The Significance of Copper Bells in the Maya Lowlands from Their

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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.

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 to world-systems." They looked at the economic dimensions, dynamics, and contexts of five resources: obsidian, salt, cacao, cotton cloth, and pottery (Berdan 2016: 132). Such systems study “the complexity of the labor, the requirement to obtain the resources, the time allocation bottlenecks, the relationships between the good and dynamic distribution systems, the good’s impact on secondary industries or markets, and broader impacts of increased production of the commodity” (Berdan 2016: 132). Since my interest lies in the Maya culture, I wanted to take a similar approach and establish the circulation and manufacture of copper in the region. However, the scarcity of archaeometallurgical remains complicates this endeavour. Experimental archaeology is, indeed, fundamental to determine the labour, time and resources invested. Unfortunately, our current understanding is not yet sufficient to realise a full attempt at reconstructing their chaînes opératoires. Consequently, this study will rather focus on the significance that bells held, in a hope to shed light on the impact that copper had on Maya. The first two chapters will be, respectively, dedicated to reviewing Maya History and to summarising our current knowledge on Mesoamerican metallurgy. A focus will be placed on Maya bells production in order to acknowledge the complexity and requirements that need to be met to cast an object. The other chapters will analyse the various functions of bells.

This method will allow us to discuss the likeliness of adopting bells as instruments, money and ornaments in a pragmatic framework. Lastly, the final page will be dedicated to the remaining questions and recommendations for further research.

1.2. Research Question

The research question is the fundamental ground used to conduct research. It encompasses various sub-questions that will be discussed in their respective chapters. The research question is:

Can we assess copper bell’s significance in the Maya lowlands from their appearance in the Terminal Classic to their current uses?

The sub-questions are:

1. Do we have a general understanding of their casting process?

Maya metallurgy is still investigated, and numerous questions remain. The lack of complete melting and dewaxing furnaces in the region complicates any attempt at replicating their technique3. However, at Lamanai, Mayapán and El Coyote, evidence of on-site metallurgy indicate that Maya produced their artefacts themselves, and several casting techniques have been coined by the teams excavating these cities4.

3 Kiln fragments have been found at El Coyote. Efforts at reconstructing the furnace have been probed, and a hypothesis on the furnace’s aspect has been formulated. Nevertheless, no copper artefact has been found so far, forbidding scholars to determine whether the tradition that emerged in Honduras is the same as the lowland tradition from Belize and the Yucatán peninsula. As pointed by Paris in her article reflecting on the World System Economy of Mayapán, regions close to ore sources will most likely develop metallurgy first (2008: 45). Based on this remark, Honduras might be the country where Maya metallurgy emerged or the birthplace of an entirely different tradition. This area marks the cultural frontier of Mesoamerica, a porous border with visible South American influences (Urban et al. 2013: 79). This further complicates the identification of this furnace as a product of Maya tradition. The currently available information on this furnace will still be reviewed on the section dedicated to metallurgy, but the reader must be cautious before considering the metallurgical centre of El Coyote Maya.

4 More copper artefacts have been excavated at Lamanai than in any other sites in the southern lowlands and is only rivalled by Mayapán and Chichén Itzá, located in the northern lowlands. Even though the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza has yielded important quantities of copper and several bells,

Bells were produced using the lost-wax technique5. Consequently, this process will be mainly studied. Nevertheless, a summary of the various copper objects will still be presented, along with the casting method for two-dimensional objects.

2. Were bells used as instruments and if so, did they hold a specific function?

Next, the function of bells as instruments will be harder to establish since the author’s knowledge of archaeomusicology is somewhat limited. Moreover, analyses on Maya music usually only define Classic Maya musicality and their instruments6. This poses an issue since bells appeared and spread in the Late Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic (Simmons 2013, 2017). Consequently, this thesis will not be an attempt at analysing bell’s rhythm and timbre. It will instead examine the significance of dancing and the integration of bells in performances. Establishing, this way, whether bells were exclusively used as instruments, or if they held any symbolic importance.

3. Were bells worn as ornaments and if so, why were they introduced? 4. Is the viewing of bells as money an accurate transcription of their use? Or is this the result of European glasses put on by conquistadores observing a culture unknown to them?

These two questions will be discussed in the same section since they overlap each other. Indeed, to answer any of the two, a focus on the context of the finding is mandatory. Bells have been found in various sites in the lowlands. However, little information is available on them since they are usually simply mentioned. Full-fledged metallurgical projects have only

it will not be discussed in this thesis since the metallurgy over there appear to be from a different tradition.

5 This technique has been attested throughout the world; therefore, comparing the techniques developed in certain regions with the archaeological remains found in the Maya lowlands should reveal the complexity and cost of casting bells as well as the general process.

6 See for instance, the book edited by Zalaquett, Nájera and Sotelo in 2014: Entramados sonoros de tradición mesoamericana. Identidades, imágenes y contextos been undertaken at Mayapán, Lamanai7 and El Coyote. Consequently, the other sites will be simply listed, and the provenance of their bells noted. Afterwards, the significance of cacao beans and proven usage as a form of currency will be compared with the knowledge gained on bells. This comparative approach should determine the likeliness of bell’s adoption as money. Lastly, the lost-wax technique’s complexity will be decisive in establishing whether bells could have been produced in sufficient quantity to postulate their economic function.

This thesis will try to incorporate studies from a wide variety of discipline ranging from ethnology, fieldwork reports, archaeomusicology and metallurgy. The information used for this thesis originates from publications and literature on the subject pinpointed. I did not partake in those excavations, nor did I study those objects first-hand.

7 Tipu, in Northern Belize, was studied alongside Lamanai and the authors chose to discuss its metallurgical assemblage as a part of Lamanai own assemblage. Consequently, this town cannot be addressed individually but will be referred to at several occasions.

2. MAYA SOCIETY

This section will tackle the Postclassic Maya social complexity in the lowlands. The geographical repartition of the Maya, along with their history, will be looked at. Their history is split into four major periods; Preclassic/ Formative (ca. 2000 B.C.-A.D. 250), Classic (A.D. 250-900), Postclassic (A.D. 900-1450) and Postcontact (Pierce 2016, 61). Those phases have themselves been further divided into sub-periods and vary geographically; the transition that led the Classic to the Postclassic is called “Terminal Classic” (A.D. 750-1000)8 and will be of interest in the discussion. Indeed, bells started to be cast at this period and became increasingly present in assemblages during the Postclassic. The differences that might have emerged between the Classic and Postclassic are, therefore, critical elements to establishing bell’s adoption as a valued commodity. Moreover, extra-regional interactions, mandatory to obtain copper9 and well-developed at the time of the conquest, have likely begun during these two centuries. Afterwards, the social and economic connectedness of the Postclassic era will be discussed under the World System Model, with regards to its impact on the Maya Region. Lastly, Alexander, who discusses the changes brought by the Spanish Conquest, advocates for a subdivision in two periods; starting from 1450 to 1750 (2012: 4) and from 1750 to our days (2012: 7).

2.1. Maya Geography

The Maya area encompasses a territory of 324,000 km2 composed of numerous biomes. It covers a region from the lower Lempa River in El Salvador to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico, englobing the Yucatan Peninsula, the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco, the countries of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador. This territory was divided into subsections by archaeologists; the Pacific Coastal Plains (a region fertilised by a volcano), the lowlands (the territory situated between sea level and 1000m) and the highlands (the area above one thousand metres with mountains as high as 4,220 m).

8 Maya history is a continuum. There are no specific dates to which the end of a period can be attributed. Therefore, having two periods that overlap each other is not abnormal.

9 The Maya lowlands lack any copper ore source and had to import it (Simmons and Shugar 2012: 4). The northern and southern lowlands both present a tropical climate. Notwithstanding, despite similar weather, their vegetation differs. Two elements fostered these differences; firstly, the southern part has watercourses flowing over, while in the northern lowlands, water is almost exclusively underground, being occasionally accessible through large holes attaining the surface (Reyes-Foster 2014: 4711). Secondly, while the southern region is characterised by a dense vegetation nourished by heavy rain (around 2000-3000 mm each year), the northern lowlands present a flora of low bush and scrub planted in limestone (Reyes-Foster 2014: 4713).

Fig.2: Map of the region with the sites discussed in this thesis

2.2. Maya Chronology

2.2.1. Preclassic

This era can itself be separated into four subperiods; the early, middle, late and terminal Preclassic. The Early Preclassic (2000BC-1000BC) saw the emergence of agricultural villages, following the shift from a hunter-gatherer to a sedentary lifestyle. In the same time, Olmecs developed in nearby Tabasco and traded with highlands and Petén Maya.

Sedentary groups employing ceramics started to settle in the lowlands during the middle period (1000-400 BC). Excavation at Seibal reached the first layer of occupation (AD 1000). This survey showed that Seibal, among other sites in the area including Mirador, San Isidro, Ocozocoautla, Chiapa de Corzo 10 shared standardized spatial plans; their ceremonial structures all consist of E-Group complexes, and large platforms placed along the north-south axis of the towns (Inotomata et al. 2013: 470). These structures were used as astronomical observatories and kept their significance throughout Maya history (Freidel et al. 2017). Social differentiation can be first attested; various prestige goods such as obsidian mirrors and jade mosaics started to be traded and imported, along with the first carving of regal portraits on stone stelae. Extensive research has yet to be realised, but current discussions debate on the influence that the Olmec culture had on these nascent communities; some view the Olmec has a mother culture who profoundly influenced the Maya, while others argue for limited contact (Doyle 2017).

During the Late Preclassic (400BC-100AD), settlements expanded, stonework and stucco friezes became increasingly present, and two rival cities appeared; Kaminaljuyu in the highlands and El Mirador in the lowlands (Doyle 2017; Inomata et al. 2014).

The Terminal Preclassic (100-250AD) yields the first evidence of later meaningful rituals such as bloodlettings to inaugurate new complexes and sacrifices. The end of this period is marked by the abandonment of major urban settlements such as Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador (Doyle 2017).

10 Excepting Seibal, the sites mentioned in this page are situated in the Tabasco department, and are not visible on the map due to their western location.

2.2.2. Classic

Recent studies show that the Classic lowlands gave birth to densely populated towns depended on labour forces from urban centres and the countryside. The ruling elites, the kings and their relative, were considered divine and acted as intermediaries between gods and humans (Pierce 2016: 26). Among their responsibilities, nobles were tasked with allowing ‘rebirth’ and communication with the dead. Moreover, they also invoked and personified deities, and represented the central axis of the cosmos (Freidel 2012:192 in Pierce 2016: 26). Based on these roles, Freidel et al. (1993) discern a shamanistic nature in the cult of divine kingship, where forebears were key actors. Consequently, validating their lineage was central to anyone trying to legitimate their rule. Furthermore, alongside their family tree, a plethora of elements and objects were used to justify their position as elites; such resources held cosmological and religious significance that were shared throughout Mesoamerica by commoners and elites alike. Demarest (1992: 147) asserted that “religion itself was a principal source, perhaps the source, of the power of Maya rulers”. Rulers, at sites such as Tikal and Seibal, were represented as both the centralised authority and as the supreme religious leader, and at times merged ‘their own priestly offices with the functions of gods themselves” (Reilly 2012: 772 in Pierce 2016: 26). Ancestor worship became “central to all aspects of Maya ideology in all periods and at all levels of society”, and offerings were either associated with ancestors or god veneration (Demarest 2013: 375). Rulers and nobles gained significant power from their function as a direct line to the ancestors (Demarest 2013: 375). It, thus, became compulsory to celebrate one own lineage, and integrate ancestors into current life (Rice 2013:704). To do so and perpetuate the past, Maya frequently employed textual inscriptions —on stelae, lintels, polychrome pottery, among others— (Pierce 2016: 27).

These texts were often found in the vicinity of monumental pyramidal temples, which were structures used as funerary palaces. Wendy Ashmore (1989: 272 in Pierce 2016: 27) has explained that Classic Maya rulers were “using principles of site planning based in cosmology as a means to profess and reinforce their membership in the political elite, affiliating symbolically with leaders of the Classic Maya establishment by replicating their surroundings”. Monumental complexes represented a ruler’s accession and conquests, as visible by the text and iconography found on many of these structures (Andres 2005: 34; Demarest 1992; Freidel and Schele 1988). As Pierce states (2016: 27) ‘this venue of temples, plazas, and palaces served as a setting for elite political ritual, bolstering political power and confirming elite status’.

This period is seen as a golden age that was disrupted by the collapse that occurred in the ninth and tenth centuries.

2.2.3. Terminal Classic: From the Classic to the Postclassic.

A General Overview

By the ninth century, profound changes drastically modified Maya landscapes and routine. Maya no longer built colossal constructions in most cities, and almost entirely ceased to inscribe texts on stone monuments. Moreover, the manufacture and distribution of many status items and ritual goods disappeared (Sharer and Traxler 2006: 499). Although these changes were felt throughout Mesoamerica, some regions were more affected; most notably the central and southern lowlands. These two areas saw the high point of power struggles. Wars had already broken out by the beginning of the eighth century and, within a century, capitals were deserted. Signs of commoners having occupied noble habitations before departing are visible in the archaeological record, and by the ninth century, the southern lowlands were devoid of its inhabitants11. Although scholars have searched for a prime factor that would have inexorability led to the decline of civilisation and a fall of authority, this immense change is still investigated, and its causes hotly debated. Evidence of decreased in agricultural yields caused by deforestation and frequent droughts that severely eroded the soil, have been found and could have caused the collapse (Sharer and Traxler 2006: 499-513). Political processes such as migration, war, changes in trade are also considered factors in the decline (Demarest et al. 2004: 546–548). Aimers compiled in a table all the possible causes of the collapse in her article (2007: 33) and showed the intricacies of the debate12. The model applied to explain this crisis can be classified under the umbrella of push-pull models. In push models, scholars look for the negative factors leading to the decision of migrating, while pull models look for the positives that attract someone and lead them to join a new territory. In this framework, archaeologists tend to overemphasise the role played by ecological disasters and

11 Sharer and Traxler have estimated than 90 per cent of the inhabitant of central and southern lowlands either died or fled the region (2006: 525).

12 Table in pages 22-24

15 economic crisis, and consequently, tend to simplify the socio-ideological and political reasons. Besides, even though the decision to migrate is taken by the authorities, the actual migration is dependent on a household level. Furthermore, as touched upon above, the Maya region was the theatre of a plethora of cultures, and not all the areas suffered the same fate. For instance, in Belize, the northern lowlands, and the Mopan Valley, social and cultural life changed gradually, with some cities even developing. Thus, to have a better understanding of this period, presenting each region that surrounds the lowlands is necessary.

The North-western edge

This area encompasses the Gulf Coast of Tabasco, Campeche and the territory from the Usumacinta River to the Pasion region13. Mexican traits have been identified on ceramics and other artefacts (e.g., Andrews IV 1943; Berlin 1956; Drucker 1943a, b; Hellmuth 1967; Proskouriakoff 1951 in Aimers 2007: 334). This attested trade led scholars to assert that Teotihuacan’s collapse may have stirred up conflicts and competition for resources between groups who had exchanged with Teotihuacán in the past (Sabloff and Rathje 1975 in Aimers 2007: 334). These conflicts led to the decline of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilán in the ninth century. Fine-paste pottery, originating from the Veracruz–Tabasco territory (Allen 2011: 131), had been produced on-site since the Preclassic and eventually replaced the Late Classic polychromes of Campeche and Petén across the lowlands (Forsyth 2005). This represents ‘a critical shift in spheres of interaction away from Central Petén and toward the western lowlands and periphery’ (Foias and Bishop 2005: 37).

The Petén region

Sharer and Traxler define the Petén Region has a gradual transition between the northern and southern lowlands (Reyes-Foster 2014: 4712). By A.D. 830–850, the decline in population had already begun in urban sectors such as Tikal (Valdés and Fahsen 2004). Moreover, newly built or recently resettled towns did not develop enough and collapsed rapidly.

13 Palenque, Piedras Negras, Yaxchilán, and Bonampak are some of the best-known sites there. These towns were either declining or already deserted in the ninth century.

For instance, ‘El Mirador’ was first founded in the 6th century BCE and inhabited until the first century A.D. This town was, then, resettled in the ninth century14 but his occupation did not last as it was either deserted at the end of the same century or by A.D. 1000. Although severely touched, the entire region did not collapse at once. Laporte (2004), who studied 26 polities in the Mopán Valley, has indeed demonstrated that each site reacted differently to the collapse, with some flourishing. Besides, Puuc Maya immigrated in the region and brought their culture (Andrews and Robles 1985: 66). The valley developed, and northern influences were then gradually absorbed and are visible in cities that survived the collapse. The Mopán valley eventually started to decline in the twelfth century, likely due to Itza’s centralisation and pressure (Aimers 2007: 337). Lastly, as mentioned above, an increasing proportion of Mexican fine wares is attested in the Petén. Adams (1973:140 in Allen 2011: 132), who excavated at Altar de Sacrificios, only found a handful of fine paste wares in layers dated to the latter half of the ninth century but saw an increased abundance of this type during the Jimba Period (A.D. 909-948).

Belize

Both permanence, such as in Lamanai and Kakabish (Haines 2014) and collapses, such as in Altun Ha and La Milpa (Pendergast 1982, 1992; Hammond and Tourtellot: 2004) are attested in northern Belize. The prosperity of some sites might be due to their strategic location (Aimers 2007: 339). They had new trade openings with the Yucatán peninsula (Masson and Mock 2004), while others (e.g., La Milpa) rapidly declined in the Terminal Classic (Hammond and Tourtellot 2004). Masson’s studies of Laguna de On and Caye Coco indicates that the greater regional interaction led to easier access to luxury resources and items to both commoners and elites alike (Masson 2000).

