Editing Chacmool (section)

== Aztec Chacmool ==
[[File:Chac mool.jpg|thumb|300px|An Aztec chacmool from the [[Templo Mayor]]. This example includes the original polychrome pigment, which helped archaeologists identify its iconography ties to [[Tlāloc|Tlaloc]]. ]]
[[File:Tlaloc Vasija.jpg|thumb|292x292px|A Tlaloc vessel made by the Aztecs, which is currently located at the Museo del Templo Mayor in Mexico City, Mexico]]
During the 1930 excavation of [[Templo Mayor]], the only fully [[polychrome]] chacmool to be found at that site was in its original context on the top level of the [[Tlāloc|Tlaloc]] side (the rain god) of the temple.<ref name=":02">{{cite journal |last1=Moctezuma |first1=Eduardo Matos |title=Archaeology & Symbolism in Aztec Mexico: The Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |date=1985 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=797–813 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/LIII.4.797 |jstor=1464276 }}</ref> The position of this chacmool statue mirrored the position of the sacrificial stone on the [[Huītzilōpōchtli|Huitzilopochtli]] (the Aztecs' patron deity, associated with war) side of the temple. Archaeologist [[Eduardo Matos Moctezuma]] posits that this mirroring confirms his interpretation that the chacmool acted as an "intermediary between the priest and the god, a divine messenger," in the same way the sacrificial stone on the Huitzilopochtli side does.<ref name=":02" />

The pigment that remained on this chacmool sculpture was crucial to its identification, as it does not contain any sculpted iconography or symbols associated with the rain god Tlaloc.<ref name=":12">{{cite journal |last1=Luján |first1=Leonardo López |last2=Chiari |first2=Giacomo |title=Color in monumental Mexica sculpture |journal=Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics |date=March 2012 |volume=61-62 |issue=61/62 |pages=330–342 |doi=10.1086/RESvn1ms23647839 |jstor=23647839 |s2cid=193633419 }}</ref> Archaeologists were able to create a reconstruction of the sculpture's original colors, which they then compared to [[Pictogram|pictographic]] representations of Tlaloc.<ref name=":12" /> This comparison confirmed that the polychrome chacmool discovered at Tlaloc's side of the Templo Mayor was a representation of the deity itself.<ref name=":12" /> Characteristics such as the "''chia'' circles on the cheeks, the circular gold pectoral medallion, and the color combination of the petticoat, as well as the black skin, the red hands and feet, and the white headdress and bangles" echo the iconography of other depictions of Tlaloc. Art historians Leonardo Lopez Lujan and Giacomo Chiari argue that this "confirms that there is symbolic continuity between the early and late Mexica [Aztec] chacmool," due to early Aztec chacmools containing iconographic nods to Tlaloc.<ref name=":12" />

A second chacmool discovery from the Templo Mayor, dating to a later period, displays iconographic features which are distinct from the larger corpus of chacmool figures but consistent with other sculptures (Tlaloc ritual vessels and bench reliefs) found in a similar context at the Templo Mayor.<ref name=":03">{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|1621508359}} |last1=Winfield |first1=Shannen M |date=2014 |title=Containers of power: The Tlaloc vessels of the Templo Mayor as embodiments of the Aztec rain god }}</ref> Whereas Tlaloc's eyes are generally represented with a round goggle-like frame, the later chacmool, the vessels, and the bench relief feature a rectangular eye frame within which almond eyes are engraved.<ref name=":13">López Austin, Alfredo. 1983. "The Masked God of Fire," ''The Aztec Templo Mayor: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1983'', edited by Elizabeth 135 Hill Boone. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: 257–292.</ref> All three sculptures also include large fangs at the corners of the god's mouth.<ref name=":03" /> The ornaments worn by the later chacmool and included in the vessels and the bench relief also differ from other representations of Tlaloc. The later chacmool, vessels, and bench relief sport oversized circular [[Aztec clothing|earspools]], rather than the characteristic earspools with a square plug and central dangal; they are also adorned with a multistrand, beaded collar in which one strand has larger beads that have been interpreted to be hanging bells.<ref name=":03" /> The chacmool holds onto a ''[[cuauhxicalli]]'' vessel that is engraved with the face of Tlaloc, including the same rectangular eye and mouth features.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":03" />
[[File:Mexico City-Nationalmuseum-08-Chac-1980-gje.jpg|thumb|Aztec chacmool, found in 1942 in Mexico City, now located at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, Mexico]]
[[File:Tlaloc Chacmool verso.jpg|thumb|Backside of an Aztec chacmool, found in 1942 in Mexico City, now located in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, Mexico]]
In 1942, archaeologists recovered another chacmool example located a few blocks away from the Templo Mayor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Mary |last2=Samayoa |first2=Marco |date=Spring 1998 |title=Where Maize May Grow: Jade, Chacmools, and the Maize God |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20167001 |journal=RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics |volume=33 |issue=33 |pages=54–72 |doi=10.1086/RESv33n1ms20167001 |jstor=20167001 |s2cid=164460764 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This chacmool has overt iconographic associations with Tlaloc, wearing his mask and holding a ''cuauhxicalli'' vessel whose top is carved with the face of Tlaloc (rather than being concave and able to hold something).<ref name=":0" /> He is wearing several strands of beaded necklaces, with the outer most ring containing oliva shells, which were a characteristic of [[Maya textiles|Maya costuming]].<ref name=":0" /> Another [[Maya civilization|Maya]] influence can be seen in his headdress, which scholars Mary Miller and Marco Samayoa compare to a headdress worn by [[Itzamnaaj Bahlam III|Maya king Shield Jaguar]] (also known as Itzamnaaj Bahlam III''')''' of [[Yaxchilan Lintel 24|Yaxchilan]].<ref name=":0" /> Perhaps the most interesting iconographic feature of this chacmool, however, is the large necklace pendant he wears, which Miller and Samayoa argue is a representation of an actual heirloom pendant. They suggest that the pendant was looted from a Maya site, probably "from a stone vessel interred behind a chacmool" and that "its subject is probably the enthroned, resurrected [[Maya maize god|Maize God]]."<ref name=":0" /> This association between chacmools and maize deities is rooted in Maya examples (from which the Aztecs were clearly drawing inspiration, as this example's headdress and shell necklace demonstrate), but does not necessarily mean that the Aztecs would have associated their chacmools with maize deities. In all likelihood, the Aztecs conceived of chacmools as being connected to Tlaloc, as it is his image and associated iconographic characteristics that cover the majority of discovered Aztec chacmools. This chacmool, for instance, features a carving of Tlaloc on its underside, the symbolic meaning of which Miller explores: "With their undersides carved with aquatic symbols, these sculptures seem to float on water. This suspension suggests the liminal qualities of the messenger, the link between earth and supernaturals."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Mary Ellen |date=1985 |title=A Re-examination of the Mesoamerican Chacmool |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3050884 |journal=The Art Bulletin |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=7–17 |doi=10.2307/3050884 |jstor=3050884 |issn=0004-3079|url-access=subscription }}</ref>