The Aztec and Maya papermakers by Von Hagen Victor Wolfgang 1908-1985

Author:Von Hagen, Victor Wolfgang, 1908-1985
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Aztecs, Mayas, Papermaking, Papermaking
Publisher: New York : J.J. Augustin
Published: 1944-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

THE AZTEC AND MAYA PAPERMAKERS

ianus of Madrid and the Peresianus of Paris and subjected their fibers to the same thoroughgoing analyses. The results were precisely the same. Dr. Schwede had dissipated, once and for all, the notion that the Maya codices are "made from the fibers of the maguey."

The question of the Aztec codex fragments 7 was next taken up. It was the opinion of both Valentini 8 and Starr 9 that the Mayas made their paper from the bark of Ficus elastica but that the Aztecs made theirs from the "leaves" of the maguey. Dr. Schwede* made all the tests on the fibers of twenty-three distinct Aztec codices.**

And the conclusions? The paper of the Aztecs also was made from the bast fibers of the amatl-tize; in not a single fragment was the paper made from any other substance than the wild fig tree. From the chemical laboratory, which eliminated completely the personal equation of historians, came the conclusion: Neither the Maya nor Aztec made paper from the maguey. On the contrary, their paper was made from the inner fibers of the wild fig, confirming precisely the words of Pietro Martire in 1519 ... "Ex ficuum tabellis fiuntlibelli."

Examination disclosed that the fibers of the Maya codices — which were made from wild fig trees in the tierra caliente — differed in their histology from those fibers taken from the Aztec codices, prepared from the bast fibers of the fig trees of the tierra jria. It is then obvious that the paper of the Mayas came from the species in their own lowland areas, while that of the Aztec fragments was always from those that grew on the plateau and hillsides. Comparative study of processes and techniques permits us to conclude that the Maya preceded the Aztec. The Aztecs improved upon the Maya methods. In order to create a non-blotting sur-

* See Appendix. Page 102.

** Fibers taken from paper made by the modern Otomis and examined by the present writer were found to correspond with those of the Maya and Aztec codices and with those of the Ficus of the central plateau of Mexico.

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