Since Lamanai, is among the three towns where on-site casting is attested in the lowlands, decrypting the changes that occurred in the Late Terminal might hold valuable information.

14 The presence of fine paste ceramic, introduced in the region in A.D 830 and found throughout at El Mirador, offers a terminus post quem (Allen 2011: 131).

LAMANAI

The site of Lamanai, situated on the bank of the New River Lagoon, never collapsed during the transition and even flourished (Pierce 2016: 2). This polity is a testimony of the complexity of the Maya collapse. Indeed, although located less than 50 kilometres away of Colham, Lamanai did not decline and was much less impacted by the process occurring throughout the region.

Fig. 3: Location of Lamanai

In 1985, Pendergast explained that the transition from the Classic to the Postclassic is hardly noticeable at Lamanai. Going further, he states that the visual modifications are a result of innovation and traditions (1985: 91-92). Notwithstanding, monumental constructions still appear to have slackened in the Late Classic period (Chase and Rice 1985:86), and the economic centre has shifted to the southern part15 (Chase and Rice 1985: 87). Instead of constructing new edifices, several pre-existing temple-pyramids were modified16. Inscriptions disappeared, and carved monuments were sometimes destroyed or reused in Postclassic

15 Where the material assemblage shows ties with Mayapán (Chase and Rice 1985: 88)

16 Maintaining and renovating Classic temple-pyramids led scholars to see it as sign of religious perpetuity. construction. The lagoon was urbanised, suggesting the increasing importance of this site as a trade centre. The transformation of the Ottawa Palace Group required the most effort; it likely began in the Late Classic and continued into the Terminal Classic Period. This regal edifice was renovated and modified. Its changes include the destruction of a stucco frieze, representing rulership, and the backfilling of an associated patio (Pierce 2016: 248). To accomplish this, roughly 21,000 metric tons of boulders were required (Pendergast 1985: 232). At the top of the palace, the initial plaza had been enlarged by levelling the preceding structures, and edifices made of perishable materials were erected on the newly expanded plaza. The use of such materials is remarkable and must have been in stark contrast with the other buildings located in the city centre, which typically utilised stone (Pierce 2016: 314). This extensive modification reveals that the socio-political situation in Late/Terminal Classic Lamanai was still stable enough to provide resources and labour for major reconstructions (Pierce 2016: 314). Nonetheless, modifying the Ottawa Palace is certainly a proof of ideological change, with some areas previously reserved for ruler ritual removed or blocked (Pierce 2016: 314). As Pierce expresses it; “The public aspects of divine performance requirements of the ruler have diminished or disappeared” (2016: 315). Lastly, the ceramic assemblage remained somewhat identical, but the number of external resources augmented. According to Aimers, this suggests stronger ties with the Mesoamerican world system (2007: 349). Pierce agrees and states that this transitional period views a growth in interregional interaction that led to “increased trade, heightened warfare, migrations, and the spread of what is seen as a new religion in the cult of Quetzalcoatl” (2016: 7). Those interactions17 might have provoked a fundamental ideological change at Lamanai, triggering their inhabitants to reject the Divine Kingship.

17 Determining exactly how cultural exchange influenced Lamanai is rather challenging. The architectural style shows influence from Petén; however, a handful of elements support a northern influence such as the vertical slab risers at the Ottawa Complex, a collonated building east of Plaza N10[2] and a circular structure (Pierce 2016: 313). Lastly, Late Classic architectural similarities to Uxmal where noticed by Graham (2004: 236), suggesting that the site’s long-distance contacts began before the collapse.

The Yucatán peninsula

Many sites in the northern lowlands were flourishing while the south was declining (Ball 1994; Carmean et al. 2004; Freidel 1981; Smyth et al. 1998: 254; Suhler et al. 2004 in Aimers 2007: 338). Puuc centres such as Uxmal and Sayil developed and adopted a joint government, a multepal, similar to Mayapán and, possibly, Lamanai’s systems. (Schele and Mathews 1998: 240; Wren and Schmidt 1991 in Aimers 2007, Paris 2013, Pierce 2016). Nevertheless, the fortification of various towns in the ninth and tenth century points to an increase in competition and warfare (Dahlin 2000; Webster 1978 in Aimers 2007). Puuc settlements eventually started to decline in the following century (Andrews and Robles 1985: 66) and migrated to the Petén zone.

The main occupation of Chichén Itzá spans from the Terminal Classic to its abandonment in either A.D. 1100 (Cobos 2004) or A.D. 1250 (Suhler et al. 2004). This second hypothesis presupposes longer domination on the peninsula, and therefore, a greater influence on the region18. This city was multicultural, with depictions of Maya and Mexican elites19. Scholars argue that this city partook in a deepened Mesoamerican interaction sphere (Aimers 2007; Paris 2008) and that the intensified connectedness between the Yucatan peninsula and the rest of Mesoamerica is partly tributary to Chichén Itzá’s rose to prominence.

North-western Honduras

Urban and her team have excavated the south of El Coyote. The discovery of a fragmented kiln along with crushed slags led the excavators to consider this area as the metallurgic centre of the town. This site was founded in the middle Preclassic (1000-400) and emerged as a regional economic and politic centre during the Late Classic. El Coyote remained relevant throughout the Terminal Classic and maintained its prominence until the Early Postclassic (AD. 1000-1300). El Coyote seems to have changed its social structure during the Terminal Classic as visible by the abandonment of the late Classic monumental centre where several edifices were ‘stripped of their ashlar facing stones’ (Wells 2003b). Those blocks were directly reused to build a new complex. This new structure differs from its predecessor since the Late Classic complex, enclosed and not easily accessible, was replaced by an open plaza

18 Itza’s culture stretched as far as Lamanai (Pendergast 1990)

19 Chase suggests that those panels are signs of cooperation (1985b: 105). with several edifices. Such structures include residential buildings, a ball court and other unidentified monuments. McFarlane explains that ‘this new setting favoured public displays and gathering and reflect a movement to a more corporate style of governance with an incipient mercantile economy’ (2005: 193–199). Fine paste wares are also introduced there, including local versions of the fine pastes seen elsewhere.

Conclusion:

The presence of fine paste wares across the lowlands is undoubtedly due to elite interaction (A. Chase and D. Chase 2004, 2005). In this framework, the reduction in polychrome vessels in favour of Mexican wares is proof of a Mexicanization of the elites. According to Aimers, this ‘reinforces the idea that the collapse was primarily an elite phenomenon and that the Late Classic and the Terminal Classic were together an era of elite interdependency and peer-polity interaction around the lowlands’ (2007: 335). The collapse, itself, was caused by a plethora of phenomena occurring at diverse locations and at different rates; this event was not homogeneous, and each region reacted differently. At Zacpetén, obsidians, a high-status good, became increasingly accessible, and its procurement was facilitated to all social classes (Schwarz 2013: 253). This suggests the emergence of a heterarchical system. Indeed, following the collapse, elites could no longer monopolise or regulate tool acquisition, and commoners gained access to previously restricted sphere of exchange. Nevertheless, this easier procurement seems to diminish in Late Postclassic/Early Historic Zacpetén, and political control and centralisation re-emerged (Schwarz 2013: 253). As explained by Schwarz, greater post-collapse accessibility of valued items has analogies in other societies. Conlee, who studied the consequences of the Wari collapse (2006: 111), remarked that peasant communities gained access to the highly desired Spondylus shells outside the political hierarchy; they obtained and exploited this resource on their own after the fall of centralised authority.

Copper, therefore, emerge in a transitional phase where the Divine Kingship ideology was diminishing, along with the increased accessibility to previously reserved goods to both the lower and upper classes. Simultaneity, various markers of elite culture such as carved stelae and hieroglyphic polychromes reduced, and forms of joint government appeared in certain polities. Lastly, as stated above, the import of exotic resources increased during this period.

CAUSES OF THE DEMISE, IN AIMERS 2007

ENVIRONMENTAL

Soil erosion/loss of fertility/change to untillable savanna (Atran 1993; Beach et al. 2006; Cooke 1931; Emery et al. 2000; Harrison 1977; Jacob 1992, 1996; Morley and Brainerd 1956; Paine and Freter 1996; Pohl 1990; D. Rice 1978, 1996; Wingard 1992; Wiseman 1985; Wright and White 1996)

Climate change/drought (Broecker 1995; Chepstowlusty 1996; Dahlin 1983, 1987, 2000, 2002; Dunning 1992; Folan 1981; Folan et al. 1983; Gill 1994, 2000; Gunn and Adams 1981; Gunn et al. 1995, 2002; Haug et al. 2003; Hodell et al. 1995, 2001, 2005; Hunt and Elliot 2005; Kerr 2001; Leyden 2002; Leyden et al. 1998; Lucero 2002; Messenger 1990; Pierrebourg 1996; Robichaux 2002; Shimkin 1973; Wahl 2005; J. Webster 2000; Yaeger and Hoddell 2002)

Overpopulation/ subsistence stress (Culbert 1974, 1977, 1988; Dunning and Beach 1994; Haviland 1967; Johnston 1994)

Earthquakes (Bevan and Sharer 1983; Mackie 1961)

Hurricanes (Sabloff 1973b)

Ground slope change (Moseley 1983)

Volcanic activity (Espindola et al. 2000; Gill and Keating 2002)

Deforestation (Abrams and Rue 1988; Brenner 1983a, 1983b; Brenner et al. 2002; Curtis et al. 1998; Deevey 1978; Deevey et al. 1979; Dunning et al. 1997, 1998; Islebe et al. 1996; D. Rice and P. Rice 1984; Schreiner 2002; Shaw 2003; Wiseman 1985)

DISEASE/PLAGUE (Acuna-Soto et al. 2005; Pozo Ledezma 1985; Saul 1973; Spinden 1928; Wilkinson 1995)

Insect infestation/plant blight (Brewbaker 1979; Turner 1974)

SOCIOPOLITICAL Peasant revolt or class conflict (Altschuler 1958; A. Chase and D. Chase 2004, 2005; Erasmus 1965; Hamblin and Pitcher 1980; Kaplan 1963; Kidder 1950; Lowe 1982; Mason 1943; Morley and Brainerd 1956; Palka 1995, 1997; Satterthwaite 1936, 1937; Thompson 1931, 1954, 1970)

Warfare (Demarest 1978, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006; Demarest and Valde´s 1995; Demarest et al. 1997; Emery 1997; Foias 1996, 2004; Foias and Bishop 1997; Freidel and Rutledge 2001; Inomata 1995, 1997, 2003, 2006; Palka 2001; Van Tuerenhout 1996; Webster 1977, 1978, 1993, 2000a)

EXTERNAL EXPLANATIONS Change in trade routes (Rathje 1973)

Competition from Central Mexico (Freidel 1986a, b; Webb 1973, 1978)

Invasion with resettlement (Cowgill 1964)

Invasion without resettlement (Adams 1973; Ball 1977; D. Chase and A. Chase 1982; Graham 1973; Hester 1985; Sabloff 1973a; Smith 1981)

POLITICAL-IDEOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY Fatalism (Dornan 2004; Dunham 1990; Houston et al. 2001; O’Mansky and Dunning 2004; Puleston 1979; Pyburn 1996)

2.2.4. Postclassic.

Postclassic World System

To explain Mesoamerican interconnectedness, scholars have applied Wallerstein’s World System theory. This model was initially intended to be a Marxist interpretation of the rise of a Capitalist European World Economy (Wallerstein 1974:67). Such systems consider ‘units such as cultures, tribes, nations, states, classes, or ethnic groups’ in a single economy based on macro scaled trade (Paris 2008: 43). An essential element to the world system theory is the unequal repartition of labour between core, semi-periphery and periphery zones (Chase-Dunn and Hall 1997:35-36), resulting in the emergence of dominant states in central economic zones and weak states in peripheral areas. As explained by Paris (2008), scholars studying Mesoamerica often refine Wallerstein’s original definitions since this region may be better viewed as several subsystems formed by both regional and interregional exchange circuits of goods and information (Smith and Berdan 2003: 30).

Smith and Berdan (2003: 24) have, thus, changed the traditional divisions of world-system theory from—cores, peripheries, and semi-peripheries— to core zones, affluent production zones, international trade centres, resource-extraction zones, unspecialised peripheral zones, and contact peripheries (Smith and Berdan 2003: 24; Table 3). Core zones are similar to Wallerstein’s definition of cores, but the idea that they must dominate peripheries was rejected20 (Smith and Berdan 2003:24). Affluent production areas are still areas of primary economic production, but with a lower degree of urbanisation and political centralisation. Lastly, significant resources are obtained in extraction zones and are exchanged in international trade centres (Smith and Berdan 2003: 31). Under this framework, the polities, that either maintained their status throughout the Late Classic or emerged during the Postclassic, are interconnected and could import or export resources depending on the wealth of the inhabitants and local availability. The absence of copper ore sources in the lowlands signifies that it had to be imported and, therefore, as explained by Paris, a world system approach is likely the better suited to analyse Maya metallurgy (2008).

20 According to their model, core zones are better defined by their high populations, their influence, and urbanization, and include key centres such as Chichen Itza, Mayapán, Tula, Tajin, Cholula, and Tenochtitlan.

Fig. 4: Map of Mesoamerica, showing core zones, affluent production zones, and international trade centres involved in the production, consumption, and exchange of metal artefacts.

Tab.1: World System Model adapted to Mesoamerica Mayapán

Mayapán, situated in the Yucatan Peninsula, was the most influential centre in the Northern Lowlands from A.D. 1100 to 1450, with its earliest establishment dated to the eleventh century. This city was a buffer of luxury and utilitarian goods, producing and importing them (Paris 2008: 45). They sold salt, cotton, slaves, cacao, dyes, Fine Orange pottery, and obsidian to different regions of Mesoamerica (Piña Chan 1978: 42), with international trade routes to central Mexico, Oaxaca, the Mexican Gulf Coast and to the Ulua Valley in Honduras (Paris 2008: 45). Craft production activities were spread all over the city (Masson and Peraza Lope 2007: 2) and usually held in small commoner houses. Russell’s excavation advances a population of 12,000–13,000 in the city peak period, comprising the agglomerations outside the city wall (Masson et al. 2006 in Paris 2008: 45).

Tozzer theorised that this city might have been the core of religious teachings for the Yucatán Peninsula (1941: 25–26) as numerous religious building and artefacts were discovered there. Moreover, Masson (2000) found temples and effigy incenses reminiscent of the “Mayapán- style” in Northern Belize, and the Petén Lakes revealed similar features (Pugh 2003); as expressed by Paris, this ‘attest to a regional sphere of religious influence’ (2008). She adds that ‘Mayapán also had administrative functions, represented by colonnaded halls and elite palaces and residences in its centre’. Masson and Peraza Lope found pieces of evidence of a potential marketplace at the north of Mayapán’s centre. This place may have served for both local and long-distance merchants (2007).

Colonialist notes describe a tripartite system composed of nobles, commoners and slaves (Tozzer 1941: 26). Notwithstanding, Chase believes that they may have oversimplified the social complexity of the region and dismissed persons of intermediate status (1992: 121). Paris (2013) adds that within these broad categories, various specialities existed with distinct levels of income. She states that Mayapán’s elites surely worked in civic and religious offices, ‘such as neighbourhood administrators, speakers, and proclaimers; secondary governorships, scribes, or notaries; district deputies, judges, or tribute collectors; military captains; logistical officials; K’atun lords; ball-game counsellors; territorial administrators; and a variety of specialized priests, singers, and sacrificers’ (Carmack 1981, 15–17; Chase 1992, 120; Masson and Peraza Lope 2007, 4; Masson, Peraza Lope, and Hare n.d.; Roys 1943, 33 in Paris 2013: 172).

Meanwhile, commoners likely accomplished several functions as ‘agricultural producers, various types of craft specialists, warriors, local merchants, and mercenaries’ (Masson and Peraza Lope 2004; Masson, Peraza Lope, and Hare n.d.; Tozzer 1941 in Paris 2013: 172).

2.2.5. Postcontact

European arrival in the New World disrupted the sphere of interaction that defined the Postclassic. Although Maya have survived, their symbols and social markers may have changed. Consequently, summarising Maya Postcontact history is necessary. On a side note, modern use of bells is attested in Maya performances; thus, discussing the changes in Maya music and dances is of the utmost importance. Notwithstanding, this section is not suited for this. Therefore, the review of historic Maya dances will be realised in the chapter ‘bells as instruments.

