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Recycling and Reconfiguring: Metalwork of Maya Communities at Lamanai and Tipu, Belize

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Recycling and Reconfiguring: Metalwork of Maya Communities at Lamanai and Tipu, Belize Ancient Mesoamerica, 28 (2017), 157–181 Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 doi:10.1017/S0956536116000365 RECYCLING AND RECONFIGURING: METALWORK OF MAYA COMMUNITIES AT LAMANAI AND TIPU, BELIZE Bryan R. Cockrella and Scott E. Simmonsb aThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., New York, New York 10028 bUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington, Department of Anthropology, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403 Abstract Analysis of the two largest southern Maya lowland metal assemblages, from Lamanai (n = 187) and Tipu (n = 99), Belize reveals that Mesoamerican and European technologies were negotiated through the processes of recycling objects to create new forms and juxtaposing objects of different provenances for bodily ornamentation. Lamanai’s occupants began acquiring metal as early as a.d. 1100 and then engaged in on-site metallurgy as early as a.d. 1450, continuing into the early seventeenth century. Tipu was a nexus for metals between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. At both sites, metal objects were recovered primarily from human burials and midden deposits. A program of typological study and compositional analysis revealed forms shared between the sites but evidence of on-site metallurgy is supported only at Lamanai. Metals from these Maya communities, both centers of Spanish reducción, demonstrate that the southern Maya lowlands was by no means a “refuge” from Spanish aggression. INTRODUCTION understanding of Maya life in the southern lowlands at the time of Spanish contact and beyond (Graham 1991, 2004; Graham et al. In the Maya area, studies of material culture have often focused on 1989; Jones 1989, 1998; Pendergast 1981, 1985, 1986, 1993). objects that either were found in significant numbers or identified as More metal artifacts have been found during archaeological investi- temporally and culturally diagnostic. Studies of lithic and ceramic gations at Lamanai and Tipu than at any other sites in the southern artifacts and, to a lesser extent, those of shell and bone have held Maya lowlands and, with the exception of those from Mayapan and a prominent place in Maya studies for decades. In contrast, metal Chichen Itza, the metal assemblages at Lamanai and Tipu are the objects have generally not been as well studied as their lithic and largest presently known in the entire Maya area. Most of the ceramic counterparts, largely because metal objects are found in metal objects are made of copper or alloyed copper, although a far fewer quantities and at fewer sites than lithic or ceramic finds. small number of sheet gold (foil) pieces have been excavated at The culturally specific reasons for this deserve further investigation. Lamanai and many silver-copper rings have been found at Tipu. The production of metal objects eventually became part of a long Here we focus our discussion on the copper-based objects from and well-developed tradition in Mesoamerica. Its advent was as these sites, using the term “copper” for brevity’s sake, although early as a.d. 650 in west Mexico (Hosler 2014), and the earliest evi- most of the copper artifacts found at Lamanai and Tipu included dence of its practice in the Maya region may have been around a.d. concentrations of elements like arsenic and tin that suggest alloying 1000 at El Coyote in western Honduras (Urban et al. 2013). to form bronze. In other areas of the world, researchers have made great strides in The opportunity to reconcile artifact assemblages from two dis- addressing questions concerning the social, economic, and political tinct sites, united by their historical situation as centers of reducción contexts of metallurgy. This has not yet been possible in the Maya in the Spanish Colonial period, is especially notable (Table 1). area up until very recently (Simmons and Shugar 2013a). Here we Intersite artifact comparisons can facilitate new interpretive present the results of recently conducted research on Maya metal- threads and help to more critically evaluate the abundant documen- lurgy in the southern lowlands. The information comes from two tary evidence associated with such Colonial-period sites (Graham sites in Belize: Lamanai and Tipu. Lamanai is located in northern 2011:192–193) already fleshed out by Jones (1989). We follow Belize on the west bank of the New River Lagoon, which drains the lead of Emery (1999), who compared faunal assemblages north into the New River and eventually empties into the Bay of from Lamanai and Tipu to evaluate changes in consumption prac- Chetumal. Tipu is situated in western Belize on the west bank of tices at the two sites from roughly a.d. 1150 into the Spanish the Macal River, a tributary of the Belize River (Figure 1). Colonial period. Over the past several decades, both Belizean sites have been the Beyond its relevance to the understanding of historical changes focus of multi-disciplinary research that has helped to shape our in the southern Maya lowlands, the research presented in this paper represents the first comparative analytical study of ancient Maya E-mail correspondence to: [email protected] metals using multiple methods to date. In this paper we describe 157 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 02 Oct 2021 at 09:12:02, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536116000365 158 Cockrell and Simmons Figure 1. Map of the Maya region, with sites and geographic features mentioned in the text. Data extracted from Brown and Witschey (2016). Map by Walter Witschey. and compare the types of metal objects recovered archaeologically (Cockrell et al. 2013; Shugar 2005, 2008; Simmons and Shugar from both sites, the contexts in which those objects were found, 2013b). This archaeometric approach dovetails with studies of and the technological processes used in their production. metal artifacts from the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza (Cockrell Manufacturing technologies have been examined using data from et al. 2015; Contreras et al. 2007; Franco Velásquez and de on-going microstructural and chemical compositional analyses Grinberg 2002; Ortiz et al. 2016; Root in Lothrop 1952) and the Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 02 Oct 2021 at 09:12:02, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536116000365 The Metalwork of Maya Communities in Belize 159 Table 1. Approximate date ranges are given for relevant periods (after understanding of the roles metal played in the lives of the ancient Graham et al. 2013). Maya. After offering a brief overview of Maya metallurgy, we will discuss the types of metal artifacts that have been recovered Period Approximate Dates at Tipu and Lamanai, Belize. We also examine the objects’ archae- ological and chronological contexts, and offer some thoughts on the Belize Independence 1981– present Self-governing British Crown Colony 1964–1981 links between the southern Maya lowlands with other metal- British Crown Colony 1862–1964 producing areas of Mesoamerica, including west Mexico and British colonial 1660s–1862 Yucatan. Spanish colonial 1544–1648/1708* Terminal Postclassic/Contact 1450/1492–1544 Late Postclassic 1350–1450/1492 OVERVIEW OF MAYA METALWORK Middle Postclassic 1200/1250–1350 Pendergast (1962) provided the first comprehensive overview of – / Early Postclassic 1000 1200 1250 metal artifacts in Mesoamerica. This seminal work, based on his – Terminal Classic 800 1000 dissertation research (Pendergast 1960), introduced a typological Late Classic 600–800 classification scheme for a wide range of metal artifacts from over Middle Classic 450–600 Early Classic 250–450 125 sites in Mesoamerica, including the Maya area. Fifteen years “ Terminal Preclassic 100 b.c.–a.d. 250 later, Bray (1977) focused his discussion of Maya metalwork Late Preclassic 400–100 b.c. and its external connections” on metal artifacts found in the Maya Middle Preclassic 900–400 b.c. area proper, and the influences seen on Maya metalwork from Early Preclassic 1500–900 b.c. Mexico (outside Yucatan) and the Central American isthmus. Archaic before 1500 b.c. These two early studies provided useful comparanda for subsequent research on metals and metallurgy in ancient Mesoamerica. While *Spanish sovereignty was claimed until 1798. our understanding of the metallurgical traditions of some parts of Mesoamerica, particularly west Mexico, has grown considerably over the last several decades, comparatively less is known about metallurgical ceramics from Mayapan (Meanwell et al. 2013). It is ancient Maya metals and metallurgy (Cockrell et al. 2013; Hosler hoped that the research presented here may serve as a point of 1994, 2001, 2009; Maldonado 2008, 2013; Pollard 1987; encouragement for future comparative, technological studies of Roskamp and Rétiz 2013; Simmons and Shugar 2013a). The fol- metals in the world of the ancient Maya. lowing is a brief summary of metal artifacts in the Maya area, with a particular emphasis on more recent discoveries in this part of Mesoamerica. THE CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF MAYA Throughout the Maya area both utilitarian and ornamental METALS objects of copper, and to a much lesser extent gold and silver, As mentioned above, our understanding of Maya metals and the have been found (Simmons and Shugar 2013a). Most of the roles metal objects played in ancient Maya social, economic, and copper objects found at Maya sites are bells of various shapes and political life is still fairly limited at present. Metal objects only sizes that were used in ritual performances, as status ornaments, began to appear in some quantities in the Maya area very long and as a kind of currency at the time of Spanish contact after the Maya began producing stone tools, ceramic vessels, and (Simmons et al. 2009). Other copper ornaments, including finger shell and bone objects. rings, earrings, tweezers, small masks, and button-like ornaments Small numbers of metal artifacts have been recovered from also have been found.
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