dark/light skin color differences in pre- and post-conquest Mexico

[Dodds, Dr C.E.]

Dear Michael,

It may not be relevant to this image, but don't forget that priests were painted black. I'm not positive of the context of this image as I'm away from my office and can't look it up, so can't be sure if this is relevant here, but it is extremely reminiscent of depictions of priests. And, appearing as it does in a ritual context, I would not dismiss this as a possible reference.

In addition, following up Kier's comment, about smearing ash on the skins of victims, victims were also sometimes painted white, which might be relevant here.

Yours,
Caroline
-------------
Dr. Caroline Dodds
Lecturer in Early Modern History
School of Historical Studies
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH

tel: 0116 223 1229
mobile: 07740675610
email: ced22 at le.ac.uk
http://www.le.ac.uk/history/people/ced22.html
________________________________________
From: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of Michael Stevenson [mijobas at yahoo.com]
Sent: 25 April 2008 14:37
To: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Subject: [Nahuat-l] dark/light skin color differences in pre- and       post-conquest Mexico

Dear Listeros,

Does anyone know of or have any references to
differences of skin colors within Mexico, both in the
pre-Conquest and immediate post-Conquest eras?

I am working on a paper and it involves an image from
the Florentine Codex (I've attached it to this email
but am not sure whether it will make it through). It
is on 245 verso of Volume 2 of the Florentine Codex
and depicts people stoking the chest cavity of a
sacrificial victim with wood, in preparation for a
fire. The victim is light-skinned while the others are
dark skinned.

Are there any references to darker skinned people that
anyone knows of in any pre-Conquest context? This
illustration, of course, pre-dates casta paintings but
does anyone have any info or references on dark vs
light skin in the immediate post-Conquest period?

Please feel free to email me directly and thanks in
advance,

Best,

Michael Stevenson


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