1450 to 1750

This sub-period is characterised by a period of demographic decline due to war, the spread of diseases and the plunder of their territory. As the region became part of Spain's empire, indigenous people experienced a drastic and prolonged decline (Alexander 2012: 5). Various resources were asked of native communities as tributes and taxes, including their bells. Numerous settlements were forcibly moved as part of the congregation's policy, and their inhabitants forcefully baptised (Farriss 1984; MacLeod 1973 in Alexander 2012). Historians have estimated a demographic decline of more than 90 per cent of the population between 1500 and 1550 (Farriss 1984). The few remaining were segregated and suffered from droughts, famines and yellow fever outbreaks. This led to a continuous decline until the 18th century, where they reach their lowest point. Under the colonial policy of congregación, villages were merged to found new towns and local centres. Their decision led to the formation of a two-tiered hierarchy of cabeceras (municipal capitals) and subjetos (secondary towns) (Farriss 1984: 158). Moreover, exiled communities were obliged to settle in street grid cities centred around a church and a central plaza (Alexander 2012: 5). Nevertheless, archaeological surveys have demonstrated that this process was not systematic and homogenous. Indeed, two excavations on the north coast of Yucatán21 hint at regional disparities in the demographic decrease (Andrews and Robles Castellanos 2009; Kepecs 1997,

21 An area of early Spanish contact 1999 in Alexander 2012). Besides, eastern Yucatan, Guatemala, Laguna de Tesminos and the Petén were not subjugated22. Lastly, the Crown targeted resources and labour force to produce goods and sell them on an international market. Yet, land control, agricultural production and the management of essential resources such as cocoa beans still belonged to locals (Alexander 2012: 6).

1750 to 1910

In the frontier areas of Petén and the lowlands of Chiapas, Métis traders exchanged with locals who, then, incorporated glass earthenware, metal tools and pharmaceuticals in their community (Palka 2005). Other communities chose to move to secluded areas (Palka 2009). On the Yucatán's north coast, Africans settled in haciendas, alongside natives, and indebted Asian workers, leading to the emergence of new cultural traditions. Alexander concludes his review of Postcontact Maya history by explaining that ‘Many investigators recognize that Mayan speakers in Guatemala and Mexico share comparable experiences and a common heritage, but no pan-Maya ethnic identity exists in the region. Today, Yucatán's inhabitants generally reject indigenous identities, even though many native communities retained control of land (...) instead, current attitudes and practices were reconfigured through a long-term process of ethnogenesis’(Alexander 2012: 9).

22 Adding to that, the area under Spanish authority does not form an uninterrupted territory, but an archipelago.

3. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF MESOAMERICAN ARCHAEOMETALLURGY

3.1. Central America Metallurgy

Fig. 5: Map showing the two metalworking tradition

This section discusses research realised in metallurgy. As explained by Simmons and Shugar, ancient technology study has been vastly investigated in Mesoamerica (2012: 1). The functions held by lithic and bone objects have been uncovered and helped to understand Mesoamerica social environment. Yet, as they inform us, information regarding copper is on the contrary recent and still shallow (2012: 1). Pendergast (1962) and Hosler (1994) are precursors in Mesoamerican archaeometallurgy, and their contributions are still held in high regards. Indeed, Hosler first noted that two distinct traditions had existed in Mesoamerica; the "West Mexican" and the "South-eastern Mexican." The former is the older, with the first metallic artefacts unearthed in layers dated to AD 600 in the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit. It was introduced via maritime trade with Ecuadorian populations (Hosler 2009: 188-189; Simmons and Shugar 2013: 3; Paris 2008: 47). The technique and tools employed, as well as the objects cast, are reminiscent of the tradition developed in Costa-Rica and the Isthmus (Bruhns and Hammond 1982: 178) and were uniformly distributed (Simmons and Shugar, 2012: 3). The significance held by copper among Western Mexican population has been heavily studied by Hosler, who suggested that both copper's natural colour and sound led to its rapid spread throughout the region. As it never superseded utilitarian object made of stone, she argued that it essentially played a symbolic role (Hosler 1994: 208). Moreover, she found instances where the quantity of thin largely exceeded the standard ratio to cast bronze. Indeed, some objects were composed of 23% of thin, which is highly unusual as a typical bronze is generally made of 3 to 5% of thin and 95% of copper. With such a high quantity of thin, a copper alloyed becomes much more breakable and is no longer suited for practical usage. She thus explained that thin might have been added to gain a silvery colour and resemble the moon (Hosler 1994: 210). Pendergast’s classification of metallic artefact as either utilitarian objects, objects of personal adornment, or ceremonial objects (1962: 521) is still used. Simmons, for instance, categorised the artefact found at Lamanai and Tipu according to this model (Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 162).

3.2. Maya Metallurgy

The latter tradition, less known, appeared by the end of the Late Classic Period with ore sources found in Chiapas, southern Guatemala and western Honduras23 (Simmons and Shugar 2012: 4). The earliest sign of Maya metallurgy seems to date to 1000 AD at El Coyote in Western Honduras24 (Urban et al. 2013: 77). An increasing interest on this tradition led to the launching of The MAP (Maya Archaeometallurgist Project), and various sites that yielded copper artefacts begun to be excavated. This project, started in 1999, aimed at examining ‘the organisational structure of ancient Maya metallurgy and the roles metal objects played in Postclassic and Spanish Colonial Maya society’, as well as, defining the chaînes operatoire and the techniques used (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 106).

To answer these numerous interrogations, Simmons and Shugar extensively excavated Lamanai. There, they found signs of on-site casting and unearthed both utilitarian metallic objects, such as fish hooks and needles, and symbolic or ornamental artefacts such as button

23 This implies that no copper ore sources were available for the lowlands Maya who had to import it.

24 Older copper alloyed artefacts have been found inside the Grand Cenote in Chichen Itza. However, stylistic and chemical analysis has determined a Mexican provenance.

31 ornaments and bells (2013: 14). The earliest copper artefacts can be found in layers dated to the end of the Classic and beginning of the Postclassic periods. Simmons and Shugar, therefore, argue that the inhabitants started to cast copper themselves approximately around 950 AD - 1200 AD, and continued to do so under Spanish control until 1700 AD (2013: 107). They noticed a lack of utilitarian objects in Early and Middle Postclassic time (950-1350) and only found metallic objects in burials reserved to the elites. The artefacts unearthed include rings, bells and clothing ornament alongside ceramic vessels, shark teeth and pyrite mirrors (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 108-109).

Chemical analyses demonstrated that copper-alloyed artefacts were initially imported from west Mexican and south-eastern Mesoamerican sources and brought to Lamanai to be melted (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 108). By the Late Postclassic (AD 1400), recycling habits emerged, and importation diminished. This recycling habit is noticeable by the composition of the alloyed used. Every object’s composition varies a lot from one another and cannot be traced to a unique ore source. The table below presents the chemical analysis of a pouring reservoir found at Lamanai and the presence of both thin, arsenic and iron with inclusions of various metal confirms their theory.

Tab. 2: Composition of a casting reservoir found at Lamanai

Simultaneity, the manufacture of utilitarian objects started and became accessible to commoners as well25 (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 112).

Tab.3: Chronological distribution of copper artefacts and debris found at Lamanai

25 An analysis of copper availability to the population is attempted on the section dedicated to ornamentation.

Mayapán, in the northern lowlands, has yielded a considerable quantity of copper26 as well and does show signs of on-site casting. Cruz Alvarado, the ceramist of the Mayapán Project, has determined so after having unearthed objects with the “presence of green residues with dark grey paste and sign of exposure to high heat on them” (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4308). The likelihood of on-site casting is further supported by the discovery of a bell mould and an elliptical tripod vessel with vitrified areas27, respectively found in a commoner dwelling and in a temple (J.L. Meanwell et al. 2013: 4309). Analyses have been realised on the vessel and have offered valuable information. Indeed, traces of Al, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, Sr, Ag, Sn, Au, Y and Zr have been noted. Al, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn and Fe are part of the composition of the clay itself. Notwithstanding, the presence of Cu, Ag, As, Sn and Au are leftovers of metal casting and were either due to multiple successive castings or a single melt produced from a variety of recycled objects. As seen above, similar mixed compositions have been found at Lamanai, where recycling habits have been attested. Therefore, the same explanation was offered for Mayapán (J.L. Meanwell et al. 2013: 4309).

Fig. 6: Mayapán’s bell mould and the tripod vessel

The bell mould has also been studied, and XRF analysis shows no sign of copper ever poured in28. Finally, at both Lamanai and Mayapán (Meanwell et al. 2013: 4310) prills, casting sprues and pouring reservoir have been excavated.

26 599 artefacts have been found in the city and 86 per cent of them, 482, were bells (Paris 2018).

27 Ceramic vitrification begins at a temperature neighbouring a thousand degrees (Rice, 1987: 91), which is the heat required to melt their alloyed copper. Indeed, pure copper’s fusion point is closer to 1100°C. However, as explained above, copper from the late postclassic period onward was generally recycled and rarely not alloyed with either thin or arsenic.

28 Further analysis of this mould will be suggested on the part dedicated to future avenues. Those prills are “drops of liquefied metal spilt out of the mould during the casting process”, and a casting sprue is the “channel through which the molten metal is poured into the mould” (Meanwell et al. 2013: 4310). All of this indicates the use of the lost-was techniques to cast these objects.

El Coyote’s metallurgical centre will now be touched upon. The southern part of the city has yielded evidence of on-site metallurgy. This zone was excavated in almost its entirety but lacked any copper artefact. However, the functions of several major structures have been identified and revealed information on the processing of copper before its melting.

Fig. 7: Map of the copper-working area of El Coyote

Firstly, the structure 407 is formed by four large stones and measures roughly five square meters. One of these boulders presents a depression29 in its top. This kind of hole is often symptomatic of a block used as stationary anvils. Urban et al. thus offer a similar explanation for those four boulders and suggest that copper ore was either beneficiated or broken up there (2013: 84). The presence of a stone hammer in the vicinity of crushed ores is further proof of

29 That measures approximately 0.15 m across and is 0.04 m deep 35 this block used as an anvil. Several adobe furnace fragments, a vitrified adobe, and slags were also situated in the soils close to the boulders. The refined minerals were then brought to structure 372, 14 metres south of the crushing zone. This structure consists of a one-meter- high polished stone platform on the northside that covers 1 m2 (Fig. 8). This platform was certainly used as a support on which smelting furnaces were posed, as visible by the smelting furnace still in situ. This kiln is 0.3 m high and measures around 0.15 × 0.20 m, with walls of poor refractory adobe blocks30. These blocks are vitrified on the inside but unbaked and eroded on the exterior (Urban et al. 2013: 84). The pattern visible in the vitrified clay attests that the mass flew toward the bottom of the furnace (Fig. 15). The south side of the kiln was found broken out, undoubtedly, to let the molten copper and slag fall in a shallow pit below the furnace. Based on the numerous used furnace fragments31 and the clay low refractory quality, Urban et al. posited that those kilns could only be used once before being discarded (2013: 84). Compton tried to recompose the aspect and the functioning of the furnace and determine that ‘their walls were made in L shapes, with four combined to make a hollow quadrilateral container’ (Urban et al. 2013: 96). Once cooled, copper prills still imprisoned in slags were brought to a pebble stone pavement to be pulverized. The course of the nearby Quebrada Seca may have been partly redirected, when necessary, to flood the pavement (Fig. 9) to remove the crushed slag without washing away the heavier copper prills. The pavement, or water table, has a slight slope west to east, likely signalling the flow of water (Urban et al. 2013: 86-87). The last step, the melting, has left no trace.

Fig. 8: West Face of El Coyote structure 372

30 Several furnace fragments have been recorded and the size of kilns appears consistent, with their exterior faces systematically falling between 0.2–0.3 m.

31 In trash deposits at Structures 371 and 373

Fig. 9: Picture of the Water Table Fig.10: Picture of a wall of the furnace

Several layers of occupation and numerous furnace fragments attest of the long occupation of Coyote’s metallurgical centre. Nevertheless, establishing its first use is an arduous task. Urban et al. found two pieces of evidence pointing to the Terminal Classic / Early Postclassic. Firstly, the structure 99, that overlooks the copper-processing centre had three rocks glued by slag alongside Terminal Classic / Early Postclassic pottery of the Plumbate and Las Vegas types. Next, on the roof of some Terminal Classic / Early Postclassic terraces near Structure 99, small pieces of copper ore have been found (2013: 96).

3.2.1. The lost-wax technique

The exact chaînes operatoire of this technique has yet to be studied for the Maya. Detailing the process is, therefore, not yet possible. Still, by summarising its principle via the work realised by Verly32 and by contrasting it with our current information on Maya and Aztec metallurgy, the general process should be unravelled. Fig. 11: A bell found with its down sprue and pouring reservoir in Lamanai

32 I have worked under him for the past three years, and he is currently publishing his thesis. Therefore, most information comes from personal experiences and personal communications.

Verly has replicated the technique developed in Ancient Egypt and notably, their lost-wax technology. I do not state that the process, I am about to explain, is perfectly applicable to the Maya tradition. It will, however, provide a basic understanding of the technique.

Egyptian Tradition

Firstly, the artisan must shape in wax the object that he wants to cast in bronze. Three layers of different thicknesses and compositions (made of donkey dungs, clay, and sand in various proportions) are then attached to it. Once the first two layers applied, a pouring reservoir made of donkey dungs and clay is created. This reservoir is placed between the second and third layers in other to stick everything together and create an entrance to pour the molten copper. The moulds are then left to dry and eventually placed in a dewaxing furnace.

Egyptian dewaxing furnaces appear similar to pottery kilns. Both types of furnaces have heath tunnels underground, where the fire is started33 and, both have their vault split into two parts. The bottom part (underground) is the zone where the heat tunnels converge. The flames enter through this part but cannot reach the upper part where the moulds/potteries had been placed. These two parts are separated by a grid on which the moulds are posed. During excavation, Verly noted that none of the moulds34 showed signs of fire exposure and that they had a porous surface. To obtain this porosity, three temperature plateaus must be respected. This process takes around 9 hours and reaches 650 degrees. The furnace is then no longer alimented and cools down for a few hours. Moulds, emptied of wax residue, are retrieved. Bronze can finally be poured in.

Aztec tradition

The Florentine Codex offers a relatively detailed explanation of the lost-wax technique developed by the Aztecs, notably the realisation of bell moulds35.

33 at the exterior of the furnace

34 He studied several Egyptian moulds already emptied of their wax but not yet filled with bronze

35 Once more, I do not state that the Aztec technique is perfectly applicable to the Maya. However, greater similarities are to be expected. The core is composed of a mix of charcoal and clay and is covered by a layer of rolled beeswax and copal resin. The model is then covered with pounded charcoal and coarse clay. Finally, a channel and a pouring reservoir are added to it. The mould is then left to dry for a couple of days before being placed in a brazier to evacuate the wax.

Among the currently noticeable variances between these two techniques and the tradition developed by the Maya, I noted that the tempers differ. Indeed, investigations support the potential use of copper dust to heighten their mould’s pyro resistance (Ernst 2019: private conversation). Next, no trace of donkey dung and sand have been revealed during analyses, but the use of chamotte is attested (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4310). Unfortunately, the somewhat limited knowledge we have on their layers does not allow us to verify their composition, nor their exact number.

Lastly, signs of fire exposure are to be expected if a ceramic comes in direct contact with flames. Therefore, to verify whether Maya used open brazier instead of a dewaxing kiln, a closed-up inspection of the mould’s surface might reveal information.

3.2.2. Annealing and Open-mould Casting

The vast majority of metallic objects are cast using the lost-wax technique. However, a few were realised via a different process. Indeed, the above-mentioned procedure is rather costly since both the model in wax and the mould in clay are lost in order to retrieve the object. Casting in an open mould is much easier since the form of the object, one wishes to cast, must simply be drawn in an open mould made of either sand or mud36. Consequently, most copper- alloyed artefacts considered utilitarian, such as fish hooks, pins and needles are manufactured using the open-mould technique.

So far, twenty-three axes have been found at Lamanai (Shugar and Simmons 2012: 145), scholars initially thought that they were cast in an open-mould and then hammered and sharpened to obtain the final product. Such a process fragilizes the axe. Consequently, in

36 And is, therefore, easier to replicate. Ronde-bosse figurines or any 3D modelled objects, are much harder (if not impossible) to cast using an open-mould and require almost systematically the use of wax as a medium.

39 order to increase the ductility of the material, continuous annealing was required (Rothenberg et al. 1978 in Simmons and Shugar 2008: 130). This method is visible through microanalyses that should reveal small grains of similar size with annealing twins. If on the contrary, an object was only hammered, distorted twins and working lines should appear (Shugar and Simmons 2012: 145). None of the two above-mentioned microstructures were seen through microanalysis. Simmons, therefore, theorises that Maya either produced them in a bivalve mould or via the lost-wax technique (Shugar and Simmons 2012: 147).

Fig. 12: Microanalysis of copper axes found at Lamanai

3.2.3. Summary of copper artefacts

Rings are the most abundant copper artefacts found at Tipu, with 26 complete objects and three fragments. Although some present a false filigree design, most were plain without any ornament. Similar designs can be found in West Mexico and Ecuador (Hosler 1994: Figures. 3.7, 4.4), as well as at Chichen Itza and Mayapán (Lothrop 1952:83–84 in Simmons and Cockrell 2018:167 ; Paris 2008:52).

Fig.13: Two distinct types of rings Ornaments of copper have been found at Tipu and Lamanai and were likely used as pieces of adornment. Simmons found seven oval ornaments in one burial and described them as ‘made of interconnected S-scroll wires attached to an elliptical frame’. They measured slightly less than 3 centimetres in length and 2 cm in width. Alongside their ornamental value, these items may have also functioned as garment fasteners. This form has not been reported from any other sites in the Maya area (Bray 1977:385 in Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 168).

Fig.14: Clothing ornament found at Lamanai

Four tweezers have been recovered at Lamanai but none at Tipu. They are either disc-shaped or had elongated edges. Once more, alongside its ornamental value37, these objects were employed as hair removal (Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 169).

