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

The article discusses the results and cultural-historical implications of a set of non-destructive chemical analyses recently carried out on some of the few extant pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican painted manuscripts. Such analyses, the first of their kind ever carried out on pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican codices, provide fresh and new information regarding the painting materials and techniques used by the ancient painters. The comparative perspective adopted in the discussion allows a first understanding of various indigenous technological traditions, whose detailed study has a great potential in terms of deepening our knowledge of the intellectual history of ancient Mesoamerica.