One of the most relevant books on the knowledge of the reasons for Pre-Columbian seals was written by Jorge Enciso, and bears the title of Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico, Dover, New York, 1953 (Seals of Ancient Mexico, Mexico, Innovation, 1945). The book records seals with geometric forms showing naturalist forms, those representing fantastic beings, as well as those in which human beings and parts of the human body are represented. Enciso emphasizes those seals that represent the head, the cranium or the hand and, to a certain extent, the collection of seals he has gathered together confirms that the design representing the foot is less frequent.
Our seal lacks a toe, but due to its similarity to a seal from Tlatilco published in Arqueología mexicana 2007 vol. xii, no. 71 p.18-19, it is possible that all toes were the same, which makes it difficult to identify whether it was a right or left footprint. Although it has deep incisions that divide the footprint, made in the clay before firing, they would seem to indicate that it is the left footprint. We found a similar case in the Anahuacalli Museum, which holds the collection of Pre-Columbian pieces that Diego Rivera gathered.
The seals modeled in the form of footprints confirm one of the observations made by Pablo Escalante: "What is most frequent is for the symbol of the foot to be assumed from the absence of the foot", and in the symbolic Mesoamerican repertoire for the foot, it is generally represented through the footprint itself. Although it is necessary to consign that among the Classic cultures cups forming a foot or footwear were modeled. Among the Olmecs the figure of the left footprint was carved in green stone using a hatchet in the form of a head derived from the center of Veracruz. We find the right footprint carved into the cheek of the face. Generally, the footprint is not represented in an isolated manner and is found in different compositions.
In Teotihuacán the footprint is modeled in an isolated manner on the walls of a tripod cup, but generally the footprint is combined with other motives, as we see in the paintings of the murals of Cacaxtla, state of Tlaxcala, and in the stelae from Xochicalco, Morelos. In certain examples there are also footprints from both feet, right and left. The representation of the two footprints is immobile, and contrasts against the representation of the individual footprint, above all the image of multiple footprints, alternating, right and left, given that as Hasso Von Winning shows us in his study La iconografia teotihuacana 1987, p.41-47, the footprint sequence represents footsteps and movements.
Among the Mayas, inscriptions and representations of a footprint or series of footprints express arrival, rising or ascending, while at the same time among the Teotihuacan, footprints or footsteps reflect paths going in many directions. It should be mentioned that as in codices and maps that speak of migrations in the late era, a series of human footprints can also mean journeys and movement. To a certain extent the footprints speak of relocation of a person or group and the direction of the movement.
We need only ask if an individual footprint or a series of footprints mean the same, and propose that the footprints, in addition to reflecting a notion of movement or relocation, reflect that which is connected to arrival and permanence. We point out that, for example Bernardino de Sahagún in his Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España 1985, p.136-137, shows that in the twelfth month of their ritual calendar, which the Mexica called Teotleco, the priests knew that all gods had arrived and they could then begin the ceremonies when a small footprint appeared in the small mound of corn flour that they placed in the temple.
One of the most relevant books on the knowledge of the reasons for Pre-Columbian seals was written by Jorge Enciso, and bears the title of Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico, Dover, New York, 1953 (Seals of Ancient Mexico, Mexico, Innovation, 1945). The book records seals with geometric forms showing naturalist forms, those representing fantastic beings, as well as those in which human beings and parts of the human body are represented. Enciso emphasizes those seals that represent the head, the cranium or the hand and, to a certain extent, the collection of seals he has gathered together confirms that the design representing the foot is less frequent.
