Memorias de piedra verde: miradas simbólicas de las reliquias toltecas.

Green stone slabs are characteristic of the Epiclassic period (650-900 A.D.). On them, warriors, dignitaries and priests were embodied. This paper provides a symbolic and contextual analysis of several of the said plates -in this case- recovered at the sites of Xochicalco (650-900 AD) and Tula (900-1200 AD), focusing specifically on the symbolic and emotional meanings that the Toltecs assigned to this class of object. From the ritual theory of Victor Turner [1980, 1988], an alternative interpretation of these objects is proposed, since it has been assumed that they allude to priests in a state of trance. Here, it is postulated that the subjects are representations of the dead, deposited as relics and loaded with meta-messages from bygone times, and which appear in later contexts, such as at the sites of Tula or Tenochtitlan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]