La memoria fiorita. Scrittura, memoria e materialita’ del colore nell’antica Mesoamerica

Abstract

The paper presents a cultural-historical interpretation of the data deriving from scientific analyses carried by the mobile laboratory MOLAB (SMAArt, University of Perugia-CNR) carried out on Mesoamerican manuscripts, providing hints on pictorial techniques and on the relationships between technological traditions and linguistic, stylistic and thematic issues. Comparing different data, we will explore the emic perception of the manuscripts’ materiality, linking the use of organic dyes obtained from flowers with indigenous notions about writing, chanting, brilliance and flowers’ colour.