A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica

Author(s): JULIA GUERNSEY

Source: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics , Spring/Autumn 2010, No. 57/58
(Spring/Autumn 2010), pp. 75-96
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25769973

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 A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in
Preclassic Mesoamerica
JULIA GUERNSEY
The quatrefoil, a four-lobed flower-shaped symbol, is
ubiquitous in Mesoamerican iconography and traces its
roots back to the Preclassic period. This consideration of
quatrefoils concentrates on evidence from the Preclassic;
the sheer quantity of quatrefoil representations
throughout Mesoamerica precludes a detailed discussion
of this motif in later periods. Nonetheless, this survey
integrates the symbolic aspects, formal design, and
archaeological contexts of Preclassic quatrefoils within a
continuum of quatrefoil iconography that persisted into
the Postclassic. It focuses on the quatrefoil as a symbol
imbued with political and cosmological associations
that played a significant role in Preclassic elite
communication spheres and which was manipulated and
reconfigured to suit each site's individual circumstances
and agendas.
While the antecedents for many of the symbolic
associations of quatrefoils can be traced to the Early
Preclassic, it appears that it was not until the Middle
Preclassic that these concepts coalesced into the
symbol of the quatrefoil, which could be expressed as
curvilinear or rectilinear, complete or partial, horizontal
or vertical, of clay or stone, as a freestanding monument,
architectural feature, petroglyph, or portable vessel. The
fact that different Preclassic sites emphasized varying
thematic aspects of the quatrefoil, modified its shape,
or implemented diverse materials in its representation
is not surprising. While its invocation was evidence of
participation in broadly shared communication spheres,
each site took advantage of the inherent fluidity of
the form, manipulated it to serve a unique historical
situation, and tailored it to best suit their own ideological
agenda. Emphasis is paid in this study to the diversity
A number of individuals have contributed references, suggestions,
and images that were incorporated into this essay, including Anthony
Aveni, Allen Christenson, John Clark, Caitlin Earley, Francisco Estrada
Belli, Barbara Fash, Amanda Garbee Guimaraes, David Grove, Gerardo
Gutierrez, Heather Hurst, Lucia R. Henderson, Michael Hironymous,
Stephen Houston, Justin Kerr, Virginia Miller, Mary Pye, Kent Reilly,
Christa Schieber de Lavarreda, Bill Saturno, Carolyn Tate, KarlTaube,
and Virginia Walker. I thank them all. The sage advice of Andrea Stone,
Michael Love, Matthew Looper, David Stuart, Francesco Pellizzi, and
an anonymous reviewer helped to strengthen this essay. Thanks also go
to the Mesoamerica Center in the Department of Art and Art History at
the University of Texas at Austin for financial support for investigation
and analysis of materials at La Blanca.
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of quatrefoil forms during the Preclassic and the ways
in which they anticipate or diverge from quatrefoils
employed in later periods, which appear to have become
more codified and associated with specific meanings
and narrative associations well attested in Classic-period
inscriptions and imagery.
The evidence presented here, which suggests that
the quatrefoil maintained fairly consistent associations
with watery portals, caves, elite power, and supernatural
communication throughout time?in spite of great
variability in form and context?could be used to
support the notion of a "unified cultural tradition" in
Mesoamerica as articulated by Willey (1973). However,
the careful reading of Preclassic evidence provided
here also highlights points of divergence and unique
uses of the form, recalling the famous rejoinder to
Willey by Kubler (1973) who, building on the work of
Ranofsky (1955:40-54), cautioned that disjunction?or
a change in meaning?could accompany symbols that
otherwise bore a similar formal appearance. In order
to avoid the pitfalls of disjunction, this essay does not
start with the Classic period and work backward in time,
assuming continuity. Rather it establishes the range of
forms and meanings that characterized the quatrefoil
during the Preclassic, and attempts to understand them
in relationship to manifestations of the motif in later
periods. The conclusion then considers the potential
vehicles through which the quatrefoil form was shared
by various cultures, enabling it to maintain continuity
in meaning through time and space despite variations
in form, orientation, and medium. This study builds on
the important analyses of quatrefoil representations by
Fash (2005), Gillespie (1993), and Grove (2000). It is
also indebted to Coggins's (1980) ideas regarding the
importance of four-part symbols in ancient Mesoamerica
which, as she demonstrated, extended beyond simple
references to the cardinal directions and expressed
enduring cycles of time and ritual patterns in both two
dimensional and three-dimensional form.
Middle Preclassic quatrefoils
The quatrefoil does not make a formal appearance in
the known corpus of Mesoamerican art until the Middle
Preclassic (900-300 b.c), when it appears along the
Pacific slope of Guatemala, well beyond the confines of
the Gulf Coast Olmec heartland. Monument 3 from La
76 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

Figure 1. Quatrefoil portals, a. La Blanca Monument 3. Photo by Michael Love; b. La

Venta Altar 4. Drawing by F. Kent Reilly III; c. Piedras Negras Stela 40. Drawing by John
Montgomery.

Blanca is a compacted earth and clay sculpture in the
form of a quatrefoil that dates to between 900 and 800
b.c. (fig. 1 a). It was placed on the western slope of an
elite residential precinct that overlooked a large sunken
plaza at the center of the site. The monument, 2.1 meters
in diameter, consists of two concentric outer rings
finished in black clay, an interior channel, an interior
rim painted red with hematite, and a slightly concave
basin at the center. Its formal structure suggests that it
was meant to contain liquid, which, when introduced
into the interior channel, flowed into the central basin
(Love and Guernsey 2007).1 Both Monument 3 and the
adjacent sunken plaza undoubtedly filled with water
on a regular basis in this tropical region with heavy
precipitation.
1. See the water-filled basins in the dooryards of households at San
Jose Mogote, Oaxaca, 1150-850 b.c (Marcus 1998, 1999b:79-82).
While no known quatrefoil appears until the Middle
Preclassic, the motif certainly traces its antecedents to
the themes of caves, portals, and animal mouths that
characterize the Early Preclassic (1500-900 b.c). Caves
were considered portals to the otherworld, and during
the Early and Middle Preclassic, cave entries were
often represented as the open mouth of a supernatural
animal (Cillespie 1993; Grove 2000; Heyden 1975;
Joralemon 1976:37-40). For example, La Venta Altar
4 (fig. 1b) depicts a male?probably a ruler?seated
within an opening visualized as the mouth of the
jaguar-like creature above. Even today, an analogy
between caves and maws exists among Maya and Mixe
peoples in which both are described with the same or
closely related terms (Stone 1995:23; Schoenhals and
Schoenhals 1965:175, 192). During the Preclassic, this
imagery of cave-like portals symbolically placed rulers
within a supernatural context, alluding to their abilities

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 77

a b c
Figure 2. Middl
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1952:fig. 41c; b
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78 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

Figure 3. Chalcatzingo quatrefoils: a. Monument 9; b. Monument 1; c.

