Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Papers in this session attempt to refine our conception of the omnipresent Feathered Serpent, which frequently appears as image, symbol, person, and deity in Mesoamerican and North American visual culture and literature. Uniting the celestial and terrestrial realms by combining the body of a pit viper with the feathers of a bird and known as Quetzalcoatl in Nahuatl, K’uk’ulcan in Yucatec Maya, and Q’uq’umatz in K’iche’ Maya, this being embodies multiple themes from rain and wind to rulership and war. Despite the work of H.B. Nicholson and others, the Feathered Serpent remains elusive. In order to clarify the Feathered Serpent, papers will address whether the Feathered Serpent remains constant through time and space; the possibility of identifying which aspect(s) of the Feathered Serpent are referenced in specific visual, linguistic, and written contexts: and the Feathered Serpent’s association with fertility, rulership, religion, and trade.

Other Keywords
Iconography and epigraphy • Iconography and Art • Highland Mesoamerica: Postclassic • Ethnohistory/History • Ritual and Symbolism • Maya: Postclassic • Cultural Transmission • Formative • Ancestral Pueblo • Maya: Classic

Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) • United Mexican States (Country) • Belize (Country) • Republic of El Salvador (Country) • Republic of Guatemala (Country) • Mesoamerica • Yucatan (State / Territory) • Corozal (State / Territory) • Quintana Roo (State / Territory) • Campeche (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-11 of 11)

  • Documents (11)
Documents
  • Feathered Serpents at Uxmal: Creation, Cosmos, Cosmopolitanism, and Kingship (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeff Kowalski.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. At Uxmal, Yucatán, monumental plumed snakes appear in the sculptural program of the Main Ballcourt and Nunnery Quadrangle. These feathered serpents express complex concepts connected to their pan-Mesoamerican role as a demiurge associated with dawning light, life force, and cosmic order...

  • Feathered Serpents of the Oaxacan Isthmus and Pacific Coast, Mexico: Hybridity, Ritualized Environments, and Territorial-Narratives (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Darren Longman. John Pohl.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Feathered Serpent iconography among Mixtec, Zapotec, Chontal, and Huave ethnic groups of Oaxaca, Mexico indicates that its sociopolitical and religious roles are concomitant with an investment in mythological landscapes and spiritually active ritual environments. Our approach to hybrid serpents...

  • Feathery Serpents of the Greater Nicoya Region (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Geoffrey McCafferty.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Polychrome pottery from the Greater Nicoya region of Central America prominently features ‘feathery serpents’ that have been associated with the Mixteca-Puebla tradition of greater Mesoamerica. A closer look at the variety of ‘feathery serpents’ has discriminated between more Borgia-like images...

  • From Chichen Itza to Tulum: The Late Postclassic Maya Feathered Serpent of the Northern Maya Lowlands (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeremy Coltman. Karl Taube.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most representations of the feathered serpent at Chichen Itza depict a plumed rattlesnake, a being of wind and carrier of rain, with Central Mexican origins dating back to Early Classic Teotihuacan. In Classic Maya art, feathered serpents are not rattlesnakes and lack plumage aside from a...

  • In the Path of the Snake: Connecting Myth and Material Culture in the Late Prehistory of Champotón, Campeche (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jerald Ek.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The personage and deity of Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl plays a central role in indigenous historical accounts regarding the prehispanic city of Chakanputun (Champotón). However, extensive disturbances resulting from continuous occupation of Champotón from the Preclassic period into modern times has...

  • New Data and New Perspectives of the Feathered Serpent Symbolism and Polity at Teotihuacan (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Saburo Sugiyama.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Intensive excavations carried out by the Proyecto Templo de Quetzalcoatl more than 20 years ago suggested that the pyramid symbolized human sacrifice, warfare, and rulership in Teotihuacan. The lack of a royal tomb inside the building indicated that more than 200 warriors were sacrificed in...

  • The Other Flying Serpent (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only William Ringle.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. From at least the Epiclassic period onward, the Feathered Serpent was frequently accompanied by a Cloud Serpent. In the mythology of the Nahuas he was known as Mixcoatl or Camaxtli in his anthropomorphic form, and was either the father or half-brother of Quetzalcoatl. A patron of the hunt, he...

  • Postclassic Huastec Art and the Cult of the Feathered Serpent (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kim Richter.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Feathered Serpent was one of the principal Mesoamerican deities before the Spanish Conquest. During the Epiclassic and Postclassic periods, the cult dedicated to this ancient deity, associated with wind, fertility, and rulership, became firmly established within an international elite...

  • Quetzalcoatl in Late Aztec Sculptures (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emily Umberger.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent) is often characterized as a wind god, but in Aztec sculptures, the traits of the wind god Ehecatl, principally the buccal mouth mask, are not found mixed with feathered serpent imagery. The mix is found in pictorial manuscripts, and alluded to in written...

  • Reconsidering the Feathered Serpent in Mesoamerica’s Formative Period (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jillian Mollenhauer.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Studies of feathered serpent imagery during Mesoamerica's Formative Period range widely in their conclusions, with little agreement about the parameters of inquiry, associated iconographic conventions, or even what constitutes a "feathered" serpent. Images of serpentine creatures have been...

  • Which Serpent Are We Talking About? (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Curtis Schaafsma. Polly Schaafsma.

    This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In many parts of the world including the Americas, snakes are incorporated into symbolic and metaphorical constructs in order to better describe and understand natural and social components of various cosmologies. As a result, their depictions are often enhanced with attributes that depart from...