Mixtec Codex Tradition

Timeline

1. c. 1000–1150Mixteca Alta region · OaxacaAs Mixtec polities rose in the Postclassic period, scribes recorded dynastic lineages, wars, and marriages with pictorial signs on folding screen-books, creating a deerskin codex tradition distinct from Maya hieroglyphs that served political legitimation and ritual memory.
2. c. 1171–1180Mixtec polities of Oaxaca · OaxacaAround 1175, amid rivalry among the polities, the Mixtec codex tradition became standardized; combinations of place-name signs, biographical panels, and day signs formed continuous annal narratives, and codices became authoritative texts for chiefly succession and diplomatic alliances.
3. c. 1200–1521Oaxaca and Puebla · MexicoMasterpieces of the 13th–15th centuries, such as the Codex Vindobonensis and the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, brought the tradition to its peak; after the Spanish conquest some codices were collected by missionaries or lost, and the pictorial tradition transformed in a colonial context, influencing later ethnohistorical writing.