Monument 13. Drawings courtesy of David Grove.

of this complex is best exemplified by a t

representation of a cave in the Colonial C
Tepetlaoztoc (Codex Kingsborough) (fig. 4
personal communication, 2006).
Returning to the Middle Preclassic high
Morelos, Chalcatzingo Monument 9 (fig. 3
within the central zone of this site atop a
platform (Grove 1999:262). Carved of sto
9 is large enough that an individual could
through the open quatrefoil mouth. Indee
lip shows wear, which suggests that som
a Chalcatzingo ruler?passed through the
ritual performances (Angulo 1987:141; Gr
The best known of Chalcatzingo's quatre
Monument 1, which was carved onto the
boulder along the talus slope of Cerro Cha
3b) (Grove and Angulo 1987:115). The carv
an individual, probably a Chalcatzingo ru
1994:261; Tate 1995:55), seated inside a
partial quatrefoil. As Grove and Angulo (
observed, the partial quatrefoil symbolize
personified through the addition of an ey
between the open quatrefoil and the mout
zoomorphic creature visually parallels Mo
the vessels previously discussed.
The imagery of Chalcatzingo Monumen
references agricultural fertility and the arr
c evidenced by the rain-bearing clouds, !-s
of rain, plants growing from the corners of
and the
Figure 4. Quatrefoils, mouths, and exhalations, misty scrolls that emanate from the
a. Kaminaljuyu
Monument 28, detail. Drawing by Lucia R. quatrefoil
Henderson; b.(Guzman 1934:241-243; Grov
487;c.Grove
Tikal Altar 4 detail. Drawing by Andrea Stone; Codex and Angulo 1987:117). The imp
Kingsborough detail. Drawing by the author.that rain is arriving because the ruler ente

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 79
quatrefoil portal and communed with the supernatural
realm in order to maintain the well-being of the
community (Reilly 1994:261; Taube 1995:99).
Importantly, Monument 1 was placed adjacent to a
drainage path that channels most of the rainwater from
the northwest slopes of the mountain (Grove and Angulo
1987:115; Grove and Cyphers Guillen 1987:32-33).
This interplay between the quatrefoil motif and a
hydraulic feature anticipates Classic-period associations
between quatrefoils, water rituals, and water catchment
systems, which were part of broader expressions of
kingly authority (Fash 2005; Lucero 2006; Scarborough
1998).
The scene on Monument 1 may illustrate rituals
performed in conjunction with Monument 9 (Gillespie
1993; Grove 2000). In other words, the wear on the
lower lip of Monument 9 may be the residual effect
of performances in which an individual?presumably
the ruler?entered the quatrefoil portal as portrayed
on Monument 1. Monument 1's less-accessible
location contrasts with that of Monument 9, which
was positioned atop the largest public platform at
the site where, erected vertically, it would have been
"easily visible to the peoples living in the ancient
village surrounding the mound, and any ritual activities
associated with the monument would likewise have had
community visibility" (Grove 2000:285). The monument
also faced "Chalcatzingo's major elite residence," across
an open plaza (Grove 1999:262). This proximity bears
some resemblance to La Blanca, where Monument 3
was also located in the central precinct of the site in
association with an elite residence. During the Middle
Preclassic, the conceptual associations of the quatrefoil
appear to have been physically appropriated by elites
into their ritual and domestic sectors.
Recently discovered Chalcatzingo Monument 36
also factors into this discussion (Cordova Tello and
Meza Rodriguez 2007:65). David Grove (personal
communication, 2008) pointed out that the mouth of
the zoomorphic creature portrayed within a starburst
like cartouche is rendered as a quatrefoil, much like
Monument 9. Chalcatzingo Monument 13 depicts
another quatrefoil, rendered much more rectilinearly
(fig. 3c). The monument, probably intended to be
stood upright (Grove and Angulo 1987:122), portrays
a quatrefoil containing an individual with a cleft head
whom Taube (1996:48) identified as a version of the
Olmec Maize God.
Similar themes appear at Middle Preclassic
Teopantecuanitlan, Guerrero, although in a different
form. Four zoomorphic stone monoliths, each shaped
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as an inverted "T" or partial quatrefoil, were placed
along the walls of an enclosed sunken patio that was a
locus for ritual (fig. 5; Martinez Donjuan 1995, 2010).3
Before addressing in detail their identification as partial
quatrefoils, a discussion of their context and iconography
is necessary. Two of the monoliths were placed along
the east wall, while the other two were placed along
the west wall, directly opposite, creating a crenellated
or double merlon effect. Taube (1996:75-76) suggested
that the four sculptures represent maize deities, while
Reilly (1994:264, 1995) observed that each of the
two monoliths directly across from each other over
the courtyard form a cruciform or complete quatrefoil
shape if paired together. These four partial-quatrefoil
shaped zoomorphs thus stood like sentinels on either
side of the sunken courtyard that contained a series of
subterranean drainage canals (Niederberger 1996:97
99). More recently, Martmez Donjuan (2010) noted that
the configuration of the sunken plaza, surrounded by
a raised walkway and platforms, formed a rectilinear
quatrefoil that echoed the shape of the monoliths and
symbolized a "threshold of the underworld," consistent
with the watery portal associations of Middle Preclassic
quatrefoils elsewhere.
Scholars (Martinez Donjuan 2010; Reilly 1994:103)
also commented on the "S"-marked objects clasped
in the hands of theTeopantecuanitlan monoliths.
This "Lazy-S" motif, which by the Preclassic already
symbolized rain-bearing clouds, continued to carry the
meaning of muyal or "cloud" during the Postclassic
(Stuart and Houston 1994; Reilly 1996; Stone 1996).
AtTeopantecuanitlan, this motif linked these beings
to clouds, rain and, by extension, agricultural fertility.
Accordingly, these monoliths atTeopantecuanitlan
demonstrate overlapping themes of rain, agricultural
fertility, and supernatural access.
Also warranting comment is the identification of the
T-shaped monuments atTeopantecuanitlan as partial?or
pars pro toto (Reilly 1994:264)?rectilinearly shaped
quatrefoils. During the Preclassic, there is a frequent
pattern of substitution between rounded and rectilinear
quatrefoils. At least by the Early Classic, the Lowland
Maya appear to have differentiated between these
shapes, assigning a specific, although certainly related,
set of meanings to a cruciform quatrefoil shape known as
the k'an cross. For the Maya, the Wan cross symbolized
a range of meanings, including "yellow," "ripe," and
3. Martinez Donjuan (2010) identified four construction phases
for the sunken patio with the monoliths dating to the final phase, ca.
1000-700 b.c.
80 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

North South

Figure 5. Teopantecuanitlan Monoliths 1-4 showing their relat

one another across the sunken courtyard. Drawing courtesy of
Reilly Ill.

