An investigation into possible Veracruz origins for the Laud and Fejérváry-Mayer codices

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Celebrating Alice: Recognizing the Many Contributions of Alice Beck Kehoe" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In October 1519, the Santa María de la Concepción arrived in the southern Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda from Veracruz carrying a letter to the crown from Hernán Cortés, along with an inestimable treasure of gold, silver, and featherwork. The cargo included a retinue of Totonac elites and indigenous interpreters as well as “two books which the Indians have.” Scholars have speculated about the origins of these manuscripts, attributing them to Maya or Mexica scribes. Gordon Brotherston, H.B. Nicholson, and Patricia Anawalt are among those who propose that Veracruz artists painted the Codex Laud and Fejérváry-Mayer, two pictorial screenfold books that form part of the Borgia Group. In their non-invasive pigment analyses, Italian researchers from MoLab reveal that the color composition in these two books is distinct from other pre-conquest Mexican codices. In this presentation I examine the Laud and Fejérváry-Mayer codices in light of material properties, ethnohistory, and comparable Gulf Coast iconography, epigraphy, calendrics, and symbolism to strengthen the proposition that the books sent from Veracruz are ancient Veracruz books, and in all probability the Codex Laud and Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Celebrating Alice: Recognizing the Many Contributions of Alice Beck Kehoe   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51242