Fig. 15: Tweezers

At Lamanai, 23 axes, axe fragments, and chisels have been recovered. Mexican axes are usually thin and small, too fragile to be used as a woodcutting instrument. Scholars have determined that those axes may have been used as a form of currency or at least ornaments. However, axes found in the lowlands are usually larger and more resistant.

37 As objects of adornment around the neck (Hosler 1994:145) 41

This could suggest that axes held a utilitarian function in the Maya region instead of the symbolic value of their Mexican counterparts, but further research need to be done to determine it with certainty.

Lace tags are thin, hollow rods. Tipu contained nine late tags in its metallic assemblage, but none of them has been recovered at Lamanai. They all come from burials, excepting one situated in the west nave of a Spanish church (Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 170).

Fig. 16: Lace tags found at Lamanai

Needles have been unearthed at both sites; 17 at Tipu and ten at Lamanai. The needles are thin, solid rods ending in a loop (Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 170).

Fig. 17: Picture of a needle found at Lamanai

A total of five fish hooks have been found at Lamanai and Tipu. They were situated in commoner settings. These towns proximity to watercourses easily explain the presence of fishhooks (Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 172).

Fig. 18: Fish hooks found at Lamanai

3.2.4. Bell’s form and style

As mentioned in the introduction, Cogolludo’s notes state that bells came in various sizes (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 152). At Mayapán, six forms are represented in the R-183b38 cache and, among those six forms, only two have been recovered elsewhere in the city. Moreover, these two types, flattened pyriform and bivalve-shaped, were already the rarest in the cache as they respectively represent 6.38 per cent and 0.71 per cent of the bells. Button and globular bells are conversely the most popular forms in both the cache and outside of it, representing more than 65 per cent in each set of contexts (Paris 2013: 177).

Tab. 4: Distribution of bell’s styles at Mayapán

38 See page 47 for an explanation on the relevancy of this structure in our discussion. More than 200 bells were found there (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4308).

Bell diameters measure between one to three centimetres, with the majority falling between 0,5 to 0,9 cm39.

Tab. 5: Diameter interval of the bells found at Mayapán

Similar information is not yet accessible at Lamanai since the authors chose to classify their bells based on their completeness and not their shape. Nonetheless, the team who excavated the city mentioned a high abundance of pyriform and globular bells compared to the rest (Simmons and Cockrell 2018: 162). Moreover, the button-shaped form is either absent or present in negligible quantities and was never mentioned. Compared to the elaborate bell designs present throughout Mesoamerica (Bray 1977; Pendergast 1962), at Chichén Itzá (Coggins and Shane 1984; Lothrop 1952), at the Quimistán Bell Cave in Honduras (Blackiston 1910), and in West Mexico (Hosler 1988a, 1988b, 1994), lowlands bells are small and unadorned (Paris 2013: 177). Wirework designs are present on only three bells, and human or animal faces are depicted on three others. Globular and pyriform bells are present in relatively high quantity in both cities40 but the button-shaped bells, widespread in Mayapán, appear absent at Lamanai. The reason is currently unknown; aesthetic preference might have motivated their choices. The presence of clothing ornaments in Lamanai but lack of such objects at Mayapán might also explain the emergence of this type of bells.

39 Composing 65.48 per cent of the bells found in the cache of the Structure R-183b and 50 per cent of bells from other structures in Mayapán.

40 Simmons and Cockrell states that the majority of Belizean bells are either simply globular or pear- shaped (Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 162) Globular D-Shaped Button Pyriform

Fig. 19-20-21-22: Pictures of the different types of bells found in the cache of the Structure R-183b

Fig. 23: drawing of bells typology found at Mayapán

4. BELLS AS INSTRUMENTS

This chapter will be dedicated to finding out the use of bells in music and performances. The information currently available on Maya music will be discussed. Specifically, this section will look at the messages conveyed by the dances performed during celebrations and rituals. Afterwards, the various categories of instruments and the possible existence of ceramic bells anterior to their metallic counterparts will be studied. The final part will attempt to determine the reasoning behind the use of bells. To do so, two modern dramatic plays will be briefly discussed.

4.1. Maya music and Performances:

The significance and prominent place of dancing for the Maya first came to light following the discovery of Bonampak’s mural paintings in 1946 (Grube 1992: 201). Since then, efforts to analyse lintels, architectural elements, mural paintings as well as Spanish reports dedicated to Maya performances have been probed41. Despite those works, our comprehension of Maya dances has only really improved in the last few decades. This sprung in knowledge is due to a breakthrough in 1992; the translation of the glyph for dancing by Grube (1992: 202; Looper 2009: 5). It considerably modified our comprehension and knowledge of this art. Indeed before this discovery, scholars only studied panels where they could identify with certainty a dancer or a musician. They focused their attention on the accessories worn or the positioning of the performer’s legs to determine whether the person depicted was dancing (Taube 2009: 59). This caused scholars to analyse only a handful of lintels (Looper 2009: 10). Nevertheless, by researching every instance where the glyph for dancing was visible, Looper demonstrated that a rather small portion of the lintels, bearing this glyph, displays their characters dancing or let alone moving. On the contrary, in most cases, individuals are represented standing still or realising various tasks such as self-sacrifice, a king enthronisation or the building of alliances (Looper 2009: 5). As he pointed it out, this suggests that those

41See for instance Gertrude Kurath and Samuel Marti’s book. various actions were either related to the art of dancing or done in conjunction42 (2009: 18-19). Looper’s objective was then to determine the significance that dancing had. Throughout his book “To Be Like Gods. Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization”, he argued that dance and music structured the entirety of their society and was not simply an entertaining activity (Looper 2009: 5-8). By analysing various sources ranging from epigraphy and iconography to architectural descriptions, Looper demonstrated that dance and music played significant roles by creating bonds, alliances, and reaffirmed the king’s power 43. Taube (2009: 60) explains that performances were realised for commoners and elites alike and were held in cities and in the countryside. By proving those two points, he demonstrated, once again, that dance, therefore, touched the entire society. Finally, research focused on Pre-Columbian instruments has produced tremendous information on both their uses and manufacture (see Vernier 2006; Victoria Cartwright 2014). These works allow modern scholars to draw a realistic picture of Maya performances and reinforce the impression that dances structured their society. This significance can be traced back to the Classic period, causing numerous scholars to dismiss the following periods. However, copper bells have emerged by the end of the Terminal Classic and were used throughout the Postclassic. It is thus mandatory to discuss the role played by the act of dancing in the Classic period while acknowledging possible changes in perception in later eras. That way, the differences that might have emerged between the Classic and Postcontact periods will be put to light.

4.2. The functions of Maya Performances:

Looper views dance as “a metaphor for civilisation”. By playing four major roles, performances touched most of the components that formed the Maya culture and therefore structured the entirety of their society. Each of those ‘tasks’ will be briefly explored and explained in this section.

42 Those activities could either be performed by the protagonists themselves or accompanied by dancers on the side. Looper did not determine which possibility is the likeliest. I believe that in many scenarios both the king/leader as well as dancers were on scene.

43There are no specific pages to refer to due to the structure of his book. Indeed, each chapter is dedicated to a certain type of source (pottery, walls, lintels) and he therefore mentioned those functions at several occasions.

4.2.1. In the Classic Period

Transform oneself in a divinity

During a performance, the dancer becomes the avatar of the divinity they homage (Looper 2009: 226). This transformation is caused by a plethora of phenomena all occurring at the same time. The dance starts with a shamanic ritual accompanied by the usage of hallucinogenic drugs. A bloodletting then triggers the ceremony. The performers enter the scene wearing the costume and attributes of the god they wish to represent and start dancing (Taube 2009: 45). In those instants, the fragrance of burning offering combined with the effect of the drugs and the costumes worn allowed for the mythical forces to manifest. Those performances are a shared feature among all Mesoamerican societies, and many depictions can be found throughout Central America. By showing their devoutness to their deities, those ceremonies allowed for the natural order to be maintained (Looper 2009: 226).

Description of a whole society and expression of social status

Archaeologists have unearthed lintels representing diverse scenes such as hunts, alliances, monster slayers or ballgames (Looper 2009: 226). As mentioned above, those activities are only now classified as dances due to the glyph for ‘dance’ being carved on it44. Ball games and hunting may be overlooked and respectively seen as entertainment and as survival skills. However, their realisation in conjunction with performances poses questions on their actual significance.

BALL GAMES:

This ancient game was played using a rubber ball with a size ranging from a softball to a soccer ball. The goal was to propel it through the air and make it traverse a stone ring attached to the other half of the court. Players were forbidden to use their hand and worn protection attached to various part of their body (Blümchen 2019: 232).

44 I do not know how frequently the glyph was represented. I, therefore, cannot state whether it was systematic or occasional. Nonetheless, Looper considered those activities in his book and modern usage associates hunting and dancing (as discussed below).

In addition to their entertaining value, ball games held cosmological and structural functions, and, therefore, played an integral role in political, religious, and social life (Morse 1992: 36). Various elements attest of this; firstly, hachas (one of the protections) with depictions of animals or skulls on them are often retrieved from archaeological excavations. Secondly, war prisoners, warriors, creation myths, and transmission of power have been carved on various ballcourts (de Montmollin 1997: 38). Thirdly, and lastly, the lore associated with ball games (Morse 1992: 36). A story from the “Popol Vuh” describes the life of the Hero Twins. “As the tale goes, the Maize Gods were avid ballplayers who were killed and buried on the court by the Lords of Xibalba (the Underworld) for bothering them with the noise of the game. The head of one of the Maize gods was hung in a tree in the Underworld, and as a daughter of the Lord of the Underworld passes, the head spit into her palm, miraculously impregnating her. The daughter bore twin sons, the Hero Twins, who avenge their father and uncle’s deaths by resurrecting them on the ballcourt. The Hero Twins go on to survive the ordeals of Hell presented to them by the death gods, while the reborn Maize Gods remain on the ballcourt for humans to honour”.

What we can infer from this short explanation is that ball games were never considered a mundane activity. Quite the contrary, playing such games was a necessity meant to please their gods. These games were inevitably linked to the Maize God, one of the principal deities of their pantheon, and holding ceremonial ball games meant to replicate and perpetuate their history. Moreover, in addition to the game itself, sacrifices were held, with prestigious captives offered to the gods. Lastly, a ballgame was sometimes the occasion for two cities to settle their disputes.

HUNTS:

To assure the sustainability of their population and to reaffirm divine permission, performances were often held before and after a hunt. The Loojil Ts’oon’s ritual is a prime example of such things; various tasks, such as the cleansing of the jaws or carrying the corpse of the animal to a nearby hill, were required. If held right, this ritual would allow the animal to be brought back to life by the gods, ensuring stability and continuity. Santos-Fita et al. have demonstrated that this practice is still respected in modern Maya communities (2015: 3)45.

45This suggests that if we consider the Maya society under specific aspects, a relative permanency can be attested between the Classical Period and our current era.

Next, sacrificial dances assume various roles, but its most widespread use was to honour the spirit of the hunt; Landa, for instance, describes performances where both men and women danced with painted animal skulls alongside incenses and offering to the hunting gods (Tozzer 1941: 45 in Looper 2009: 192).

Looper argues that dancing also reaffirmed gender roles (2009: 226). Males were usually depicted in positions where their strength was celebrated. For example, men are traditionally portrayed while lifting a heavy object or in the middle of a dynamic movement. On the contrary, a woman will either be represented empty-handed or carrying a cradle bundle46. Women are also frequently depicted with their tunic lifted. This position is, according to Looper, a reminder of their role in the textile manufacture (Looper 2009: 226).

To conclude, dancing was highly intertwined with Maya rituality. As discussed above, Maya homage their gods by disguising their performers as deities and by respecting regulated rituals47. These rituals have taken a variety of forms, depending on the deity they want to please. A ball game is just one of those arrangements; it celebrated the Maize God rebirth but also the foundation of alliances or the accession to power of a new king. By acting out ceremonies including every member of their society, the entirety of their nation was represented, and, either maintained in its current state or gathered to celebrate a change (Looper 2009: 228).

Consolidation of the state authority

As explained in point 2, dancing feasts were often held to celebrate the enthronisation of a new king or the building of alliances. In some instances, the ruler himself participated in those dances; a lintel discovered at Piedras Negras, and dated to the eighth century, allows the visitors to witness the appointment of a new king. In this scene, the lord is seemingly participating in a joint dance with his governors to celebrate his enthronisation (Looper 2009: 229).

46 An action associated with the act of nurturing (Stone 1991 in Looper 2009: 226).

47As it will be discussed below, this does not signify that there was no place for improvisation in their performances.

Some dances, such as The K'awill dance48, were held to celebrate a king reign, and could only be executed by the governors, while the commoner was only authorised to admire it. This dance does not have a singular purpose as it helped to fertilise the land, to celebrate critical astronomical events and was linked to death and resurrection (Garcia Barrios and Valencia Rivera 2007: 23). Overall, this example is a prime testimony of the functions held by royal performances. By executing this celebration, a favourable harvest was guaranteed for the following year. Since only the nobility was authorised to perform it, the K’awill dance reaffirmed nobility grasp and authority over their peers and maintained a centralised power. Looper suggests that “through dance performances, Late Classic Maya rulers were able to display, consume, and possibly distribute an array of exotic items in an aesthetically compelling manner that highlighted their personal role in mobilizing these goods. For these rulers, dance demonstrated the link between ideological power and the coercive force required to collect tribute” (2009: 232).

Warfare

Armed triumphs were celebrated through dances, along with the parading of body parts of defeated opponents. For example, Bonampak arbours a world-famous classic Maya painting that describes a battle scene. Among the various characters depicted, we can see a trump player as well as a rattle player using their instruments (Inomata 2006: 810). Multiple scenes are attested throughout the Maya region but also Mesoamerica in general (Vernier 2006: 227). The frequency of such representations on both mural paintings as well as pottery suggests a link between music and warfare in Mesoamerica. Moreover, writings from conquistadors strengthen this link as they describe instances where music and war were intertwined. The Franciscan monk, Diego de Landa, narrates two war dances the “Holcan Ok’ot” and the “Batel Ok’ot” where “hundreds of warriors were dancing in long strides in perfect unison to the beat of the drum” (Taube 2009: 61).

48 The K'awill dance was named after the stick held by the God Sun. This sceptre represented the power of this deity and became a symbol of royalty. It maintained the lineages, created new ones, or reassured the power for a new heir. On a side note, K’awill dance occupied the same role and importance during the Classic and Postclassic era (Garcia Barrios and Valencia Rivera 2007: 27-28).

Furthermore, bells themselves may have been strongly associated with war; both the Chilam Balam of Mani and the Chilam Balam of Chumayel mentions bells as dress ornaments. The first one explicitly associates them with Kukulkan’s war costume; “[i]n the Katun 5 Ahau, Kukulkan beckoned with his hands, his bells tinkled, and he gathered his tribute of honey and quail. In the nineteenth year, Kukulkan beckoned a second time, and again his war bells were heard, and he took his donation of the miserably poor ones” (Craine and Reindorp 1979 in Paris 2008: 46). Finally, Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, is consistently represented with bells at its ankle and “The Relation de Michoacán” portrays a chief Tarascan warrior wearing ankle bells while pillaging a village (Paris and Lope 2013: 188).

To sum up, by covering these four elements, dance governed their whole nation. It touched every member of the society, held the social structure intact and rendered homage to their divinities. Maya mundane activities and traditions were ritualised, and dance presented itself as a perfect canvas for those rites. It maintained the natural order intact by pleasing their gods and justified social status.

4.2.2. Postclassic Continuity

Unfortunately, little research has been done on the subject. However, current information points towards continuity rather than disruption. Music and dance have seemingly kept the same importance in both periods and played the same role (Taube 2009: 60). While examining Maya’s dancing movement, researchers have argued that performers from the Classic and the Late Terminal era both aimed at replicating natural phenomena such as “the sway of maize (Looper, 1991: 54 in Wright and Lessos, 2018: 370), the “motions of animals” (Houston et al. 2006:255 in Wright and Lessos, 2018: 370), or “the flight of birds” (Taube 2009:46). Consequently, no major modifications have been noticed between these two periods as dances held the same functions. Dances such as “the K’awill” or “the Maize’s dance” emerged in Classic time and were maintained throughout the Pre-Columbian era. Besides, vestiges of the latter are still performed to our days in the Tzutujil Maya communities in Guatemala (Wright and Lemos 2018: 379). This is not a unique example; if we compare Postclassic dances to Classic dances, their evolution seems rather continuous. Although the social complexity of the Maya has drastically changed between the Classic and Postclassic period, their dances were seemingly maintained. Position and costume held the same significance in both periods. A dance expresses a variety of ideologies, some of them may have differed from one period to another but not to the point of profoundly modifying the performance itself.

4.2.3. Historic Maya dances and performances

The Postconquest Maya culture and the modification that the Spaniards may have brought upon different Pre-Columbian societies has always been a hotly debated subject. The current vision opposes two groups. The majority believes that the Spanish did not drastically change Maya’s organisation and that their beliefs stayed rather unphased. On the other hand, some researchers explain that if on the surface the society has not changed, the symbolism behind a few mundane activities has undergone massive changes.

Dennis Tedlock affirmed in 1985 that « spiritual conquest has actually never taken place » (Looper 2009: 190). From this perceptive, the principle of acculturation is completely overlooked, and various elements are either classified as Spanish or Maya. However, this simplifies the situation and does not account for various attempts from the conquistadors “to reduce the infidelity of the Maya” (Looper 2009: 190). For instance, even though, the absolute interdiction to wear masks and costumes never came to fruition (Looper 2009: 191), it most certainly had an impact on their society and should not be discarded.