"precious"; it also carried close associations with water
and marked center places of emergence. Justin Kerr
(personal communication, 2008) noted that several
Classic Maya vessels (Kerr nos. 5226 and 8744) feature
variations of rectilinear Wan crosses that mark places of
rebirth; the portal for the Maize God's resurrection could
also be configured as a quatrefoil (Kerr no. 4998; see
also Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993:fig. 6.20b). This
pattern of substitution suggests that the rectilinear k'an
cross, like the rounded quatrefoil, signified a passage
between realms, much as during the Preclassic.
Fash (2005) demonstrated that, among the Classic
Maya, a partial version of the rectilinear quatrefoil?
remarkably similar to the shape of theTeopantecuanitlan
monoliths?was also frequently employed. This motif,
known as the //r'sign, symbolized "wind" and "breath."
Houston and Taube (2000:267, fig. 5a) noted that it
assumed this meaning at least by the end of the Late
Preclassic as evidenced by a monument attributed to
Kaminaljuyu that substitutes an \k' motif for the exhaling
mouth of a figure (fig. 6a). As will be recalled, a strong
correlation between oral exhalations and the fully
formed quatrefoil was also prevalent at Kaminaljuyu
(fig. 4a), which indicates a contemporaneous overlap
between these variations of the quatrefoil or partial
quatrefoil motif during the Late Preclassic at this site,
either associated directly with the mouth or envisioned
as the context for an exhalation. Proskouriakoff (1963)
had early observed that floral forms, rendered much
like the rounded quatrefoils of the Preclassic, appear
in association with the \k' sign in death expressions,
as if death were expressed as a final exhalation (see
also Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993:183). Houston
andTaube (2000:267) elaborated on these patterns of
substitution between the \k' glyph and floral forms,
noting that, like the \k' glyph, flowers were also
"identified with wind, the means by which scent
is carried." These floral forms of the Classic period
surely evolved from the rounded quatrefoil form of the
Preclassic, and the patterns of substitution between this
floral form and the //r'sign, or rectilinearly rendered
partial quatrefoil, are also consistent with patterns of
substitution evident from the Middle Preclassic onward.
Houston andTaube (2000:265, fig. 2d) noted how
"breath-like emanations of water-filled clouds or mist"
emerge from the partial quatrefoil of Chalcatzingo
Monument 1 (fig. 3b) in a way strikingly similar to the
breath or speech scrolls that emerge from humans, as
on Kaminaljuyu Monument 9. In fact, Chalcatzingo
Monument 1 offers strong support for my contention

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 81

c d
Figure 6. Variat
in the Museo P
from Classic M
from loincloth
Looper; d. Tlat
1971:fig. 135.

that the \k' glyph deliberately takes the form of a partial
quatrefoil and traces its formal and symbolic antecedents
to Middle Preclassic symbol systems.
During the Classic period, \k' motifs also mark
precious objects and ritual paraphernalia. Houston,
Stuart, and Taube (2006:152) observed that some
belt celts worn by rulers were marked by the /7c'sign,
probably to indicate the tinkling sound created by them,
as "ethereal and incorporeal" as wind and breath. Actual
jade pendants or pectorals also depict the ik' glyph, in
this case probably alluding to the breath or vital essence
of the individual who wore this precious jewelry (Miller
and Martin 2004:pl. 25). Middle Preclassic pectorals
with slightly asymmetrical //c'-like shapes, as depicted
on the Shook Altar (Shook and Heizer 1976:fig. 1),
may be antecedent to these Classic-period versions.
Follensbee (2008) noted this relationship while also
arguing that these Middle Preclassic objects worn as
pectorals represented battens used for weaving. \k'
shaped pectorals are also interchangeable with pectorals
shaped as partial quatrefoils during the Preclassic period.
For example, the individual on Kaminaljuyu Stela 22
(Parsons 1986:fig. 150) wears a pectoral rendered
as a partial quatrefoil with woven designs (Lucia R.
Henderson, personal communication, 2008). This
imagery may anticipate the partial quatrefoil-shaped
pectorals depicted on Altar Q at Copan that contain a
crossed-band design (Fash 2005:134-135, fn. 17), and
further substantiates the patterns of substitution between
\k' motifs and partial quatrefoils during the Preclassic
and Classic.
Pursuing the relationship between quatrefoils and
flowers, Houston and Taube (2000:271) noted that caves
rendered as quatrefoils in Classic Maya art often
exhibited foliage at their corners, much like Chalcatzingo
Monuments 9 and 1 (fig. 3a,b; also see Lowe and Mason
1965:fig. 20b). They attributed the shared attributes of
caves, quatrefoil flowers, and passageways to a pan
Mesoamerican belief in a supernatural Flower World
"paradise" (Houston andTaube 2000:271). During the
Classic period, the correlation between floral forms and
quatrefoils is well illustrated on a vase that depicts floral
motifs with quatrefoil centers that alternate with twisted
cord designs (fig. 6b); this same repertoire appears on a
loincloth on Piedras Negras Stela 35 (fig. 6c; Looper
2006:figs. 10 and 11; also see Fash 2005:fig. 4.3d). The

