Speech Scroll - Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Speech scrolls are found throughout Mesoamerica. One of the earliest examples of a Mesoamerican speech scroll was found on an Olmec ceramic cylinder seal dated to approximately 650 BC. Here two lines issue from a bird's mouth followed by glyphs proposed to be "3 Ajaw," a ruler's name.

The murals of the Classic era site of Teotihuacan are filled with speech scrolls, in particular the lively (and unexplained) tableaus found within the Tepantitla compound -- this mural, for example, shows no fewer than 20 speech scrolls.

In Mesoamerica, the speech-scroll is usually oriented with the longest outer edge upward, so that the central element (or "tongue") curves downward as it spirals. Some Mesoamerican speech scrolls are divided lengthwise with each side a different shade.

Glyphs or similar markings rarely appear on the Mesoamerican speech scroll, although "tabs"—small, triangular or square blocks—are sometimes seen along the outer edge. If the speech scroll represents a tongue, then the tabs may represent teeth, but their meaning or message, if any, is not known.

At times, speech scrolls are decorated with devices that describe the tone of the speech:

• In an engraving at the Maya site of Chichen Itza, a ruler's speech scroll takes the form of a serpent.
• A Spaniard's speech scroll in a 16th-century Aztec codex is decorated with feathers to denote "soft, smooth words".
• In another 16th century codex, the Selden Codex, two Mixtec rulers (photo above) are shown insulting two ambassadors through the use of "flint knife" icons attached to the speech scrolls.

As with many native traditions, use of the speech scroll died out in the decades following the Spanish Conquest.