and Venus in the
middle of the night. Thus, Yohualteuctli is another possible in- to the down balls at their butts, the darts are 115.5 cm long. The
terpretation of the solar disk represented on Shield 4. anthropomorphic points are like those of the lances. In the ac-
The banners associated with this shield are the most complex. companying illustration, the points are shown without fangs.
The lower banner has a black rectilinear design. The upper ban- Close examination after the cleaning of the mural indicates that
ner is probably identical except for the red color of the lines. they too have fangs. The finger holes of the yellow and red atl-
atl appear just above the shield at the upper left and resemble
the face of an owl. The curved shaft of the atlatl extends above
Shield 5 the oval grip.
This is the central shield, the most complex, and the axis around The shield is suspended by two ropes decorated with black,
which all the others revolve (Figure 9). Here the crossed lances red, and white chevrons. This design closely resembles that as-
and banners are replaced by: (1) a bundle of four darts; (2) an sociated with the paths to war in the Mixtec historical codices.
atlatl, or spear thrower; (3) a rope from which the shield hangs; The ropes are tied together at the hole in the wall above the
(4) two flags topped by the butt of a spear or a fire drill; (5) an shield. The elaborate ends of the ropes resemble stylized red,
anthropomorphic biface; and (6) a net bag containing an an- blue, and yellow flowers.
thropomorphic biface and from which seven white paper If there was any doubt about the function of the holes in the
streamers hang. wall above each shield, it is dispelled by the binding of the two
The white band defines the outline of the shield. Within this painted ropes above this shield. The holes were for wooden pegs
outline is a yellow background divided by black horizontal lines. from which actual shields were suspended.
The effect of this division is to give the impression that the shield Double white banners arise from behind the upper-right
is made of thin yellow horizontal slats bound together by two quadrant of the shield. The one on the right appears to be solid
vertical white bands. Fine black designs on the white bands in- white and ends in a large down ball. The one on the left is white
dicate that these are made of a woven or twisted material. Two with a wide horizontal red band flanked by two thinner red
red squares decorate each white band. To the left and right of bands. This second banner ends in a blue, red, and yellow cy-
the white bands are rows of two white circular feather devices lindrical device that recalls a miniature cuauhxicalli seen in pro-
or large down balls. Between the bands is a row of three such file. Emerging from this cylindrical device is the butt end of a
devices. dart and a feather device. In front of the left banner appears an
A bundle of four horizontal darts passes behind the shield. anthropomorphic biface.
From the down balls on the tip of their anthropomorphic points Suspended 12.2 cm beneath the lower border of the shield is
A codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo 39