The phenomenon of acculturation has been studied in many Mesoamerican cultures and will enlighten us on the problematic at hand. For brevity sake, only two societies will be discussed here; The Aztec and the Maya.

Aztecs

Roberts discusses in his paper the forced conversion of the Aztec population (2010: 26). The life of Peter of Ghent, a Flemish distant relative to Charles V, was insightful to his research. Peter of Ghent arrived in August 1523, learned Nahuatl for three years, and, then built a school to teach European beliefs to locals through music (2010: 27). The success of his method has led other missionaries to adopt the same technique. The emperor himself was made aware of this, and every young Aztecs were then “taught plainchant, followed by polyphony in mass settings and religious villancicos in the finest Spanish tradition” (Rice Conklin 1995: 39).

To convince the population to attend to those “classes” willingly, two compromised were offered: the first was respect towards Aztec musical tradition. Christian beliefs were first incorporated into traditional Mesoamerica performances in order not to “unsettle the locals too much”. However, the missionaries have gradually increased their pressure and traditional European music rapidly spread (Rice Conklin 1995: 39-40). The second concession consisted of an exemption of taxation for the Aztecs attending class. This process was further encouraged by the Spaniards who massively destroyed Precontact instruments and gave amends for their use (Rice Conklin 1995: 40). A colonial report written by Juan de Torquemada describes the process as follows “The first instruments of music manufactured here were flutes, then oboes, and afterwards viols and bassoons and cornets. After a while, there was no single instrument used in churches which Indians in the larger towns had not learned to make and play. It became unnecessary to import any of these from Spain. One thing can be asserted without fear of contradiction; in all Christendom, there is nowhere a greater abundance of flutes, sackbuts, trumpets, and drums, than here in New Spain” (Rice Conklin 1995: 40).

Spanish music instructors came in such high number that they were dispersed throughout the territory and distributed in local Indian villages. They taught locals how to dance famous Spanish performance such as the “romance”, the “corrido” and the “cancion”. Finally, due to the slave triangle, many Africans deported to America, brought their style and culture (Rice Conklin 1995: 43). By 1598, African drums were integrated into the Aztec civilisation, and by 1624, Aztec and African drums had already combined (Horspool 1982: 33).

To conclude, despite the effort of the Spaniards, the Aztec culture did not disappear and was not overshadowed by another. Notwithstanding, their music was still hugely impacted by the co-existence of numerous traditions. Therefore, it should not be assumed that their music remained unchanged. A phenomenon of acculturation did occur, many different cultures were mixed, and this led to the emergence of new rhythms and dances. Maya

Twentieth-century Maya still employ reed flutes, tongue drums and wood membranophones. As a matter of fact, in the Yucatán region, the usage of rattle made of calabashes has not changed since the Classical period (Vernier 2006: 217). Even better, based on depictions on Bonampak Walls, Vernier has demonstrated that ninth century instruments are identical to those currently manufactured and used (2006: 218). Scholars, therefore, argue that the European impact may have been less dramatic in Maya performances. However, considering that their whole culture remained identical to their Postclassic or, let alone, classic ancestors is a myth. A direct culture lineage can rarely be drawn between a current dance to its classic predecessor (Looper 2009: 191). Plus, the few that remained identicals are no longer performed in the regions where they used to be prominent. Next, dances were also used to convey Christianism in the area (Looper 2009: 189). Lastly, La Danza de la Conquista, a modern dance referring to the conflicts between Maya and Spaniards, combines European instruments49 with local drums (Howell 2004: 157). The integration of a foreign instrument into their performances could indicate that the principle of acculturation also touched their territory. One could argue that the incorporation of a European instrument in this context was related to the story of the scene and is not symptomatic of acculturation. However, this dance is not a unique example, and other contemporary plays integrated various European percussion, with no link to the actual scenes. Their adoption, therefore, appears to have been chosen for their musicality. For instance, the Danze de los Vaqueros, a play criticising Spanish bullfight, mixes cultural influences from African slaves, mestizos and Mayas. The African rhythm is not justified by the theme of the performance but fits the tones researched by the actors/dancers. Besides, this dance appeared relatively early in the Postcontact period as its first occurrence can be traced back to the sixteenth century. This testifies that acculturation may have occurred relatively early. To conclude, we cannot assure that the significance of dance and the way it was performed has remained identical for the past five hundred years. Therefore, current uses of bells must be treated with caution and modern functions will be compared to the Spanish tradition.

4.3. Maya Bells distribution and attested usages:

4.3.1. Mesoamerica Homogeneity

Vernier considers five regions to be particularly representative of the Mesoamerican area: Central Mexico, the “Occident”, the south of Veracruz and the highlands and the lowlands. Throughout his PhD thesis, he proves that cultural homogeneity was present in this part of the world and that Mesoamericans shared a common perception of music. Vernier’s conclusion is based on 788 instruments either found in archaeological digs or musicological studies (2006:

49 Specifically, an Arabian flute named chirimia. 55

84-85). He categorised the different instruments under their classical European nomenclature and determined three main groups; the idiophones composed of languet’s drums, turtle shells, bells, rattles, cowbells and scrapers (2006: 64), the aerophones incorporating simple and double drums, and finally the membraphones that consist of flutes, whistles, horns and conch shells (2006: 49). Among the 788 instruments analysed by Vernier, 58% of them belong to the first category and are present in considerable quantity (2006: 67,89).

This allowed for regional and local comparisons. More specifically, when considering the Classic period in its entirety, Vernier expressed that the highest symmetry can be found between Central Mexico, the Maya lowlands and highlands (2006: 85). Although the same exercise was harder to effectuate for the Ancient Postclassic era, pieces of evidence point to an augmentation in disparities between the sub-mentioned regions. Despite this, Mesoamerican idiophones were still found in similar contexts throughout Mesoamerica and were seemingly used by the same social class (2006: 85). Furthermore, by considering the Postclassic era in its entirety, Vernier has drawn more similarities; among his observations, he noted that the Occident, Central Mexico and the lowlands shared the most similarities (Vernier 2006: 23). He expressed that Classic Mayas have seemingly used every type of Mesoamerican instruments and give an excellent illustration of their Postclassic uses. Based on this argumentation, he concluded that Classic Mayas had transmitted their musical knowledge to Mexico; causing an overall transmission to substantial parts of Mesoamerica (Vernier 2006: 86). What we can infer, from the information laid down above, is that both the role and type of instruments were fairly uniform throughout Mesoamerica. This will allow for regional comparisons on the use of bells. Several similarities shared between these societies might prove insightful to this discussion50, but I will still maintain my focus on Mayas themselves.

The appearance of copper bells seems sudden and difficult to explain since most instruments used during the Postclassic emerged from the Classic Maya culture. Therefore, from this perceived homogeneity emerges a question;

50 On a side note, this cohesion should not prevent a researcher from studying local disparities or analysing greater similitudes between some regions.

Did bells exist in clay prior to be in metal? Or in any other material?

There is currently no definitive answer to this question as no instance have been found with certainty. Simon Vernier has found occurrences of ceramics bells (2006: 68). However, due to the research angle adopted by the author, the exact location of the founding was not specified. This, therefore, complicates the identification of those bells and does not allow us to determine the civilization from where they are. Nowadays, dancers attach ceramic bells at their ankles, but their adoption could either be the fruit of a long Maya tradition or the process of acculturation. Amy E. Benton (2010: 26) affirms that clay bells have been found in a Late Classic context in Aguateca, a site situated in the southern part of the Petexbatun region in the department of El Petén, Guatemala. It was placed in a daily context where both men and women were authorised to play. Her excavation report was not accessible, and no other instance was found. I, therefore, believe that there is not enough to determine with certitude the presence of ceramic bells in the Maya region.

The second point is equally as hard to address; Maya bells made from dried fruit, similarly to what Stevenson (1964: 40 in Rice Conklin 1995: 24) has proclaimed for the Aztecs, have yet to be discovered51. Being made of perishable material, their conservation is extremely rare. In any case, if their existence comes to be proven, dried fruit bells likely functioned as parures since they could not produce any sound. They, consequently, would not be considered in our discussion.

To conclude, due to the lack of concrete evidence, copper bells will be considered as having appeared relatively late in Maya history. Still, by shedding new light on those instruments, I hope that future research or excavations will be able to determine the possible existence of ceramic bells before their copper counterparts.

4.3.2. Postconquest and Contemporary usage of bells in dances and plays:

Lastly, before discussing the information laid down so far, two plays, where the presence of bronze bells is attested, will be debated.

51 Finding bells made of this material in various Mesoamerican regions would further support the theory of Mesoamerican homogeneity suggested by Vernier.

A brief description and the overall structure of the narrative will be presented, before indicating the main occurrences of bells and attempting to determine their function.

The Rab’inal Achi

The first written information about it was recorded in the 1860s (Howell 2004: 129). The play opens with the entrance of a K’iche’ warrior at the Rabinal citadel of Kaqyuq. There, he threatens his peers but is captured by a warrior-prince. The two of them briefly discuss, and the troublemaker is then brought before the Rabinal king. There, the warrior is accused of betraying the K’iche and Rabinal alliance. He tries to defend himself by pointing out his many exploits. The memories of the warrior move the king, who remembers that he once wanted to marry his daughter to the very man he is about to sentence to death. As he is obliged to follow the rules of his community, the king decides to sacrifice his prisoner but grants him several last requests. Among those, he allowed his prisoner to visit his birthplace and to dance with the Rabinal princess, the woman to whom he was promised. The K’iche warrior then engages in a mock battle and is sacrificed at the end of it (Howell 2004: 123). The entire play can not be summarised but a specific part of it has retained our attention. To start the mock battle;

‘The king held his hand in the air. Through this action, the bells attached to its writs shocked against each other and the battle began.’

This passage supports the testimony left by the conquistadores and strengthens an apparent link between war and bells. Bells were also jingled at other occasions, both at determined and random timing. Among the specific moments, Howell noticed that bells were used to punctuate specific lines and in music pieces at the conclusion of altos. Those altos are used to separate the spoken parts of the play and cues the war cries of the warriors (2004: 219). There is no other indication of bells used as instruments.

The « Baile de los Moros y Cristianos Procession »

This play, written in Spanish in 1964 by Jose Angel Octgin, recalls the history of the Reconquista as a mean of Christianisation. A cast of actor-dancers performed a thirty minutes-scene in Copan where they played six Moors and six Christians. The capstone of the dance is the choreography of a sword battle between the Moors and the Christians who eventually reunite and perform a final group dance. In several scenes, the twelve actors are split into smaller groups and start dancing in duos or trios in typical Pre-Columbian fashion52 (1993:39).

However, as this performance derived from a famous European play, many elements resemble the “Moorish dances”, which were according to Sachs (1937:333) among the most frequent European dances in the fifteenth century. They were played throughout Europe and records of it can be found in France, Italy, Spain. Yet, the actors carrying a sword with a bell attached at their hilt is among the specificities of this Maya performance and does not derive from the Moorish dances53 (Howell 2004: 251). Those bells had various uses and played an integral part in the performance. They were activated by the actors moving the swords up and down in quick strokes54. These strokes signed the beginnings and endings of speeches and dances, similarly to the Rab’inal Achi play. Bells were also rung at specific moments, but according to Howell, their sound did not always match the rhythm of the scene (Howell 2004: 251).

Finally, in case of mistake or uncertainty from an actor, one of his peers would shake his bell to stop the musicians and settle the issue (Howell 2004: 191). These two performances are part of the sword dance category, a style highly appreciated in Medieval Europe (Looper 2009: 208). This type of sword dances is part of the Patzark, itself derivative of the Iberian Corpus Christi, where bells were worn as ornaments along with crowns. They were integral to the costume worn by jokers in the Middle Ages who regulated the pace of a dance by series of foot strikes. Jokers often partly improvised their performances, and these strikes may have helped to pace the play. Returning to the Maya plays, bells currently play a more structuring role rather than holding musical significance. They regulate the format and duration of a scene while occasionally stopping performers in case of an error committed by the troupe. Scholars agree that Maya plays can be defined by their looseness. For instance, Howell noticed that none of the plays, he assisted to, followed the script phrase by phrase and that many quotes were improvised

52They replicated the circular-dance visible in the Codex Borgia.

53Another difference is the monumentality of the masks worn by the actors.

54 Thereby recalling the hunting dances. 59

(Howell 2004: 256). Therefore, the need for a discreet structural element may have been felt by the performers. A similar trend for their music was also noticed with many “malleable aspects within the accompaniment music, as seen in structural components like adjustable rhythmic patterns, flexible son order, and free interpretation” (Howell 2004: 256).

The plays discussed have both emerged in the historic time. The adoption of bells to solve the issues that emerged from improvisation might originate from Europe. Bells may have never been profoundly incorporated in Postclassic Maya performances55. However, bells which were seemingly associated with warfare kept their symbolism and may have held a double significance as a war starter and a structural element. As explained by Wright and Lessos, “bodily posture and gesture function” are iconic signs (2018: 371). The consistent connection between jingling the bells attached to a noble’s wrist and the launching a war throughout centuries is more indicative of local continuity than a European addition.

4.4. Bells as voices of the ancestors

Katz explains that particular instruments had a meaning associated with them; some held the sacred words, breath and voices of Maya ancestors (2008: 85). This importance was most likely transported onto their bells. This coincides with the translations for bells from Nahuatl as “good sound” or as “sound like a man who speaks well” (Hosler, 1988: 850). In this aspect, bells may have been used in the same way as jade plaques from the Classic era. Those plaques were attached to a belt mask and worn while dancing. They tinkled and produced a song comparable to the voice of their ancestors. Several plaques, including the Leiden plaque, were carved and narrated part of the Maya history. Performers dressed up as deities in order to represent and homage them. Bells may have played a similar role either to represent a deity56 but also to call upon the voice of their ancestors. By dancing and jingling their bells, the history of the Mayas was celebrated.

55 Indeed, in both plays, the musicians play in the back and only use either drums or trumpets. 56 Such as KuKulkan, the supreme leader of the gods and controller of the wind, sky and Sun. The Postclassic period is an era of intense cultural exchange, and various beliefs were shared within the Mesoamerican sphere of interaction. Maya bells might, therefore, have also been cast to be an attribute of Huitzilopochtli, further explaining the warrior connotation.

More than 80 bells were found in the Quemistlan Bell Cave in Honduras, with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic depictions (Blackiston 1910: 538).

Those bells are most certainly of West Mexican origin, and, it cannot be asserted that Maya visualised bells in the same manner. Several elements, however, support the likeliness of shared perception. Firstly, the homogeneity pointed out by Vernier57. Secondly, various anthropomorphic and zoomorphic bells from the Cenote of Sacriﬁce at Chichen Itza closely resemble the Quemistlan bells, already pointing at cultural exchanges between Honduras and the northern Yucatan Peninsula (Paris 2008: 47). Lastly, at Lamanai and Tipu, three bells had human or animal face depicted on their resonators (Simmons and Cockrell 2017: 162). Fig. 24: Anthropomorphic bell found in the Quemistlan Bell Cave

4.5. Conclusion

Throughout their history, bells had various uses. It has long been stated that they were played as instruments and worn during dances. This possibility cannot be dismissed, but the question is whether their musicality was the principal reason for their incorporation in performances. Bells may have been used in conjunction with the music played but usually were not impactful and overshadowed by other instruments. Some bells may even appear dissonant to the rest of the music. A link between dance and war is, however, attested. Conquistadors and the Chilam Balam of Mani and the Chilam Balam of Chumayel describe instances where bells were tinkled before an armed conflict. The two-discussed plays display a similar narrative. Therefore, wearing bells and jingling them seems significant to the story. Copper identification as the sun’s excrement may have played a decisive role in bell’s adoption as an ornament exhibiting someone’s status and wealth, but also as an attribute for a deity linked with warfare58.

57 Vernier also mentions the presence of bells with anthropomorphic faces depicted on them but due to his research angle, does not precise their location (2006: 92, 262).

58 If so, jingling them at this specific moment may bring forth godly support and brace the warriors.

Based on modern uses, bells most certainty played a decisive structural role and helped to organise a play or potentially a dance, rather than being simple instruments. Firstly, in both Rab’inal Achi and la Baile de los Moros y Cristianos Procession bells are frequently used to signify the end of a scene and the passage to a new one. Secondly, as explained above, improvisation is prominent in contemporary Maya performances. This can occasionally lower the quality of a scene and cause actors/dancers to make mistakes. By ringing the bells attached to either their shield or sword, the other performers are made aware of it. This can lead to two distinct situations; the performers either re-enact the scene or clear the misunderstanding and move on. Bells may have shared or integrated the structural role that their European counterparts played, and, attaching them to a sword is a perfect association between their role in Spanish and English dances and their local association with war.

5. ORNAMENTATION OR COINAGE?

Various accounts, already mentioned above, suggest a monetary usage of those bells. I will first research the different materials required to cast a bronze artefact, before comparing bells with other resources that have been determined by scholars as a local form of currency; the cacao beans. The information collected so far will be confronted with the distribution and access of bells in the Maya region. From this, the likeliness of bell’s adoption as a coinage should emerge.

5.1. Acquisition of Raw Materials

In this section, a list of the resources needed and the means to collect them will be briefly discussed.

- Fuel

No studies on the type of wood used have been probed. We cannot yet establish whether Maya used local or imported wood. Charcoal was undoubtedly used for the smelting process instead of woods in order to reach a temperature sufficiently high.

