Mixtec Codices

Nuttall | Columbino / Becker I | Bodley
Selden | Selden Roll | Vindobonensis Nuttall - Dover cover

GBonline

There are fewer than twenty codices that are written in a purely native style on bark paper or animal skin. The greatest number of these are from Oaxaca and are of the Mixtec writing system (pronounced "Mish tek"). They primarily convey genealogical, ritual or mytho-historic information, but they have allowed scholars to reconstruct political history going back to the 11th Century or earlier.

There are also large sheets known as Lienzos or Mapas that continue the picture writing tradition that have been painted in the Mixteca area through this century.

Alfonso Caso firmly established the geneological nature and a preliminary chronology for these documents. A revised chronology introduced by Emily Rabin almost two decades ago is finally to be published by her through Vanderbilt University in the near future.

The Codex Nuttall is available inexpensively from Dover Books in a facsimile of Zelia Nuttall's original publication earlier this century. In the Realm of Eight Deer conveys the recent research of Bruce Byland and John Pohl and is available from the University of Oklahoma Press.

A useful book on Oaxaca that includes perspective on the Mixtec culture and the ancient books is Oaxaca : The Archaeological Record by Marcus Winter.

Nuttall (aka Zouche-Nuttall)

Current location: Museum of Mankind, British Museum, London

Skin screenfold painted on both sides. 47 leaves.

There was a site called Aztec Codices at Rice University which presents pages 18 through 21 from the Codex Nuttall and images from other codices, but this has dissappeared.

Columbino / Becker I

Current location: Museum für Volkerkunde, Vienna

Columbino : Skin screenfold painted on one side. 24 leaves in four fragments.

Becker I : Skin screenfold painted on one side. 16 leaves in three fragments.

Becker II : Skin screenfold painted on one side. 4 leaves . Early 16th C.

Bodley 2858

Current location: Bodlian Library, Oxford, England

Skin screenfold. 23 leaves (20 painted on both sides).

First published in Kingsborough V.I

Selden I 3135 A.2

Current location: Bodlian Library, Oxford, England

Skin screenfold painted on both sides (one side legible). 20 leaves.

First published in Kingsborough V.I

Cecilia Rossell has an interesting paper in Spanish on
the Codice Selden at the Arts & History web site.

Queens, Princesses & Priestesses - A Saga of the Mixteca Alta.
Muchas gracias for the above page from the Selden from the
Arts & History Virtual Forum of Mexican Culture site.

Selden II (aka Selden Roll)

Current location: Bodlian Library, Oxford, England

Native paper tira painted on one side. 38 by 350 cm.

First published in Kingsborough V.I

Vindobonensis (aka Codex Vienna)

Current location: Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Skin screenfold painted on both sides with wooden covers. 52 leaves.

V.II

The Codex Vindobonensis and other fine books are now
available online from the Fondo Cultura Economica Bookstore.

Other Sources of Information on
the Mixtec Codices on the Web

This web page is admittedly rather light on information
about the Mixtec codices. If you know of any pages about
these documents, let me know so the link can be included.

There was an interesting paper at the AOL site
called Eight Deer - Piercing his way to power.
The graphics, alas, seem to have disappeared.

I want to encourage you to check out the Mixtec pages at
the stimulating & provocative Lords of the Earth web site.

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