Abstract

CASTILLO BERNAL, Stephen. Memories of green stone: A symbolic look at some Toltec relics. Cuicuilco. Rev. cienc. antropol. [online]. 2019, vol.26, n.75, pp.249-275.  Epub July 03, 2020. ISSN 2448-8488.

Green stone slabs are characteristic of the Epiclassic period (650-900 A.D.). On them, warriors, dignitaries and priests were embodied. This paper provides a symbolic and contextual analysis of several of the said plates -in this case- recovered at the sites of Xochicalco (650-900 AD) and Tula (900-1200 AD), focusing specifically on the symbolic and emotional meanings that the Toltecs assigned to this class of object.

From the ritual theory ofVictor Turner [1980, 1988], an alternative interpretation of these objects is proposed, since it has been assumed that they allude to priests in a state of trance. Here, it is postulated that the subjects are representations of the dead, deposited as relics and loaded with meta-messages from bygone times, and which appear in later contexts, such as at the sites of Tula or Tenochtitlan.

Keywords : Toltecs; green stone; relics; ancestors; death.