THE BLUE STONES FROM CHIAPA DE CORZO: MINERALOGICAL IDENTIFICATION AND MANUFACTURE

Summary

Since the beginning of Mesoamerican societies, the elites employed prestige goods to display their power and status. At Chiapa de Corzo (Chiapas, México), a Formative period site that lasted until the late Classic, the archaeologist recovered a group of ornaments crafted on bluish stones that contrasts with the common greenstone objects found at the tombs. In this paper, we present the mineralogical identification and technological analysis of them in order to discuss their local or foreign origin. As results, we identified them as amazonite, a blue-green variety of microcline feldspar, which sourcing areas are located in Chihuahua and Colorado. This identification only incremented the nonlocal items list that the Chiapa de Corzo elites obtain through long exchange relationships. Based on the experimental archaeology and the SEM analysis of the manufacturing traces, we detected the standardization of tools and techniques. Finally, we compared these traces with other lapidary items of the site, in order to discuss their place of production.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage