Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T01:51:15.230Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Weapons of Resistance: The Material Symbolics of Postclassic Mexican Spinning and Weaving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2019

Geoffrey G. McCafferty  and
Sharisse D. McCafferty
Geoffrey G. McCafferty*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N1N4, Canada
Sharisse D. McCafferty
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N1N4, Canada
*
(mccaffer@ucalgary.ca; corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Material culture studies demonstrate how objects may act to communicate information regarding social identity. In this study we consider ethnohistorical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence for Postclassic spinning and weaving as symbols relating to female ideology in ancient Mexico. We then relate a contextual interpretation of texts and images to contemporary symbolism, particularly associated with members of the female earth/fertility deity complex depicted and described in precolumbian and early colonial pictorial manuscripts. For our case study we analyze decorative imagery found on baked-clay spindle whorls from Postclassic Cholula, Mexico. This collection is representative of an iconographic system relating to female ideology. Whorls, as well as other spinning and weaving tools, paralleled male-oriented weapons to create a symbolic equivalence or, as we argue, a usurpation of the male symbols within a female worldview as a form of resistance to male domination. We conclude that the symbolic system used on spindle whorls and in other aspects of female practice created a communication network understood by Postclassic women.

Los estudios sobre la cultura material muestran cómo los objetos pueden comunicar información sobre las identidades sociales. En este trabajo consideramos evidencia etnohistórica, etnográfica y arqueológica del proceso de hilado y tejido en el Postclásico como símbolos relacionados con la ideología femenina en México antiguo. Se relaciona la interpretación contextual de textos e imágenes con el simbolismo contemporáneo, particularmente vinculado con miembros del complejo de deidades femeninas de la tierra y la fertilidad representadas en manuscritos pictóricos precolombinos y coloniales. Se utiliza a la iconografía de malacates de Cholula, México, como ejemplo de un sistema simbólico de ideología femenina. Los malacates, al igual que otras herramientas de hilado y tejido, presentan un paralelismo con armas atribuibles al hombre lo cual crea una equivalencia o, como sugerimos, una usurpación de los símbolos masculinos dentro de un cosmovisión femenina, como una forma de resistencia a la dominación masculina. Concluimos que el sistema simbólico utilizado en los malacates y otros aspectos de la práctica femenina crearon una red de comunicación entendida por las mujeres del Postclásico.

Keywords

spinning and weavingfemale symbolismCholula, Pueblaspindle whorlsethnohistoryherramientas de hilado y tejidoideología femeninaetnohistoriaCholulamalacates
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 707 - 723
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Anawalt, Patricia R. 1992 Appendix 4: Codex Mendoza. 4 vols. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Ardren, Traci, Kam Manahan, T., Wesp, Julie Kay, and Alonso, Alejandra 2010 Cloth Production and Economic Intensification in the Area Surrounding Chichen Itza. Latin American Antiquity 21:274–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, and McCafferty, Sharisse 2002 Spindle Whorls: Household Specialization at Ceren. In Ancient Maya Women, edited by Ardren, Traci, pp. 52–67. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances F. 1987 Cotton in Aztec Mexico: Production, Distribution and Uses. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 3:235–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boone, Elizabeth Hill 1983 The Book of the Life of the Ancient Mexicans Containing an Account of their Rites and Superstitions. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Brown, Betty Ann 1983 Seen but Not Heard: Women in Aztec Ritual—The Sahagun Texts. In Text and Image in Pre-Columbian Art: Essays on the Interrelationship of the Verbal and Visual Arts, edited by Berlo, Janet Catherine, pp. 119–138. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 1991 Weaving and Cooking: Women's Production in Aztec Mexico. In Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory, edited by Gero, Joan M. and Conkey, Margaret W., pp. 224–251. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 1996a Figurines and the Aztec State: Testing the Effectiveness of Ideological Domination. In Gender and Archaeology, edited by Wright, Rita W., pp. 143–166. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 1996b The Quality of Tribute Cloth: The Place of Evidence in Archaeological Argument. American Antiquity 61:453–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 2006 Cloth, Gender, Continuity, and Change: Fabricating Unity in Anthropology. American Anthropologist 108:862–877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. 2007 Solar Disks and Solar Cycles: Spindle Whorls and the Dawn of Solar Art in Postclassic Mexico. Treballs d'Arqueologia 13:91–113.