The analysis of Prehispanic Central Mexican Historical Texts

Resumen

The great majority of the basic historical texts dealing with pre-Hispanic Central Mexico now exist only in the form of prose manuscripts that were first committed to writing within a century or so of the Spanish conquest. Although it is widely recognized that these are only secondary adaptations from earlier pictonal manuscripts and oral texts, there have been few systematic attempts to determine precisely what occurred when the earIy chroniclers undertook to transfer basic historical information from the one medium of expression to the other. An essential characteristic of the preconquest histories is that pictorial scenes and oral texts were combined together in the same narrative records. This system engaged eyes and ears at the same time, differing fundamentalIy in this respect from the linear and sequential exposition of writing. The preconquest histories could not, therefore, be transcribed without first substantially reorganizing and readapting their original content.