Provenance and Manufacture of Mixtec Style Objects Found on the Surrounding Structures of the Precinct of the Great Temp
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Provenance and Manufacture of Mixtec Style Objects Found on the Surrounding Structures of the Precinct of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan Reyna B. Solís Ciriaco Ciriaco1 and José L. Ruvalcaba Sil2 1
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Seminario 8, Centro histórico, México D.F., C.P. 06060, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected] 2 Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, México DF 04510, Mexico. ABSTRACT Seventy six speckled greenstone items have been recovered on the surrounding structures of the Aztec precinct of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan. Several researchers have identified the material as marble. Also, these objects have been labeled as Mixtec style due to the raw materials involved in their manufacture as well as their apparent similarity with other known Mixtec objects. The main objective of this essay is to determine the raw materials and the technology employed on its manufacture. Based on earlier composition analysis using Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), it became clear that all items are made of the same calcite-serpentine mineral alloy, which probably comes from the Oaxaca region. It is interesting the homogeneity and standardization among these pieces by analyzing them with experimental archaeology and the characterization of their manufacturing traces. Comparing their raw material, morphology and techniques with those of Mixtec sites, the analysis revealed that they are not in fact related at all; however they do coincide with the manufacturing process of Tenochca (Aztec) style objects. This fact might point towards the actual origin of the raw materials, their obtainment and the technology behind the elaboration of luxury goods at Tenochtitlan. INTRODUCTION Several hundreds of items have been recovered during the many excavations made on the Sacred Precinct of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, Mexico (Figure 1). Most of them were elaborated with raw materials from outside the Basin of Mexico. Among these objects there’s a group that stands out from the others as it is fundamentally integrated by sculptures, masks, musical instruments and bowls, all of them identified as Mixtec style objects and thus, of foreign manufacture [1]. The presence of these items from outside of the Mixtec region here at Tenochtitlan has been interpreted as the byproduct of the trade relations or tribute to the Aztec (Tenochca) capital [2]. In light of this, the purpose of this investigation is to show how it is possible to infer the tools and techniques using experimental archaeology and scanning electron microscopy as well as identifying any sort of pattern that indicates the process of its production. This, coupled with the research on raw materials used for the objects with Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis, allowed us to infer the mineral’s provenance. Finally, comparing objects at this level proves useful in marking off the origin a
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