Towards A Concordance Of Trees In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Codices
This list focuses on trees in the codices, but also includes features related to the tree in the Yuta Tnoho, as the focus here is on a comparison of this specific complex glyph. The features included in this list then include some relevant contextual or surrounding signs, and signs which are part of or details of the Yuta Tnoho tree. (eg: to interpret the meaning of the dotted circles at the base of the tree).
| Page | Codex | Tree | Source | Notes |
| 2 | Añute | Tree | FAMSI | Red faced male figure (2 Monkey?) with serpent headress emerges from bifurcated tree connected by umbilical cord. Two snakes spiral around the tree with faces emerging from side branches. The tree has an eye. Flanked by two figures (10 Crocodile and 10 Flint?) grows from a podium on the earth marked with 3 glyphs. |
| 16(FAMSI) 21(BM) | Tonindeye | Tree, detail | FAMSI British Museum | An unusually tall tree with blood roots and nodules on the trunk similar to the main tree glyph on Yuta Tnoho p37. 1 Vulture sits on a throne at the base of the tree. Half way up the tree is a head or torso, named 1 eagle, with quetzal head-dress seated on a footed cushion. The same woman, named 3 Flint, as above the tree in Yuta Tnoho p37 is before the tree, facing downward beneath a large conch on her back, clutched by a large two faced eagle (owl?) man named 10 Lizard (see also the bird on p40 Yuta Tnoho and p45). Two black and grey figures are also present, Dear 4 and Death 4. The date is 7 Rabbit. 3 Flint appears earlier on the same page in a major event in the year 3 Flint - giving birth with the plumed serpent behind her. The plumed serpent and a clothed figure then enter into house mountain, with only the legs visible (see also p44 Vindobonenis, similar entrance into house mountain). |
| 15 | Tonindeye | Context | FAMSI | red person emerging from ball |
| 29 | Tonindeye | Detail | FAMSI | cocoa pot with plumed tortilla/ashes? |
| 1 | Fejervary Mayer | Tree | FAMSI | Resplendant full page of four trees radiating from a centre, likely reflecting cardinal directions. In the central square is a red figure with half-face and eye band, holding fasces of arrows in conquering position. Each tree is a different species, grows from a different base and each is capped by a bird. The one at the left is spined and bulges at the middle in a way similar to the Yuta Tnoho tree. |
| 17 | Fejervary Mayer | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | Possibly the woman who appears above the main tree in Yuta Tnoho, p37. She may be the same person because the snake matches the woman in Tonindeye p16(FAMSI) p21(BM), who appears to be the same woman as appears later on the same page near the tree and is drawn in exactly the same way as Yuta Tnoho p37. |
| 9-16 | Laud | Tree | FAMSI | Series of figures framed by different species of trees. |
| 19 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Figure cuts tree with an axe. Bird and splashes of blood emerge from the cut. The tree has flint eye (half white half red) and a snake. The base of the tree has blood like roots. |
| 19 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Smaller tree behind a (death) figure. Skulls on the ground at each side. The tree is approached by a large figure of Quetzalcoatl and between them is a bound figure cut open by a flint. |
| 21 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | The cut tree (see Borgia p19) with the top part falling away and the bird between them. The tree has blood roots. A red figure with yellow face bands and bird on his bag hold a large red staff. The snake has been bitten in half by a jaguar. A black figure with yellow facebands, holding a short black implement with feathers to the right. The two figures are each missing a foot and the ground shows footprints used on maps to indicate journey paths. |
| 21 | Borgia | Context | FAMSI | Ball court, two important figures overlook a bound and flayed man on the court run through with a dart. Note that the two figures each hold a ball and a 'yoke' dangles by ties from their wrists. Does this suggest a 'yoke' is actually a sling? |
| 30 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Blood rooted trees in 3 of four corners of a mandala. |
| 35 | Borgia | Context | FAMSI | A ball court fringed by red and white 'eyes' identified in an interSpanish text as stars (ie: a celestial ball court?). A large splayed figure with thorned arms and a large red circle at his middle is in the center of the court. The court has coloured quadrants, yellow, black/blue, red, brown/bone white. Two ball players flank the central figure, each raising a ball in one hand. One is damaged but the other holds a yoke shape, dangling by a string (Another codex features the stringed 'yoke' suggesting that perhaps the 'yoke' is in fact a sling. Other pre-Columbian images clearly indicate the recieved interpretation of the game as played with a large ball struck with hips and knees. In thousands of years it wouldn't be surprising if more than one game was developed - a high speed sling shot game, for which hoops such as those at Chichen Itza would have been relevant, and a gruelling heavyweight game with large balls without use of the hands, such as those popularly depicted and for which the hoops at Chichen Itza could not possibly have been used since such a large ball could not fit, and it's highly unlikely anyone could hit a ball from the ground through a hoop so small and so high, even on pain of death - something I say well aware it will be taken as a challenge by some.) |
| 40 | Borgia | Context | FAMSI | A ball court fringed in flint eyes or 'stars' (see p35). The court is all red. The red figure in the middle has a skull or death head. Two figures flank the central figure raising arms to it, one is red the other yellow. The two circles on each side of the court, where the hoops are at Chichen Itza are each peirced by two darts from both sides of the hoop, signifying victory. |
| 44 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Branching form similar to tree emerging from a central circle. |
| 45 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Branching tree behind a figure kneeling on 6 skulls with 6 banners raised behind the tree. |
| 49 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Two entwined vines or trees with blood roots and two banners behind with two decapitated birdpeople in front, the fountains of blood from their necks leading to a downward facing eagle's head. |
