Following the source of greenstone in Mesoamerica: In the search of geological references on the southeastern border of the Olmec region

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Hidden Gems: New Research on Lapidary, Lapidarists, and Polished Stone and Shell in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mesoamericans attributed mystical and magical powers as well as healing properties to Chalchihuitl, or greenstone, which also symbolized social power, beauty, water, fertility, life, perfection, and sacredness. Historical sources and archaeological contexts confirm that Mesoamerican cultures valued specific colors and qualities in greenstones. Recently, elemental analyses have been carried out on greenstone collections at the Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa (MAX) using non-destructive spectroscopic techniques, and the results bring greater clarity on the diversity of prehispanic greenstone materials used on the Gulf Coast of Mexico: The only known source of jadeite is the Motagua Valley and Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, while the source of Olmec serpentines is reported to be in Tehuitzingo in the current State of Puebla – yet we still lack good geologic comparisons to link the sources and the objects. In the search for exchange networks in Mesoamerica, an exploration to locate sources of extraction for greenstone materials was carried out in the state of Chiapas on the southeastern border of the Olmec region. These studies were carried out using the same techniques implemented for prehispanic objects, which provides for an adequate comparison and more accurate interpretation of the results.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Hidden Gems: New Research on Lapidary, Lapidarists, and Polished Stone and Shell in the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51783