[Aztlan] ON THE SUBJECT OF ANCIENT PACIFIC COAST TRADE
Justin Kerr
mayavase at verizon.net
Wed Mar 19 15:00:21 CDT 2008
Just wanted to refresh this story about Mexican sailors spending 9 months at
sea. If modern Mexican sailors can survive this kind of an ordeal, one would
assume that ancient sailors could also manage a voyage.
This story has been researched and reprinted in an edition of New Yorker
Magazine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4798243.stm
Three Mexican fishermen who say they spent about nine months drifting across
the Pacific Ocean have been rescued.
The three men said they survived on rain water, sea birds and fish after the
engine on their eight-metre (25ft) boat broke down.
They were eventually picked up by a Taiwanese tuna trawler close to the
Marshall Islands on 9 August.
A trip to catch shark off the Mexican Pacific coast turned into a 5,000-mile
(8,000km) ordeal, they said.
-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of michael ruggeri
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 2:41 PM
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: [Aztlan] ON THE SUBJECT OF ANCIENT PACIFIC COAST TRADE
Listeros,
On the subject of Ancient Pacific coast trade between the Andean
cultures and Mexico, Lloyd Anderson posted notes on the Moche-Maya
symposium awhile ago. Here is what he posted;
Parallels between Moche and Maya or other Mesoamerican iconographies
This is my attempt [Lloyd Anderson] to pull together my personal
view of
some results of the Moche-Maya symposium, and to distinguish two
classes of
parallels.
I am more generous than many would be in including parallels in
part B
here, for two reasons. The first is that it encourages more research
on the
possible origins of the parallel. The second is that our research is
almost
always biased towards isolating cultures because of the loss of
information
from earliest stages (as iconography or writing on perishable
materials, or
simply not dug up yet).
So we should keep open the possibilities of historical
connections unless
there is apparent disproof (showing for example that older forms look
less
alike, therefore proto-inheritance from a common source is less likely).
Personally, I suspect that a better candidate for Mesoamerican
connections
with Moche is Teotihuacan rather than the Maya. Maya-Moche parallel
features
would then be a consequence of an older shared cosmology, and would
preserve
some cultural elements which we accidentally do not have from
Teotihuacan.
Part A. Parallels which are most likely independently developed, not
signs of
historical connection whether in deep prehistory or borrowing.
(If a given choice is made the same way around the world in a
majority of
cultures of the same general type, then we would attribute to chance any
similarities between any two such cultures. We would consider these
to be
independent developments.)
Part B. Parallels which might reflect either a deep connection in
prehistory,
as for cosmological concepts or early technologies, or else a later
transmission through trade etc. "Might" here means that the
parallels concern
items which seem to me not completely obvious, at a minimum, that
they are not
the choices made in a majority of cultures of the same general type
around the
world (estimated, whether or not we actually have a survey of all such
cultures).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Part A. Chance inedependent parallel developments
1. The three most elaborated narrative pottery traditions are
Greek, Mayan, and Moche. Independent developments.
2. Fineline drawings rather than filled areas on pottery.
Similar techniques on the NW Coast, Mimbres, etc?
(Filled areas occur in Paracas, Nazca, Huari, Tiahuanaco,
Inca.)
Independent developments.
3. Developments towards elaborate filling of "negative spaces"
between the figures. Occurs in the latest level of Moche
more than in earlier Moche; also in NW Coast,
Cocle (Pacific coast of Panama), Izapa? and some Maya.
Independent developments. "Zoned" pottery links Maya with
Greater Nicoya, not with Moche.
4. Dominance over men and over animals is a prominent theme among
societies at the level of chieftanships (Donnan notes this).
So analogies between captive-taking and deer-hunting can
easily arise independently. (Certain details might
nevertheless show closer historical connections.)
5. Nudity as an iconographic tradition to signal vulnerability -
This is more marked among the Moche, but the famous Mayan
pot with the rabbit holding the headdress and clothes of God L
could reflect a similar tradition. Is it common world-wide?
6. Features typical of any pictorial writing system not too far from
becoming writing. These are shared among Moche and Mixtec and
Aztec, can have developed independently. (Certain details
might
nevertheless show closer historical connections.)
