Field reportFrom Manuscripts to WitchcraftPapermaking and Dye Production in Mexico

One of these brujeros is don Alfonso Margarita García Téllez, a recognised maker of ritual manuscripts. Since the 1960s, he has created handmade books to communicate Otomi ritual knowledge to anthropologists — volumes now housed in collections ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the British Museum and the Bodleian Library. These manuscripts, often seen as a bridge between orality and writing, provide rare insight into the transmission of knowledge through ritual cutouts, information otherwise retained solely in spoken tradition. During their research, the CSMC team acquired several manuscripts from don Alfonso, one of which will be donated to the CSMC library.

The materials and processes documented during the fieldwork will be compared to other ethnographic paper samples, some generously provided by Marie van der Meeren, head conservator at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, along with historical specimens from German institutions. This growing collection of plant components, processed fibres, and historical papers will support an evolving database mapping the species used in Mexican papermaking across both recent decades and earlier centuries. The unique cultural landscape of colonial Mexico, the influence of European papermaking, the effects of 20th-century deforestation due to bark overharvesting, and the subsequent introduction of new papermaking plant species have all contributed to shifts in local traditions. These complexities complicate attempts to reconstruct the historical development of Mexican papermaking. The plant samples collected in the field have undergone preliminary identification by UNAM botanist Alejandra Quintanar, and the materials have already been analysed using synchrotron techniques during experiments at DESY in November 2025. Going forward, the synchrotron methods refined in this project will deepen our understanding of Mesoamerican papermaking history.

Małgorzata and Laura, with the support of anthropologist Marta Turok, also collected dye plants, dye additives, and dyed fibres — primarily in Oaxaca province. Many of these species and materials are referenced in pre-colonial and colonial manuscripts, such as cochineal insects, the tree vine zacatlaxcalli, and various mosses and lichens. Thanks to the hospitality of, among others, the Zapotec Bii Dauu community of dyers in Teotitlán del Valle, the researchers documented dye production methods and visited gardens, jointly established by the community and botanists from Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, where native Mexican dye plants are cultivated.

Overall, the field trip yielded over 100 samples of plants, paper, and dyes. These will enrich a database underpinning both synchrotron experiments and other analytical techniques used in the CSMC Artefact Lab, thereby advancing the study of materials in written heritage.