The value of ancient Mexican manuscripts in the study of the general development of writing / Alfred M. Tozzer.

  • Alfred Tozzer
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The value of ancient Mexican manuscripts in the study of the general development of writing / Alfred M. Tozzer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE STUDY OF THE GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING.1 [With 5 plates.] By Alfred M. Tozzer. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. The successive stages through which writing has passed have been fairly generally accepted and I do not intend at this time to add any- thing new in regard to this development of writing.2 Illustrative examples have usually been drawn from various sources in point of time and place. It is possible, however, to find in the Mexican manuscripts illustrations of all the steps in the early history of writing.3 Mexico is the only part of the new world where there are any appreciable data on the prehistoric life of a people outside of the monuments and objects found in connection with them. In Mexico and Central America we approach even if we do not, by any means, reach that fortunate situation in the old world where the documentary evidence of an ancient culture, a literature, is present as an important aid in the study of the life of a people. The manuscripts of Mexico and Central America have, for the most part, been neglected by all except the specialists in this field. These documents furnish important examples of primitive ideas of art and illustration together with minute details of ethnological interest. The Mexican manuscripts may be divided into two obvious classes, those written before the advent of the Spaniards at the beginning of the sixteenth century and those written during the early days of the Spanish occupation. Another classification might be based on the distinct localities where the manuscripts are supposed to have been written and the nationality of their authors. The codices of the 1 Reprinted by permission from the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for April, 1911, Worcester, Mass., published by the society. 2 For a short account of the development of writing see Clodd, 1907. 3 A portion of this paper was presented at the Toronto meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Dec. 28-31, 1908. A brief abstract is published in the American Journal of Archaeology (second series), vol. 13, pp. 65-66, 1909.