The Grid Patterns in the Vestments and Headdresses of Female Statuary from the Classic Period Cultures of Central Veracruz

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.

Various researches report that the diamond, rhomboid, and square-gridded patterns and their stepped variants designate the surface of the earth as the fecund female progenitor, manifested in flowers, corn cobs, and sweet, nurturing waters. These patterns also designate the zoomorphic aspects of the shell or skin of the fertile earth. In the Maya codices, the mother goddesses weave gridded-patterned fabrics on their autochthonous looms, creating a primordial texture of the warp and weft crossing of the threads. From these perspectives, we shall explore the meanings of the gridded patterns in the headdresses and vestments of female statuary from Late Classic central Veracruz archaeological sources. As we identify the various gridded patterns with the depicted objects—for instance, the body of a *mazorca de maíz and its kernels, and the pictogram that consists in a pars pro toto of this same corn cob—we shall show that these patterns are intended to be signs in a graphic system implemented in textiles, which correspond to Mesoamerican forms and conventions. The body languages of the statues, their hairdos, headdresses, and vestments will comprise datasets that will allow us to highlight the ceremonial functions associated with the female gender in Classic Veracruz.

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): 30949