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

[ptcamn]

Priests are often depicted in the codices with darkened skin,
presumably due to some kind of paint. Compare the attached example
from the Codex Magliabechiano.

Probably not relevant to the Florentine Codex image, but since you
asked, darkness in some contexts was used to mark outsiders. One
Mixtec name for the Nahuas was "tay saminuu", meaning "people with
burnt faces", and they were so depicted in Mixtec codices. On the
other hand, it is the Mixtecs who are depicted with dark skin as well
as dark clothing in the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2. Finally, in
present-day Isthmus Nahuatl, the word tilti' (corresponding to the
more familiar tliltic "black") means "stranger/foreigner".

(Sources: Kevin Terraciano's Mixtecs of Colonial Oaxaca; Cave, City
and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretative Journey Through the Mapa de
Cuauhtinchan No. 2; Diccionario Nahuatl de los municipios de Mecayapan
y Tatahuicapan de Juarez, Veracruz.)
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