Mixtec - American Archaeology

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Mixtec

The Most Ancient Writing

Under the belief that the most ancient writing was that documented in what has come to be known as the La Mojarra script. This unique writing is found only on a handful of objects, most importantly the La Mojarra Stela. Unfortunately, I've been completely wrong about this. The oldest Mesoamerican writing is thought to be that of the Zapotecs in Oaxaca.

Maya Hieroglyphic Writing preserves a vast body of material, and is the only one thought to represent a fully enunciated phonetic script. Found on wall carvings, lintels, stela, portable carved objects, thousands of ceramic vessels, and four important manuscripts (some say three), it is the most widely studied. (I understand that analyzing and deciphering the Dresden Codex was one of Richard Feynman's most enjoyable pastimes.)

The Books of Chilam Balam and the Ritual of the Bacabs (old manuscripts written in the Yucatec Mayan language using european characters) have come to the forefront in recent research. There are probably thirty or so Mayan language groups, each with their own dialects. The carved inscriptions are thought to be Chol or some variant proto-mayan language, while the codices are thought to represent spoken Yucatec mayan.

Mixtec Codices & Lienzos

There are fewer than twenty codices that are written in a purely native style on bark paper or animal skin. The greatest number of these are from Oaxaca and are of the Mixtec writing system (pronounced "Mish tek"). They primarily convey genealogical, ritual or mytho-historic information, but they have allowed scholars to reconstruct political history going back to the 11th Century or earlier.

There are also large sheets known as Lienzos or Mapas that continue the picture writing tradition that have been painted in the Mixteca area through this century.Alfonso Caso firmly established the geneological nature and a preliminary chronology for these documents. A revised chronology introduced by Emily Rabin almost two decades ago is finally to be published by her through Vanderbilt University in the near future.

The Codex Nuttall is available inexpensively from Dover Books in a facsimile of Zelia Nuttall's original publication earlier this century. In the Realm of Eight Deer conveys the recent research of Bruce Byland and John Pohl and is available from the University of Oklahoma Press.

Borgia Codex Group

The painted manuscripts of the enigmatic Borgia Codex Group probably are of Mixtec origin, but it is clear that they contain information relating to the Mexica (pronounced "Mesh ee ka") and their ritual cult of Huitzilipochtli (pronounced... well, you're on your own), so they may be of Mexica origin.

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