A Problem of Maya Metallurgy in the Medium Grijalva, Central Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula: Copper-Lead Alloy
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"143 Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 462 01997 Materials Research Society
DESCRIPTION OF THE OBJECTS The bell from Ixtatdn, Huehuetenango, was found in 1980 by Navarrete, atthe site, Cetepan I, is almost complete and shows little corrosion in the separation of the false wires, is pearshaped and was made by the lost wax process with the technique known as false filigree. It is classified as type F2 by Lothrop, corresponding to a type not identified by Pendergast, close to types lD3a and 1D4a, but not completely described by them. It also shows close resemblance to type lD5a. In Bray's classification is between types "1"and "m" figures 19, 20 and 21, but it is not exactly described by either one. The bell measures 3.16 cm in length by 0.5 cm of diameter. The other two bells were found at Malpaso, Chiapas, sites MP12 and MPI6,both have the same description, but one is broken and has lost one of the lips, the other has the percussion chamber completely crushed. They are pear-shaped bells made with the false filigree technique, have reinforced lips, presenting a rim in the middle of the percussion chamber, and a zigzag rod crossing the percussion chamber from the upper handle to the middle of the chamber. The crushed one has a small stone used as clapping piece. According to Lothrop's classification, this bells corresponds to type F3; and to ID7a type of Pendergast but in this case with some differences. They are also placed between varieties 19, 20 and 21 of Bray, letters 1 and m, but are not completely similar. The broken bell measures 2.76 cm length and the crushed one 2.98, but the maximum diameter could no be estimated due to the deformation. Other of the artifacts studied was a bipointed awl from Quechula, Malpaso, Chiapas, that that measures 11.6 cm in length by 0.5 cm wide. It was possibly rectangular in section, but due to severe corrosion presents a irregular surface which makes difficult to be sure of its shape. It corresponds to type VIA of Pendergast, although he does not illustrate the bipointed variety; in Bray classification it is assigned to 5:9. Pendergast describes some artifacts as bipointed wires under the number XIAI, but these do not correspond to the awl from Quechula. The object shows evidence of previous sampling, conservation treatment and cleaning. The last artifact is a needle, also from Quechula, Malpaso. The needle has advanced corrosion and large deformation. It measures 11.6 cm of length and 0.25 cm diameter. The hole of the needle was made with the traditional technique, flattening by hammering one of the ends of the wire, but leaving in the other end a "tail" some 7 mm of length and 1 mm of diameter. The tail was curved toward the flattened part and embraced by rolling the sheet around it. Lothrop and Bray do not assign a classification type to needles and Pendergast describes them as pointed wire segments with a hole in one end, and gives them as type IA. In the ancient collections of objects from Western Mexico, in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, named Navarrete and Plancarte,
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