Time, Ecology And The Graphics Of The Borgia Group Of Codices

Abstract

This dissertation examines a selection of beautifully illustrated almanacs found in the Borgia Group of Codices: a set of sacred manuscripts drafted in Central Mexico by Indigenous scribes during the 14th-15th centuries ce (the Late Postclassic Period). A growing body of research demonstrates that these calendrical tools were used, in part, to record, organize, and tabulate data about seasonal ecology and the environment, here understood as vitally dynamic and intrinsically sacred. The information was archived through a sophisticated mode of visual communication, unique to Central Mexico, that combines glyphic, notational and pictographic signs with illustration. Contemporary studies have partially reconstructed this visual language using bilingual documents prepared by Indigenous scribes during 16th century, which incorporate both alphabetic Spanish and native glyphic entries. Drawing from these lines of research, I discuss Borgia Group almanacs whose graphical contents address agriculture, weather, and astronomy in terms of sacred calendrical cycles. I examine both the internal logic of their graphical language, and the external environment they describe, combing both inquiries with ethnohistoric data to construct a hypothesis for the social lives of the almanacs in their native contexts. I propose that priestly specialists compiled their ecological and astronomical observations into graphical archives that were referenced for managing vital civic concerns, such as agriculture or periodic environmental crises (e.g. drought or pestilence). Notable similarities among almanacs from different regions suggest that communities were sharing such data across wide geographies. The function of the ancient almanacs parallels governmental bulletins published in 18th century Guatemala that were compiled to manage potential locust outbreaks, researched by Martha Few (2013). This discussion contextualizes the sacred almanacs within Mexico’s Indigenous scientific scholarship as expressed through art, architecture, and landscape management. As sacred dossiers for ecological data, the almanacs in the Borgia Group comprise an archive that explains how their ancient authors experienced their environments. They thus enhance contemporary understandings of climate patterns, and present a sample of the rich, polyvocal scholarship that flourished in ancient Mesoamerica. This study is submitted in honor of the Indigenous authors of that archive, as well as their contemporary descendants.