Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes

1. Notes on the Oldest Sculpture of El Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan

1 Notes on the Oldest Sculpture of El Templo Mayor ofTenochtitian Eduardo Matos Moctezuma The oldest stage of the Ternplo Mayot that we have discovered so far is the one we call Stage II (see Figure 1.1). According to our tentative chronology, this stage corresponds approximately to the year A.D. 1390, the period before the Mexicas liberated themselves from the rule of Azcapotzalco, under whom they were subjugated. In trying to find elements that would permit us more positively to elucidate our chronology - which we still consider subject to revision - it was proposed that we dig a trench in front of each one of the srairways that lead to the upper part of the Stage II area of the temple, where the adoratorios dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli are located. These trenches were two meters wide and were dug in the center ofeach staitway. The stones that formed the stairs were dismantled, numbered, and photographed, and were to be replaced once the excavation was finished. I will not cover here the details of the work done during the months of January through April 1989, but rather will focus on a significant discovery that occurred when the trench on the Tlaloc side was dug. On January 20, 1989, the archaeologist Teresa Gracia Franco unearthed a stone head facing west, standing on the south end of a stone slab in the filling of tezontle rock and mud that forms the nucleus of Stage II, just above the phreatic level. The head was attached to its base with stucco. What immediately attracted our attention were the head's unusual features: The nose was contorted toward the left and the mouth had a Funds for this work were provided by the Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project of the University of Colorado. Boulder, directed by Dav!d Carrasco. This chapter was translated with the assistance ofJoseph Richey and Anne Becker. 4 Eduardo Matos Moctezuma Figure 1.1. An Early Stage of E1 Templo Mayor (Stage II, C. A.D. 1390). This is the northern side of the temple, ruled by Tlaloc. marked grimace toward the right (see Figure 1.2). Immediately, it reminded us of some stone and ceramic faces that we had studied in 1970 and that were identified as possible representations of facial paralysis (see Matos 1970), an illness that occurs for various reasons, among them a traumatism or a severe chill. It affects the facial nerves and muscles, paralyzing half of the face. When the affected individual tries to cat, talk, or laugh, there is a very charactcristic expression on one-halfof the face. Ifthe excavated head was made to represcnt a paralysis, it is important to describe, however briefly, some ofthe charactcristics of illnesses and their relation to certain gods of the Nahua pantheon. One of the studies that has shed bright light on the relations among the human body, illness, society, myths, cosmovision, and certain beliefs ofthe Nahuas, is without a doubt Alfredo Lopez Austin's, Cuerpo HUrrulno e Jdeowgfa. In Chapter 8, he writes of a debate with George Foster concerning whether the concepts of "hot" and "cold" forces in medical treatment wcre pre-Columbian or European. Lopez Austin shows that the Mesoamerican world conceived ofthe dichotomy of"hot" and "cold" and made it part ofits cosmovision prior to European contact. Foster believes Th~ Old~st Sculptur~ o/E/ Tmzp/o Mayor Figure 1.2. Face with Possible Facial Paralysis 5 that the hot/cold dichotomy is a derivative of the European world. I am inclined toward the position of L6pez Austin because his arguments are solidly based in Mesoamerican evidence. It is in the discussion about the hot/cold dichotomy that archaeological representations ofsicknesses and the contexts in which they are found can be of help. particularly in the case of the figure we are examining. Let us look at the context in which it was found. The head, because ofits characteristics, must have belonged to a chac-mool. The excavations ofthe Proyecto Templo Mayor, have taught us the significance ofthe place that these sculptures occupied. The chac-mool found in front of the adoratorios to the god Tlaloc in Stage II (see Figure 1.3) reveals an intimate relationship between this sculpted figure and the cult ofwater. The ritual and symbolic relationship between Tlaloc and chac-mool is obvious, and ifthere are any doubts, we also have the Mexia chac-mool found in...