The Art of Teotihuacan: MATERIALS in Teotihuacan Ornaments

Black limestone mask - Teotihuacán style (150 BC - AD 700) - From Santiago Ahuizotla, Mexico State, Mexico - Height: 19 cm
Width: 16.5 cm

Teotihuacan Greenstone Mask

Among the many diversified items found in Teotihuacan, both for religious and decorative use, a large number of impressive stone masks stand out for their schematic typical expressions. In fact, the Teotihuacan style has been described to be abstract, geometric, and planar, and this sort of masks is usually characterized by holes in the eyes, mouth, ears, and sides. According to the period in which they were manufactured, Teotihuacan masks had a different employment. In the Classic period, indeed, some scholars’ theories claim that they were not meant to be worn; on the contrary, they were tied via holes to perhaps a human figure, adorned with precious garments, ornaments, such as jade ear spools, and headdresses, probably representing important deities. On the contrary, during the Post Classic period, they were buried along with important characters, in order to let the deceased go peacefully to the underworld and ascend to a higher level, as a divinity.

Jade Ear Spool Ornament
Central Mexico, Teotihuacán style, 150-200 Cleveland Museum of Art

Teotihuacan Necklace
c. 150-200 Cleveland Museum of Art

The commonest materials used for shaping these masks are stone, greenstone, black limestone, onyx, jade, and serpentine. Moreover, it is quite sure that eyes and mouth were inlaid with shells, obsidian, and iron pyrites, while ear spools, although hardly preserved because made of perishable materials, used to be set in pierced ears. As Archeologists agree that the working and trading of obsidian played a key role in the city’s economic development, it’s important to remember that the strict control that Teotihuacan had over the obtaining and working of obsidian allowed workshops to use obsidians from different quarries and produce a wide variety of utensils for local use and for export. Regarding the trade of shells, considered symbols of fertility, wealth, and power, Teotihuacan was able to establish good links with people of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, making it possible to acquire great quantities of shells to be used as offerings.

To our eyes, these charming polished stone masks appear plain, but, during the Classic period, they must have been meticulously decorated with pigments of color and carvings, which only a few exemplars have conserved visibly.

An interesting example: THE MALINALTEPEC MASK

Dating back to approximately 1,800 years, the Malinaltepec Mask is considered a piece of great value among experts because of the different materials which compose its structure, and the two different periods, Classic and Post Classic, and stages, construction and decoration, in which it was created. After many years of debate among scholars, archeologists, biologists, anthropologists, etc., the mask has recently been declared authentic.

Particularly, it is 21 centimeters in length and width, and decorated with 762 tesseraes. When discovered in 1921, it was thought to be made of serpentine. However, the latest study has demonstrated that its main component is the green-yellowish chloritite, while the blue tesseraes are fragments of amazonite, turquoise, shell, and hematite. What is more interesting is the way these elements have been glued to the mask. Teotihuacan craftsmen used, in fact, copal resin, instead of modern glue, as stated by doubtful researchers.

Finally, the materials with whom the mask was manufactured are strongly associated with the Chalchiuhtlicue goddess of fertility and water, in the Teotihuacan culture.