Throughout this study, we have explored the iconography and writing that the precolonial peoples of western Oaxaca, Mexico, mainly the Mixteca region, used between 400 years before Christ (BC) and... Show moreThroughout this study, we have explored the iconography and writing that the precolonial peoples of western Oaxaca, Mexico, mainly the Mixteca region, used between 400 years before Christ (BC) and 900 years after Christ (AD), that is, from the Middle Preclassic period (400 BC) to the end of the Classic period (900 AD), which corresponds to the first phase of urbanism in the Oaxaca region. Identifying the themes and narratives that are preserved in different archaeological monuments and deciphering their meaning through iconographic, epigraphic analysis, and documentation of their context, this study focuses on recognizing and interpreting the materialized memory of communities through archaeological objects. The purpose is to show how it is possible to reconstruct part of the ancient history of the communities in time, the life of its protagonists, the religious thought of the community, as well as the social and political environment in which they were formed. Show less
This work is focussed on the precolonial Mesoamerican codices. Less than twenty of these rare books still exist today. The main questions are how were these objects made, and for what were... Show more This work is focussed on the precolonial Mesoamerican codices. Less than twenty of these rare books still exist today. The main questions are how were these objects made, and for what were they used. The author also looked at why so few of these books remain today and how they have been reproduced in more recent times. One special aspect of this research was the investigation of one specific book, the codex Añute, held at the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford. This book is a known palimpsest. By understanding its physical composition, new techniques could be developed to investigate this palimpsest and recover new pictographic texts from underneath the surfaces. Show less