- Clay

The clay fabric of mundane Mayápan pottery was optically active. This indicates either low heating temperatures or short heat exposure. A precise firing temperature cannot be measured. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that they were ignited above 800 C since calcite, which is found in high quantity in their ordinary pottery (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4311), shatters when exposed at temperatures above 650 C (Rice 1987: 98). The richness of calcareous material in local pottery suggests that many of these were natural inclusions in the clay instead of a deliberate addition 59 (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4311). Nonetheless, upon closer investigation, Meanwell noticed an absence of calcite in the metallurgical ceramics.

59 Besides, the geology of the Yucatán Peninsula is a sizeable lime-stone shelf that contains a high amount of calcite (Schultz et al., 1971).

He lists two possibilities to explain it: ‘Ceramists either used different clay sources with fewer calcite inclusions, or a common clay source was used for both kinds of ceramics, but the clay reserved to moulds was heavily processed to remove calcareous material’ (2013: 4316).

Bruhns theorises that a furnace initially designed for pottery may have been slightly modified to be employed as a melting furnace. He explains that the Maya had a somewhat poor knowledge of pyrotechnology, with most furnace reaching maximum 600-700° for a relatively short time period60 (1989: 224). However, the Late Terminal Classic was a time of profound change with numerous technological experimentations and subsequent adoptions. Among said experimentations, Burhns pointed at “the double-firing leading to either superficial oxidation or reduction”, and at the emergence of the plumbates pottery type, that shows signs of reduction and vitrification (1989: 226). Based on these elements, he explains that the furnace used for the plumbate ceramic was most likely the most suitable to serve a new function (1989: 226). The absence of copper kiln in the region does not permit to validate Burhns theory. Still, an analysis of the clay used for this pottery type in comparison with the clay used and processed for metallurgical ceramics could help to determine on how clay was processed61. Currently, the abundance of furnace fragments and the proven use of a poor refractory clay in El Coyote is a sign that either two distinct traditions existed or that small regional differences in clay processing existed. In any case, the difference suggests that clay was not imported.

60 Bruns theorizes that this lack of knowledge was due to the composition of the clay itself.

61 Among his conclusion, Bruhns also lists several reasons that may have retarded copper’s adoption. Firstly, a clear refusal due to the futility of this resource. Pre-existing and available resources may have already covered both symbolic and utilitarian functions of copper artefacts. Mayas, consequently, did not feel the need to integrate this metal. Secondly, surrounding cultures may have refused to share the casting process, which resulted in a major delay for the Mayas. Finally, their poor pyrotechnological knowledge did not allow them to exploit copper before A.D 800-900 (1989: 226). These reasons are not mutually exclusive, and a combination of the three might be starting points for later studies.

- Wax

Fifteen species of bees native to the Americas have been recorded, and the Melipona beecheii populated the Maya region. Honey was used in religious ceremonies, but also, as medicine or as a sweetener, and to brew their 'balche’, an alcoholic beverage (Imre 2010: 43). Spanish bishop Diego de Landa (1566 in Tozzer 1941:203) proclaimed that Maya traded beeswax and honey for cacao seeds (chocolate) and precious stones. Both bees and their honey were considered sacred and protected by deities (Imre 2010: 42). One log colony of Melipona beecheii annually yield 2 kg of honey (Aguilar 2001:44-49 in Imre 2010), and Postclassic apiaries controlled between 200 and 2,000 hives. Ratnieks (2001:1) extensively examined the species that Melipona beecheii pollinate and concluded that the best times for honey harvests were between February and March, and then again between May and June. This short time window and the various uses of wax and honey explain the presence in the northern lowlands, especially on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Península, of large-scale intensive farming of bees (Nárez, 1988 in Imre 2013: 47).

- Tuyeres

Hollow wooden sticks were necessary to blow air into a crucible. Aztec metallurgists may have used reeds as blowpipes. A similar feature in Maya metallurgy has yet to be proven, but a comparable perishable material is expected for the Maya.

- Chamotte

Traces of chamotte and microscopic bronze prills incorporated in the clay layers have already been detected during Meanwell’s analysis. Copper dust’s incorporation could either be the result of contamination of copper that has fallen in the clay - signifying that both the production of clay and the casting happened in the same place. Alternatively, this dust may have been purposely added to heighten the clay thermic resistance. The last possibility states that metallurgical ceramics were crushed and recycled after the casting. They were then added as grog temper for the next set of metallurgical ceramics. The metal residues that were in contact with the molten material would thus have been spread throughout the clay (J.L. Meanwell et al. 2013: 4316-4617). If multiple lairs were applied to the wax figure, the hypothesis of recycling the clay could not be supported since each layer had different compositions and served different purposes. Therefore, mixing them would fragilize the next mould. 65

- Copal Resin

Aztec metallurgists mixed wax with copal resin to realise their model. The Maya may have used a similar composition. Copal was a highly traded good in the lowlands where it grew (Lucero 2012). According to chronicles, copal was used twice a day to honour the gods, but also in weddings or to ask for rain (Lucero 2012: 19). Lastly, copal was also reserved for the Sun deity. Therefore, the likeliness of adding copal resin to further ties copper to the sun is worth noting.

- Cotton thread

Cotton was used to attach the bells at a person; the quantity required is thus negligible. Nevertheless, its distribution and significance will still be briefly discussed to asses its accessibility. Most of the region cultivates cotton62 as recorded in Colonial notes. Diego de Landa wrote that ‘they [The Yucatec Maya] gather a very great amount of cotton, which grows in all parts of the country, there being two sorts. One is sewn each year and does not last over, and the tree of this is small; the tree of the other kind lasts ﬁve or six years’63 (1978, 106). Fig.25: Map showing the cotton trees in the Maya region

According to the Relaciones Histórico-Geográﬁcas de la Gobernación de Yucatán64, woven cotton was a typical form of tribute among Yucatec Maya. Juan de Paredes describes the local economy. “Trade in this land is principally among the natives and is of cotton mantles, wax and honey and salt that is brought to Mexico, Honduras, and other parts, from which they bring cacao and clothes for the Indians…. The natives pay their tribute in cotton mantles, maize, and chickens, wax and honey, which is the harvest of this land” (de la Garza et al.,

62 The Paciﬁc coast, Yucatan Peninsula, and Southern lowlands provide the necessary temperature and rainfall.

63 Both the Latifolum, which grows once a year, and local pluriannual species were cultivated.

64 a collection of reports on colonial towns issued in response to a royal survey in 1577. 1983a, p. 202, translation by Baron 2018: 103). Cotton was thus highly traded and grown everywhere. Therefore, obtaining some was indeed quite simple.

5.2. The Production Process: Labour Needs and Arrangements

5.2.1. Copper Workshops and context

Lamanai

Simmons and Shugar noticed a lack of utilitarian copper objects in Early and Middle Postclassic time (950-1350), and only found metallic objects in burials reserved to the elites. (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 108-109). Among the eighteen bronze artefacts dated to the first centuries of the Postclassic Period, only two were not placed in noble burials. Indeed, most items come from tombs located in ceremonial and administrative districts dated from the eleventh to the thirteenth century (Pendergast 1981). Still, among the ninety-seven burials exhumed, only six of them revealed bronze objects. Bells were placed alongside “items such as ceramic vessels, pyrite mirrors, beads of various materials, stingray spines, shark teeth, sheet gold, rings, and elaborate ornaments (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 139). No metallic materials from this period have been found in commoner dwelling or burials so far 65 , suggesting that bells were reserved to the elites either as an ornament or as an object linked to their performances (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 140). In the second phase of the Postclassic period, copper production continued and may have slightly increased. However, copper only became widespread and accessible to all classes by the Late Postclassic 66(Simmons and Shugar 2013: 102). At the same period, bells started to be massively cast and dominated the assemblage as more than 79 have been found at Lamanai, representing 42% of his metallic assemblage (Simmons and Shugar 2013: 141).

65 As explained in their article, the small number of copper artefacts unearthed in Early Postclassic Lamanai may be due to the recycling habits that appeared in future phases (Simmons and Shugar 2012: 139).

66 142 out of the 187 copper artefacts from Lamanai were retrieved from Terminal Postclassic–Spanish Colonial Period deposits at the site (Simmons, Pendergast, and Graham 2009: 61).

Despite the easier access to copper, a hierarchical differentiation is still visible since most of the metallurgic assemblages belonged to the elites, and commoners mainly gained access to utilitarian objects.

The main concentration of copper items has been found in the structure N11•18, with nearly 38 per cent (71 of 187) of the total assemblage (Simmons and Shugar 2012: 141) and half (49.6%) of the copper objects from the Terminal Postclassic/Colonial Period (Simmons, Pendergast and Graham 2009: 64). This led Pendergast (1985: 4) to consider that this place was the metallurgic centre of the city. Moreover, metalworking debris has systematically been retrieved in two places67; respectively, the above-mentioned Structure N11•1868, and another area located just northeast of the Spanish church; N12•17 (Simmons and Shugar 2012: 141).

Fig. 26: Map of Lamanai presenting the structures N12-17 and N11-18. A Copper centre in Late Postclassic and Historic Lamanai.

67 Both situated in the same area.

68 Prills and many miscast objects (mainly bells) have been found.

Finally, surveys at N25/E5069, at N ll-18 and N ll-27 in layers dated to Lamanai's Contact period suggest that, at this period, two distinct production centres existed, and that both elites and commoners partook in metallurgical activities. This points to either an ever-increasing access to this resource before the abandonment of the city or at least to increasing demand. The table below shows the increasing production of copper artefacts at Lamanai.

Tab. 6: Copper artefact’s distribution at Lamanai in chronological order

Tab. 7: Context of copper objects in Tipu and Lamanai

69 A commoner residential structure situated east of the Spanish church occupied during Terminal Postclassic Spanish Colonial times. There, two broken axes positioned alongside two pouring reservoirs and two pigs located nearby allowed researchers to consider this structure a production centre of copper set in non-elite context.

This second table is useful to visualise bell’s use in Belize. Nevertheless, a lack of precise data on bell’s recovery might impede our discussion. For instance, Cockrell expresses that ‘While some Tipu bells come from burial contexts (seven bells, including complete and incomplete specimens from three burials, three of which are from a double interment), many are surface finds (five bells). The concentration of bells in a few burials suggests that this object type may have been reserved for particular residents of Tipu. Yet, of the four most common metal forms at Tipu (bells, lace tags, needles, and rings), bells demonstrate the strongest tendency to come from non-burial contexts (53.3 per cent compared to 10 per cent, 0 per cent, and 6.7 per cent for lace tags, needles, and rings, respectively, including fragments of each). While the bells that are surface finds may have arrived in such contexts as a result of taphonomic processes, it is possible that, before their ultimate deposition, certain bells were reserved by the Tipu population for some activity outside of burial’.

This paragraph seems to suggest that bells found above the surface were close to the burials but not directly in the tomb. This would still imply a ritualised function associated with death, but the lack of information on the exact location of their discovery does not allow for elaboration. Besides, a similar issue is raised by the term middens, a lack of more precise data on this context renders the identification, ‘composition’ or location of this context challenging. Despite this issue, at least half of the bells are from elite setting be it – monumental architecture and burials70 – and middens context are mainly composed of miscast or flattened bells. This could indicate that bells, placed in such context, were likely not discarded but prepared for recycling.

70 The wealth of the deceased is attested by the variety and price of the other funerary goods. Mayapán

Fig. 27: Map displaying the distribution of metallic artefacts in Mayapán

Metal production was not restricted to a single workshop (see map). The majority of metallurgical ceramics and bronze remains were found throughout the city in elite ritual and administrative structures, and, occasionally, in commoner dwellings. In her table, Paris estimated the number of metallic artefacts found throughout the city but dismissed the cache in Structure R-183b due to the absurd amounts of bells found there71. Despite this omission, most copper artefacts are still found in elite contexts. Even excluding the bells found in R- 183b, only eight bells out the 42 recovered were located in commoner residences (Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 182; see tab. 9).

Tab. 8: List of structures where copper artefacts have been found in Mayapán

71 An elite setting discussed next page

Moreover, the currently four known crucibles from the Maya World were systematically found in elite context (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4308). The first two were placed in a cache in Structure R-183b72 (Fig. A) alongside 282 bells, 24 bell clusters, three failed bells, and surrounded by production debris such as numerous casting sprues and a prill (Peraza Lope 1998 in Paris and Peraza Lope 2013). The structure Q-9273 (Fig. B) included another two crucibles placed in a multiple burial containing ﬁve individuals under the ﬂoor, along the interior back wall of the house (J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4308).

Fig. 28: Map of the Structure R- 183b in Mayapan, Fig. 29: Map of the Structure Q- 92 in Mayapan, an elite residence where 282 bells have been found a small house in the ceremonial centre

The constant presence of those crucibles in elite settings does not obligatorily signify that only the upper society processed copper. Still, it does testify of the significance of copper and indicates a degree of control over the production. In the lowlands, metallurgical artefacts were seemingly accessible to both commoners and elites, but in different quantity. Copper bells, were, although in vastly different proportion, available to both commoners and elites as an alliable good but must have been either rather costly or restricted to a specific community.

72 An elite house to the east of the ceremonial centre.

73 A small house at the northern end of the central plaza of the ceremonial centre. The status of the residents is mentioned in page 74.

Tab. 9: Mayapán structures that contained copper artefacts

Zacpetén

Fig. 30: Location of Zacpetén

Two bells have been unearthed in the Group 719 at Zacpetén. The material assemblage of this complex is rich and includes marine shells, obsidian cores and copper artefacts. Pugh et al. explain that a strong correlation existed between the presence of obsidian cores and the wealth and size of a structure (Pugh et al. 2009: 210). The Group 719 contained eight cores, more than any other structures (Pugh et al. 2009: 210). Thus, a function as either an elite residence or as a public edifice was inferred. An architectural analysis of the building led them to assert that it incorporated both domestic and ceremonial features. As a result of this, this complex is currently seen as living quarters of the elite that eventually fused with a popol naj74 (a council house) (Pugh et al. 2009: 211). This structure was possibly the core of Zacpetén and finding bells there suggests that these bells either belong to the elites or were used as a dedication for this monumental centre. These two bells were found within two meters of one another: one inside the back room, and the other outside the structure in association with three shell beads (Pugh 2009: 379). They may have been produced at Lamanai (Cockrell and Simmons 2017)

Sites where bells have been reported

A comprehensive list of sites in the Maya region where metals have been discovered is offered by Simmons and Cockrell in their article published in 2017. Their list is not restricted to bells, nor to metallic assemblages cast following the Maya tradition, or to the region this thesis focuses on. Consequently, from the 40 sites listed, this section will only elaborate on

74 Such structures were used as a meeting place for administrative affairs as well as hosting the New Year’s Eve celebration and other period endings. six of them75. I could not access to all those document; information on Dixon and Santa Rita are exclusively from the article by Cockrell and Simmons.

Region Towns n Bells Context Sources

Belize Cerros 17 Late Postclassic Garber 1989 cache76 Belize Baking Pot 5 Early Hoggarth 2012 postclassic77 Belize Santa Rita Undetermined Burials Chase and Chase 1988 Bay Island Dixon 30 Unknown Strong 1935 Bay Island Ka’Kabish 8 In a Chultun78 Gonzales 2013 Campeche Isla Cilvituk 4 In a monumental Alexander 2005 structure79 Tab. 10: Bells distribution throughout the lowlands

75 Among the 40 cited sites, Lamanai, Tipu, Zacpetén, Mayapán and El coyote were also mentioned.

76 No information is given regarding the cache itself, but the number of bells found there makes it unlikely to be part of a commoner structure. The assemblage is made of 15 pear-shaped bells with two of them bearing wireworks designs, and two plain globular bells.

77 Bells have been recovered from noble and commoner households at Baking Pot in the Postclassic period; four at the noble households at the M-99 group and one at the commoner group M-198 (Hoggarth 2012: 112).

78 Bells have been found at the level 4 and 5 of the Chultun C-1 where 4 people were interred; the assemblage is composed of eight copper bells, shell beads, 11 pieces of ochre and two copper rings. Bells follow three different typologies: one globular, 3 pear-shaped and 4 button-shaped. The wealthiness of the individuals is suggested based on material remains and on being interred in a Chultun.

79 Four bells recorded in 2 different contexts, but systematically associated with type 3 structures. Alexander classifies the buildings of Isla Cilvituk in function of their size, type 3 structures measure around 50m x 40m and were either part of the monumental centre or elite residences (2005:173).

Conclusion

Bells are most frequently found in monumental areas and elite housings, but a few were also unearthed in commoner dwellings and on the surface. Bells were accessible to both elites and commoners, albeit in different quantity. The presence of bells in both burials and monumental buildings80 attests of its significance as a demonstrator of one’s status. Nevertheless, this product was not restricted to a category of the population. It was undoubtedly purchasable in markets for those who had the wealth to do so. The differential access to copper is, however, increased in cities that did not indicate signs of on-site casting. Among the 64 bells found in such towns, a single bell was retrieved from non-elite settings. Surface findings are harder to elaborate upon but, as expressed by Cockrell, they might be post-depositional, or linked to a ritual connected to death. This element could derive from a European tradition81. Medieval Europe used to jingle bells following the death of an important person; the first evidence of bells and pellet bells as instruments in Europe dates to the eleventh century in Montagu “Timpani and Percussion”. They were rung at a funeral to ward off evil or even raise the dead (Woodward 1997: 55). Needhams (1967: 611) proposes that “percussion instruments may have been associated with the passage from one status to another and therefore a connection between percussion and transition [existed]”. To support his view, he explained that, in Sixteenth-century France, after the death of a significant person, bell ringers went on the street to alert the commoners. To do so, they used handbells, the numbers they had directly linked to the significance of the deceased. As seen a couple of time, Maya bells were intertwined with death. Therefore, a similar ritual might have existed in the lowlands, regardless of a hypothetic European influence.

