The xicalcoliuhqui is a common motif in Mesoamerican art. It looks like a number of steps connected to a spiral. It is used in everything from jewelry, pottery, and weaving, to architectural embellishment.
Writing about the wall panels of Mitla — the Zapotec sacred burial site in Oaxaca — Miguel Covarrubias expands:
There are over twenty varieties of patterns in these panels, all based upon a single motif, the stepped spiral: […] called xicalcoliuhqui (“decoration for gourds”), perhaps the most characteristic of Middle-American aboriginal art motifs, derived from the stylized head of the “Sky-Serpent,” and thus a symbol of Quetzalcoatl.
Bibliography
- Covarrubias, Miguel. Mexico South: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec New York: Knopf, 1954.