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82 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010
woven bands in the partial quatrefoil on Kaminaljuyu
Stela 22 underscore the longevity of this tradition. In
Mesoamerican art, woven or twisted cords often
symbolized a "cosmic umbilicus" or conduit that
connected the earthly and divine realms, and were
linked to a complex of floral imagery that connoted
supernatural pathways, birth, fertility, and cosmically
imbued substances (Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993:
394-396; Looper and Guernsey Kappelman 2001; Looper
2006). The link between flowery, quatrefoil portals and
other symbols of supernatural contact, such as the
quincunx or axis mundi, is attested very early on by the
design on a roller seal from Tlatilco, which juxtaposes a
quincunx with a floral quatrefoil as well as the profile of
a deity thatTaube (1996:fig. 2b) identified as the Olmec
Maize God (fig. 6d). A jadeite celt from Veracruz
likewise pairs a cleft motif with a floral, quatrefoil
cartouche (Princeton 1995:no. 124), while an Olmec
jade spoon from Guerrero portrays a masked
supernatural whose head is cleft like that of the Olmec
Maize God adjacent to a series of floral quatrefoils
(Princeton 1995:no. 72). These examples indicate a
Preclassic concept of a supernatural floral world consistent
with that known from later periods. Moreover, these
imbrications between quatrefoils/portals/mouths/flowers,
or supernaturally charged places from which breath,
moisture, wind, scents, and exhalations emerge, were
already widespread by the Middle Preclassic period.
The Classic-period distinctions between rounded and
squared quatrefoil and partial quatrefoil forms?which
appear to have developed by that time into the distinct
yet conceptually related symbols of the Wan cross, /7c'
glyph, and flowery quatrefoil?were less codified during
the Preclassic. Instead, the more rectilinear version of the
quatrefoil, as seen in partial form atTeopantecuanitlan
(fig. 5) and Chalcatzingo (fig. 3c), substitutes quite freely
with its more curvilinear counterpart, each referencing
a supernatural portal strongly associated with water
or moist emanations and, by extension, fertility and
agriculture. The permutations in the quatrefoil form that
debuted during the Preclassic and continued to develop
during the Classic period is a topic too extensive to
adequately address in this paper, but intriguing formal
and iconographic parallels with other motifs certainly
exist. For instance, Taube (1995:89-91) noted the
relationship between the partial quatrefoil, double
merlon, or /7c'form seen during the Preclassic and the
Maya glyph yax, which connoted "green, new, tender"
and was related to notions of agricultural abundance. So,
too, a variety of symbols from other periods and regions
of Mesoamerica?such as the toponymic "hill" sign of
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Zapotec art?may trace their formal antecedents to an
interrelated and malleable complex of Preclassic partial,
complete, horizontal, and vertical quatrefoils (Gillespie
1993:89; Grove 2000:283; Stross 1996).
This Preclassic interplay between curving and rigid
quatrefoil forms also appears to have been expressed
through the placement of objects in a cache from the site
of Cival, Peten, Guatemala, deposited between 600-400
b.c. (Estrada-BelIi 2006). The cache, which contained
five water jars, five upright celts in a quincunx pattern,
and over one hundred jade pebbles, was placed in a
cruciform-shaped chamber cut into bedrock and aligned
with the cardinal directions (fig. 7; Bauer 2005:figs. 1
and 2; Estrada-Belli 2006:fig. 3). A photo of the cache
illustrates its echoing forms, including the rectilinear
contours of the pit and the rounded swelling forms of
the vessels inside that, together, created the form of a
curvilinear quatrefoil. The jars, in particular, echo the
watery themes of quatrefoils at La Blanca, Chalcatzingo,
andTeopantecuanitlan, and their configuration may be
conceptually related to quatrefoil-shaped vessels from
elsewhere that may have contained liquid. Furthermore,
the quincunx-shaped deposit of celts fits within the
broader conceptual domain of four-part symbols such
as the quatrefoil (Bauer 2005; Coggins 1980; Estrada
Belli 2006).
Late Preclassic quatrefoils
The consistent associations of the quatrefoil motif
persevered into the ensuing Late Preclassic, as best
evidenced at the site of Izapa in Chiapas, Mexico
(Lowe et al. 1982). Izapa Stela 8 depicts a quatrefoil
on the back of a zoomorphic creature (fig. 8a). Within
the quatrefoil, an individual sits on a throne similar to
Throne 1 from the site (Norman 1976:105; Taube 1998:
439), creating a visual narrative between these two
monuments that probably references a ruler's political
authority and supernatural abilities (Guernsey 2006).
The political import that this motif carried during the
Late Preclassic is corroborated by the recent discovery
of Altar 48 atTakalik Abaj (Schieber de Lavarreda and
Orrego Corzo 2010). Altar 48 depicts an individual
seated upon a cushioned seat or throne within a
quatrefoil that forms the body of a zoomorphic creature
as on Izapa Stela 8. The compositional similarities
between Izapa Stela 8 and Takalik Abaj Altar 48 are
remarkable despite the difference in presentation that
results from the vertically oriented stela at Izapa and the
horizontally oriented altar atTakalik Abaj. Schieber de
Lavarreda and Orrego Corzo (2010) suggested that the
 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 83

Libbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb^bib^L^Libbbbbbbbbbbb

Figure 7. Cival cache. Photo courtesy of Francisco Estrada Belli.

individual seated within the quatrefoil may represent

a historic individual, probably a ruler who, like his
counterpart at Izapa, incorporated the quatrefoil into a
statement of political authority.
While the contours of the quatrefoils on Izapa
Stela 8 and Takalik Abaj Altar 48 are quite rounded, a
rectilinear version appears on Izapa Stelae 22 and 67
(fig. 8b). I have suggested that these two stelae feature
scenes in which an Izapa ruler performs the passage
from the creation narrative in which the Maize God
was transported in a canoe to the place of his rebirth
(Guernsey 2006:137-140; Guernsey Kappelman
2002; cf. Taube 1996:62). The "canoes" in which the
protagonists travel on the Izapa stelae, however, have
open "lids" which, together with the lower portions, forrr
rectilinear quatrefoils. The shape of these two quatrefoils
is particularly interesting in light of the Classic-period
vessel in which the location of the Maize God's rebirth
was marked by a quatrefoil (Kerr no. 4998), previously
a b
discussed. Moreover, this imagery at Izapa confirms the
Preclassic antecedents for the quatrefoil as a place of Figure 8. Quatrefoils at Izapa. a. Izapa Stela
emergence, and anticipates similar imagery on a Classic 67. Drawings by Ayax Moreno, courtesy of
Maya vessel in which the Paddler Twins guide canoes Archaeological Foundation.

