[Aztlan] The Word "Quetzal"

[Archaeology Institute]

nhopkins at mailer.fsu.edu on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 1:34 PM -0800 wrote:
>The Nahuas certainly knew about quetzales as a trade item, cf. 
>Moctezuma´s headdress in the National museum.The incoming Spanish 
>picked up their vocabulary for animals and plants from the Nahuas, 
>whence we have them (tomato, etc), and the Spanish took Nahua 
>mercenariessouth with them and adopted Nahuatl names for places, often 
>translations of local names in other languages.  There are native names 
>for quetzal (variants of k´uk´, as in Kukululcan).  Nick Hopkins  

Dear Nick and Company,

	In an earlier post to Aztlan-L, I read a rather convincing treatment that made reference to the so-called "headdress" as a cloak or mantle of feathers.  It should be noted that the "headdress" in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia is in
fact a replica of the "headdress" in the Museum Fur Volkerkunde in Vienna, Austria...which I had the opportunity to examine up close and personal back in 1976 in the city of Vienna.  At that time I was left perplexed at the way in which such a large
piece would have been bound up as a headdress...without any visible armature...and with crescent grommets about the area that would have constituted the head band or strap...or for that matter, neck strap.  I do believe that the artifact dubbed
"Moctezuma's headdress" in much of the literature is in fact a feathered cloak that would have given the bearer the body of the Quetzal....and thereby, that of the Feathered Serpent!  Have a great holiday recess...

Best Regards,

Ruben G. Mendoza, Ph.D., Director
Institute for Archaeological Science, Technology and Visualization
Social and Behavioral Sciences
California State University Monterey Bay
100 Campus Center
Seaside, California 93955-8001

Email: archaeology.csumb at gmail.edu
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