The Butterfly-Solar Complex in West Mexico: Information Transmittal and Design Structure

Summary

During the Classic period, butterfly motifs encountered throughout Mesoamerica are indicative of diverse kinds of interaction with the city of Teotihuacan. Highly standardized stuccoed and painted ceramics from the lacustrine region of Michoacán, West Mexico, were used as the principal medium to project a major iconographic theme: the Butterfly-Solar Complex, which was very likely related to a Teotihuacan solar militaristic ideology. Symbolic meanings were encoded in symmetrical panels which adhered to the norm of quadripartition and the use of a specific color code with a definite structural value. It is suggested that design structure prevailed in the process of information transmittal whereas design elements were of lesser importance for the reproduction of these vessels.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Butterflies Take Wing: Ritual and Symbolism in Precolumbian Mesoamerica   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15289