7. Iconographic element for "rain":
Pueblo Southwest of USA (stacked mounds); Chalcatzingo in
Mesoamerica
(layered clouds); Proto-form of Chinese, Sumerian hieroglyphs.
Similarity is only that shared with the original seen
object, not
between the artistic representations of the different cultures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Part B. Parallels which might reflect either a deep connection in
prehistory,
or else a later transmission through trade etc.
1. Double-headed serpent sky-band
Separating for example the upper and lower registers on the
most
famous Moche "Presentation Scene". Very common in Maya iconography,
through
codices. Also occurs in Greater Nicoya pottery.
2. Double headed serpent belts on Moche figures (K314-2-right,
K316a) compared
with the double-headed ceremonial bar held by Maya rulers.
These two items (1,2) may reflect a very ancient cosmology
common to much
of Mesoamerica and South America.
3. Heads tilted back as indication of being vanquished or sacrificed.
Moche pots a few; Mayan codices
4. Specific display of genitals of both humans and deer as indication
of being vanquished or sacrificed. Moche common;
Maya on deer, or famous pot with rabbit holding cloths of
God L.
5. Bat-decapitator common among Moche, Maya some; also similar poses
in the
Pueblo Southwest of the USA and in the Southeast Ceremonial
Complex.
[Perhaps universal, bats pluck fruit as birds also do.]
6. Owl is chief of military on Moche pots.
Compare Mayan Tikal influenced by Teotihuacan: Owl Atlatl-
Shield,
military, and Chac Te title. Source is Owl as predator.
7. Shape of the headdress with a central half-circle and two side arcs.
Moche headdress of the owl or jaguar warrior general.
Teotihuacan similar headdress.
8. Do deer volunteer to be captured? Is this a universal of Shamanism,
so belongs in Part A above? Moche animated objects, is that a
cosmological parallel? Compare arctic hunters (Eskimo)
believing
that a whale or other animal *consents* to be captured.
9. Deer with their tongue hanging out. This could be a universal,
since
deer have a gap between teeth and this behavior is
characteristic.
Question: does iconography show it world-wide?
10. Vanquished warriors with heads tilted (up):
Moche pots AD137, AD138, K276; many Mayan codex examples
11. Sacrifice victims with a line through eye (symbolic of bleeding or
crying?) and bloodied mouth: Moche pot AD140. Contrast victors
with two halves of the faces painted different colors
(pots AD140; K118 captors; etc.). Compare Mayan codices.
12. *Asymmetrical* stairstep shape for mountain or high place,
Moche on cornices of temples and on paths climbing towards
them.
Teotihuacan also. (Sumeria, China use a *symmetrical* three-
peaked form with the central peak higher, so not universal.)
13. Shields possibly used to distinguish groups. Round and Square
shields.
Aztec clearly used to distinguish groups. Moche perhaps so
used.
This could be universal.
14. Nose-piercing and nose ornamentation.
Specific iconographic marking of "jewel", Moche and pre-Mayan
Mesoamerican. Mixtec similar. La Mojarra. Others.
(How common is this, or particular styles of it, in the world?)
15. Face-painting marked by IL sign on cheek, signifying 'woman'.
Maya general. Moche one flat plate with several women weaving,
contrasting on that plate with higher status figures.
In this Moche example, presence of IL marks are on cheeks only
of lower status women.
16. Sun-God (Benson's interpretation) or Warrior Priest (traditional
interpretation), at least the figure normally receiving the
cup in the Moche "presentation scene", is portrayed rayed,
with the rays often as snakes, and sometimes on a rayed throne.
Are there specific features of this which are not world-wide
but are particularly Moche and Mesoamerican? (Borgia codex
group,
Mixtec codex group)
17. Wing feathers have parallel edges (very long parallelograms)
Northwest Coast of the USA, Borgia codex group, Moche as
pictured
and as found in tomb headdresses. Southeast Ceremonial
Complex?
18. Compare spread of Eagle Man of Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Flint-Eagle of Mixtec codices, club-winged Moche figure, etc.