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1969 El Tesoro de Monte Albán. Memorias del INAH III. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Charnay, Désiré, Gonino, J., and Conant, Helen S. 1887 The Ancient Cities of the New World; Being Voyages and Explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857–1882. Translated by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant. Harper and Brothers, New York.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., Chase, Diane Z., Zorn, Elayne, and Teeter, Wendy 2008 Textiles and the Maya Archaeological Record: Gender, Power, and Status in Classic Period Caracol, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:127–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Codex Borgia 1963 Códice Borgia. Facsimile ed. Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Codex Cospi 1994 Códice Cospi. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria; Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Codex Magliabechiano 1983 The Book of the Life of the Ancient Mexicans Containing an Account of their Rites and Superstitions. Translated by Nuttall, Zelia Z.. Originally published 1903. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Codex Nuttall 1975 The Codex Nuttall: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient Mexico. Peabody Museum facsimile edited by Zelia Nuttall. Dover, New York.Google Scholar
Codex Vindobonensis 1992 Códice Vindobonensis. Facsimile edition with introduction and explanation by Ferdinand Anders, Maarten Jansen, and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez. Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario, Seville, Spain; Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria; Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Conkey, Margaret, and Spector, Janet D. 1984 Archaeology and the Study of Gender. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 1–38. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cordry, Donald, and Cordry, Dorothy 1964 Costumes and Textiles of the Aztec Indians of the Cuetzalan Region, Puebla, Mexico. Papers of the Southwest Museum No. 14. Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Durán, Diego 1971 [1576–1579] The Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar. Translated by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Enciso, Jorge 1971 Designs from Pre-Columbian Mexico. Dover, New York.Google Scholar
Gallegos Ruiz, Roberto 1978 El Señor 9 Flor en Zaachila. Unversidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
García Cook, Angel, and Carrión, Beatriz Leonor Merino 1974 Malacates de Tlaxcala: Intento de una Secuencia Evolutiva. Comunicaciones 11:27–36.Google Scholar
Garcia Valencia, Enrique Hugo 1975 Textiles: Vocabulario sobre Materiales Primas, Instrumentos de Trabajo, y Tecnicas de Manufactura. Cuadernos de Trabajo No. 3. Sección de Etnografía. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Halperin, Christina T. 2008 Classic Maya Textile Production: Insights from Motul de San José, Peten, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:111–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamann, Byron 1997 Weaving and the Iconography of Prestige: The Royal Gender Symbolism of Lord 5 Flower's / Lady 4 Rabbit's Family. In Women in Prehistory: North America and Mesoamerica, edited by Claassen, Cheryl and Joyce, Rosemary A., pp. 153–172. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Hellbom, Anna-Britta 1967 La participación cultural de las mujeres: Indias y mestizas en el México precortesiano y postrevolucionario. Monograph Series No. 10. Ethnographical Museum, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Hendon, Julia A. 2006 Textile Production as Craft in Mesoamerica: Time, Labor, and Knowledge. Journal of Social Archaeology 6:354–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyden, Doris 1985 Mitología y simbolismo de la flora en el México prehispanico. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca 1976 Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca. Edited and translated by Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, and Luis Reyes Garcia. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian 1982 Symbols in Action: Ethnoarchaeological Studies in Material Culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen, Robertson, John, and Stuart, David 2000 The Language of Classic Maya Inscriptions. Current Anthropology 41:321–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson de Weitlaner, Irmegard 1960 Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Vol. 11, pp. 75–85. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Johnson de Weitlaner, Irmegard 1971 Basketry and Textiles. In Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part 1, edited by Ekholm, Gordon F. and Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 297–321. Handbook of Middle American Indians Vol. 10. Wauchope, Robert, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2000 Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kartunnen, Frances 1997 Rethinking Malinche. In Indian Women of Early Mexico, edited by Schroeder, Susan, Wood, Stephanie, and Haskett, Robert, pp. 291–312. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Kellogg, Susan 1988 Cognatic Kinship and Religion: Women in Aztec Society. In Smoke and Mist: Mesoamerican Studies in Memory of Thelma D. Sullivan, edited by Kathryn Josserand, J. and Dakin, Karen, pp. 666–681. BAR International Series 402. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia F. 1988 Re-Thinking Cihuacoatl: Aztec Political Imagery of the Conquered Woman. In Smoke and Mist: Mesoamerican Studies in Memory of Thelma D. Sullivan, edited by Kathryn Josserand, J. and Dakin, Karen, pp. 237–277. BAR International Series 402. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Klein, Cecelia F. 1994 Fighting with Femininity: Gender and War in Aztec Mexico. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 24:219–253.Google Scholar
