Copper bells from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan - imports or local production?

Summary

The studies of the offerings of the Templo Mayor of the late postclassic Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan have shown that these concentrate objects of many different materials, styles and origins. The question of how these objects reached the offerings has probably more than one answer, reflecting the complexity of the postclassic economic system. However, recent research has shown that several artifact groups that were thought to be imports were probably produced in strictly regulated workshops in, or close to, Tenochtitlan. Copper bells are a case in point: the bells - and copper objects in general - were often automatically associated with a West Mexican origin. However, the analysis of the copper bells from the offerings of the Templo Mayor have shown that their morphology and compositional homogeneity seem to indicate an origin from a limited number of workshops. Comparison with bells from collections of other regions of Mesoamerica make it increasingly probable that the Tenochtitlan bells were locally produced, forming part of what is referred to in the context of this session as the Imperial Style.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Crafting the Tenochcan Imperial Identity and Style

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