The phenomenology of sunset at the Palace of the Jaguars, Teotihuacan

Abstract

Although archaeoastronomically significant alignments throughout Mesoamerica are usually described solely in architectural terms (that is, as monumental aspects of calendric notation), in this article I present evidence (in the form of a case study of the Palace of the Jaguars, Teotihuacan) that alignments may have been utilized to engineer complex optical transformations of pictorial artifacts. To describe the interplay between light and color manifest in the structure's murals throughout the day, I utilize a virtual reconstruction of the structure. Drawing on recent developments in cognitive science, I explain how polychromatic assemblages could indeed appear to ‘come alive’.

Keywords:

• Teotihuacan
• polychromy
• virtuality
• illumination
• phenomenology
• archaeoastronomy
• animacy
• digital reconstruction

Notes on contributor

Justin Underhill is Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Southern California. This manuscript is part of a broader study of the relationship between light, sound, and depiction.

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data (Videos 1 and 2) are available online http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2014.935951

Notes

1. Conversely, one image may virtualize, or ‘zipper’ together, multiple pictures, though I have not explored that possibility here (Davis forthcoming).

2. Recent proposals of an earlier date for the city's collapse may shift the absolute dates assigned to these stylistic sequences,

3. The distribution of net jaguar imagery also seems to support an iconographic reading of subsequent compounds as (at least in part) hydrologically determined. As Robb (2007: 94) points out, most representations of the net jaguar are located within a few hundred meters of the river. Robb's analysis of the net jaguar draws upon analysis by Conides (2003), whose work on the subject remains unpublished.

4. The relationship between glyphs and depictions at Teotihuacan will remain unclear until future research clarifies the syntactical features of its notational system. Nevertheless, analysis of more extensively documented glyphic traditions indicates that these are not mutually exclusive categories. For examples of overlap in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic notation, see Baines (2008) and Fischer (1986).

5. Given the site's azimuth and latitude, we can be certain that the west pediment was continuously illuminated at sunset throughout the year; for measurements of azimuth and declination of the celestial sphere directly above the temple, see Boutsikas (2009).

6. Recent analysis by Zoltán Paulinyi (2006) has questioned the validity of the Great Goddess construct, arguing that its iconography might be better understood as aspects of more than one deity. While his point is well taken, I would argue that the net jaguar's uncertain position within the Teotihuacan pantheon warrants integration with more salient iconographic features. There is the caveat that these cardinal features may need further refinement as the associative matrix of deities and attributes becomes more developed.