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The Linguistic Affiliation And Phoneticism Of Teotihuacan Iconography, David Brown

Art & Art History ETDs

This study examines one of the major issues of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican history--the identity of the Teotihuacan culture--through a correlation of figurative art and iconography with writing and language. An examination of the last century of Mesoamerican scholarship points out the inherent shortcomings of reconstructing pre-Conquest history from Nahua ethnohistorical documents in the early-Colonial period. A re-evaluation of methodological assumptions used in the reconstructions of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican history leads to the conclusion that the Teotihuacan culture should be studied as much as possible within its cosmopolitan context of the Early-Urban period. Further reassessment of previous iconographic studies reveals that many interpretations …