an oval net hunter's bag. The bag is suspended from the shield occur with representations of Huitzilopochtli, and the substitu-
or from something behind the shield by a broad red band 4.5 cm tion of the owl atlatl for Huitzilopochtli's xiuhcoatl atlatl.
wide. This is bordered by 1.3-cm-wide orange bands. The pe- The alternative argument that the association is with the
rimeter of the bag consists of an outer orange band and an in- Camaxtli/Mixcoatl/Tlahuizcalpanteuctli complex is based on
ner red band. The field within the bag is blue. Black details on the presence of the hunter's net bag and the similarity to the
the blue ground indicate the woven nature of tie net bag. Black yaoyotl symbol associated with Tlahuizcalpanteuctli in the the
and white eagle feathers surround the bag. Within the bag is an Codex Borgia (Nowotny 1976:49).
anthropomorphic blade that is poorly preserved with details dif- Although these alternative associations are not necessarily
ficult to discern. Scratch marks on the surface of the mural at mutually exclusive, they do imply quite different histories. The
this point suggest that the defacing of the blade was intentional. first alternative would suggest a much stronger Culhua Mexica
The general context in which this blade occurs suggests that it influence since Huitzilopochtli was their tribal deity.
is a sacrificial blade and that the prey sought by the hunter is
probably a human sacrificial victim.
Shield 6
Seven white paper streamers decorated with small red circles
hang from the bottom of the bag. Each streamer is approxi- The design of this shield is the most geometric of all the shields
mately 35.0 cm long and expands from 3.7 cm at the top to and the most difficult to interpret (Figure 10). The circular field
5.8 cm at the bottom. Although many of the red circles are is divided vertically into two halves. The left half is red, the right
faded, there appear to have been 7 circles per strip, 49 circles half black. Inscribed within the circle and visually superimposed
in all. Smaller red dots surround each circle. The effect is that on the red and black fields is a white diamond. The diamond
of a splattering of red liquid around each drop. That this red is divided vertically into two equal right triangles. Concentric
substance is blood, the blood of the human sacrifice, is a logi- arcs on the white ground radiate from the acute angles of each
cal identification. triangle. The arcs on the left side are black and those on the
The paper streamers violate the boundary between the up- right are red, reversing the color pattern of the background. The
per and lower wall zones. They are painted on both the upper four largest arcs have a scalloped edge. A second set of arcs is
mud plaster and the lower stucco plaster. This scheme unites the arranged along the line bisecting the diamond. The color pat-
two zones both visually and conceptually just as the streamers tern of these arcs matches that of the background, red on the
from the upper banner of Shield 1 united the fields on the west left and black on the right. These smaller arcs are solid on the
and north walls. The large red circles on the lower stucco zone upper half of the triangles' common side. Groups of three dots
are comparable to those on the paper streamers hanging from on the white ground of the diamond are the same color as the
the net bag. Both are drops of sacrificial blood on paper. arcs bounding the areas where the dots occur.
The combination of circular shield with a bundle of darts, The lances and banners accompanying Shield 6 are the mir-
and a sacrificial banner is common in the codices. In the Codex ror image of those accompanying Shield 2. Shields 2, 4, and 6
Borgia (Nowotny 1976), it occurs with Tezcatlipoca (pp. 17, 35, are all divided into red and black halves. The same may be true
42), Xipe Totec (pp. 25, 49), Mixcoatl (p. 25), Tlaloc (p. 25), for Shield 8.
Tlahuizcalpanteuctli (pp. 45, 49), Tepeyollotl (p. 63), and Hue-
huecoyotl (p. 64). In his commentary, Seler (1963:1:111) inter-
prets this set of elements as yaoyotl, the hieroglyph for war.
The glosses in the Codex Mendoza (Galindo y Villa 1979:Folios
2v, 5v, 7v, lOr, 13r, 15v) refer to it as "the instruments of war."
Elsewhere in the Mendoza (Folio 2r) it is glossed as "Tenoch-
titlan."
The most strikingly similar shield occurs on page 70 of the
Codex Borgia. Depicted in front of a jaguar is a shield of yel-
low slats bound by white cords and decorated with four red
squares. Associated with the shield are four darts fletched with
black and white eagle feathers.
The white banner with three horizontal red bands appears
with Xipe Totec (Codex Borgia [Nowotny 1976:24-25, 49, 61]),
Tlahuizcalpanteuctli (Codex Borgia [Nowotny 1976:45]), and
the mummy bundles on p. 26 of the Codex Borgia. The banner
also resembles the back ornament worn by Mictlanteuctli (Co-
dex Borgia [Nowotny 1976:14, 57]). In the codices, the two ban-
ners of Shield 5 are associated with death and sacrifice. The
owl-shaped atlatl is compatible with these associations.
The authors are divided in their opinion as to whether Shield 5
and its symbols are more closely related to those associated with
Huitzilopochtli (Lilly) or to those associated with the Camaxtli/
Mixcoatl/Tlahuizcalpanteuctli complex of gods (Sisson). The
argument for an association with Huitzilopochtli rests largely
on the feather decoration of the shield and the bundle of darts.
Marked differences include the hunter's net bag, which does not Figure 10. Shield 6.
40 Sisson and Lilly