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84 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

a b c d e f
Figure 9. Quatrefo
Foundation; b. Mis
Moreno, courtesy
Archaeological Fou
Drawing by the au

within quatrefoi
70 (fig. 9
1994:fig.Group
6.47).4T F
God references,
The quat
the imagery
the of
Late T
the of
gestures Guate
of t
anticipate those
this site
who clasps scep
The quatrefoil a
27 (fig. 9a), it ma
a similarly shape
the construction
(Norman 1976: 1
associated with t
14 (fig. 9c), a par
to those of Stela
above is a crocod
legs call to mind
fig. 3.15). Just a
(fig. 9d), whose p
of Stela 14. In th
formed a concav
oriented altar w
filled with rainwa
grooved depressi
depression and g
although in this
and in stone. Tw
are Izapa Miscell

4. An observation by Stone (1995:35) is pertinent here: "The idea of

the cave as a container is also affirmed in the Yucatec numeral classifier
for caves, which is ak, forming part of the word aktun "cave." This
numeral classifier is for canoes, boats, houses, lots, chairs, containers,
churches, altars, holes, pits, towns, and milpas . . . items that serve as Photo by Michael 10.
Figure
containers of people or objects, such as maize." Love.

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 85

that were placed at the base of Mound 2 along one of

the central axes of the site's center. An offering associated
with Monument 1 included two ceramic vessels and
a ceramic "cross" or object shaped as a rectilinear
quatrefoil. Two other offerings (Features 27 and 28), also
located within the central zone, contained additional
quatrefoil-shaped objects, as well as a series of bowls
and small plates (fig. 10). Each quatrefoil had a very low
rim, as if conceived as a shallow plate that could have
held a liquid of some sort, and one retained traces of red
pigment (Michael Love, personal communication, 2008).
These offerings were deposited near the intersection of
the two main axes of the site, which align with specific
astronomical phenomena (Love and Balcarcel 2000:73
74). Nine of these quatrefoils are known from El Ujuxte,
and their significance may rest in their shape, which
echoed the axial organization of the site (Guernsey and
Love 2005:42).
The quatrefoil motif was also invoked by the Late
Preclassic rulers of San Bartolo in the Maya Lowlands
on the west wall of the Pinturas Sub-1 chamber (fig.
11a; Hurst 2005:fig. 5; Saturno et al. 2005:650). Like
the quatrefoils at Chalcatzingo, Izapa, and Takalik Abaj,
individuals are seated inside: at the center dances the
Maize God; to the left sits Chahk, the god of rain and
lightning, on a throne like Throne 1 at Izapa; and to the b
right is a god of standing or terrestrial water. The watery
nature of the San Bartolo quatrefoil, confirmed by the Figure 11. Quatrefoils in the Maya region, a. San Bartolo
aquatic band that emanates from its left side, correlates quatrefoil from the west wall of the Pinturas Sub-1 chamber.
well with the iconography of quatrefoils at La Blanca and Illustration by Heather Hurst, courtesy of the Proyecto
Arqueologico Regional San Bartolo; b. Aguacatal stucco altar.
Chalcatzingo, as does the reference to the Maize God
Drawing courtesy of Stephen Houston.
narrative. This association between cave-like portals and
rain was widespread and long-lived in Mesoamerican
thought, as illustrated by the numerous stories from
Maya, Mixtec, Mixe-Zoque, and Central Mexican regions
of rain deities occupying caves, quatrefoil-shaped represents Itzamnaaj, who frequently appears as his
spaces, or apertures in the earth, which were sources avian counterpart, the Principal Bird Deity, in Preclassic
of water, rain, and fecundity. The parallels between the and Classic-period representations.5 At San Bartolo, this
personified quatrefoil at San Bartolo, with its turtle figure is enthroned upon a cushion or seat like that on
like head, and those at Chalcatzingo, Izapa, Takalik Takalik Abaj Altar 48, and the gestures are also quite
Abaj, and elsewhere in later periods attest to consistent similar. The curling volutes that emerge from the corner
conventions of representation that were broadly shared. of the quatrefoil recall conventions at Chalcatzingo, and
Equally interesting is the coloration of the San Bartolo presage those of the Classic period.
quatrefoil, which recalls that of La Blanca Monument 3 Another quatrefoil at the site of Aguacatal, Campeche,
and also compares to the red quatrefoil-shaped plaque Mexico, appears in the form of a stuccoed altar that
from El Ujuxte. was placed at the base of a low mound during the Late
A second, only partially preserved, quatrefoil appears Preclassic-Early Classic transition (fig. 11b). As Houston
on the east wall of the Pinturas Sub-1 chamber, and et al. (2005) observed, the stucco design around the
contains a seated zoomorph whose features resemble
those of the Principal Bird Deity. Karl Taube (personal
communication, 2008) suggested that this figure 5. See Guernsey (2006:108-111) for a summary of this literature.

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86 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

edges of the Aguacatal quatrefoil depicts aquatic imagery

and the deity Chahk. Most intriguing, however, is the
similar configuration of the quatrefoils at Aguacatal and
La Blanca, each of which represented a horizontally
oriented altar with watery connotations. This horizontal
orientation also calls to mind stone basins at the
Preclassic site of Cuetlajuchitlan, Guerrero, found in a
precinct associated with a complex system of hydraulic
drains (Manzanilla Lopez 2006). The large recessed
interiors of the stone basins contain a step at one end,
which lends them an overall shape reminiscent of a
partial quatrefoil.

