Social and Geographic Associations of Cotton-sized Spindle Whorls in South-central Veracruz, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Textile Tools and Technologies as Evidence for the Fiber Arts in Precolumbian Societies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The western lower Papaloapan basin in south-central Veracruz was subject to systematic survey and surface collection in several blocks of terrain. An initial analysis of spindle whorls from one survey block showed cotton-sized whorls were relatively abundant during the Classic and Postclassic periods, consonant with documentary records attesting to substantial Postclassic Aztec tribute of cotton and cotton garments (Stark et al. 1998). The region was suited to cotton production, one of the local sources of wealth because cotton could not be grown in many populous highland parts of Mesoamerica, and cotton was a prized fiber for textiles. This study includes all the survey blocks and examines whether socioeconomic or local environmental factors are associated with greater whorl frequencies. High ranking landed families may have had client workers to produce more thread and textiles. Alternatively, more spinning may have occurred where farmers could only produce one crop a year, supplementing their income with labor in spinning and weaving.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Textile Tools and Technologies as Evidence for the Fiber Arts in Precolumbian Societies

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23192