Aztec divinatory calendar confirmed as authentic
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Researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) verified that the Tonalámatl Aubin, an Aztec divinatory manuscript, originated before European contact.
The study confirmed the manuscript’s creation near the end of the 15th century, using radiocarbon dating on the “amate” paper, bark from a ficus tree, made around 1424. Aztec people, also known as Mexicas, used amate for graphic works, clothing, and rituals, similar to the Maya civilisation.
The Tonalámatl Aubin is a codex originally composed of 20 leaves, though two are now missing. Each leaf measures 24 by 27 centimeters and forms a folding screen when connected. The manuscript details the 260-day Aztec religious calendar, the Tonalpohualli, and was used for divination. The calendar is organised into 20 thirteen-day periods called trecenas, with images of deities associated with each day and period painted on the leaves.
Because of its illustrations, the Tonalámatl Aubin was often compared to the Codex Borbonicus, another Aztec calendar with 36 leaves, and some believed it to be a copy. However, the recent analysis, and particularly the radiocarbon dating, establishes that the codex dates to the pre-colonial period.
The manuscript had been stolen from the National Library of France in 1982 by a Mexican lawyer who secured its return to Mexico, where it remains today, having been hidden during the colonial period to preserve indigenous beliefs.
