Flayer and Flayed Figures in Central Veracruz, Mexico: Is It Xipe?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 2" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The god Xipe Totec has been mostly analyzed from Postclassic evidence (Toltec and Aztec). He is recognized by the representations of a person wearing the skin of a flayed victim or the victim himself. While both types of figures appear in several regions of Mesoamerica, their contexts vary. In this paper I will review Classic and Postclassic period figures from Central Veracruz. I will show that the skin-wearing figure is quite old and common, and that flaying marks will appear on both on male and female skeletons having a particular head deformation, suggesting a ritual practice that is not identical to what we know from historical sources. On the other hand, the flayed victim figure is scarce, apparently Early Postclassic, and probably introduced, together with other deity representations, from the central Mexican Highlands. On the other hand, Late Postclassic Aztec depictions of Xipe closely match the Central Veracruz skin-wearer imagery (more than the Zapotec and Teotihuacan ones), suggesting a rejection of the Toltec model and a recuperation of an earlier representation, emphasizing the flayer and not the flayed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 2

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32605