How Many Birds Does It Take to Make a Feathered Shield? The Resources and Techniques of Mexica Featherworkers

Author(s): Laura Filloy; Maria Olvido Moreno-Guzman

Year: 2017

Summary

The Florentine Codex is an excellent source for understanding the manufacturing techniques used by Mexica featherworkers to make luxury items. It records many of the tools and steps necessary to tie feathers and produce multicolor mosaics. Historical information about the selection of the raw materials, their storage, preparation, and handling, however, is scarce. The meticulous study of two Mexica feathered shields has allowed us to understand, not only the materials used in their manufacture, but also to estimate the number of feathers required to make these objects. This presentation will examine the resources and techniques employed by featherworkers in the capital of the Mexica Empire.

Cite this Record

How Many Birds Does It Take to Make a Feathered Shield? The Resources and Techniques of Mexica Featherworkers. Laura Filloy, Maria Olvido Moreno-Guzman. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 429831)

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica

Spatial Coverage

min long: -107.271; min lat: 12.383 ; max long: -86.353; max lat: 23.08 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15375