The Colours of Indigenous Memory: Non-invasive Analyses of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Codices

The performance of non-invasive chemical analyses on various pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican codices to chemically characterize their painting materials has recently opened new venues in the research on the ancient Mesoamerican book painting tradition. In this paper a comparative effort is undertaken in order to shed light on the technological relationships linking codices pertaining to different scribal traditions. Scientific results are also contrasted with historical data contained in Colonial textual sources providing information on the paints used by ancient Mesoamerican painters and scribes.