17 November 2023

08:45 – 09:30

Amphithéâtre Faure

François Gendron

François Gendron holds a PhD in archaeology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and is a member of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris (UMR-CNRS 7194). He is one of the few French specialists in the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mesoamerica. Among his outstanding discoveries are the location of the lost Olmec deposit of blue jade-jadeite (1996), the identification of the Mexican origin of the obsidian supporting two works by the Spanish master Estéban Murillo (2001) and, more recently, the identification of pre-Hispanic objects brought back by La Condamine’s expedition to the equator (1735-1743), which were considered lost. In Mexico, François Gendron takes part in major archaeological excavation programs, such as Sistema 7 Venado de Monte Alban in the central valleys of Oaxaca and Tamtoc in the Huasteca potosina. Working alone or in partnership, he is the author of numerous publications and books, both academic and for the general public. François Gendron is also an avid scuba diver, taking part in underwater excavations in France and the West Indies, work which has led to the identification of several 18th- and 19th-century French shipwrecks. Finally, François Gendron teaches at Sorbonne Université Lettres as part of the seminars organized by the Centre de Recherches sur l’Amérique Préhispanique.

Conference: What did the Aztecs believe the Sun’s energy symbolized?

In Aztec religion, Tonatiuh, the Sun, is more than a god, he’s a power beyond the frame, the very face of devouring energy. Tonatiuh’s mode of being is resolutely abstract, and his anthropomorphic representations are exceptional. The best-known is at the center of the Piedra del Sol monolith in Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology. At its center is a man’s face with blond hair, pulling out a tongue in the shape of a sacrificial knife. Tonatiuh, on the other hand, is better known for his avatars, his metaphorical doubles, his nahualli: the quauhtli eagle and the ocelotl jaguar. As energy dissipates into heat, it inexorably leads the Sun to its foretold end, and the only way to slow down the process is, for the Aztecs, to offer human victims in sacrifice. Warriors killed in battle or captives sacrificed by cardiectomy, women who died in childbirth, all became companions of the Sun. According to this concept, for the Aztecs and other peoples of Mesoamerica, war is sacred to the highest degree, and is entirely devoted to the Sun. It enables men to feed and water Tonatiuh with the hearts and blood of the sacrificed, thus prolonging his existence.