Shield 7

The circular field is divided in half vertically (Figure 11). The

left half has a yellow ground on which open black circles and
ellipses alternate. This represents a jaguar skin. Three large styl-
ized jewels painted blue, red, and yellow with fine details in
black are superimposed on the skin to indicate that it is precious.
The right half is divided into 44 complete and partial squares
separated from one another by a grid of white (?) lines. The
ground color of these squares is black. Inscribed within each
square is a circle with two small concentric circles at its center.
The upper half of each circle is painted red. The lower half may
have been painted white. These circles are stylized stars —"night
eyes" —in a dark night sky.
Dividing the jaguar skin and "night eyes" is a narrow white
band with fine diagonal black lines that slant down from left to
right. This band represents the fringe of fine fur on the jaguar's
belly and limbs. Jaguars are depicted with this fringe both in the Figure 12. Shield 8.
codices and on "codex-style" pottery.
The pairing of the jaguar skin and "night eyes" suggests that
the referent of this shield is Tepeyollotl, "Heart of the Moun-
tain." See, for example, Codex Borgia (Nowotny 1976:63),
on the black background. There is a red "T" with thick cross
where Tepeyollotl as the jaguar is depicted sitting atop a hill
piece at the end of each arm. In the center where the arms meet
or mountain within which the night sky with "night eyes" is vis-
is an oval. The details of the shield design, lances, and banners
ible. Tepeyollotl is part of the Tezcatlipoca complex of deities
are not preserved. Seler (1992a:99, 110-111) has suggested that
(Nicholson 1971:Table 3). He is the warrior as skilled stalker of
there is an association between the St. Andrew's cross design
his human prey, a captive sacrificial victim.
and both the night sky and the costume of dead warriors.
The lances and banners accompanying Shield 7 are the mir-
ror image of those associated with Shield 3.
North Wall
Shield 8 With the exception of the ends of the streamers attached to the
upper banner of Shield 1, there is no painted design on the
Only the right half of Shield 8 is preserved (Figure 12). The
burnt-sienna ground of the north wall. There is a round hole in
other half was destroyed by the construction of the stairway as-
the center of the wall at the same height as the holes above the
sociated with the third and last construction stage. The ground
painted shields.
color of the preserved portion of the shield is black. A white St.
Andrew's cross is inscribed within the circle and superimposed
East Wall

When the east wall was cleaned by restorers from the Instituto
Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, small fragments of paint
were found on the burnt-sienna ground. The fragments were so
small that it was impossible to determine the features of the
design.

Columns and Doorjambs

The same division into upper and lower zones is continued on

the columns and doorjambs of the eastern entrance to the room.
Contiguous with the stucco floor, the lower zone is approxi-
mately 75 cm high. On the northern jamb and the two columns,
the upper zone reaches a height of 1.54 m. This may indicate
the height of the lintel over the doorway. The upper zone on the
southern jamb was destroyed by the construction of the
stairway.
Nine horizontal bands are painted on the upper zone of the
northern jamb and the columns. From top to bottom, the color
sequence of the bands is as follows: yellow, red, blue, yellow,
red, blue, red, brown, and red. Most of the bands are approx-
imately 7.0 cm in height. The exceptions are the upper and
lower red bands. The upper red band is 21.4 cm high, the lower
Figure 11. Shield 7. 17.4 cm high.
A codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo 41

