Ceramic Molds for Mixtec Gold: a New Lost-Wax Casting Technique from Prehispanic Mexico (original) (raw)

The advent of metallurgy in Mesoamerica followed millennia of non-metallic tool and ornament production, during which time sophisticated lithic, ceramic and other material traditions grew and changed throughout the region. In contrast, metal objects appear late in Mesoamerican history and metallurgy developed over a considerably shorter span of time, probably just several centuries. The first copper and alloyed copper objects were produced in West Mexico sometime between AD 600-650 (Hosler 1994) and copper was the predominant metal used throughout ancient Mesoamerica. While it appears that metal never fully replaced stone, bone or shell for either utilitarian or non-utilitarian purposes, metal objects had clearly been embraced by some Mesoamerican peoples during late precolumbian times (Bray 1971, 1977; Hosler 1994, 2004; Maldonado 2003; Paris 2008; Pendergast 1961; Simmons 2005; Simmons and Shugar 2008). Despite calls more than three decades ago (Bray 1971, 1977; Pendergast 1961) for more intensive study of this important technological innovation, metallurgy in ancient Mesoamerica is still not very well understood. Fortunately, this situation is changing. In the last decade a number of researchers have begun to address various social, economic and technological aspects of metallurgy in ancient Mesoamerica. This volume aims to highlight the work of a new generation of anthropologists and archaeologists engaged in this research. In this volume we present current approaches to the study of archaeometallurgy in Middle America as well as new perspectives on the significance of metallurgy in the lives of ancient Mesoamericans. The papers in the volume were presented in a Society for American Archaeology symposium held on March 28, 2008 in Vancouver, British Columbia entitled “Current Archaeometallurgical Research in Mesoamerica: New Approaches, Discoveries and Perspectives.” A central theme of this volume is exploration of the varied social contexts in which metallurgical traditions were organized in ancient Mesoamerica. Specifically, authors examine the ways metallurgy and metal objects were integrated into the multifaceted social and cultural realms of ancient Mesoamerican peoples. Using different theoretical, methodological and interdisciplinary perspectives, the papers here focus on archaeometallurgical investigations that are currently being conducted throughout Middle America. While perspectives may differ the work of each of the volume’s authors is firmly grounded in an anthropologically informed understanding of the past. Scientific technical studies can provide detailed and very useful information on metallurgical technologies, activities and use. Although discussions of the technological aspects of mining and metallurgy are necessary, particularly since there is still much we do not understand about metallurgical technologies in ancient Mesoamerica, such discussions are seen here as contributing to a larger discourse on the social significance of ancient Mesoamerican metallurgy. Information derived from such analyses is used by the authors of this volume as one method to enhance our understanding of the roles that metal objects played in the larger complex social milieu of ancient Mesoamerican life. A variety of alternative sources have been used to inform researchers’ perspectives on the ways metal objects were regarded and used in the multi-layered sacred and material worlds of ancient Mesoamericans. Data obtained from archaeological investigations, ethnohistoric sources, ethnographic studies, as well as materials science analyses, are brought to bear on questions related to the integration of metallurgy into local and regional economies, the sacred connotations of copper objects, metallurgy as specialized crafting, and the nature of mining, alloy technology and metal fabrication, among others. Several authors, including Elizabeth Paris, Carlos Peraza, Laura Richardson Aaron Shugar, Ed Schortman, Patricia Urban, Aaron Shugar, Scott Simmons and John Weeks, examine Postclassic and Spanish Colonial Period archaeological remains of ancient Maya metallurgy in Yucatan, Mexico, western Honduras, northern Belize and western Guatemala. Their studies explore the various contexts in which copper artifacts and production features are found as well as ancient production technologies and the social significance copper held in the lives of the people who made and used them. Hans Roskamp reviews 16th century ethnohistorical sources of information on the sacred origins of Tarascan metallurgy in the West Mexican state of Michoacán. Niklas Schulze presents data and interpretations derived from materials analyses, including geochemical composition and fabrication methods, of copper bells recovered from the Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Blanca Maldonado provides an overview of recent archaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical studies of ancient mining and metallurgy in West Mexico. Dorothy Hosler contributes a concluding chapter wherein she remarks on the contributions current research efforts have had toward illuminating the nature of metallurgical traditions in ancient Mesoamerican societies. The volume has 9 chapters, including an introduction to the volume. Seven of these chapters are from symposium participants and one is an invited paper by John Weeks. The final chapter of the volume is written by Dorothy Hosler, who could not attend the symposium. Her pioneering work in the field of Mesoamerican archaeometallurgy, which has now spanned over two decades, has informed and inspired the work of many of the symposium’s participants; her contribution is more synthetic in nature. A multinational group of scholars contribute to this volume. These researchers are from the United States (Dorothy Hosler, Elizabeth Paris, Laura Richardson, Ed Schortman, Scott Simmons, Patricia Urban and John Weeks), Canada (Aaron Shugar), Mexico (Blanca Maldonado and Carlos Peraza Lope), Germany (Niklas Shulze) and the Netherlands (Hans Roskamp). The volume will include papers from every nation in Mesoamerica, with the exception of El Salvador."