“Serpent Skin” and “Diamond Grid” Motifs on Epiclassic and Postclassic Figurines Skirts

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Precolumbian Dotted-Diamond-Grid Pattern: References and Techniques" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In Mesoamerica, the wearing of wide belts, skirts, and huipils is characteristic of feminine representations. From the Epiclassic period onward, but more frequently in the Early Postclassic period in Central and Western Mexico, the skirts of certain feminine figurines start to wear what has been called, among many other names, the "serpent skin" motif, sometimes in association with the *xicalcoliuhqui (stepped-fret, or *greca in Spanish). Scholarly consensus proposes that the “serpent skin” motif, composed of diamond patterns, would have originated in Teotihuacan before spreading with Early Postclassic Mixteca-Puebla decorated ceramics, and becoming very common in Aztec period ceramics, figurines, and pictorial codices. Several authors assert that the “serpent skin” motif is associated with femininity, fertility rituals, and power. In the light of several Epiclassic and Early Postclassic figurines examples from Xochitécatl (Tlaxcala), Tula (Hidalgo), and El Palacio (Michoacán), and in resonance with what we know of these motifs in the Late Postclassic period, I will try to discern their possible variants and to propose a set of meanings and what they tell us about these feminine representations, their roles, and status in a diachronic perspective.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Precolumbian Dotted-Diamond-Grid Pattern: References and Techniques

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32121