Pre-Columbian seals are objects generally made of clay, which have an engraved face that is characterized by being flat, although archaeological seals made of stone and in a cylindrical shape have also been found in archaeological sites. These are called pintaderas. These objects were used to capture the image they present on a ceramic surface, cloth or even the skin. Like other objects in Mesoamerica, seals were used from the Preclassic period to the Post-Classic period, and have been found in practically the entire Mesoamerican territory, which always makes dating difficult, unless they are associated with other objects that are easy to date.
The parts we describe here are two flat seals with handles. The latter serves so that the seal can be held with the fingers and easily pressed on the surface on which the image is to be printed. Both are made of smoothed clay and the designs in each case were made with incisions on the clay, or by removing it, as we see in piece 1515. The pieces were modeled with the outline of the figure represented.
The seal with the number 1514 represents a bird. The head, eyes and beaks are observed, as well as the body with the wings and the hind feathers. The whole body is decorated with parallel lines and geometric motifs. Since these objects were used to decorate the body, among other things, they were surely used in specific festivities and rites. It is even probable that the stamps with animal shapes were associated with the calendar dates that corresponded to them. In this case, as it is a bird, it could well have been used to decorate the body on the 15th or 16th of the twenty Mexica (tonalpohualli)corresponding to the signs of the eagle and the buzzards, respectively.
On the other hand, the stamp with the number 1515 represents a zoomorphic figure, in this case surely a monkey. Their open limbs are observed, as if they were doing dance or jumping movements, which should not surprise us since these animals were associated with dance and song in the indigenous worldview. The artist also depicted his prehensile tail and what could be a crest or lock of hair on its head. The animal wears earrings, which refers us to its mythological importance. If we return to the idea that these objects could be associated with a use based on the calendar, this stamp could have been linked to the eleventh sign of the twenty days of the Nahuatl calendar and be used in the ceremonies of this day.
With this, we can observe the importance of animals for the Pre-Columbian world and we approach something as important as body decoration which, despite the fact that we do not have descriptions or images of these practices, we have the materials with which they were made and, in this way, we can tenuously approach this practice and understand how the people looked.
Pre-Columbian seals are objects generally made of clay, which have an engraved face that is characterized by being flat, although archaeological seals made of stone and in a cylindrical shape have also been found in archaeological sites. These are called pintaderas. These objects were used to capture the image they present on a ceramic surface, cloth or even the skin. Like other objects in Mesoamerica, seals were used from the Preclassic period to the Post-Classic period, and have been found in practically the entire Mesoamerican territory, which always makes dating difficult, unless they are associated with other objects that are easy to date.
