Aztec communication and literature – 2

Continuing from the previous post, I will now discuss Aztecan symbols used in literature throughout the existence of the Aztec civilization. Lending to the knowledge of Aztec symbols, the discovery of the Codex Magliabechiano allowed the understanding of how the Aztec writers used icons to describe objects they interacted with in their everyday life.

Aztec Symbols from the Codex Magliabechiano - Click to Enlarge

The Aztecs, or Mexica as they called themselves, were the elite of a militaristic empire focused in Central Mexico when the Spanish conquistadores landed in America at the beginning of the 16th century CE. The Aztecs originated in the semi-arid environments of northern Mexico as one of the many barbarian or “Chichimec” tribes. They arrived at the fertile Valley of Mexico most likely during the 14th century CE, and found the land already settled and divided by city states. They built their city at the marshes of Lake Texcoco, and quickly adopted much of the culture and language of their new neighbors.

The writing system of the Aztecs is very rudimentary. Its core consists of a set of calendrical signs and a vigesimal number system. Like other Mesoamerican people, the Aztecs used the 260-day sacred calendar, which in Nahuatl was called tonalpohualli. The tonalpohualli is essentially two parallel and interlocking cycles, one of 20 days (represented by “day signs”), and one of 13 days (represented by numbers called “coefficients”). The following are the 20 day signs in the Aztec sacred calendar. The Nahuatl names are in red, and their meanings in English are in blue.

Aztec communication and literature

Origins of Language

Nahuatl (Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈnaː.watɬ] , with stress on the first syllable) is a group of related languages and dialects of the Nahuan (traditionally called “Aztecan“) branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Collectively they are spoken by an estimated 1.5 million Nahua people, most of whom live in Central Mexico. All Nahuan languages are indigenous to Mesoamerica.

Nahuatl Dialects Map, where Nahuatl is spoken today.

Nahuatl has been spoken in Central Mexico since at least the 7th century AD. It was the language of the Aztecs, who dominated what is now central Mexico during the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. During the preceding century and a half, the expansion and influence of the Aztec Empire had led to the dialect spoken by the residents of Tenochtitlan becoming a prestige language in Mesoamerica.

With the introduction of the Latin alphabet, Nahuatl also became a literary language and many chronicles, grammars, works of poetry, administrative documents and codices were written in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This early literary language based on the Tenochtitlan dialect has been labeled Classical Nahuatl and is among the most studied and best documented languages of the Americas.

Aztec Alphabet

Aztec Ictapa alphabet, derived from the Codex Mendoza in the 16th Century (click to enlarge)

Until the 16th century, a direct English translation of ancient Aztecan texts could not have been made due to the obscurity of the language and the minimal efforts done to translate it.

However, the discovery of several codices (including the famous Codex Mendoza) that give insight into Aztecan language and life has enabled a translation to be made.

A peculiar variation of the Nahuatl language called Ictapa, which is written in symbols of elements, animals, plants, etc. can be seen above. Only a small number of Aztecan texts have been written in this Ictapa alphabet.

Pre Columbian Civilizations

The PreColumbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the Early Modern period.

While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus’ voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus’ initial landing.

Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Cañaris).

One of the pyramids in the upper level of Yaxchilán

The biggest Mesoamerican cities such as Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula were among the largest in the world. These cities grew as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology, and they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures in central Mexico.

The earliest known civilization is the Olmec. This civilization established the cultural blueprint by which all succeeding indigenous civilizations would follow in Mexico. Olmec civilization began with the production of pottery in abundance, around 2300 BCE. Between 1800 and 1500 BCE, the Olmec consolidated power into chiefdoms which established their capital at a site today known as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, near the coast in southeast Veracruz. The Olmec influence extended across Mexico, into Central America, and along the Gulf of Mexico. They transformed many peoples’ thinking toward a new way of government, pyramid-temples, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion. Their achievements paved the way for the greatness of the Maya civilization in the east and the civilizations to the west in central Mexico.

One of the pyramids in the upper level of YaxchilánWhile many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mesoamerica can be said to have had five major civilizations: The Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, the Mexica and the Maya. These civilizations (with the exception of the politically fragmented Maya) extended their reach across Mexico—and beyond—like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these four civilizations over the span of 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all peoples found themselves within these five spheres of influence.

Neanderthal extinction hypotheses

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal child from Gibraltar (Anthropological Institute, University of Zürich)

Neanderthal extinction hypotheses refer to theories about how Neanderthals became extinct around 30,000 years ago.[1] Ever since their discovery, both the Neanderthals place in the human family tree and their relation to modern Europeans have been hotly debated. At different times they have been classified as a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis) and as a subspecies of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).

Anthropologists advanced and still advance arguments favoring either an accelerated regional evolution of Neanderthal towards Homo sapiens,[clarification needed] or interbreeding with or replacement by anatomically modern humans. There is no agreement on the association of early Aurignacian culture to any specific physical human type, including figurative art found at Vogelherd.[2] The obvious anatomic differences between Neanderthal and anatomically modern humans inspired the general belief in two separate branches of the genus Homo, and favored the single-origin hypothesis in that modern humans are not directly descended from the Neanderthal branch. The nature of interaction and dividing lines between Neanderthal and archaic Homo Sapiens during the period 50,000 to 25,000 years ago remain largely unknown.[3] Though it has been suggested that the late Neanderthal populations survived in Southern Iberia, in general this area has been considered a “cul-de-sac”, playing a passive role in human/biological evolution.[4][5] There is considerable debate about whether Cro-Magnon people accelerated the demise of the Neanderthals, and many hypotheses to that extent are currently available.