And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

No matter what material they were made of, stone, metal, or crystal, or if it was cheap or expensive (gold, silver, copper, bronze, obsidian, or pyrite), mirrors are one of the most fascinating artifacts made by artisans in the past. The users of these items were normally high-class members of society (political figures, high military members, merchants, holy men, or priests), and due to their complex manufacture, they were not easy or cheap to get their hands on them. Mirrors were considered a high-status item and used as a commodity for commercial, ceremonial, and even political performances. Mirror studies have gained a lot of attention lately in order to understand how they were made, who used them, how they used them, and/or what they mean for holders. In this symposium, we will present the results of those analyses.

Other Keywords
Trade and exchange • Iconography and epigraphy • Cultural Transmission • Craft Production • Materiality • Olmec • Iron Age • Maya: Preclassic • Archaeometry & Materials Analysis • Etruscan

Geographic Keywords
Republic of El Salvador (Country) • Republic of Guatemala (Country) • North America (Continent) • Mesoamerica • United Mexican States (Country) • Baja Verapaz (State / Territory) • Sacatepequez (State / Territory) • Cabanas (State / Territory) • Peten (State / Territory) • Jutiapa (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-5 of 5)

  • Documents (5)
Documents
  • An Appraisal of the Middle Preclassic Pyrite Mirrors from Tomb 1 of Chiapa de Corzo (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lynneth Lowe. Emiliano Gallaga. Emiliano Melgar Tísoc.

    This is an abstract from the "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Smith and Kidder were among the first to highlight pyrite prehispanic mirrors as “marvels of painstaking craftsmanship” (1951: 44). These mirrors presented a reflective surface consisting of 20–50 pyrite tesserae with beveled edges, perfectly cut, and average 2 mm in thickness. The first known examples...

  • Imperial Tokens: Mirrors in Roman and Qin-Han Empires (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Goran Djurdjevich.

    This is an abstract from the "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Roman Empire and Qin-Han China were two of the most significant and powerful states and empires in antiquity. Building upon recent research findings, and drawing inspiration from the numerous archaeological discoveries of mirrors in the both empires, this proposed paper aims to demonstrate how...

  • Mirrors in the Adriatic Region: Holders, Contexts, Exchanges (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Giulietta Guerini.

    This is an abstract from the "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ancient Adriatic Sea (seventh–second century BC) was a place where consistent encounters and trades happened between the many peoples and cultures who lived on its shores (Etruscan, Picenes, Daunians, Greeks, Illirian . . .). This paper focuses on the use of mirrors in this area by analyzing the...

  • Mirrors, a Mean to Look into Cultures (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emiliano Gallaga.

    This is an abstract from the "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. No matter what material they were made of, stone, metal, or crystal, or if it was cheap or expensive (gold, silver, copper, bronze, obsidian, or pyrite), mirrors are one of the most fascinating artifacts made by artisans in the past. The users of these items were normally high-class members of society...

  • Olmec Iron-Ore Mirrors from San Lorenzo, Veracruz / Los Espejos Olmecas de Mineral de Hierro de San Lorenzo, Veracruz (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Luis Hernández Lara.

    This is an abstract from the "And They Look into the Mirror for Answers: Mirror Analysis to Understand Its Holder" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the heyday of the Olmec capital of San Lorenzo (1400–1000 cal BC), iron-ore mirrors from nonlocal sources were traded from distant regions. The Central Valleys of Oaxaca have been hypothesized as one of the possible sources, if not the main one. Iron ore was then used by the Olmec to create drill...