Time, Ecology and the Graphics of the Borgia Group of Codices.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this dissertation, I examine a selection of beautifully illustrated almanacs found in the Borgia Group of Codices: a set of sacred manuscripts drafted in Central Mexico by Indigenous scribes during the 14th -15th centuries ce (the Late Postclassic Period). A growing body of research demonstrates that these calendrical tools were used, in part, to record, organize, and tabulate data about seasonal ecology and the environment, here understood as vitally dynamic and intrinsically sacred. The information was archived through a sophisticated mode of visual communication, unique to Central Mexico, that combines glyphic, notational and pictographic signs with illustration. This system emerged from much older legacies of glyphic and pictographic writing, yet it declined in use during the 16th century and was eventually eliminated under colonial pressure. Contemporary studies have partially reconstructed this visual language using bilingual documents prepared by Indigenous scribes during the early colonial period, which incorporate both alphabetic Spanish and native glyphic entries. Drawing from these lines of research, I discuss Borgia Group almanacs whose graphical contents address agriculture, weather, and astronomy in terms of sacred calendrical cycles. I examine both the internal logic of their graphical language, and the external environment they describe, combing both inquiries with ethnohistoric data to reconstruct, hypothetically, the social lives of the almanacs in their native contexts. Priestly specialists compiled their ecological and astronomical observations into graphical archives that were referenced for managing vital civic concerns, such as food cultivation and the periodic potential for environmental crises (e.g. drought or pestilence). Moreover, notable similarities among almanacs from different regions suggest that communities were sharing this data across wide geographies. In this sense, the ancient almanacs functioned in a manner parallel with governmental bulletins published in the 18th and 19th centuries that were compiled to help farmers prepare for potential locust outbreaks. This discussion also contextualizes the sacred almanacs within Mexico's Indigenous scientific scholarship as expressed through art, architecture, and landscape management. As sacred dossiers for ecological data, the almanacs in the Borgia Group comprise an archive that explains how their ancient authors experienced their environments. They thus enhance contemporary understandings of climate patterns, and present a sample of the rich, polyvocal scholarship that flourished in ancient Mesoamerica. I hope that this study honors the Indigenous authors of that archive, as well as their descendants, while contributing to further research on their fascinating works.