PONDERING THE PALMA: FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND FORMAL TYPOLOGY IN CLASSIC VERACRUZ ART HISTORY _______________ A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the School of Art University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts _______________ By Cierra Frances Linander May, 2017 PONDERING THE PALMA: FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND FORMAL TYPOLOGY IN CLASSIC VERACRUZ ART HISTORY _________________________ Cierra Frances Linander APPROVED: _________________________ Rex Koontz, Ph.D. Committee Chair _________________________ Randolph J. Widmer, Ph.D. _________________________ H. Rodney Nevitt Jr., Ph.D. _________________________ Andrew Davis, Ph.D. Dean, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts ii PONDERING THE PALMA: FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND FORMAL TYPOLOGY IN CLASSIC VERACRUZ ART HISTORY _______________ An Abstract Presented to The Faculty of the School of Art University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts _______________ By Cierra Frances Linander May, 2017 Abstract This thesis significantly expands the corpus of portable sculptures known as the palma. ​ ​ The palma object-type has remained anomalous throughout the years despite being linked ​ ​ to the ballgame and other stone accoutrements of Classic Veracruz civilization. Classic Veracruz may be defined in time (c. 0- 1000 CE) and its region (the Gulf Coast of Mexico, largely in the modern state of Veracruz). Previous scholars defined the palmas through their consistent basal forms. The revised palma corpus developed in this thesis identifies many other formal, functional, and iconographic patterns unexplored by previous scholars. Part One presents historiographies and functional analyses, discussing the palma object-type and the urban center of Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajín, for the extensive sculptural programs that feature individuals wearing palmas with motifs and characters found on the extant palmas. Part Two presents revised typological explorations as well as a Catalog of Illustrated Typology and Palma Related Iconography. ​ iv Table of Contents Introduction 1 ​ The Anatomy of a Palma 11 ​ Part One: Historiography and Functional Analysis Chapter 1: A History of Examining the Palma 17 ​ Chapter 2: Public Iconography of the Tajín Complex 46 and its Relationship to Palma Function and Imagery Part Two: The Revised Palma Corpus Chapter 3: Typological Explorations 73 ​ and Other Patterns to Consider Chapter 4: Catalog of Illustrated Typology and Palma Related Iconography 100 ​ ​ Conclusion 127 ​ Epilogue 132 Appendix Catalog Image List 135 ​ Figure Image List 139 ​ Figure Images 140 ​ Bibliography 157 ​ v Introduction With an origin of existence unfettered by Western convention, Mesoamerica was home to ancient innovators, profound philosophers, and powerful, divine kings. Thought to be inferior upon contact with the Europeans (and for many centuries hence), these cultures actually parallelled the development of highly organized and complex societies– often surpassing in population and the ability to accommodate and maintain the growing populus of those cultures in the Old World who would eventually become their superiors. Though certain technologies were never developed nor employed (such as metal tools, the wheel, or pulley), the complexity of their religious pantheon (and therefore their cosmovision) was reflected in every aspect of their existence. The corresponding artistic production of this region, often based in religious and political rites, establishes their place as sophisticated artistic cultures that also serve as a laboratory of human creativity due to its lack of links to the Old World. One aspect of this thesis attempts to document the sophisticated art style through close observation and productive typologies, while another part of the essay treats the complex religious rites in which the palma was used. This essay focuses on one object-type known as the palma. These sculptures were ​ ​ created over a one thousand year period by Mesoamericans of the Mexican Gulf Coast and developed in the latter half of the first millennium C.E.. Made of basalt, or other porous volcanic stone, the palma corpus is made up of highly varied forms. While the following chapters will discuss formal and iconographic attributes of the palma 2 object-type in its specific regional context, it is important to first consider the cultural production that preceded them. The term Mesoamerica describes a certain geographic and cultural region occupying large portions of present day Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, along with parts of El Salvador and Honduras (Figure 1). By and large when this region is discussed, it is in terms of