5.2.2. Coppersmith status

The status of coppersmith in the Maya territory has also yet to be determined with certainty. Scholars believed that they might have been itinerant (Berdan et al., 2003:98; Bray, 1977:397; Hosler, 2003:169; Proskouriakoff, 1962a:424; Paris 2008: 47).

80 Their presence in monumental buildings is certainly evidence of usage in public performances by the elites.

81 The absence of date complicates the discussion, those bells might precede historic time.

The strongest piece of evidence comes from Columbus who reported his encounter with a trading canoe full of “cotton clothing, cacao beans, wooden sword clubs edged with flint, copper axes for cutting wood, bells, and certain discs and crucibles for melting the copper” (Columbus 1959 in Paris 2008: 47). This theory is now challenged by the discovery of various on-site casting and starts to be revisited. Nowadays, Paris believes that ‘metalworkers at Mayapán were permanent or semi-permanent residents of the city …attached specialists producing for elite patrons’ (2013: 177). She argues that the information retrieved from Structure R-183b show that the metalworking activities visible in the cache were not mirrored in the internment rituals of the householders82. Indeed, among the materials present in their burial83, she only found one copper object (a bell). This indicates that metallurgical craft was not central to defining the high-ranking residents; certainly, because this profession was performed by affiliated specialists paid by the residents (Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 177). Regarding the social context of the Q-92 structure, the situation appears similar; the house is situated near a burial shaft temple in the central monumental zone and was therefore likely connected to the elites. Nevertheless, ‘its small size and the relative poverty of other funerary goods included with the burial raise the possibility that the inhabitants may have been in the service of the city’s elites’ (Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 177).

5.2.3. Gender attribution

Numerous activities were gendered. However, any sexual task repartition has yet to be determined in metallurgy. As seen above, a plethora of activities and steps had to be followed to cast an object. Shimada’s (1983 in Wiewall 2009: 333) surveys at the Late Peruvian site of Bataan Grande suggest that only the males mined and hauled the ores, while both sexes ground and smelted the ore. They add that underaged and seniors also took part in the process by extracting the prills (Wiewall 2009: 333). Recycling habits are attested in the lowlands from the thirteenth century onwards, this model is, therefore, not applicable but does show that gender differences are not systematic in the Americas. One should be cautious when studying sexual equality in the Maya culture, and

82 A multiple burial composed of 6 individuals.

83 Which included ceramic dishes, ceramic figurines, a clay figurine mould, obsidian blades, chert projectile points, chert flakes, fragments of coral, and stalactites (Paris 2013: 177).

77 since no sexual differentiation has been attested in the metallurgical artefact’s reparation in burials, we cannot currently establish what sex processed copper.

5.3. Placement on the body

Research realised in the last twenty years has yielded evidence allowing scholars to prove that bells were usually worn at a person’s ankle. Firstly, Paris has found, in the Mayapán’s cemetery, a multiple elite burial (the Q-208 tomb) containing four individuals, including the skeletal remains of an infant with five bells at his ankle. Besides, in this tomb, 1,800 censer shards were posed above the corpses, with some fragments associated with the central Mexican deity Xipe Topec (Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 18). Interestingly, in 1957, Thompson mentions a censer representing Xipe Topec wearing yellow-painted bells at its ankle (Masson and Peraza Lope 2014: 69).

The integration of Aztec deities in Postclassic Yucatán has been attested on several occasions84. Landa, who witnessed a ceremony held in honour of Xipe Topec in the Maya lowlands, describes its ritual as follows; “They threw the body, now dead, rolling down the steps. The officials below took it and flayed it whole, taking off all the skin except for the feet and hands, and the priest, all bare, covered himself, stripped naked as he was, and all others danced with him”. This ceremony is identical to the one celebrated in the Aztec territory and could have borne a similar function throughout Mesoamerica. Xipe Topec was the patron of Aztec goldsmiths and seemingly held a similar significance for the Maya. A dozen of gold maquettes found in the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza85 are believed to depict Xipe Topec. One of the larger maquette arbours a cross-like device on each eyelid. This is, according to Lothrop (1952:64), an Aztec symbol for gold. Since gold was not as prominent in the Maya

84 Taube demonstrated in her book “The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan” that several Aztec gods were integrated into the Postclassic Maya pantheon. They would either stay identical in both cultures, or combine cultural traits from both societies (1992: 121). For instance, the Merchant God M and the God K both find their roots in the Aztec God “Tezcatlipoca-Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli” but incorporated elements from various Classic Maya deities.

85 Once more this assemblage must be treated with cautious since he is reminiscent of west metallurgical tradition and anterior to Maya metallurgy. society, Xipe Topec was most likely the god of precious metal workers in general and thus of copper as well. Lastly, Simmons excavated and reconstituted a humanoid burn incense dating back to the Postclassic and noticed bells carved at its right ankle. It thus appears that bells were worn in most instances at a person’s ankle.

Fig. 31: A humanoid incesario reconstituted showing bells at an individual’s right leg.

However, as explained in the chapter dedicated to Maya performances, bells may have been attached to a leader’s wrist. According to textual sources, when a leader raised his arms and jingled his bells, a war began. As explained in the previous chapter, this link between war and bells is also visible on KuKulkan war costume. When attached to someone’s ankle, no mention of war has ever been attested. This would suggest that the bell’s position may have mattered. Did the sound trigger the war or, was it simple ornamentation meant to impress their contemporaries?

5.4. Exchangeable Commodities

In this section, I will turn to the use and incorporation of cacao in the Maya society as a form of currency. In his paper discussing the existence of currency outside of flat-out metallic coinage, Rivera Solórzano singles out the requirement that need to be met to adopt a resource as money (2016: 413). According to his model, a resource must be usable, recognisable, indivisible, uniform in quality, fungible, portable and durable. To defend his vision, he then tries to see how well cacao beans fitted as money based on those elements (Rivera Solórzano 2016: 420-421). I will then posit the same criteria on bells and try to see whether the assumption of their economic use can be supported

5.4.1. Cacao

a) Usable: Cacao was a highly marketable good due to its size and ritual value. Cacao’s seeds were, indeed, thought to be provided by the gods to brew a sacred beverage. b) Recognisable: A cacao tree and its beans are unmistakable and were desired by all social classes. c) Indivisible86: According to Rivera Solórzano, the size of the seed made it unnecessary to be divided, and beans were traded completes. d) Uniform in quality: Numerous variations of the beverage existed, yet the seed itself remained identical with no difference in quality. The only variable comes from the seed’s dependence on the weather. e) Fungible: A seed could easily be replaced by another due to the homogeneity of the good. Nevertheless, this interchangeability is limited to seeds collected in the same year and from the same region, as such elements modify the quality and size of the product. f) Portable: The size of the seed, relatively small, facilitates its transport, and the wealthiest merchants could carry several amounts of it. g) Durable: Beans had a relatively short time life (about one year). Nevertheless, when expiring, they were turned into the sacred beverage and consumed as a highly valued drink.

The procurement of the resource and its access should also be taken into consideration. The author certainly incorporates these two elements in the discussion under the term of marketisation and, according to Rivera Solórzano, cacao was specifically well-suited for these two points (2016: 421). Both commoners and elites craved this good and the access to cacao was quite widespread in the lowlands. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, chocolate was consumed with most meals and was usually mixed with another ingredient (for example, water, maize, chilli and/or honey), and in different proportions to produce a variety of drinks (Tozzer 1941 in Rivera Solórzano 2016: 420-421). To sum up, cacao was

86 I am personally not convinced that an object should be undividable to be considered money. I chose to add it here in order to respect the view of the author but will not mention it in the following discussion on bells. easily grown in the region, accessible and craved by both the upper and lower class, easily transportable and homogeneous in form.

5.4.2. Bells

a) Usable: Copper bells gained valued due to their sacred connotation as attributes of KuKulkan; the supreme deity linked to the Sun and warfare. Bells were therefore worn in public performances and burials as a display of one’s social status. b) Recognisable: Copper colour and sound was well-regarded among Mesoamerican cultures, with sacred connotation throughout the region. c) Uniform in quality: Bells differ in composition due to the recycling habits, but it may not have been noticed during their uses. However, six different styles of bells existed, and even though some forms appeared more frequently, none of the above-mentioned types was distributed throughout the territory. Adding to this, regional preferences are noticeable. If we postulate their use as currency, this signifies that each type must have had distinct value depending on the required amount of copper. d) Fungible: Bells can be replaced by another one, but the complexity of the casting and the number of failures greatly impede its usage as a coinage e) Portable: Ranging around one centimetre, transporting them must have been rather easy. Furthermore, the absence of ore sources is further proof of their transportability. f) Durable: Copper bells are highly durable and could even be recycled. However, the casting process was complicated, and miscast occurred frequently.

Bells do fit in many categories. Still, its reduced fungibility, the absence of a predefined style and size, the lack of ore sources, and its limited availability must have reduced its usage as a currency.

5.5. Ornament or Coinage: Conclusion

The sheer number of failed bells87, the absence of copper sources in the lowlands, and the proven use of cocoa as a bargaining chip (Berdan 2016: 132) discredit the use of bells as a currency. Furthermore, several raw materials required to cast those bells such as wax were already exchangeable for cacao beans (Diego de Landa 1566 in Tozzer 1941:203).

87 Among the 79 bells found at Lamanai, 27 were miscast (Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 165)

Nevertheless, two pieces of evidence support the use of those bells as money. Firstly, according to many conquistadors, bells were used as currency and gained value depending on their size88. Currently, six shapes of bells have been discovered and thus corroborate Spanish reports. However, those forms are not equally spread throughout the lowlands, and local preferences for certain shapes existed, such as pyriform and globular bells in Belize. This is slightly counterintuitive to the notion of a money but is yet not enough to preclude the possibility. Secondly, the term "tak' in" which signifies bells is also used for money (Speal 2014: 75). However, both those words emerged during the contact period. No linguistic evidence suggests that pre-Columbian Maya conceived "money" as a commercial technology. Each form of currency—be it metal, cacao, shell, cloth, or feathers— was a valuable commodity that happened to serve exchange purposes, and the notion of "money" as an “item that exclusively served as an object for exchange or unit of value was never lexicalized” (Speal 2014: 98). Nahuatl, in contrast, had a term “tlacoualoni” that signifies “an object to buy” (Rojas 1998: 193), making it equivalent to Western expressions for money. The Mayan term 'tumin' in Ch'orti' means money as a coinage. This word could be a sign of an object having an inherent value similar to European currencies. However, it originates from the Spanish word 'tomin'; a Spanish coin (Berdan 1986: 297). Even the 282 bells from the R-183b cache, which far exceed the requirement for internal household consumption, may have been ordained for local or regional markets but not as an international coinage. Bells are much more frequent in Belizean sites, this could suggest an economical use specific to this region, but even there their quantity remains weak for commercial use89. Moreover, although Cockrell and Simmons mentioned that globular and pear-shaped bells are the most abundant in the region, button-shaped were present at Ka’Kabish, further proof of regional preferences and possibly of Mayapán sphere of interaction. Lastly, small copper axes were also recognised as money by the Spanish. However, a single miniature copper axe has been found at Mayapán and 23 fragments in Lamanai (Simmons and Shugar 2013:144), this limited sample does not allow to theorise on axe’s use as money and, again, is not indicative of widespread distribution.

88 A translation of Cogolludo’s passage relates, “the money that they used was little bells, and bells of copper, that had value, according to their size” (1957 [1688]: 181).

89 Indeed, those sites each contain between 4 to 30 bells, which is still insufficient for widespread distribution; especially since the majority of the discussed sites have less than a dozen bells.

The incorporation of the word tumin, coupled with the absence of forms of gold or silver currency before the contact period, allow Speal to postulate that the use of the term for metal to signify "money" was likely a product of European contact (2014: 98). Indeed, bells were undoubtedly referred as money because Maya had to pay tribute to the Spanish authorities in the form of those bells90 (Scholes and Adams 1938: 214). Through this contact, bells may have started to be seen as a form of currency, hence its new appellation, but they were not initially considered as a form of money. Another, more elemental way of trading was barter itself. Barter, as defined by The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, is «a simultaneous exchange of commodities, whether goods or labour services, with bargaining and without using money and which lacks an abstract measure of value in exchange or payment. » Copper bells belonged to this category rather than coinage. Bells were prestige assets belonging to a restricted trading network and not money per se. They were associated with KuKulkan, Xipe Topec and possibly linked to the voice of their ancestors. By wearing them, the elites displayed their social status, but most likely did not use it as money. Even the gradual augmentation of copper availability for both commoners and elites would probably not have led to the adoption of this metal as currency. However, the European arrival has disrupted this evolution and bells were the closest proximate to the European notion of money. This, subsequently, led to their current translation.

90 Diego Quijada, a sixteenth-century alcalde mayor, mentions that “cacao, red stones and beads, and small bells and bells of copper that they had from the time of their infidelity” were required for payment to Spanish authorities (Scholes and Adams 1938: 214).

6. MISCAST AND FLATTENED BELLS:

As mentioned throughout the thesis, numerous bells have been found incompletes. Almost half of Lamanai’s bells were not useable (see Tab.9; 31 out of 79 bells). The frequent miscast may be due to the difficulty of casting an object with a clay and charcoal core. Verly has cast several cat’s heads following an Egyptian model and has encountered similar problems, notably the spreading of the liquified bronze on the surface of the core (Personal communication: 2019). Numerous specimens were miscast, with the walls of the resonator chamber usually partially or totally lacking, but a number of initially complete bells were found flattened. As Noted by Simmons and Cockrell, bell’s flattening was intentional and certainly not due to taphonomic processes. They consider that hammering bells was part of the recycling process. Excepting one, all flattened bells were found in Yglesia’s layers (A.D. 1300-1750), the presence of a unique bell predating this period, support the proposed recycling. Although I agree with this interpretation, flattening bells may have served other additional purposes. Hendon (2010) showed that objects possess agency and exert it upon humans. Objects should not be viewed as simple intermediaries between human beings, but ‘are another possible participant in ‘interpersonal’ and intersubjective relations, a participant that is not merely a tool, a device, or a means to an end, but an agent that helps shape the relationship through its properties, its purpose, and its connections to larger social projects’ (Hendon 2010 in Katz, 2018: 185). In this framework, bells should be considered impactful elements that both developed human interactions but also modified them. As stated above, depictions of human faces along with ethnolinguistic analyses demonstrated that bells were perceived as a representation of the actual voice of their forebears in Mesoamerica. This notion is not exclusive to bells since several aerophones, including conch shells and ﬂutes, have representations of ancestors on them (Barber et al., 2009; Carter, 2010). As breath and voice were precious (Taube 2004), the breath and voice of instruments were certainly valued as well.

Numerous instruments analysed by Katz (2018) had kill holes in the head. Maya considered that power emanated from important objects (Stanton et al. 2008:235); therefore, the presence of drill holes on discarded instruments could be sign of termination rituals. Often associated with death, those ceremonies were used to remove the power from an item (Stanton et al., 2008:236). By ritualistically demolishing the instrument, its agency and voice were removed (Healy 1988 in Katz 2018: 186). Katz exemplifies this principle with the Aztec ritual sacrifice of Tezcatlipoca. The Aztecs chose an immaculate youth to act as the impersonator of the god, Tezcatlipoca, for a year. He was adored, taught to play the flute, and learned to behave as a member of the utmost dignity (Both 2002; Stevenson 1968 in Katz 2018: 186). He would walk and play his flute through the streets of Tenochtitlan every day. Twenty days before the impersonator’s sacrifice, four wives were selected and had to attend to his every desire (Stevenson 1968 in Katz 2018: 186). On its sacrificial day, the Aztecs would take the youth five kilometres away from the city. As he ascended the steps of a temple, the youngster shattered his flutes and was quickly sacrificed. “By playing the flutes, acting like a noble, and personifying Tezcatlipoca for a year, he (the impersonator) has become Tezcatlipoca in the mind of the Aztecs. The flutes, therefore, are themselves agents within this ritual. They have helped to bestow god-like qualities on the impersonator and are therefore ritually charged. It is also possible (that) the voice of the flutes represented the voice of Tezcatlipoca (Both 2002). Just as objects need to be destroyed or ritually defaced to remove the agency of the previous owner (Stanton et al. 2008), it seems the flutes of the impersonator also needed to be destroyed in order to remove their power” (Katz 2018: 186). Although bells generally do not show evidence of kill holes91, they were frequently flattened. When worn during performances, this item likely bestowed god-like qualities and power upon the performer. Thus, before discarding and/or recycling them, Maya most likely felt the necessity to ritually destroy them. Next, one of the bells found at Zacpetén was posed in a ceremonial waste deposit composed of deity censer sherds and hematite mirror fragments. Pugh states that all those ritual objects had been symbolically “killed” before discard (2009: 379). Little information is given on the state of those artefacts, excepting that censers were smashed to pieces. A picture of Zacpetén bells is available on the Itza Archaeology website92 and shows that they were both most likely

91 Cockrell realised his PhD’s dissertation on 168 copper artefacts found in the Chichén Itzá’s Grand Cenote. Among the 38 bells analysed (Cockrell 2014: 10), he denoted four bells marked by conical depressions, seemingly pierced by a drill (Cockrell 2014: 15). This may be evidence of ritual destruction in the western Mexican tradition, but so far similar features have yet to be noticed in the Maya tradition.

