Make Your Own Aztec Codex Name: Class:

Transcription

1 Make Your Own Aztec Codex Name: Class: Background information: The ancient Mesoamericans were a very creative and intelligent group of people. Before Europeans settled this continent, ancient Mesoamericans had very large cities, a sophisticated monetary system, extensive trade routes, and a sophisticated written and oral language. Like the Native Americans of North America, the native peoples of Mesoamerica were broken up into several tribes or cultures. Many of these groups are well known, as are their cities, like the Maya and the Aztecs; however, many others were just as ingenious, but not as well known, like the Olmecs, Zapotecs, and Toltecs. Over the years, archaeologists have uncovered ruins of massive cities and awe inspiring pyramids and artwork. For example, the more famous sites are Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, La Venta, Chichen Itza, Tula and Monte Alban. They didn't have a written language like we do; but rather, a language more like the hieroglyphs of Egypt. These glyphs of Mesoamerica were very intricate and full of meaning. They had a very rich vocabulary and they composed beautiful songs and poems. They even produced books, called codices. They were made out of very long strips of bark paper, cloth, or deerskins that were folded like an accordion. Scribes attached thin pieces of wood at the ends of the strip, which formed covers that protected the pages. Most codices were read from top to bottom, some were read around the page. The whole codex was read from left to right. Each book had a name, like the Codex Mendoza. The scribes, who were very educated and artistic men, made these books. Important information was recorded in these books by using glyphs, or picture symbols; important things like history, calendars, religious information, population and tax information, as well as information about daily life. Certain features were general for each of these codices; for example, there was a 'ground' area, a 'sky' area, smaller figures were placed farther away and toward the top to indicate distance, and the more important the figure, the larger they were.

2 Not only were glyphs written in books, but they were also carved on stone. Types of stone included: limestone and sandstone. Not only that, but they were painted on walls, using paints made from minerals and plants. They had many ideas for their glyphs, including those found in nature like, snakes, jaguars, bats, birds, humans, and spider monkeys. They also had quite an imagination, thus creating supernatural and cosmic style glyphs. Aztec Research Project - Codex You will each get one topic of Aztec Society to research and present through the Aztec style of book called a CODEX. All of your codices will be displayed on the bulletin board in the classroom to be viewed by your classmates throughout the Aztec unit. PROCESS 1. Use the Aztec Research Notes Booklet while doing the research in the class, library and at home. It must be handed in with your codex. Use point form, and write in your own words. Keep track of your sources as you work. 2. Transfer your knowledge of the topic onto your codex. Words, pictures, diagrams, maps, etc. (depending on your topic) Edit carefully. (6 pages, including cover) 3. Hand in Research Notes Booklet and finished Codex for marking.

3 RUBRIC Topic: Name: Presentation Quality -overall neatness pictures look authentic writing is readable and clear creative style and personal touch presentation of topic is thorough, and appropriate for the task x2 /24 Research Notes Booklet -completely filled out notes are recorded in point form research is written in your own words x2 -websites/sources are properly recorded /20

4 Aztec Research Project - Codex Name: Topic: WHAT I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE TOPIC: WHAT I NEED TO LOOK FOR WHEN I START TO RESEARCH (PLAN): BOOKS AND WEB SITES THAT I USED: 1. story.htm (everyone will start with this source and then find other sites and books)

5 WHAT I FOUND DURING MY RESEARCH: (must be in point form AND in my own words) (print out pictures that I can use to trace onto my codex) If I need more room I will use an extra piece of paper and staple to the back of this booklet.

6 PLAN - quick notes and quick diagrams to set it up before starting the actual codex. COVER - PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 6

7 This is from Page 11, reverse, from Codex Magliabechiano, showing the first four day-symbols of the tonalpohualli: Flint, Rain, Flower, Crocodile. Note how closely the Rain day-symbol resembles that of Tlaloc.

8 As you have probably gathered by now, Aztec numbers are represented by long sequences of dots. In general, the Aztecs almost exclusively used dots on manuscripts as well as on stone monuments, but the more ancient bar-and-dot system does make rare appearances on carved monuments as well, primarily due to artistic consideration. The dot system, while feasible for calendrical use (since no number will ever exceed 20), was impossible when dealing with accounting, especially since the Aztec Empire had to record large amounts of tribute frequently demanded from its provinces. To count items in excess of 20 efficiently, the Aztecs used glyphs for the numbers 20 (a flag), 400 (a feather), and 8000 (a bag of incense). Glyphs The chart above is a Nahuatl glyphs with known phonetic values.