Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-q6k6v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T23:41:27.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Architectural Sculpture in Ritual Space at Teotihuacan, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Patricia Joan Sarro
Patricia Joan Sarro
Affiliation:
Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the role played by architectural sculpture in creating directional focus in the buildings and plazas of Teotihuacan, Mexico. The sculptural programs of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and the Palace of the Sacred Birds, one early in the city's building history, and the other late, are compared. Architectural form and decoration are shown to work together to engage the viewer and to manipulate the viewer's relationship to sacred and elite space.

Type
Special Section: Imagery and Notation at Teotihuacan
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , Fall 1991 , pp. 249 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acosta, Jorge 1964 El palacio del quetzalpapalotl. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Aveni, Anthony F. 1980 Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Rubén, Cabrera Castro, and Sugiyama, Saburo 1982 El exploratión y restoratión del Templo Viejo de Quetzalcoatl. In Memoria del proyecto arqueológico Teotihuacan, vol.I, pp. 163–183. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Colección Científica, no. 132. Mexico.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, and Bernal, Ignacio 1952 Urnas de Oaxaca. Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1981 Religion and the Rise of Mesoamerican States. In The Transition to Statehood in the New World, edited by Jones, Grant D. and Kautz, Robert R., pp. 157–171. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Coggins, Clemency 1983 The Temple of the Seven Dolls, Stucco Decoration and Architectural Assemblage of 1-sub, Dzibilichaltun. Middle American Research Institute, pub. 49. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George 1983 Rulership and the Ciudadela: Political Inferences from Teotihuacan Architecture. In Civilization in the Ancient Americas: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Levanthal, Richard M. and Kolata, Alan L., pp. 313–343. The University of New Mexico and Peabody Museum Press, Albuquerque, NM and Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Iñaki, Díaz Balerdi 1985 Teotihuacan: Ciudad horizontal. Cuadernos de arquitectura mesoamericana 4: 35–46.Google Scholar
Dow, James W. 1967 Astronomical Orientations at Teotihuacan: a Case Study in Astroarchaeology. American Antiquity 32: 326–334.Google Scholar
Easby, Elizabeth Kennedy, and Scott, John F. 1970 Before Cortéz: Sculpture of Middle America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Angel, García Cook 1984 Dos elementos arquitectónicas “tempranos” en Tlalanaca, Puebla. Cuadernos de Arquitectura Mesoamericana 2: 29–32.Google Scholar
Heyden, Doris 1981 Caves, Gods and Myths: World View and Planning in Teotihuacan. In Mesoamerican Sites and World Views, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P., pp. 1–40. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia Ford 1976 Frontality in Post-Classic Mexican Two-Dimensional Art. Garland Publishing, New York.Google Scholar
Kubler, George 1973 Iconographie Aspects of Architectural Profiles at Teotihuacan and in Mesoamerica. In The Iconography of Middle American Sculpture, pp. 24–39. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Kubler, George 1984 Art and Architecture of Ancient America, 3d ed.Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex.Google Scholar
Kubler, George 1985 Polygenesis and Diffusion: Courtyards in Mesoamerican Architecture. In Studies in Ancient American and European Art: The Collected Essays of George Kubler, edited by Reese, Thomas, pp. 251–255. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Margain, Carlos 1971 Pre-Columbian Architecture of Central America. In Archaelogy of Northern Mexico, edited by Ekholm, Gordon and Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 92–134. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio 1964 Arquitectura prehispánica. Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur 1973 The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1973 The Teotihuacan Map: Urbanization at Teotihuacan, Mexico, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1981 Teotihuacan: City, State, and Civilization. In Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 1, edited by Bricker, V.R. and Sabloff, J.A., pp. 198–243. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1988 The Last Years of Teotihuacan. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, edited by Cowgill, George and Yoffee, Norman, pp. 102–164. University of New Mexico Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1974 The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archeology, no. 15. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988a Abstraction in Art: The Second State of Teotihuacan. Paper presented at the Dumbarton Oaks conference on Teotihuacan, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pasztory, Esther 1988b A Reinterpretation of Teotihuacan and Its Mural Painting Tradition. In Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees, edited by Berrin, Kathleen, pp. 45–77. University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Sarro, Patricia Joan 1988 The Monumental Stone Sculpture of Teotihuacan, Mexico: Frontality and Focus in Urban Spaces. Unpublished master's thesis, Columbia University, New York.Google Scholar
Schapiro, Meyer 1973 Words and Pictures. Approaches to Semiotics, no. 11, edited by Sebeok, T.A.. Mouton, The Hague.Google Scholar
Sharp, Rosemary 1978 Architecture as Interelite Communication in Preconquest Oax-aca, Veracruz, and Yucatan. In Middle Classic Mesoamerica, edited by Pasztory, Esther, pp. 158–171. Columbia University, New York.Google Scholar
Solís, Olguín, Dumaine, Felipe A., and Soto, M. Meneses 1982 Catálogo de escultura monumental de Teotihuacan: approximación metodológica. In Teotihuacan, 80–81, primeros resultados, edited by Castro, Rubén Cabrera, pp. 137–148. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Sugiyama, Saburo 1989 Burials Dedicated to the Old Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 54: 1, 85–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1986 The Teotihuacan Cave of Origin. RES 12: 51–82.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1988 The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred War at Teotihuacan. Unpublished manuscript on file, University of California, Riverside.Google Scholar
Winning, Hasso von 1987 La iconografía de Teotihuacan, los dioses y los signas (2 vols.). Universided Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar