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The Significance of Copper Bells in the Maya Lowlands from Their The significance of Copper bells in the Maya Lowlands On the cover: 12 bells unearthed at Lamanai, including complete, flattened and miscast specimens. From Simmons and Shugar 2013: 141 The significance of Copper bells in the Maya Lowlands - from their appearance in the Late Terminal Classic period to the current day - Arthur Heimann Master Thesis S2468077 Prof. Dr. P.A.I.H. Degryse Archaeology of the Americas Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology (1084TCTY-F-1920ARCH) Leiden, 16/12/2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.1. Subject of The Thesis ................................................................................................................... 6 1.2. Research Question........................................................................................................................ 7 2. MAYA SOCIETY ........................................................................................................................... 10 2.1. Maya Geography.......................................................................................................................... 10 2.2. Maya Chronology ........................................................................................................................ 13 2.2.1. Preclassic ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.2. Classic .................................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3. Terminal Classic: From the Classic to the Postclassic. ................................................................. 15 2.2.4. Postclassic. .......................................................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.5. Postcontact ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 3. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF MESOAMERICAN ARCHAEOMETALLURGY ................................................. 30 3.1. Central America Metallurgy ..................................................................................................... 30 3.2. Maya Metallurgy ......................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1. The lost-wax technique ................................................................................................................................ 37 3.2.2. Annealing and Open-mould Casting ...................................................................................................... 39 3.2.3. Summary of copper artefacts .................................................................................................................... 40 3.2.4. Bell’s form and style ....................................................................................................................................... 43 4. BELLS AS INSTRUMENTS ............................................................................................................. 46 4.1. Maya music and Performances: .............................................................................................. 46 4.2. The functions of Maya Performances: .................................................................................. 47 4.2.1. In the Classic Period ....................................................................................................................................... 48 4.2.2. Postclassic Continuity ................................................................................................................................... 52 4.2.3. Historic Maya dances and performances ............................................................................................ 53 4.3. Maya Bells distribution and attested usages: ..................................................................... 55 4.3.1. Mesoamerica Homogeneity ........................................................................................................................ 55 4.3.2. Postconquest and Contemporary usage of bells in dances and plays: ................................ 57 4.4. Bells as voices of the ancestors ............................................................................................... 60 4.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 61 5. ORNAMENTATION OR COINAGE? ................................................................................................ 63 5.1. Acquisition of Raw Materials................................................................................................... 63 5.2. The Production Process: Labour Needs and Arrangements ........................................... 67 5.2.1. Copper Workshops and context............................................................................................................... 67 5.2.2. Coppersmith status......................................................................................................................................... 76 5.2.3. Gender attribution .......................................................................................................................................... 77 5.3. Placement on the body .............................................................................................................. 78 5.4. Exchangeable Commodities ..................................................................................................... 79 5.4.1. Cacao ...................................................................................................................................................................... 80 5.4.2. Bells ........................................................................................................................................................................ 81 5.5. Ornament or Coinage: Conclusion ......................................................................................... 81 6. MISCAST AND FLATTENED BELLS: .............................................................................................. 84 7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE AVENUES........................................................................................... 87 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 93 FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................................................................... 106 1. INTRODUCTION Maya copper artefacts appeared in AD 900 and rapidly spread throughout the region. Notes from conquistadors, while narrating their journey, mentioned encounters with Maya carrying crucibles and copper artefacts on their boats (Columbus 1959 in Paris 2008: 47). Multiple excavations in the lowlands have yielded copper-alloyed artefacts. Within those metallic assemblages, bells are the most abundant objects1. Archaeological excavations, along with conquistador’s reports and ethnolinguistic analyses revealed several functions attributable to those bells. Firstly, a translation from the Cordemex Dictionary of the terms “cheh ok” and “cheh ok mascab” as “bells that are used by dancers” (Vásquez 1980: 87 in Simmons and Shugar 2013: 152) has led researchers to consider that bells may have been most prominently used as instruments in Maya performances (Simmons and Shugar 2013; Hosler 1995 and Graham 2004). Secondly, seventeenth-century conquistador, Diego Lopez de Cogolluda referred to those bells as money, explaining that “the money that they [Maya] used was small bells and jingle bells of copper, that had value, according to their size” (1688 in Simmons and Shugar 2013: 151; Paris 2008: 47), thereby attributing an economic function to those items. Lastly, scholars believe that bells may also have been used and worn as ornaments. They based their argument on the link that copper had with the Sun as its excrement2 (Knowles 1984: 462 in Scott E. Simmons and Aaron N. Shugar 2013: 151; Speal 2014: 97). Despite these acknowledged multiple functions, a full-fledged study on those bells has yet to be probed. 1 For instance, 482 of the 559 metallic objects unearthed at Mayapán are bells (Paris 2018: 6). They also represent 42 per cent of Lamanai’s copper assemblage (Simmons et al., 2009: Table 1). 2 This coincides with Hosler’s research (1994, 1995) on Mexican metallurgy, whose work demonstrated that some metallic colours and sounds were perceived as divine. This link will be touched upon in the chapter dedicated to Maya’s Ornamentation as it most certainly played a decisive role in the adoption of bells as status markers. 5 1.1. Subject of The Thesis This thesis initially wanted to test whether copper was integrated as a commodity complex in the Postclassic Mesoamerican World System. Research examining Mesoamerican commodities and their economic significance was first initiated by Blanton, Fargher, and Espinosa, who applied "a goods-based approach
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