ANCIENT CULTURAL CONTACTS BETWEEN ECUADOR, WEST MEXICO, AND THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: CLOTHING SIMILARITIES PatriciaRieffAnawalt Clothingstyles, design motifsyand techniquesof cloth productionfound in codex illustrationsand on pottery and extant textilefragments suggest diffusion of culturetraits from the northerncoast of South Americato West Mexico and on into the American Southwest. The non-mesoamericangarments depictedin a West Mexican sixteenth-centurymanuscript and on mortuaryfigurines buried more than *,000 years earlierin an adjacentarea find analogs only in styles that werepresent in Ecuadorfrom1500 B.C. up to the time of Spanishcontact. Clothing and textile design motifsrepresented on figuresfound in the WestMexican shaft tombsof Ixtlan del Rzo)Nayarit, indicatethat theseparallels existed as early as 400 B.C. A varietyof otherdata suggestthat intermittentmaritime contactpersisted between Ecuador and WestMexico throughthe interveningperiod and into the sixteenthcentury. El estilo del vestido,los disenos decorativosy las tecnicasde produccionilustrados en los codices, la ceramica y en fragmentosde teVidossugieren la difusionde elementosculturales de la costa nortede Sudamericaa la parte oeste de Mexico y al suroestede los Estados Unidos. Los trajesde origen no-mesoamericanoilustrados en un manuscrito del siglo dieciseis,proven iente del oeste de Mexico,y los mostradosen figuritasdepositadas en tumbas mas de un milenio antes, tienen analog7asolo con los estilos del vestidopresentes en Ecuadordesde 1500 A.C. hasta el momentodel contactocon los Espanoles.La ropay los disenosdecorativos representados en las tumbas en forma de tota de Ixtlan del Rlo, en Nayarit,indican que estosparalelos existlan tan tempranocomo 400 A.C. Otra informaciondiversa sugiere qalehubieron persistentes contactos marltimos entre el Ecuadory el oeste de Mexico durantetodo este perlodoy que continuaronhasta el siglo dieciseis. A number oftraits common to Prehispanicnorthern South Americaand West Mexico-probably the result of seabornediffusion-have been identifiedby various scholars:shaft tombs and mortuary offierings(Kan et al. 1989); ceramic objects and techniques(Evans and Meggers1966; Grove 1981: 391, 1982; Lathrap1966, 1975:53-61; Pina Chan 1989:33-38); metallurgy(Hosler 1988; Hosler et al. 1990); design motifs (Meighan 1969); and language(Swadesh 1967). One can even see evidence for such contact in the extraordinarydistribution of two closely related species of birds, one of which appearsto have been introducedinto West Mexico in ancient times (Haemig 1979). The paintedjay, Cyanocorax dickeyi, is a brightlyhued, blue bird inhabitinga tiny 193-x-32-km range in a mountainous region of western Mexico, located in the states of Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Durango. It appears nowhere else in North or Central America; its taxonomically closest relative, the white-tailedjay (Cyanocorax mystacalis), is known only in the coastal regions of Ecuadorand northernPeru. These two birds are separatedby a distance of 4,000 km,l making the painted jay's distribution one of the most isolated and unusual in the Western Hemisphere (Haemig 1979). A feasible explanation for this anomaly is importationvia seabornetrade. To the above list of similaritiesshared by northernSouth Americaand West Mexico, this article adds a furthertrait, clothing. PICTORIALEVIDENCE FOR ECUADOR-WEST MEXICOCONTACT TarascanClothing: Sixteenth Century The investigationwas originallytriggered by garmentinconsistencies depicted in an earlycolonial codex that originatedin the highlandsof West Mexico (Figure 1). The Relacion de Michoacan was PatriciaRief Anawalt,Center for the Study of RegionalDress, FowlerMuseum of CulturalHistory, University of California,Los Angeles, CA 90024 Latin American Antiquity, 3(2), 1992, pp. 1 14-129. Copyright C) 1992 by the Society for American Archaeology 114 This content downloaded from 136.159.235.223 on Tue, 1 Oct 2013 19:55:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 115 [Anawalt] ANCIENT CULTURALEXCHANGES Figure 1. Map of West Mexico showingareas underdiscussion. compiled between 1539 and 1541 by the Spanishmissionary Fray Jeronimo de Alcala workingwith Tarascaninformants and native artists.The documentdeals with the Prehispanicsocial and religious institutions of the Tarascankingdom's ruling class (Freddolino 1973). The clothing shown in the Relacion is distinct from Prehispanicclothing known for all other areas of Mesoamerica(Anawalt 1981). Whereasthe Tarascans'mesoamerican male neighborsall wore long, wrap-aroundloincloths and rectangularcapes (Anawalt 1981:210), Tarascan men are shown in short breeches (Figure 2) and tunic-like shirts (Figure 3), often checked (Figure4). Mesoamericanfemales of the central plateau were modestly clad