Three-dimensional and architectonic quatrefoils

While the formal flexibility of the Preclassic quatrefoil

is attested to by the numerous permutations in its
configuration, context, and orientation, its inherent
plasticity is perhaps best evidenced by those instances
where it took on three-dimensional form, sculpturally
or architecturally, oriented either horizontally or
vertically. An early, vertical architectural representation
is atTeopantecuanitlan, where the partial-quatrefoil
monoliths were incorporated into the walls surrounding
the sunken courtyard (fig. 5). Another partial quatrefoil,
composed of densely packed earth, appears in an
architectural context at the site of San Agustm,
Chiapas, and dates to the early Late Preclassic (fig. 12;
Navarrete 1959). Its form is strikingly similar to the
Teopantecuanitlan monoliths.
The same architectonic development of the quatrefoil
motif, but oriented horizontally, is also attested in the
Preclassic. Paul Schmidt (n.d., personal communication,
2008) observed that two 1-2-meter-high pyramidal
base structures at the site of Oxtotitlan-Cerro Quiotepec
have indented corners that lend them a quatrefoil
shape.6 Excavated ceramics indicate that the site's
major florescence was during the Middle Preclassic,
which suggests that these quatrefoil-shaped structures
were contemporary with quatrefoil imagery like that
at Chalcatzingo and La Blanca. New evidence from
San Lorenzo may push the date for quatrefoil-shaped
structures even farther back in time to the Early
6. According to Schmidt (n.d.), the composite name "Oxtotitlan
Cerro Quiotepec" refers to Oxtotitlan Cave, the site of Cerro Quiotepec
0.4 km to the west (from which Oxtotitlan Mural 1 is visible), the
area in between the cave and hill that contained continuous cultural
materials from the top of the hill 0.4 kilometers to the west, and
cultural materials that are found continuously between the hill and the
cave.
Figure 12. Reconstruction of San Agustm Structure 4 with i
architectonic quatrefoil. Drawing by the author after Nava
1959:fig. 7.
Preclassic (Ann Cyphers, personal communication,
2007). Cyphers noted that the recently exposed inden
corner of the North Platform at San Lorenzo may
indicate a quatrefoil-shaped layout for the structure. If
further excavations confirm this feature, then my earl
observation that the Gulf Coast region was bereft of
monumental quatrefoils during the Preclassic would
obviously need to be revised. Mapping and excavatio
of one corner of Middle Preclassic Mound 1 at La Bl
also suggest that this structure may have been quatrefoi
shaped (Michael Love, personal communication, 2008
Middle Preclassic quatrefoil-shaped structures, lik
those documented at Oxtotitlan-Cerro Quiotepec,
were conceptually paralleled by Middle Preclassic
horizontally oriented quatrefoil altars like that at La
Blanca, which persevered into later periods as at
Aguacatal. Stone versions of quatrefoil-shaped altars
exist, such as Late Preclassic Altar 6 atTakalik Abaj (f
13a). Schieber de Lavarreda and Orrego Corzo (2002:
observed that the quatrefoil shape of this large (1.84
2.43 x .48 m) altar mirrors the form of the basal
platforms of some structures in the Maya region. This
form also anticipates Classic-period altars at sites suc
Caracol and Tikal whose compositions are bound by
large quatrefoil-shaped cartouches containing giant
Ahaw glyphs that memorialize period endings. David
Stuart (personal communication, 2006) suggested th
these quatrefoil-marked altars may have been the sta
for k'atun rites, with the quatrefoil signifying the "pla

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 87

of these period endings. Stuart's suggestion makes sense

in light of the quatrefoil's significance as a portal which,
when manifested, linked the past to the present, and the
Otherworld to the terrestrial one. Andrea Stone (personal
communication, 2008) noted that these associations
between portals, quatrefoils, and time seem to coalesce
in a Late Classic cave in Tixkuytun, Yucatan, which
features several k'an crosses or quatrefoils, one of which
was painted in red and ringed by bar and dot numerals
(Barrera Rubio and Peraza Lope 1999; Stone 1995:
69-70, pi. 4).
At least by the beginning of the Late Preclassic period,
quatrefoil-shaped contours characterized building
platforms in the Maya region as well, particularly radial
pyramids whose overall form is that of a horizontal
quatrefoil. Coggins (1980) linked the plans of these
radial pyramids to the complex of quadripartite symbols
including the quatrefoil and suggested that radial
structures were erected to mark calendrical cycles and
their completions. An early example is Structure 5C-54-4
atTikal, a radial pyramid whose overall configuration is
that of a layered quatrefoil (fig. 13b; Laporte and Fialko
1995). I would suggest that the radial pyramids in the
Maya region and quatrefoil-shaped platforms elsewhere
marked the intersection between the quatrefoil
underworld and the human-made mountains of the
terrestrial realm and gave physical form to a complex of
ideas surrounding supernatural communication, time, d
portals, watery realms, and calendrical celebrations.
These notions persevered into the Classic period at sites Figure 13. Altars and architectonic quatrefoils. a. Takalik Abaj
such as Quirigua (Looper 2004) and Palenque (Stuart Altar 6. Photo by the author; b. Tikal Structure 5C-54-4 (Cauac
and Stuart 2008:193-194), where radial structures and phase, Late Preclassic period). Drawing by the author after
platforms were the locus for ritual activities related to Laporte 1999:fig. 15; c. Uaxactun H-X-Sub 3 mask fagade.
calendrical celebrations, dynastic kingship, cosmology, Drawing by Linda Schele, courtesy of FAMSI; d. Bonampak
and the quadripartite universe. Stela 1, detail. Drawing by Linda Schele, courtesy of FAMSI.
Related to the complex of Preclassic pyramidal
structures is the witz monster motif, which Stuart (1987,
1997) identified as a representation of a personified
mountain (see alsoTate 1980). "Mountain" is witz in witz monster represents "the point of contact between
Mayan languages, and Classic-period hieroglyphic the watery underworld and the sky," once again in
texts label ritual structures as witzob or "mountains" keeping with the conceptual domain of quatrefoils. Fash
(Vogt and Stuart 2005:156). Late Preclassic examples (2005) demonstrated that the attribute of a quatrefoil
such as Uaxactun Structure H-X-Sub 3 depict this shaped cleft forehead for the witz monster persisted
witz monster with a crenellated forehead comprised into the Classic period, suggesting that this was more
of partial quatrefoil forms (fig. 13c). Taube (2004) than a decorative convention and that it overtly
identified a specific form of this witz monster as a communicated the symbolic associations of the witz
representation of "Flower Mountain," a supernatural monster with mountains, caves, water, and fertility.
location associated with celestial communication and This is especially clear on Caracol Stela 6, where the
the abode of ancestors, a meaning consistent with quatrefoil-cleft forehead of the witz monster bears a k'an
that of Preclassic and Classic-period quatrefoils. Taube cross or rectilinear quatrefoil (Tate 1980:45), and on
(2004:81-82) further observed that at Uaxactun the Bonampak Stela 1 where the Maize God emerges from

