Weaving the Cosmic House: Chibchan Myth and Nicaraguan Spindle Whorls

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In Bribri myth, the Creator God Sibó commanded Sál, the head of the spider clan, to weave cane and thatch to cover the cosmic house, which was built to encapsulate the world order. The house was supported by a central pole with eight surrounding posts representing each of the major clans. In 20+ years of archaeological research in Pacific Nicaragua, one of the most common themes on decorated spindle whorls dating to the El Rayo and Santa Isabel periods (800–1300 CE) is of “ladders” radiating out from the center hole on the flat bottom of the whorl. We suggest that, with the spindle in the center hole, this would represent the interior roof of the cosmic house. Other whorls were decorated with spider web motifs, and also a plaited twill design widely used to symbolize woven cloth. In other contexts we have suggested cosmological symbolism that decorated spindle whorls. Postclassic Pacific Nicaragua is traditionally interpreted as having been occupied by migrant groups from central Mexico, so it is interesting that symbolic communication on spindle whorls maintained ancestral cosmology of the autochthonous Chibchans, perhaps evidence of gender relations during the ethnogenesis of Chorotega culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35653.0