Klor de Alva, J. Jorge 1988 Sahagún and the Birth of Modern Ethnography: Representing, Confessing, and Inscribing the Native Other. In The Work of Bernardino de Sahagún: Pioneer Ethnographer of Sixteenth Century Aztec Mexico, edited by de Alva, José Jorge Klor, Nicholson, Henry B., and Keber, Eloise Quiñones, pp. 31–52. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York, Albany.Google Scholar
Lange, Fred W. 1993 Formal Classification of Prehistoric Costa Rican Jade: A First Approximation. In Precolumbian Jade: New Geological and Cultural Interpretations, edited by Lange, Frederick W., pp. 269–288. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Leullier Snedeker, Natasha, Keller, Sarah, and McCafferty, Geoffrey 2008 Processional Imagery on a Mesoamerican Carved Shell Pendant: A Symbol of Power and Authority? Paper presented at the 41st Annual Chacmool Conference, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.Google Scholar
Lienzo de Tlaxcala 1979 [1550] El Lienzo de Tlaxcala. 1892 Commentary by Alfredo Chavero. Editorial Cosmos, Mexico City.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo, and Luján, Leonardo López 2000 The Myth and Reality of Zuyua: The Feathered Serpent and Mesoamerican Transformations from the Classic to the Postclassic. In Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by Carrasco, Davíd, Jones, Lindsay, and Sessions, Scott, pp. 21–87. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1992 Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio (editor) 1970 Proyecto Cholula. Serie Investigaciones 19. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1992 The Material Culture of Postclassic Cholula, Mexico: Contextual Analysis of the UA-1 Domestic Compounds. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Binghamton.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1994 The Mixteca-Puebla Stylistic Tradition at Early Postclassic Cholula. In Mixteca-Puebla: Discoveries and Research in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology, edited by Nicholson, Henry B. and Keber, Eloise Quiñones, pp. 53–78. Labyrinthos Press, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1996 The Ceramics and Chronology of Cholula, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 7:299–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 2001a Mountain of Heaven, Mountain of Earth: The Great Pyramid of Cholula as Sacred Landscape. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Koontz, Rex, Reese-Taylor, Kathryn, and Headrick, Annabeth, pp. 279–316. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 2001b Ceramics of Postclassic Cholula, Mexico: Typology and Seriation of Pottery from the UA-1 Domestic Compound. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology No. 43. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., and McCafferty, Sharisse D. 1999 The Metamorphosis of Xochiquetzal: A Window on Womanhood in Pre- and Post-Conquest Mexico. In Manifesting Power: Gender and the Interpretation of Power in Archaeology, edited by Sweely, Tracy L., pp. 103–125. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., and McCafferty, Sharisse D. 2000 Textile Production in Postclassic Cholula, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 11:39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., and McCafferty, Sharisse D. 2003 Questioning a Queen? A Gender-Informed Evaluation of Monte Alban's Tomb 7. In Ancient Queens: Archaeological Explorations, edited by Nelson, Sarah, pp. 41–58. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., and McCafferty, Sharisse D. 2008 Spinning and Weaving Tools from Santa Isabel, Nicaragua. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:143–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., and McCafferty, Sharisse D. 2012 As the Whorl Turns: Function and Meaning in Mesoamerican Textile Production. In Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Nichols, Deborah and Pool, Christopher, pp. 628–638. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Sharisse D., and McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1988 Powerful Women and the Myth of Male Dominance in Aztec Society. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 7:45–59.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Sharisse D., and McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1991 Spinning and Weaving as Female Gender Identity in Post-Classic Central Mexico. In Textile Traditions of Mesoamerica and the Andes: An Anthology, edited by Schevill, Margot, Berlo, Janet C., and Dwyer, Edward B., pp. 19–44. Garland, New York.Google Scholar