the Pre-Columbian past; a time defined literally as before Christopher Columbus set out in 1492, but moreso understood here as the time before Spain and other countries made extensive contact with the existing cultures and began parsing the land for resources and labor, around 1519. While organized life began developing in this area as early as 7000 BCE, Mesoamerica may be defined on one level as a civilization that rose along with a single agricultural system by the second millennium BCE.1 Ancient Mesoamericans shared a basic diet of beans, squashes, and chilis though it was maize that served as a true cornerstone of the development of the region. Through the domestication of these plants, nomadic cultures developed into grounded settlements some millennia later. Despite the extremely varied geographic landscape of Mesoamerica, these crops gave rise to an influx of healthy, strong populations. It may be helpful for the reader to have a brief synthesis of the development of complex societies with sophisticated art traditions that were developed in isolation from those in the Old World. Most recognizably preserved Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican history can be divided into three major periods; PreClassic, or Formative, (2000 BCE-250 CE), Classic (250 CE-1000 CE), and Post-Classic (1000 CE -1519 CE). Each of these 1 Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, 7th ed. (London: Thames & ​ ​ Hudson, 2013), Introduction (unpaginated digital version). 3 time periods has corresponding diagnostic characteristics seen in cultural developments, political structure, and artistic output, etc. What we are most interested in for this thesis is the Classic period; more specifically the Epi-Classic period, (650 CE -1050 CE), the period associated with palma production. Around 1800 BCE in Mesoamerica, villages began to form as did the advent of pottery. Within the next few hundred years, significant settlements developed and so began the construction of pyramid temples and other monumental architecture.2 Radiating outward from the Gulf Coast (adjacent to the region that will later produce the palma), societies emerged that almost unanimously employed a numerical system based on 20, practiced ritual use of a 260-day calendar along with a 365-day solar calendar, used cacao and jade as monetarily and religiously significant materials, and most importantly for us, practiced a ritual and sacrificial rubber ballgame that will later serve as a context for the palma. Despite all of these fundamental similarities, Mesoamericans used artistic style to distinguish one culture from the other —a practice that continued throughout Mesoamerican history. The first iteration of organized society and art style in Mesoamerica is thought to be that of the Olmec.3 Flourishing between c. 1600 BCE and 400 BCE, and occupying a large region along the Gulf Coast, (largely in the current Mexican states of Veracruz and Oaxaca) the Olmec built large mound temples and incised their iconographic representations of rain and maize gods throughout their lands on surfaces great and small. Other formative cultures that moved south and inland adopted these traditions, especially 2 Mary Ellen Miller, The Art of Mesoamerica: from Olmec to Aztec, 4th ed. (London: Thames & Hudson, ​ ​ ​ 2006), 30. 3 Coe and Koontz, Mexico, Introduction. ​ ​ ​ 4 the 260-day calendar and practice of the ballgame indicated by the presence of accompanying courts. This move away from the Gulf Coast later gave rise to great cultural centers such as Teotihuacan, a metropolis that fell by 600 CE that was rarely matched in population by global contemporaries, as well as the great city-states of Maya rule, leading eventually to the Post-Classic Aztec, among many others. Nearly a millennium after the rise of the Olmec, a new culture emerged along the Gulf Coast.4 Using archaeological data of the culture's apogee and capital city, El Tajín (Figures 2, and 6-9), we can deduce the height of the cultural production endured from 650-1000 CE.5 Named at its discovery by Europeans in the 18th century for the Totonac god of lightning, the site of El Tajín dominates the region's architectural accomplishments. While Totonacs occupy the region currently, scholars do not believe they lived in the region during the Classic era.6 It is also known that Huastecs occupied coastal terrain during this time, though the overlap with Tajín has not been well accounted for, thus leaving the identity of the city’s builders unknown. El Tajín is situated outside of current day Papantla, in northern Veracruz. A mountainous jungle engulfs this antique site, bringing staggering humidity from the nearby Gulf coast to those who dare explore, even in the early morning hours. In 1954, Tatiana Proskouriakoff defined the Classic Veracruz style,