Textile Technologies of Prehispanic Mesoamerica and the Andes

The social, political, and economic role of cloth in Mesoamerica and the Andes has been well documented in ethnographic and ethnohistoric literature. While archaeologists working in these regions are aware of the significance cloth had within the communities they study, textile production receives relatively little attention compared to other technologies documented in the archaeological record. Researchers from the Andes are fortunate to have a large sample of prehispanic textiles to work from, whereas textiles in much of Mesoamerica leave little material trace, except for the artifacts used for creating them. Spindle whorls are especially well documented, but other weaving implements are occasionally found in elite funerary contexts.

This session examines these technologies, with an emphasis on the textiles themselves from the Andean region and on spindle whorls and other weaving implements recovered from Mesoamerican contexts. When Andean textiles are studied, they are often examined through an art historical lens, with researchers focusing on patterns in overall structure and design. Our focus lies instead in documenting the technical attributes of textiles and the materials used to create them in order to develop a better understanding of the communities that produced them.