| 49 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Split tree with figure on his back at it's base. The figure has bird feet. An bird person with a long tongue emerges from the top. Sheild and darts emblazon the centre of the tree. |
| 49-53 | Borgia | Tree | FAMSI | Trees, variations on the two trees and bird people on p49, in the same position and size. The variations possibly relate to p1 Fejervary. |
| 3 | Dresdensis | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | A bulging tree with mouth like roots with eyes on each side and with five heiroglyphs vertically on the bulge. Midway up the tree at the top of the bulge a figure lies on it's back with hands and feet tied and belly split open from which the top of the tree grows. The tree has four branches, each with small leaves. A bird perches at the top, with probably the eye of the prone figure in it's beak, still connected by a long nerve to the face of the figure. |
| 69 | Dresdensis | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | A bulging bifurcated tree, with green stripes on one side and red on the other. The tree has spines. The roots are mouth like, similar to p3. A long nosed figure emerges from the top. |
| pp17-18 | Vaticanus 3773 | Tree | FAMSI | 4 trees each with someone cleaning to them, each with mouth like roots and each with a bird at the crest, except the last which has a jaguar. Each has another figure seperated by red lines above, and a series of glyphs runs beneath. |
| 26 | Vaticanus 3774 | Context | FAMSI | Someone has killed a large serpent in a river, stabbing it with a staff but has lost a foot and bleeds from the leg. Similar to lost feet p21 Borgia in which a snake has also been conquered, though there by a jaguar. |
| 40 | Vaticanus 3775 | Tree | FAMSI | White and yellow split tree with unusual base, possibly blood roots and mouth roots, or growing from a water mountain with a fish in it and some darts piercing the edge. |
| 89 | Vaticanus 3776 | Tree | FAMSI | Plant as background to a central figure. |
| 34 | Yuta Tnoho | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | A small glyph in a series, with a figure lying on his back, blood roots growing below and simple tree above. One of the blood roots is longer than the others, with a white tip, reminiscent Tlalocs rain mouth or the white word. Glyph is parallel to a person at the base of rain mountain / Tlaloc mountain, and follows a figure lying on a road that is red, blue and yellow marked with travel marks ("travelled the four corners of the world"?) |
| 34 | Vindobonensis | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | Two glyphs parallel, within a series of parallel glyphs. These two glyphs are each of a decapitated head, with the blood roots appearing to emerge as blood from the head, with a simple tree rising from the top of the head. One of the trees has spines. The preceding parallel glyphs are the lady who emerged from the main tree on p37 facing a naked man, yellow but with a red, white and black face. |
| 37 | Yuta Tnoho | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | The main tree glyph at a central point in the manuscript, discussed in detail here. |
| 37 | Yuta Tnoho | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | Two parallel glyphs of figures cut at the torsos, with blood roots emerging from them, with white tips, and with branches above. |
| 45 | Yuta Tnoho | Detail | FAMSI British Museum | The same feather ground as in the main tree on p37 has 3 features, a temple sprouting one red and two yellow strands, concentric circles fringed with small circles with a slice taken from the top, and a red head set into a cutting in the feather ground. Above is the date 13 rabbit and 2 deer. Later there are several instances of the dotted circle with sprouts emerging from each side, that appear twice at the base of the main glyph on p37. Firstly it appears in two glyphs joined by the same feathered ground as the main tree glyph. The first is on a mountain like a place name glyph. Then it appears over the feathered base, as it does on the main glyph, with an eagle standing on it. This is followed by two trees in parallel, each emerging from a mountain. One has a snake for the roots. The other is bulbous with blood roots and a central split similar to the main glyph on p37. |
| 46 | Yuta Tnoho | Tree | FAMSI British Museum | A small branching tree on a mountain overhang. |
| 50 | Yuta Tnoho | Tree/Detail/Context | FAMSI British Museum | Major precursors to the main tree glyph. Two figures with trees sprouting from their heads as parallel glyphs in series. Above them two black figures (one black one grey) named 7 eagle and 7 rain, each holding something elaborately decorated by a string in one hand and 4 quetzal feathers in the other. Above them are two striped figures, one marked with the same sprouts as the spotted circles in the main tree glyph, the other with 'earthquake' signs. Two black figures with feathered headwear are then seated followed by a red and a yellow pair. The two black figures then take instruction from someone with feathered headwear and regalia, followed by a single splayed black figure with a large oval over it's body. There are then two figures in full war regalia, including yoke shapes, though these appear to be worn on their fronts not as yokes. There is an elaborate date glyph with a single dot, possibly signifying year 1, and then the date 5 flint. Then there are two striped figures, though one is coloured half black, either a mistake, or signifying a (psychedelic) transformation. The pair with trees above them appear again with different face markings. The black pair, 7 eagle and 7 rain, again hold decorated things by a string. The two striped figures, elaborately dressed figures fly downwards with incense burners extended to a smaller version of the main tree on p37. This tree is marked with 7 rain and 9 reed, while the main tree seems to mark the two figures with 7 rain and 7 eagle. There is no head at the base but blood roots. The feather ground has the two circles sprouting on each side. The tree has the red core in its swollen trunk. On the left is the date 13 rabbit and on the right the date 3 flint. 6 rain and 7 lizard then appear. |
| 51 | Yuta Tnoho | Detail | FAMSI British Museum | Black figure with red hands and a tree emerging from their head, accompanied by a black figure with nodules similar to those on the main tree and with yellow hands. |
| 51 | Yuta Tnoho | Detail/Context | FAMSI British Museum | The naked couple, the yellow woman and the red man who emerge from the main tree face each other. |
| 52 | Yuta Tnoho | Detail | FAMSI British Museum | The feathered ground sprouts quetzal feathers with blood flowing from between them. |
