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- The use of mirrors in Mesoamerican culture was associated with the idea that they served as portals to a realm that could be seen but not interacted with. Mirrors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica were fashioned from stone and served a number of uses, from the decorative to the divinatory. An ancient tradition among many Mesoamerican cultures was the practice of divination using the surface of a bowl of water as a mirror. At the time of the Spanish conquest this form of divination was still practiced among the Maya, Aztecs and Purépecha. In Mesoamerican art, mirrors are frequently associated with pools of liquid; this liquid was likely to have been water. Early mirrors were fashioned from single pieces of iron ore, polished to produce a highly reflective surface. By the Classic period, mosaic mirrors were being produced from a variety of ores, allowing for the construction of larger mirrors. Mosaic pyrite mirrors were crafted across large parts of Mesoamerica in the Classic period, particularly at Teotihuacan and throughout the Maya region. Pyrite degrades with time to leave little more than a stain on the mirror back by the time it is excavated. This has led to the frequent misidentification of pyrite mirror backs as paint palettes, painted discs or pot lids. By the Postclassic period obsidian mirrors became increasingly common. (en)
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- The back of a Toltec atlante at Tula, showing the sculpted back mirror (en)
- Obsidian Aztec mirror in the Museo de América in Madrid (en)
- A Toltec mirror used as a hearth on page 46 of the Codex Borgia (en)
- A burning mirror in a brazier as depicted on page 63 of the Codex Borgia. (en)
- The Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca as depicted in the Codex Borgia. At lower right one of his feet is replaced with a smoking mirror. (en)
- Tezcatlipoca's head-mirror from page 17 of the Codex Borgia, with the symbol atl, meaning "water" (en)
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- An "Atlante" at Tula.jpg (en)
- Aztec mirror, Museo de América, Madrid.jpg (en)
- Burning mirror from Codex Borgia.jpg (en)
- Codex Borgia p17 water-mirror.jpg (en)
- Codex Borgia p46 pot on burning mirror.jpg (en)
- Red Tezcatlipoca.jpg (en)
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- The use of mirrors in Mesoamerican culture was associated with the idea that they served as portals to a realm that could be seen but not interacted with. Mirrors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica were fashioned from stone and served a number of uses, from the decorative to the divinatory. An ancient tradition among many Mesoamerican cultures was the practice of divination using the surface of a bowl of water as a mirror. At the time of the Spanish conquest this form of divination was still practiced among the Maya, Aztecs and Purépecha. In Mesoamerican art, mirrors are frequently associated with pools of liquid; this liquid was likely to have been water. (en)
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- Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture (en)
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