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88 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010
a quatrefoil-cleft mountain (fig. 13d; Freidel, Schele,
and Parker 1993:fig. 3.8b). This recalls the Preclassic
convention of quatrefoils as places of the Maize God's
resurrection at Izapa and San Bartolo and suggests that
these witz monster clefts were deliberately rendered
as partial quatrefoils, in keeping with long-established
conventions and narratives that traced their origins to a
Preclassic symbol system.
The quatrefoil shape may have provided inspiration
for other cruciform structures, some of which, as in
the case of Late Preclassic Chiapa de Corzo Mound 5,
functioned as a palace (Clark and Hansen 2001:26-27).7
Regarding this relationship, Reents-Budet (2001:209
210) observed that the decorative motif most frequently
rendered on the architectural piers of structures on
Classic-period painted vases is the quatrefoil (ibid.:fig.
7.9), an occurrence paralleled on physical structures
at Palenque, such as Pier A of the Temple of the Sun
or the exterior walls of House E of the Palace. She
further noted that the quatrefoil cartouches represent
supernatural portals and lend a "mythic, transformative
power" to both the scenes and the structures, typically
palaces, on which they appear, qualifying them as
"sacred royal enclosure[s]." As such, the quatrefoil
legitimized the political and sacred nature of these
palaces as architectonic extensions of the ruler himself
(ibid.:210). The continuities between this context for the
quatrefoil form and that of Middle Preclassic La Blanca
or Chalcatzingo, where quatrefoils were located in
elite residential precincts, are interesting to consider, if
difficult to prove.
Although the relationships between the quatrefoil
form and architectural structures?their shape,
decoration, and symbolic associations?is a vast topic
that can only be touched upon here, the possibilities
are intriguing. Both Stone (1995) and Houston (1998)
noted the overlap in terminology used in Classic
Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions between structures
and objects that functioned as receptacles, as if each
were characterized as a container; this overlapping
terminology extended to tombs, as well, which were
described not only as houses but also as "watery
holes" (Houston 1998:349-352; Stone 1995:35; Taube
1998:448). These metaphorical parallels during the
Classic period harken back to more ancient relationships
between quatrefoils and portals as watery receptacles, as
the loci of ritual activity, and as motifs whose shape was
7. See Marcus (1999a:66) for similar "plus-sign"-shaped
architecture in Preclassic Oaxaca.
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adapted to create the architectural structures of kings.
I would suggest that the metaphors at play with the
quatrefoil motif were, already by the Middle Preclassic,
adopted by elites to give physical, architectural form to
their ritual environments. In other words, the Preclassic
quatrefoil was effectively communicated in both two
and three-dimensional form as a supernatural, kingly
portal, and was effectively adapted to mark specific
locations within the built environment (Freidel and
Suhler 1999).
An example in Houston (1998:359-360) illustrates the
potential in recognizing and pursuing these metaphorical
relationships. He noted that a set of petroglyphs at
Las Palmas, Mexico (fig. 14a), "depict ballcourts or
depressions, with channels grooved for the flow of
water or some other fluid/' and linked this imagery to
physical ballcourts associated with hydraulic channels.
The Las Palmas petroglyphs recall Altar 13 at Izapa (fig.
9d), in which a half-quatrefoil channeled rainwater. The
shape of many ballcourts across Mesoamerica took the
form of a capital "I," or two individual "T" shapes?not
unlike two partial quatrefoils?connected together in a
mirror-like configuration (fig. 14b).8 Beyond the formal
relationship between l-shaped ballcourts and conjoined
partial quatrefoils, they both share an association with
portals. In the PopolVuh, the ballcourt is called horn,
which signifies "grave" in modern K'iche' and "chasm"
or "abyss" in Yucatec (Freidel et al. 1993:351-352).
Accordingly, ballcourts were understood as portals into
the surface of the earth, like the quatrefoils with which
they appear to share a conceptual domain. Perhaps the
l-shape form of ballcourts reflects yet another deliberate
incorporation of the partial quatrefoil form into an
architectural design whose function, in this case, was
closely associated with the realm of portals, supernatural
communication, and watery underworld locations. This
relationship may have been sculpturally articulated at
sites such as Copan and Quirigua, in which the frames of
ballcourt markers took the form of a quatrefoil (fig. 14c;
Fash 2005; Looper 2003:fig. 1.22; Stone 1995:fig. 3.33).
This relationship between quatrefoils, caves,
supernatural apertures, and stepped pyramids or specific
places within the built environment extended beyond
the Maya region and may be paralleled by the glyph-like
forms used to signify Teotihuacan in the Codex Xolotl, in
which two stepped pyramid forms were placed above a
quatrefoil-shaped portal (fig. 15; Heyden 1981, 2005:
8. The suggestion is consistent with the tendency through time to
manipulate, turn, and invert the partial quatrefoil or \k' shape with no
apparent change in meaning (Houston et al. 2006:145-146).
 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 89

"uncivilized" domain of nature and its pow

The associations of quatrefoils with perio
calendrical time is also paralleled among t
as in a scene from the Map of Cuauhtinch
in which the emergence of Chichimecs fr
naturalistically rendered cave is juxtapose
which they perform a New Fire ceremony
rendered as a rectilinear, partial quatrefoil
2005:fig. 4.14; Boone 2000:fig. 114). Amon
caves appear to have been invoked quite r
Classic-period inscriptions as places conne
underworld, death, and ancestors, and in
with local place names and emblem glyph
Stuart 2005:162).
These suggestions regarding the relation
as well as symbolic?between the quatrefo
a range of architectural forms certainly ca
depth analysis of Classic and Postclassic m
of the quatrefoil form that exceeds the sc
goals of this study. Yet a danger, of course
quatrefoils everywhere, and falling into a
pit?or portal, as the case may be?in wh
that isn't really there is assigned to a ubiquit
or when metaphors are extended too far a
significance or historical specificity. With
however, I would assert that the quatrefoil is
of a variety of sculptural and architectura
and that its associations were deemed app
statements that ranged from the mythical t
from the Preclassic period forward. Its form
c
and malleability made it well suited for n
contexts
Figure 14. Quatrefoils and ballcourt associations, and
a. Las applications, while its inhere
Palmas
a supernatural
petroglyphs. Drawing by the author after Navarrete aperture remained remarka
et al. 1993:
despite
fig. 51; b. l-shaped ballcourt. Drawing by Linda variation
Schele after thein its physical appearanc
Codex Bodley, courtesy of FAMSI; c. Quirigua Altar Q ballcourt
marker. Drawing by Matthew Looper.

