A Fettered Serpent? Quetzalcoatl and Classic Veracruz

Summary

Great is the conflation of Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl and Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: a mythical player in the world creation of Mesoamerican groups vs. a semi-historical personage who presaged the arrival of Hernán Cortés. Veracruz, a region implicated via the activities of both avatars, is particularly enmeshed in this duality.

The Postclassic narrative whereby Quetzalcoatl journeyed to the Gulf lowlands appears to be foreshadowed in the desacralization of Teotihuacan’s Feathered Serpent Pyramid at the end of the third century AD. This ritual destruction has been linked to a political realignment at Teotihuacan, instigating the departure of refugee groups who fled the Basin of Mexico.

The founding of Classic Period Matacapan, in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, may have been linked to this exodus. This paper considers the regional impact of this relocation via the appearance of Quetzalcoatl imagery along the Veracruz lowlands, both through overt representations as well as potential proxies (e.g., Reptile Eye glyph, Venus symbolism, the ehecacozcatl "wind jewel"). Variations in how Feathered Serpent imagery is manifest could well reflect autochthonous lowland ideals versus notions related to an intrusive highland cosmovision. Thus, not all Quetzalcoatl imagery is equal, nor is it equally unfettered.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21315