92 https://www.itzaarchaeology.com/bells-copper/zacpeten-copper-bells/ 85 miscast and not flattened. Without a close-up investigation, a definitive answer is not accessible. Nevertheless, Pugh raised an interesting point when mentioning the presence of this bell. Discarded iron, copper and gold items, found in Zacpetén Historic period, were placed along an east-west axial path to mimic the passage of the Sun. Iron was considered a subtype of ta’-k’in, that are metals associated with the Sun; copper as its excrement and gold as its representation (2009: 379). If Pugh’s interpretation is correct, bells had power and agency even when miscast, and were discarded in specific places. Lastly, when elaborating on the presence of metallic assemblages at Tipu, Simmons and Cockrell mention the presence of both complete and a miscast bell in tombs (see Tab.9). The wealth of the individuals is not discussed but placing a miscast bell in burial is indicative that neither the sonority nor the aspect of this item was of major significance93. Indeed, the symbolism of copper seems as important as the definitive function. This could suggest that bells may have gained value through their casting and not exclusively as finished objects. Martinon Torres et al. (2015) studied the propagation of the lost-wax casting in South America and focused on the goldsmith of the Muisca culture. Their research states that wax itself had more significance than the actual final product. Modelling the wax would have given the future object his value and was not just the primary and compulsory part of the gold casting.

Wax and Copal value and association with the Sun, demonstrates the use of highly ritualised resources to produce bells. Although copper is closely related to the Sun himself#, the addition of highly regarded resources to manufacture the mould must have been as important as the metal itself. Thus, both miscast and complete bells may have exerted agency on Maya94, but the discarding process has yet to be completely understood.

93 The small sample does impede the discussion but is worth mentioning.

94 Copper significance and power does not signify that every bronze object was systematically highly valued and that they only played a symbolic role, utilitarian objects still existed. For instance, casting fishhooks in bronze was undoubtedly the result of a practical choice rather that holding a specific significance.

7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE AVENUES

This conclusion will try to answer the question asked in the introduction, namely whether we can establish the use of bells in Postclassic and Historic Maya time. Researchers ascribed three functions to those bells. They were seemingly used as a form of currency, as musical instruments, and as items of personal adornments. This thesis tried to consider the complexity and the resources required for casting, the distribution of bells and the archaeological context to establish the likeliness of bells assuming the above-mentioned roles.

Firstly, the adoption of bells as instruments was rather hard to determine. The Classic period is often most analysed, and many Maya instruments find their roots in it. Numerous ornamental lintels and a handful of wall paintings bear representations of flutes and drums. Based on these paintings and on their current use, scholars have successfully established their sonority and function. Bells, conversely, and due to their late arrival in Maya history, were not given as much attention. Moreover, bells were never retrieved in context that held specific musical functions, and no depiction of bells suggests an inherent use as an instrument.

Nevertheless, two theatrical plays held in the twentieth century incorporated bells as either accessories or instruments. Howell, who has reviewed these two plays, noted that bells were usually not impactful to the general musicality as they were often overshadowed by other standard instruments. He added that, in some instances, the sound they produced did not even match the musicality of the scene. By analysing the plays, it appears that bells were tinkled at three distinct occasions; at the end of a scene, in passages narrating war and lastly, to correct and re-enact a scene. The first application is rather self-explanatory, bells were used to signal the passage of a scene to another; in this aspect, bells are used to structure a play. The second function seems to associate bells with the launching of armed conflicts. In the baile de los Moros y Cristianos bells were jingled right before the beginning of the war, and in the Rab’inal Achi, the king tickled the bells at his arm before the opening of the battle. Bells association with warfare certainly result from copper association with the sun, itself incarnated by Kukulkan, a major deity of the Maya society. Indeed, the Chilam Balam of Mani specifically describes Kukulkan’s bells as war bells that he tickled to gather his tribute.

Loopers explained that Maya performances served to maintain their society in its current state by honouring their deities and by legitimising and reinforcing the centralised authority. Dancing to honour their gods meant that the performers became the avatars of their deity. Consequently, employing bells on-scene must have served to honour KuKulkan in its war costume. Lastly, bells were used to warn a performer who has made a mistake. Maya performances are defined by their malleability and by the place left to improvisation. This can occasionally lower the quality of a scene and create misunderstandings among the theatre group and the public. In such cases, a performer will jingle his bell. Upon hearing this sound, the troupe might react in two distinct manners; the scene is either re-enacted, or the mistake is cleared, and the play continues. The two discussed performances are derivative of Medieval European sword dances; therefore, the usage of bells, as a structural element, might come from the Old Continent. Indeed, in medieval Europe, bells were worn by jokers to pace the rhythm of a dance with a series of foot strikes, and not unlike Maya performances, those plays were often improvised.

Having said that, the integration of bells on the Baile de los Moros y Cristianos Procession is unique to the Guatemalan version, and there, bells were mainly used to regulate the play by signalling the ending of a scene. This could suggest that its structural element, along with its war association are part of the Maya tradition. However, bell’s adoption as a manner to clarify a mistake might be a functional choice, likely derivative of the medieval use of European bells. In any case, further studies on the rhythm of bells might reveal more information. Still, I currently believe that bells were not incorporated for their sonority, or as niche instrument to narrate conflicts.

Bells were undoubtedly not used as currency either. Their distribution and access do not allow for economical use throughout the region. More than five hundred bells have been found in total. This number could have been a testimony of mass production, expected for an object used as money. Still, the reader should remember that they have been produced from the Early Postclassic until the seventeenth century, and half of it comes from a single cache in Mayapán. The production is indeed indicative of bell’s significance but, to my opinion, not quite enough to consider it evidence of monetary function.

Although North Belizean sites have revealed bells in greater number than elsewhere, the sample is still shallow as only 75 bells have been found. Besides, the absence of a unique type, form and the presence of local preferences also impedes their usage as coinage; even in Belizean limited sample, distinct types are still attested. Copper’s apparent democratisation never led to an even distribution of bells among the entire society. Copper bells may have been more traded in cities where they were produced, and commoners eventually gained access to it, albeit in much smaller proportion. But in towns that did not display signs of on-site casting, bells were almost systematically retrieved in either monumental or elite structures. Moreover, several local resources were already used as a form of coinage, and bells did not replace them during the Postclassic, nor in Historical time. Indeed, cacao beans, the favoured exchangeable resource, were still harvested by Maya communities in 1910 and likely played the same role as they used to before European arrival. Finally, a term analogue to the European notion of money was never lexicalised, and barter undoubtedly remained the principal source of economy.

Copper bells must have been precious and indeed showed wealth and social status through cosmological and divine associations. Evidences of high appreciation and value of bells stem from four points. Firstly, copper bells were easily associated with the sun, itself linked to nobility, but were, also, linked to Xipe Topec, the god of precious metals. Secondly, several resources such as wax and copal, required to cast a bell, were already symbolically charged resources that could never be retrieved. Besides, constant supplies of resources were required to maintain an extensive production of copper artefacts. The joint effort of loggers, apiaries and ceramists were essential for this industry. Thirdly, the absence of ore sources in the region forced Maya to trade from distant cultures, further increasing their international connectedness, but also the network within their own civilisation. The last two points are evidence that a whole new industry had to be put in place to permit copper processing. The towns reviewed here are testimonies of an intense period of interactions, far from the picture depicted by most scholars of the Postclassic as a period of collapse or at best decline. As posit by Berdan and Paris, Mayapán must have been a core economic centre of Mesoamerica, with the majority of necessary resources available in the Yucatán Peninsula, excluding copper ores themselves. Lamanai, on the other hand, appears slightly less predominant in the region and could, therefore, be better visualised as an affluent centre. El Coyote, finally, might have been the primary resource extraction zone, if we adhere with the assumption that Honduran metallurgy followed the Maya tradition. Copper became

89 an inherent part of Maya culture, eventually entrapping them. This forced them to further develop their sphere of interaction, both within their cultural area and outside of it. The initial belief that Maya poor pyrotechnic knowledge caused the Maya metallurgical tardiness might not be the sole explanation. Indeed, an interconnected world was necessary to obtain all the required elements, and Classic Maya may not have offered it. Finally, although craft production was distributed throughout the city of Mayapán and usually held in commoner houses, the copper industry seemed to have been more strongly regulated and patronised by the elites; as seen by the production centres either situated in elite residences or close to the monumental core.

Prestige goods and ornaments were usually considered sacred to Maya who believed that they held power and agency. Copper bells most likely held numerous functions and best fit in this category. Firstly, as an exotic resource, it was likely demanded by the elites to mark their status. The Terminal classic already showed an increasing presence of long-distance trade goods in burials. Secondly, as mentioned abundantly, copper natural colour signifies that it was associated with the course of the Sun, incarnated by Kukulkan, the supreme deity of the Maya and linked to warfare. Being connected to war and the sun, copper was surely highly regarded by the elites who controlled these two elements, and whose roles were to maintain the world in its current state. Next, numerous Mesoamerican bells bear depictions of human faces on them, and the Nahuatl term for bells can be translated as the voice of a man who speaks well. Bells were thus seemingly associated with the cult of the ancestors. However, only a handful of bells from the lowlands depicted anthropomorphic faces. This relative short number might indicate that those bells are the exception rather than the norm and that they could be derivative of Western tradition. Postclassic Mesoamerica is an interconnected region and this symbolism could have been shared. Therefore, although a firm proof is currently lacking, bells may have represented, for the Maya, the voice of their ancestors. As explained in the part dedicated to the history of the region, rulers legitimized their position through various means, notably the greatness of their lineage. Bells would thus serve as a reminder of his bearer great history.

The incorporation of bells as a prestige good is thus explainable by the increasing accessibility of previously restricted goods to the lower class. Consequently, copper as an exotic resource might have been integrated to, once more, differentiate the social classes and recall the owner prestigious lineage. Copper’s integration could thus have been a way to maintain social differences and reaffirm the elite’s grasp on commoners in a period of social troubles. and where heterarchical systems were first tested in several Postclassic cities. Nonetheless, as prestige resources had become accessible to the lower class during the Late Terminal, copper could still be purchased by anyone in the cities if they were wealthy enough. Bells must have been particularly ‘expensive’ and the necessity of using already sacred resources to produce them, along with the necessity of building a entirely new industry must have justified their price and the control held by the elites on the production.

Lastly, the numerous flattened and distorted bells are usually understood as being the first step in a recycling process. However, if we take into account the numerous association that those bells had with various deities, with Maya ancestors and warfare, a deliberate attempt at desacralising them through ritualistic destruction might serve to remove their agency. Besides, the power attributed to bells likely came from both their casting process and as finished products. Therefore, a miscast bell was undoubtedly still a highly valued object.

FUTURE AVENUE

This last section will point towards future research that could be realised to establish further the significance of copper and its casting process in the Maya Region. Firstly, a tomographic analysis of the different lairs of the bell, along with a close-up inspection of the mould’s surface would reveal several information. This approach could help scholars to determine whether Maya used a dewaxing furnace or an open brazier as well as determining if the presence of copper dust in the clay is due to recycling habits of the clay as grog temper. Next, my knowledge of music is rather limited; a full-fledged study on Maya musicality and tones might help to define the use of bells as an instrument. Lastly, researching the functions and symbolism held by bells in neighbouring cultures and comparing them to the information we have on Maya, will also modestly unveiled the Mesoamerican interaction sphere and cultural homogeneity or disparity.

ABSTRACT

This thesis analyses the copper bells produced by Maya and spread throughout the lowlands. It testes the three functions attributed to these bells, notably as instruments, currency and items of adornment. The adoption of bells in dance is believed to be used as a niche instrument in scenes narrating conflicts and wars. Bells also play a structural role in plays and could occasionally be tinkled to indicate that a mistake was made. The theatre group would then either re-enact the scene or rectify the mistake. The origin of such practices was researched and a possible European influence was discerned and discussed. The use of bells as currency is, on the other hand, rejected due to the sheer number of miscast specimens, the limiter number of bells found in the territory and the resources required to cast a item using the lost-wax technique. Bells have, therefore, been most prominently worn as ornaments. Maya prestige goods were often associated with major deities, and held cosmological symbolism. As copper emerged relatively late in Maya history, this thesis tries to establish how it was incorporated in their culture and the symbolism it had. The information retrieved indicates that bells was linked with KuKulkan, God of the Sun and linked with warfare. The postclassic period is an era of growing interaction throughout Mesoamerica and various believes were shared between neighbouring societies. Maya have seemingly integrated Xipe Topec, the Aztec deity of goldsmiths and likely venerated him as the deity of precious metal. Bells also likely represented the voice of the ancestors. Lineages were particularly significant to the elites who wanted to assert their position by recalling history and the action realised by their forebears. The Terminal Classic and the subsequent demise of the Maya seems to have caused the inhabitant, of the cities that survived the collapsed, to reject the ideology of Divine Kingship and led them to turn to heterarchical political systems. Copper was integrated at that time and might have been used by the elites to assert their position in a changing society. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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FIGURES AND TABLES

Fig. 1: 1 A range of bells from Lamanai, with flattened resonators illustrated among two in the lower right, and six miscast bells or partial bells to their left. Simmons and Shugar 2013: 141

Fig. 2: 12 Map of the Maya culture showing the sites mentioned in this thesis Adapted from Aimers 2007: 330

Fig. 3: 18 Location of Lamanai Simmons and Shugar 2013: 1

Fig. 4: 26 Map of Mesoamerica, showing core zones, affluent production zones, and international trade centres involved in the production, consumption, and exchange of metal artefacts. Affluent production zones Paris 2008: 45

Fig. 5: 30 Map showing the two-metalworking tradition Simmons and Shugar 2013 :3

Fig. 6: 34 Mayapán’s bell mould and the tripod vessel J.L. Meanwell et al., 2013: 4309

Fig. 7: 35 Map of the copper-working area of El Coyote Urban et al. 2013: 82

Fig. 8: 36 West Face of El Coyote structure 372 Urban et al. 2013: 83

Fig. 9: 37 Picture of the Water Table Urban et al. 2013: 87

Fig. 10: 37 Picture of a wall of the smelting furnace Urban et al. 2013: 85

Fig. 11: 37 A bell found with its down sprue and pouring reservoir in Lamanai Simmons et Shugar 2013 :151

Fig. 12: 40 Blade of top axe (LA 2790-5) and blade of bottom axe (LA 2790-6) showing minimal annealing and heavy working lines. Shugar and Simmons 2012: 147

Fig. 13: 40 Two types of rings found at Lamanai and Tipu Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 167

Fig. 14: 41 Two types of rings found at Lamanai and Tipu Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 167

Fig. 15: 41 Tweezer from Lamanai. Length is 4.65 cm and maximum width is 2.2 cm (at blade/bit). Photograph courtesy of Dorothy Hosler. Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 169

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Fig. 16: 42 Lacetags found at Lamanai Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 170

Fig. 17: 42 Picture of a needle found at Lamanai Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 171

Fig. 18: 43 Fish hooks found at Lamanai Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 172

Fig. 19-20-21-22: 45 Pictures of the different types of bells found in the cache of the Structure R-183b Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 173

Fig. 23: 45 Drawing of the different types of bells found at Mayapán Paris 2008: 53

Fig. 24: 61 Anthropomorphic bell found in the Quemistlan Bell Cave Blackiston 1910: 538

Fig. 25: 66 Map showing the cotton trees in the Maya region Baron 2018: 104

Fig. 26: 68 Map of Lamanai presenting the structures N12-17 and N11-18. A copper centre in Late Postclassic and Historic Lamanai. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, Vol. 5, 2008, 125-134.

Fig. 27: 71 Map displaying the distribution of metallic artefacts in Mayapan Meanwell et al. 2013: 4307

Fig. 28: 72 Map of the Structure R- 183b in Mayapan, an elite residence where 282 bells have been found Meanwell et al. 2013: 4308

Fig. 29: 72 Map of the Structure Q- 92 in Mayapan, a house in the ceremonial centre where 2 crucibles have been found Meanwell et al. 2013: 4308

Fig. 30: 74 Location of Zacpetén Ducan and Schrawz 2015: 144

Fig. 31: 79 A humanoid incesario reconstitued showing bells at an individual’s right leg. Simmons, Shugar and Graham 2009: 71

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Tab.1: 26 World System Model adapted to Mesoamerica Smith and Berdan 2003:24.

Tab. 2: 32 Composition of a casting reservoir found at Lamanai Simmons and Shugar 2013: 153

Tab. 3: 44 Chronological distribution of copper artefacts and debris found at Lamanai Simmons, Pendergast and Graham 2009: 60

Tab. 4: 32 Distribution of bell’s styles found at Mayapán Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 177

Tab. 5: 33 Diameter interval of the bells found at Mayapán Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 178 Tab. 6: 69 Copper artefact’s distribution at Lamanai in chronological order Simmons, Shugar and Graham 2009: 61

Tab. 7: 69 Context of copper objects from Tipu and Lamanai Cockrell and Simmons 2017: 165

Tab. 8: 71 List of structures where copper artefacts have been found in Mayapán Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 182

Tab. 9: 73 Mayapán structures that contained copper artefacts Paris and Peraza Lope 2013: 180-181

Tab. 10: 75 Bells distribution throughout the lowlands

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