19. Small circle attached to figures by simple line
(or on the most famous "Presentation Scene" pot, sceptre attached
to the jaguar on throne in lower register)
This is a method used to attach names in the Mixtec codices.
Is it a labeling of name or office among the Moche pots?
Too universal to have much value in reconstructing connections.
20. Use of Atlatl (throwing-stick). Moche pot K150, Mesoamerica.
21. Use of interlocked fangs to indicate supernaturals or chiefs,
Compare K205 and preceding. Extensive in Maya and earlier.
Could be independent parallel developments.
22. Tlaloc - Huari turquoise eyes and tear channel ending in a bird.
Connect to Mesoamerican Tlaloc?
23. Argument that there may be a Moche figure corresponding to the Yawi
of the Mixtecs. (Counterargument, these Moche figures are
simply
Muscovy ducks, which are in fact very aggressive good
fighters.)
a) The decapitator holding knives identifies the shape as a
knife
b) The "backflaps" on soldiers are therefore (metal) knives
(later confirmed from excavated tombs)
c) A flying being with such a backflap knife and a similarly
shaped nose or beak, therefore ambiguously also a
*metal knife* as nose or beak. [If not the beak of a duck]
d) Compare the Mesoamerican Mixtec Yahui = Mayan Xux Ek' =
Venus,
with flint knives at nose and at rear.
e) The knife shape is not really a duck's beak shape (which is
more rounded corners, not pointed ones).
24. A Moche Warrior chief depicted standing over a serpent, therefore
similar to examples noted by Linda Schele at the Dumbarton Oaks
conference, from Uxmal Nunnery Quadrangle and from Teotihuacan.
Moche pot Kutscher #267, top center.
25. Patricia Anawalt has studied clothing from the Pacific Coast of
Guerrero,
Mexico, in relation to clothing of South America, and found strong
parallels.
26. Metallurgy is thought by many investigators to have been
introduced into
the Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica from Ecuador.
27. There is a cluster of relatively late sudden changes in the
Moche culture,
including such things as introduction of the Mexican hairless dog,
which seem
to strongly imply contact with Mesoamerica (around 800 A.D.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Here follow some possible links of Moche with their closer neighbors.
28. The Moon Animal (see Elizabeth Benson article "The Moche Moon")
Connects Moche with other nearby cultures
29. Paired correlations (work of Alana Cordy-Collins) Moche with
neighbors
Female - Silver - Moon - Spondylus (spiny oyster) - Blood
Sacrifice
Male - Gold - Sun - Strombus (conch shell)
(The Male/Female pairing is universally common for Sun/Moon.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Here follow links between Mesoamerica and the Pueblo Southwest of the
USA or
the Northwest Coast.
30. Wind-God. Borgia style, compare long-beaked birds on North West
Coast of USA.
31. Figures or faces emerging from within an animal head (beak or etc.)
Mayan common, Northwest Coast of USA, Siberia.
32. Serpents = lightning (connecting Mesoamerica with Pueblos, Taube)
33. Serpents = blood (Borgia, Izapa, Maya?)
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Patricia Anawalt has done seminal work on striking and almost exact
similarities between ancient Ecuadorian clothing and jewelry and
ancient West Mexican clothing and jewelry contemporaneous in time in
Latin American Antiquity;
Ancient Cultural Contacts between Ecuador, West Mexico, and the
American Southwest: Clothing Similarities
Patricia Rieff Anawalt
Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 114-129
doi:10.2307/971939
This article consists of 16 page(s).
View Article Abstract
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_
Allison Paulson published a monograph; "Patterns of Maritime Trade
between South Coastal Ecuador and Western Mesoamerica, 1500 BCE-600
CE in
The Sea in the Pre-Columbian World; Dumbarton Oaks Publications; 1977
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Mike Ruggeri
Mike Ruggeri's The Ancient Americas Breaking News
http://web.mac.com/michaelruggeri
_______________________________________________
Aztlan mailing list
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/aztlan
Click here to post a message Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Click to view Calendar of Events http://research.famsi.org/events/events.php
More information about the Aztlan
mailing list