The bands wrap around the columns. An unpainted gap

46.0 cm wide separates the ends of the bands on the back or west
side of each column. Superimposed on the painted bands on the
northern and southern sides of each column are unpainted
strips, 3.5 cm wide, which fan out from a vertical axis at the
front of the column. These unpainted strips are part of elabo-
rate designs on the front or east side of the columns not yet ex-
posed by excavation.
The lower red band is painted on both the upper and lower
zones and marks the boundary between them. Complex designs
hang from this lowest band (Figures 13 and 14). These pendant
designs are repeated on the door jambs and on the north and
south sides of each column. Although they vary in their details,
they are basically similar.
The upper portion of each pendant design is composed of
two horizontal bands, each 7.5 cm high. The details of the up-
per band are difficult to discern. The lower band is divided in
half. A vertical sky band is depicted on the right half. This sky
band is composed of a red band, a yellow band, and a blue band
twice as high as each of the others. Superimposed on the blue
band are three "night eyes." On the left half is a vertical band
outlined in yellow and decorated with red and white diagonal
stripes and a blue jewel. Hanging from the left of this band are
two red and white ties on a blue ground. This motif is repeated
at the bottom of the left streamer below.
Hanging at a slight angle from the lower horizontal band are
two vertical streamers 7.5 cm wide. Each streamer is divided
horizontally into compartments or fields. On both doorjambs,
the upper field of the left streamer has a stylized, blue butter-
fly measuring 7.0 cm from head to tail. The upper field on the
right streamer of the northern jamb is divided vertically into
simple blue and yellow areas. The comparable field on the
southern jamb contains a "winged night eye." The "pupil" is yel-
low on a white circular ground. Above the pupil is a thin yel-
low band; higher still, the rest of the "eye" is red and topped
with red "wings."
Beneath each of these upper fields, there is a design consist-
ing of four white horizontal elements bound by vertical red
bands. In the center they show four white circles. These bound
bundles are similar to the knotted ties on the limbs of Xipe
Totec and sacrificial victims.
Below the bundles on the right streamer of the southern jamb
there is a white, cut-shell design 5.0 cm wide. There are red dots
at each end of the shell. On the left streamer is a yellow rect-
angle divided vertically into white, red, and black areas. Simi-
lar rectangles appear on the right cheek of Xochipilli (pp. 13,
15, 24) and of Centeotl (p. 57) in the Codex Borgia (Nowotny
1976). A rectangle with the colors reversed (black, red, and
white) occurs on the left cheek of Piltzinteuctli (p. 14),
Xochipilli (p. 16), and Tlazolteotl (p. 16), Centeotl's consort
(p. 57). This last pattern also occurs on the right cheek of Pil-
tzinteuctli in the Codex Cospi (Nowotny 1968:1).
On the northern jamb, there is a yellow rectangle with cir- Figure 13. North door jamb.
cles at the corners on the left streamer. On the right streamer
occurs a yellow oval with circles at the "corners" and with two
red and white blades inside.
Below the yellow rectangle on the northern jamb is a band low band decorated with two human skulls. Red, blue, and yel-
outlined in yellow and decorated with red and white diagonal low tassels hang from this band. The ground to the right of the
stripes and a blue jewel. A red and white tie with red and white tassels is red, and that to the left is yellow. The color sequence
tassels hangs from this band. The tie and the tassels are painted of the ground colors on the two streamers —blue, yellow, red —
on a blue ground. Below the oval on the right streamer is a yel- is the same as that of the sky bands on the lower horizontal band
42
Figure 14. South door jamb.
above. This would appear to indicate that the pendant stream-
ers are celestial phenomena, that they hang in the heavens.
The nine horizontal bands represent the colored layers of
heaven. As Nicholson (1971:406-407) notes, "at the Spanish
contact, a 13-Ievel scheme seems to have been standard . . . [but
there are], various references to a nine-tiered scheme . . . a no-
tion which may have been more ancient." Nicholson goes on to
suggest that these 9 heavenly layers may have once been related
to the nine Lords of the Night. These heavenly layers are illus-
trated on pp. lv and 2r of the Codex Vaticanus 3738 (1979).
The red, yellow, and blue sky bands with their stylized stars
probably represent the colorful sky of the morning or the eve-
ning when the stars are visible. Since the doorway is on the east,
a reference to the early morning sky seems more likely.
The bands with red and white diagonal stripes and the red
and white bound bundles are reminiscent of the knotted ties
worn at the knees by Xipe Totec. The human skulls with their
holes for stringing on the tzompantli (skull rack) and the red and
white flint knives reinforce and expand this sacrificial theme.
Given the other motifs on the jambs and columns, the contents
Sisson and Lilly
of the mural, and the holes in the wall, it seems reasonable to
associate the stylized blue butterfly and the "winged night eye"
with the souls of warriors who died in battle.
If one ascends to the heavens by entering the room, which
of the 13 or 9 layers is represented by the room? If the stylized
butterfly and the "winged night eye" are the souls of dead war-
riors, then it is almost certainly the fourth layer, the heaven of
Tonatiuh, the Centzon Huitznahua, and the quail, the sacrifi-
cial bird par excellence (Nicholson 1971:Table 2). Of course, if
the room is the fourth layer of the heavens, then the nine col-