fig. 2.4). Sandstrom (2005) explored these associations

among the modern Nahua in Northern Veracruz, noting
the overlapping conceptual domain of pyramids, sacred
mountains, caves, and the underworld. Several of the
paper images cut by Nahua shamans for ritual use depict
spirits emerging from partial quatrefoil shapes that
represent pyramids and hills (Sandstrom 2005:figs. 3.7,
3.8). Gillespie (1993:88) associated this Central Mexican
conjunction of watery, quatrefoil caves and human
built mounds with the Nahuatl term altepetl, which
Figure 15. Glyph-like forms used to signify Teo
signified both "it is water, it is a hill/' and "city"
Codex or, by
Xolotl. Drawing by the author after Hey
extension, a concept of civilization that2.4.
incorporated the

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 90 RES 57/58 SPRING/AUTUMN 2010

Discussion and forms to serve the agendas of many of the earliest

rulers in Mesoamerica.
The quatrefoil, throughout the history of Mesoamerica,
In any study such as this, in which it is postulated
was not only a potent symbol but a versatile one as
that a far-flung symbol retained a strikingly consistent
well. Its meaning encompassed references to the natural
meaning for several millennia, one must give some
landscape and topography as a cave or opening into the
thought to the means through which this happened.
earth; as a watery place associated with rain, aqueducts,
Certainly, many of the objects upon which the quatrefoil
pools of water, and mists; as an analog to the maws of
motif appears were portable, and could have moved
beasts that symbolized dangerous passage and emitted
throughout Mesoamerica in a variety of ways: through
watery vapors and breath; as places associated with
trade and transport, as elite gift giving, or as revered
fertility, ancestors, and creation narratives like that of the
heirlooms. The vessels with quatrefoil iconography at La
Maize God; as a symbol that marked places where time
Venta, Xochipala, and elsewhere attest to this possibility.
and its passage were commemorated and where the past/
But I would suggest another possible explanation:
otherworld intersected with the present/terrestrial world;
that textiles, or woven garments, may have been the
and as a quadrilateral symbol that mapped both space
primary media through which these designs and their
and time, functioned toponymically to mark geographic
significance were shared. Although little data exists on
and supernatural locations, and inspired a range of
Preclassic textiles, a frequent motif of Classic-period
sculptural and architectural forms. This metaphorical
textiles is the quatrefoil, as on the elaborately rendered
range parallels that attributed to caves in Mesoamerican
garments and flap-staffs portrayed at Yaxchilan (fig.
thought; in fact, as Stone (1995:34) observed, a cave
16a; Morris 1985; Tate 1992), or in textiles rendered on
represented
painted vessels (Reents-Budet 1994:16); this motif also
A fluid, polysemic, sometimes contradictory concept; it is,
in Victor Turner's parlance, a "dominant symbol" in that it
encodes and interconnects a variety of referents. Dominant
symbols have the property of multivocality, which "allows
for the economic representation of key aspects of a culture
and beliefs" (Turner 1967:50).

The same can surely be said for the quatrefoil motif,

whose significance within the visual vocabulary of
ancient Mesoamerica was attested repeatedly across
space and through time. Its very form, deceptively simple
at first glance, was manipulated, expanded, rounded,
or flattened, truncated, and rendered both horizontally
and vertically to great effect. It also appears to have
been antecedent to other symbols that were developed
and codified in later periods to symbolize more specific
aspects of this conceptual domain. Its power rested, as
Stone (1995:30-35) described for caves, in its "capacity
to encode multiple themes simultaneously" and an
ability to condense "an enormous amount of cultural
information, making it an extremely potent symbol."
Its frequent appearance in imagery throughout time,
however, suggests that this "conceptual latitude" did
not diminish its significance or detract from its power to b c
communicate; rather, the symbol persisted as an effective
Figure 16. Qua
tool for articulating a variety of messages involving Yaxchilan Lint
fertility, ancestral and supernatural communication, and 1977:55; b. De
rulership. Perhaps even more significantly, the polyvalent by Ayax More
nature of the quatrefoil was already in full bloom during Foundation; c.
the Preclassic and manipulated in numerous materials Drawing by th

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 Guernsey: A consideration of the quatrefoil motif in Preclassic Mesoamerica 91
appears on Aztec clothing. In a broader discussion of
fabric structures and their significance in Mesoamerica,
Looper (2006) noted that the quatrefoil conveys
consistent associations with portals and an ability to
mediate between the realms. Christenson (2001:97)
documented similar beliefs among the modern Tz'utujil
Maya of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, who view the
quatrefoil pattern at the neck of a huipil as a portal and
marker of the center of the world.
Textile representations from earlier periods are more
limited, yet examples do exist. On Late Preclassic
Kaminaljuyu Stela 11, for instance, the ruler wears a
short skirt with a foliated, partial quatrefoil (fig. 16b).
Another floral quatrefoil decorates the skirt of a ruler
on Early Classic Stela 5 from Cerro de las Mesas (fig.
16c). What these examples imply is that textiles should
not be ruled out as a possible means through which
the quatrefoil motif was communicated and shared
across Mesoamerica. This suggestion intersects well
with Follensbee's (2008) evidence that the asymmetrical
ik'- or partial-quatrefoil-shaped pectorals worn by
elite individuals as early as the Middle Preclassic were
associated with weaving implements. Metaphors for
weaving and woven cloth permeate descriptions of the
cosmos and acts of creation throughout Mesoamerica,
and both Maya and Aztec manuscripts describe the
universe as bound in filaments of cloth (Klein 1982;
Tarn and Prechtel 1986). The quatrefoil may have been
intimately connected with textiles and expressions of the
structure of the universe from as early as the Preclassic,
which would account for its presence in an array of
contexts and media that invoked supernatural access,
elite authority, and the very essence of life.
This essay, focused on the Preclassic period, merely
scratches the surface of the quatrefoil's enduring history
in later periods. It also alludes only fleetingly to the
vast and pertinent ethnographic literature on caves and
ancient Mesoamerican spatial cognition?or the even
more extensive anthropological literature on cosmology
and the ritual activation of membranes between the
worlds?that is undoubtedly at the heart of this symbol's
endurance (see, for example, Turner 1964). Nonetheless,
clear patterns emerge. The quatrefoil envisioned the
subterranean world of misty caves and watery portals,
yet was invoked by rulers at specific historical moments
to justify their declarations of political authority.
It symbolized mythic space, yet was manifested
architecturally in the built environment and worn on the
garments of kings. In short, from its earliest inception
during the Preclassic, the quatrefoil appears to have
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encompassed the domains of nature and civilization and
continued to do so effectively for Mesoamericans in a
variety of contexts for thousands of years.
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