McCafferty, Sharisse D., and McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1994 Engendering Tomb 7 at Monte Albán, Oaxaca: Respinning an Old Yarn. Current Anthropology 35:143–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, Sharisse D., and McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 2000 Textile Production in Postclassic Cholula, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica.11:39–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCafferty, Sharisse D., and McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 2008 Spinning and Weaving Tools from Santa Isabel, Nicaragua. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:143–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMeekin, Dorothy 1992 Representations on Pre-Columbian Spindle Whorls of the Floral and Fruit Structure of Economic Plants. Economic Botany 46:171–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meskell, Lynn 2001 Archaeologies of Identity. In Archaeological Theory Today, edited by Hodder, Ian, pp. 187–213. Polity, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Susan 1988 Birth Images in Mixteca-Puebla Art. In The Role of Gender in Precolumbian Art and Architecture, edited by Miller, Virginia E., pp. 153–178. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Monaghan, John 2001 Physiology, Production, and Gendered Difference: The Evidence from Mixtec and Other Mesoamerican Societies. In Gender in Pre-Hispanic America, edited by Klein, Cecelia F., pp. 285–304. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Muñoz Camargo, Diego 1981 Descripción de la ciudad y provincia de Tlaxcala. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Nagao, Debra 1985 Mexica Buried Offerings: A Historical and Contextual Analysis. BAR International Series 235. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Nash, June 1978 The Aztecs and the Myth of Male Dominance. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 4:349–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, Deborah L., McLaughlin, Mary J., and Benton, Maura 2000 Production Intensification and Regional Specialization: Maguey Fibers and Textiles in the Aztec City-State of Otumba. Ancient Mesoamerica 11:267–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B. 1982 The Mixteca-Puebla Concept Re-Visited. In The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico, edited by Boone, Elizabeth Hill, pp. 227–254. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Parsons, Mary H. 1972 Spindle Whorls from the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico. In Miscellaneous Studies in Mexican Prehistory, by Parsons, Jeffrey R., Spence, Michael W., and Parsons, Mary H., pp. 45–80. Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Anthropology No. 45. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Rodriguez-Shadow, V., Maria, J. 1988 La mujer azteca. Universidad Autonoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Mexico.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernadino de 1950–1982 [1547–1585] Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Edited and translated by Anderson, Arthur J. D. and Dibble, Charles E.. 13 vols. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City; SAR Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernadino de 1993 Primeros Memoriales. Civilizations of the American Indian Series No. 100. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Sayer, Chloe 1985 Costumes of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., and Hirth, Kenneth G. 1988 The Development of Cotton Spinning Technology in Postclassic Morelos, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 15:349–358.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L., Heller, Lynette, and Ohnersorgen, Michael A. 1998 People with Cloth: Mesoamerican Economic Change from the Perspective of Cotton in South-Central Veracruz. Latin American Antiquity 9:7–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suárez Cruz, Sergio 1989 Ultimos descubrimientos de entierros postclásicos en Cholula, Puebla. Cuaderno de Trabajo 7. Centro Regional de Puebla. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Thelma 1982 Tlazolteotl-Ixcuina: The Great Spinner and Weaver. In The Art and Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico, edited by Boone, Elizabeth Hill, pp. 7–36. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara 1989 Textile Production. In Ancient Trade and Tribute: Economies of the Soconusco Region of Mesoamerica, edited by Voorhies, Barbara, pp. 194–214. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Wobst, Martin 1977 Stylistic Behavior and Information Exchange. In Papers for the Director: Research Essays in Honor of James B. Griffin, edited by Cleland, Charles E., pp. 317–342. Anthropological Papers No. 61. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Wonderley, Anthony W. 1986 Material Symbolics in Pre-Columbian Households: The Painted Pottery of Naco Valley, Honduras. Journal of Anthropological Research 42:497–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, Alison 1992 The Interplay of Evidential Constraints and Political Interests: Recent Archaeological Research on Gender. American Antiquity 57:15–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar