The Madrid Codex: New Approaches To Understanding An Ancient Maya Manuscript (Mesoamerican Worlds Series)

470 Pages·2004·88.32 MB·English

by  Gabrielle Vail

EDITED BY
Gabrielle Vail
AND
Anthony Aveni
TThhee
New
Approaches
to
MMaaddrriidd
Understanding
an
Ancient
CCooddeexx
Maya
Manuscript
ILLUSTRATIONS
vi
The Madrid Codex
MESOAMERICAN WORLDS
FROM THE OLMECS TO THE DANZANTES
Ancient Tollan: Tula and the Toltec Heartland,
Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Robert H. Cobean, and Dan M. Healan
Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan,
Philip P. Arnold
Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures, Revised Edition,
Anthony Aveni
In the Realm of Nachan Kan: Postclassic Maya Archaeology at
Laguna de On, Belize, Marilyn A. Masson
Life and Death in the Templo Mayor, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an
Ancient Maya Manuscript, Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni, editors
Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: Teotihuacan to the Aztecs,
Davíd Carrasco, Lindsay Jones, and Scott Sessions
Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca, “Lord of the
Smoking Mirror,” Guilhem Olivier
Representing Aztec Ritual: Performance, Text, and Image in the Work of
Sahagún, Eloise Quiñones Keber, editor
Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: Places of Mist, Alfredo López Austin
Thunder Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: The Culture of Marginality Among the
Teeneks of Tantoyuca, Anath Ariel de Vidas
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs, H. B. Nicholson
The World Below: Body and Cosmos in Otomí Indian Ritual, Jacques Galinier
SERIES EDITORS
Davíd Carrasco
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
EDITORIAL BOARD
Michio Araki
Alfredo López Austin
Anthony Aveni
Elizabeth Boone
Doris Heyden
The Madrid Codex
New Approaches to Understanding
an Ancient Maya Manuscript
Edited by Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni
U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S O F C O L O R A D O
© 2004 by Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni
Published by the University Press of Colorado
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All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part,
by Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College,
Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern
Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Madrid Codex : new approaches to understanding an ancient Maya manuscript /
edited by Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni.
p. cm. — (Mesoamerican worlds)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87081-786-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Codex Tro-Cortesianus. 2. Codex Borgianus. 3. Codex Dresdensis Maya. 4. Manu-
scripts, Maya—History. 5. Maya calendar. 6. Mayas—Agriculture. 7. Paper, Handmade
Analysis. I. Vail, Gabrielle. II. Aveni, Anthony F. III. Series.
F1219.56.C628M33 2004
972.81’016—dc22
2004013637
Design by Daniel Pratt
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CO-WINNER OF THE 2004 COLORADO ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES PUBLICATION PRIZE
The CEH Publication Prize annually supports publication of outstanding nonfic-
tion works that have strong humanities content and that make an area of humani-
ties research more available to the Colorado public. The CEH Publication Prize
funds are shared by the University Press of Colorado and the authors of the works
being recognized. The Colorado Endowment for the Humanities is a statewide, nonprofit
organization dedicated to improving the quality of humanities education for all Coloradans.
Additional support for this publication was generously provided by the Eugene M. Kayden
Fund at the University of Colorado.
This volume, and the conference leading up to it, are dedicated to the memory
of Munro Edmonson (1924–2002), whose capacity for daring to both give and
receive new ideas is visibly manifested in the efforts of the contributors, both
his former students and his colleagues.
ILLUSTRATIONS
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Foreword by Davíd Carrasco and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma xvii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxiii
List of Contributors xxv
List of Abbreviations xxvii
1 Research Methodologies and New Approaches to Interpreting
the Madrid Codex—Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni 1
PART I PROVENIENCE AND DATING OF THE MADRID CODEX
2 The Paper Patch on Page 56 of the Madrid Codex—Harvey M.
Bricker 33
vii
ICLOLUNSTTERNATTSIONS
3 Papal Bulls, Extirpators, and the Madrid Codex: The Content
and Probable Provenience of the M. 56 Patch—John F. Chuchiak 57
4 Tayasal Origin of the Madrid Codex: Further Consideration of
the Theory—Merideth Paxton 89
PART II CALENDRICAL MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR EXAMINING THE MADRID
ALMANACS
5 Maya Calendars and Dates: Interpreting the Calendrical
Structure of Maya Almanacs—Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni 131
6 Intervallic Structure and Cognate Almanacs in the Madrid and
Dresden Codices—Anthony Aveni 147
7 Haab Dates in the Madrid Codex—Gabrielle Vail and Victoria R.
Bricker 171
8 A Reinterpretation of Tzolk’in Almanacs in the Madrid Codex
—Gabrielle Vail 215
PART III CONNECTIONS AMONG THE MADRID AND BORGIA GROUP CODICES
9 In Extenso Almanacs in the Madrid Codex—Bryan R. Just 255
10 The Inauguration of Planting in the Borgia and Madrid Codices
—Christine Hernández and Victoria R. Bricker 277
11 “Yearbearer Pages” and Their Connection to Planting Almanacs
in the Borgia Codex—Christine Hernández 321
PART IV OVERVIEW: THE MADRID CODEX IN THE CONTEXT OF MESOAMERICAN
TRADITIONS
12 Screenfold Manuscripts of Highland Mexico and Their Possible
Influence on Codex Madrid: A Summary—John M.D. Pohl 367
Index 415
viii