in long, wrap-aroundskirts and huipil or quechquemitl(Anawalt 1981:213), but Tarascanwomen are depicted in tight, short, checked skirts worn either with a tiny mini-mantle over one shoulder (see Figure 3) or completely topless. This scanty apparelis particularlypuzzling becausethe Tarascanheartland is locatedat an elevation of 2,100-2,700 m, wherefrosts are common from November to March.The strangenessof Tarascanattire did not go unnoticedby their enemies. The Aztecs scoffed at the Tarascanmen for wearingwomen's huipiles, and recordedtheir aberrant attire in several pictorials (e.g., Codex Telleriano-Remensis[Corona Nunes 1964:f. 25v]). These garments,worn by the Tarascansat the time of Spanish contact, were completely unlike those of the rest of Mesoamericabut almost identical to clothing worn over a thousandyears earlier This content downloaded from 136.159.235.223 on Tue, 1 Oct 2013 19:55:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LATIN AMERICAN 116 ANTIQUITY [Vol. 3, No. 2, 1992 Figure 2. The Tarascan males' short breeches and tunic-like shirt (from Relacion de Michoacan 1956:158 [lamina XXV]). Courtesy Aguilar, S.A., Madrid. in West Mexico and Ecuador. In the West Mexican case, the Tarascan-like apparel is depicted on mortuary offierings discovered at the bottom of a group of deep-shaft tombs similar to those along the northwest coast of South America (Long 1967) but foreign to Mesoamerica. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR ECUADOR-WEST MEXICO CONTACT Ixtlan del Rlo Clothing: 400 B. C.-A.D. 400 The large, hollow, terra-cotta figurines found at the site of Ixtlan del Rio, Nayarit (see Figure 1) date from associated shell material to 400 B.C.-A.D. 400 (Kan et al. 1989:69), over a millennium Figure 3. Tarascanmales' tunic-likeshirt and females' tight, short skirt and mini-mantle.Alse visible non-mesoamerican are basket-handlevessels with teapot spouts (from Relacion de Michoacan 1956:207 llamina XXXVIIl).Courtesy Aguilar, S.A., Madrid. This content downloaded from 136.159.235.223 on Tue, 1 Oct 2013 19:55:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Anawalt] ANCIENT CULTURALEXCHANGES 1 1 7 : __/12>t:0:Wvls6 W r0002tit:1';it'i00495*;v;n50Xt5a9d;;e;i! 7t00'ig 00 ' t 00; 0500000 Figure 4. In additionto the checked shirts discussedin the text, this illustrationis also noteworthyfor the presenceof elbowpipes and emphasison small stools, bothatypical of Mesoamerica(from Relacion de Michoacan 1956:11 llaminaIIl). CourtesyAguilar, S.A., Madrid. Figure 5. Large clay figure of a female wearing a geometric-patterned skirt, mini-mantle, and multiple earrings. Ixtlan del Rio (400 B.C.-A.D. 400), Nayarit, Mexico (from von Winning 1968:Plate 183). This content downloaded from 136.159.235.223 on Tue, 1 Oct 2013 19:55:44 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LATIN AMERICANANTIQUITY 118 [Vol. 3, No. 2, 1992 Figure6. Large clay figure of a male wearingmultiple whichhangs a earrings,a checked shirt, and short breeches, pelvic cover. Ixtlan del Rio (400 B.C.-A.D. 400) from Plate164). Courtesyof the Nayarit, Mexico (from Westheimet al. 1972: publisher. C)1972 The PutnamPublishing Group. beforethe Tarascanempire flourishedin the high mountains of nearby Michoacan. The humaneffigies are unique among the entire Nayarit complex of mesoamericanfigurines in two Multiplerings are worn aroundtheir respects: ears (see Figures S and 6) and their clothingis distinctivepolychrome motifs. decoratedwith The Ixtlandel Rio females are clad in tight, short, geometricallypatterned skirts (Figure garmentsoften display contiguous, 5). These decoratedsquares that collectively producea Someof the figurinesalso have a checkeredeffect. matchingcloth band worn either under or over The Ixtlan del Rio males wear, one shoulder. in place of the pan-mesoamericanloincloth, breeches;some include an Tarascan-likeshort oblong, shell-like pelvic cover hangingfrom the malefigurines are depicted in waist. Many of these tunic-like shirts often decorated with a pattern decoratedsquares (Figure 6). of geometrically Theunusual garment styles of the Ixtlan del Rio figurinesappear over a amongthe Tarascansof thousand years later Michoacan.These dress modes are distinct from ericabut similar to each anythingelse in Mesoam- other. Clothing evidence suggeststhis apparel coastof South America. derived from the northern EcuadorianClothing: 1500 B. C.-A.D. 1530 Early depictionsof a SouthAmerican shirt are found in the (Figure7). Ecuadoriancoastal province of Manabi During the Chorreraphase (Late Formative: were 1500-300 B.C.), hollow ceramic figurines producedat the site of Chacras.These pieces of display clothing similar in constructionto that Ixtlandel Rio. A male wears a short shirt and breecheswhose design motifs are decoratedwith This content downloaded from 136.159.235.223