New Insights into Teotihuacan’s Year Sign Headdress and Its Olmec Origins

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study will explore the origin and meaning of the Teotihuacan’s year sign headdress and its connection to the Storm God (Tlaloc). Several scholars have noted the first appearance of the year sign worn by the Storm God starting from the Early Classic period at Teotihuacan. Evidence suggests a fair amount of interaction between Teotihuacan and other parts of Mesoamerica, which can be noted especially with the presence of the Teotihuacan year sign found at several different locations. The presence of the Teotihuacan year sign appears at several Maya sites, within the Mixtec region, and has also been noted in the Borgia codex. The year sign has its roots in Teotihuacan and is often worn as a headdress by Tlaloc which notes its agricultural significance with maize. I argue that the origin of the Teotihuacan year sign headdress can be traced back to the Olmec of the Formative Period. This is clearly seen through a study of the iconography of the Teotihuacan Storm God vessels from the Preclassic period found at Teotihuacan. I argue that the year sign headdress worn by the Storm God is a Teotihuacan impersonation of the Olmec maize deity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24554