0851 by Meso & Central American Sound Library Project
This unprovenienced small aerophone dates to the Late Postclassic Period (A.D. 1300-1522) and was probably retrieved or looted in the Bassin of Mexico. A large number of similar sounding artifacts are kept in various museums around the globe. Their specific aeroacoustic mechanism differentiates them from the traditional whistle type (edge-tone excitator coupled to a resonator). Therefore, these sound-producing instruments do not match the conventional Western organological classification.
The sound-producing mechanism is similar to that of Classic Period Maya aerophones equipped with a goiter-shaped counter-pressure chamber (see 1970.001 and click on track #1 info button for an M-CT cross-section) even though the resulting timbre of the Mexica instrument is far less harmonic-based and generates a rather complex spectrum characterized by thick layers in the broadband signal.
The organological configuration of the skull-whistle-type noise generators is as follows:
- an apical airduct with a constricted outlet;
- a "chaos chamber", also referred to as "chamberduct" by Susane Rawcliffe (1992), that is, a space between the airduct outlet and a hemispherical counter-pressure chamber;
- a hemispherical (sometimes nearly spherical) chamber with a constricted inlet;
- an exit zone connected to the basal bell of the instrument (possibly a hybrid amplifier/resonator element).
Two of these sounding artifacts have been archaeologically retrieved from the hands of a sacrificial victim unearthed in the temple of Ehécatl (the Mexica wind numen)'s burial #7 in Tlatelolco. These aerophones were, therefore, probably meant to mimic the sound of the wind. Although the dry and sometimes harsh timbre generated by these instruments (depending on the playing technique used) has been improperly interpreted as a Mexica strategy to terrify victims or enemies, the intent to achieve an imitative process is more conceivable according to ethnohistorical sources and archaeological evidence.
The skull on the instrument's front side seems to portray Mictlantecuhtli, the Mexica underworld numen. The symbolic connection between Ehécatl (timbral features and archaeological context) and Mictlantecuhtli (iconography) had already been discussed by Adje Both in 2005 (https://www.digi-hub.de/viewer/fullscreen/1502881153738/45/). The German scholar stated that « (...) Both gods are depicted in the Codex Borgia as two parts of a whole at the moment they enter the underworld (...). Seler interpreted this depiction as a pair of opposites of death (Mictlantecuhtli) and life (Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl) (Seler 1904-1909, Vol. 2:168-169), a view that is still valid today (...) ». According to the Mexicas' worldview, the wind could be as life-bearing as it was destructive. For instance, the fifth level of the underworld, the “place of the obsidian wind” (Iztehecayan), was regarded as a place of deadly winds. Adje Both explained that « (Itzehecayan) (...) was filled with razor-sharp winds that carried obsidian blades and stones and to which one was exposed naked on the journey to the underworld if one could not protect oneself with the help of personal objects that were burned by the bereaved (Sahagün 1950-1982, Vol. 4, Book 3:41) ». Furthermore, Mictlanpachécatl was regarded as the personification of the terrestrial north wind (the northern direction was considered the entrance to the underworld).
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that these Mexica wind instruments did not always feature skull iconography. For example, the Royal Museums of Art and History (Brussels) hold a similar noise generator with a Tecolotl (Strigidae) head (accession # AAM 4591), a nocturnal bird also symbolically linked to death and the underworld realm. Please click on the track info button for a picture of AAM 4591.
Overall dimensions (height x width x depth): 5.1 x 3.07 x 5.30 (cm).
Credits
Sonic artifact experimentally played & recorded by J-F Brohée using a pair of Neumann KM183 & a Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity preamplifier. © KMKG-MRAH.