ored bands on the jambs and columns may well represent Lay-
ers 5 through 13.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Entering the room, one passes between the door jambs and col-
umns with their colored bands and pendant streamers and sym-
bolically ascends into the heavens. More specifically, one
ascends to the fourth layer of heaven, the heaven dominated by
the sun god Tonatiuh. Once in the room, the viewer is con-
fronted by the lower zone, which represents a broad white sac-
rificial paper with its blood red circles. Above this on the upper
zone are the nine shields, crossed lances, banners, darts, and at-
latl. These are crucial for understanding the significance of the
room.
From right to left, the probable associations of the shields
are as follows: (1) Xipe Totec; the Red Tezcatlipoca; (2) the
Red and the Black Tezcatlipocas (?); the feather device of the
sacrificial victim, of Mixcoatl; (3) the red "bull's eye" shield
of Xipe Totec; (4) atl-ttachinolli, the visual metaphor for war
flowing from the night sun, early morning sun, or Yohualteuctli;
(5) a second symbol for war, for yaoyotl; the shield of
Camaxtli/Mixcoatl/Tlahuizcalpanteuctli or of Huitzilopochtli;
the war path; the seven white paper strips with the blood of sac-
rifice; the anthropomorphic blade of sacrifice; (6) another pos-
sible reference to the Red and the Black Tezcatlipocas (?); (7)
Tepeyollotl; the jaguar god of the night and an aspect of Tez-
catlipoca; (8) partially destroyed and of undetermined associ-
ation; and (9) totally missing. In general, the associations of the
shields are with warfare, sacrifice, penitence, and the heavens.
The function of the room is problematical, as is the signifi-
cance of the shields with their lances and banners. There are a
number of possibilities, not all of which are mutually exclusive.
The discussion above suggests that the individual shields are as-
sociated with specific gods. It is possible that the objects were
used by god impersonators and that the room was a storage and
vesting room for such individuals. Another possibility is that the
shields belonged to individual warriors or different warrior so-
cieties. The room may have been an armory where the warriors
or a society stored weapons. A third possibility is that the shields
represent different towns conquered by the Teohuaque warriors.
In this case, the room would have been more like a trophy
room.
Further analysis of the mural may shed light on the possible
significance of the shields and the function of the room. The list
of possibilities above is not exhaustive. More important in seek-
ing to answer these questions will be the excavation of the other
rooms around the sunken patio to the east. Until the archaeo-
logical context of the room is better understood, questions as
A codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo
to the function of the room and the meaning of the shields are
likely to remain unanswered.
Our tentative interpretation of the function and symbolism
of the room is that it was an armory and that it symbolized the
heavenly abode of warriors. Symbolically, the room is the abode
of warriors in the heaven of the night sun. From the doorway,
the actual warrior would watch to see the early morning sun be-
gin to rise over the mountain range to the east; he would pick
up his shield and thrusting lance similar to the fancy, ceremo-
nial ones depicted on the wall behind him; and he would sally
forth to do battle. During his preparation, he might sing a song
such as the one to Cihuacoatl as female warrior recorded by Sa-
hagun's informants (Seler 1992b:273).
RESUMEN
Durante de las excavaciones en el sitio postclasico tardio de Tehuacan
Viejo, Puebla, Mexico, un cuarto con un mural en el estilo-codice fue
descubierto. El cacicazgo de Tehuacan fue fundado en el siglo XIII por
los teohuaques, uno de los grupos de Nonoalco-Chichimeca, refugiados
del gran capital de los toltecas, Tula. Conquistados por los aztecas en
la decada de 1460, los teohuaques ofrecieron su lealtad a los espanoles
en 1520. En la decada de 1530, frailes franciscanos fundaron una igle-
sia al pie de la mesa donde estaba Tehuacan. En la decada de 1570, se
trasladaron la iglesia unos 5 km al sitio actual de Tehuacan.
El cuarto con el mural era enterado abajo de dos estructuras mas re-
cientes. Aunque la ultima estructura estaba ocupada en la epoca colo-
nial temprano, todas las estructuras estaban construidas en el postclasico
tardio.
El mural tiene dos zonas horizontales. La zona de abajo esta com-
puesta de una capa de estuco sobre adobes y esta decorada con circulos
rojos. La zona de arriba esta compuesta de una capa de lodo y esta
decorada con siete y media escudos con lanzas y banderas cruzadas atras.
Originalmente, habia nueve escudos. Uno y media escudos y la parte
sur del cuarto fueron destruidos cuando construyeron la ultima estruc-
tura. El primer escudo de la derecha tiene la figura de Xipe Totec, el
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research on which this article is based was funded by a Fulbright-
Hayes Faculty Research Grant to E. B. Sisson from the Office of In-
ternational Education, U.S. Department of Education; the University
of Mississippi; the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia
(INAH) of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education; and by the
Municipio of Tehuacan, Puebla. Permission to conduct field research
was granted by the Consejo de Arqueologia of INAH; Maestra Lorena
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The morning has dawned, the command for war has gone
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the morning has dawned, the command for war has gone
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As the warrior passed through the portal between the jambs and
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