For The Love of Beads BlogThe adventures of Suzanne, Nibbler, and friends in the world of beads and jewelry making crafts

I grew up in Mexico; and doing research for this post definitely brings back lots of memories.  In my home-town of Valle de Bravo there is a high rock formation called “La Peña” (The Peak)

which overlooked the entire town as well as the lake.  I have fond memories of the entire family heading up for picnics and enjoying the view.  These trips also sparked an interest in archaeology, as thousands of years ago La Peña was a site for many indigenous rituals.  Almost every time we went there we would find an idol, the handle or piece of a clay pot, the obsidian tip of a spear, and more. Even in the late 90’s you could always find a little piece of history while walking up “La Peña’s” roads.   Growing up with such tangible history really made me take a special interest in the development of cultures.   A lucky find on my most recent trip inspired me to write this article – I had originally set out to cover Mexico, Central America and South America, but because it’s so much information I will break it down into 2 posts.

I will begin with Mesoamerica, which is the area extending from Central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua.  The next post will cover South and Central America. I hope to give you an introduction and invite you to delve into the history of pre-Columbian cultures in the southern part of America the beautiful.

THE OLMECS (Circa 1400 BCE to about 400 BCE)

The first complex culture to populate Mesoamerica was the Olmecs who occupied La Venta, San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They are considered to have been the roots to other cultures such as Zapotecan, Mayan and Aztec. They are best known for the colossal heads sculpted out of basalt, and the creation of an extensive system of trade routes. There isn’t a lot of detailed information on jewelry and beads created and used by the Olmecs, but we know they used jade, clay, basalt (volcanic rock) and greenstone. I read a small article depicting the jewelry the Olmecs made with jade and it talked a bit about how when they carved faces into the jade they would make the nostrils big and open so the jade could breathe.  They would also illustrate breathing with pictures of fire.

THE MAYANS (C. 250 AD to 900 AD)

The Mayan cultural influence extended from central Mexico to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and is known for having fully developed written language in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Mayan people still exist and they speak their own language, their religion however has morphed with the introduction of Roman Catholicism that came with the Spanish conquest of the Americas.  They worked mainly with jade, carving out figurines of their gods into pendants; it was a difficult task since jade is harder than steel. Most of the figurines are not symmetrical or geometrically perfect because of this, but Mayans did what they could using the stones natural defects in their designs. Jade was considered more precious than gold, since it represented the green of the water and vegetation. As seen on their pottery figurines, Mayan people wore jade necklaces, earrings, bracelets and head pieces. Like the Egyptians, they would deck their nobles head to toe in jade before burial.

Side note – Interesting fact about jade:

The term jade describes two distinct minerals, jadeite and nephrite, which vary greatly in quality and color. Ancient Middle American cultures generally worked with jadeite, while nephrite was used in early Chinese carvings and beads.  Both kinds of Jade can be white, various shades of gray, pea green, grass green, emerald green, or blue green. Both also may be mottled or translucent. The emerald green and blue green shades tend to be jadeite, while nephrite also occurs in yellows, oranges, and purples.

THE AZTECS ( 14^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries)

And now to cover the last indigenous culture to occupy Mesoamerica, the Aztecs! Often the term “Aztec” refers exclusively to the people of Tenochtiltlan, situated on the island of Texcoco, who called themselves Mexica Tenochca or Colhua-Mexica. But here included with the Aztecs I will cover the Mixtecs because the Aztecs copied or bought many of their designs. Sometimes the name may also cover other cultures like the Mexicas; and the Aztecs had a big empire that covered most of central and a bit of the south of Mexico, so anyone who spoke Nahuatl will be included in this excerpt.

The Aztecs are well known for their gift exchange with Cortes and other conquistadores that consisted mainly of gold.   Gold was the Aztec’s most prized mineral, and because of its raw shape, they named it  the “excrement of the gods”. Most of the gold and silver jewelry was conceived with the “lost wax casting” technique, using clay molds. Aztecs would also incorporate mud and wood in their pieces. The Mixtecs would usually mix smalls gold beads with semi-precious stones like turquoise, amber, jade, amethyst, pearls and even shell; and they were well known for their beautiful delicate necklaces.  Aztec women would often make custom orders from the Mixtecs to buy for themselves. I found an incredible site with pictures but they won’t let me put them up so I included a link to it at the end of the article. It was on this site that I found something quite interesting; apparently the Mexicas exchanged goods with other indigenous cultures in the north and that is how they were able to obtain turquoise from towns in Arizona.  Just imagine all the ancient trade routes in your city, town, even backyard! The Aztecs also used jade as their go-to semi-precious stone, jade beads were used as tributes, trade items and currency.

It is very clear that symbolism was essential to all the jewelry making, and that even one single bead took hours of meticulous carving.  The thought and effort that would go into each necklace is truly inspirational.  Thousands of years later other cultures are still being inspired by these designs.

I hope you had fun reading this post and I also hope it gave you lots of ideas to keep on creating! If you have any ancient culture inspired pieces don’t hesitate to e-mail us a picture of it and I’ll make sure to post it.

Happy New Year!

P.S.
A very good site to look at Pre-Columbian jewelry in Mesoamerica is:
http://www.raulybarra.com/museos/joyeria_prehispanica/index.htm,
which is in Spanish but I am sure you guys can figure it out, you just click away! Or stick it in google translate and get an idea of what it says.  If you have any questions about any of the captions or images just ask in the comments – I’m happy to help.

Another very good site for a more in-depth look at how Aztecs made their jewelry is: http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-jewelry.html

Here are the sites from which I took some pictures and info:

http://www.inapl.gov.ar/Lista%20roja/piecuentas.html
http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nJade87.html
http://img188.imageshack.us/i/570175olmecahead0.jpg/
http://www.mesoweb.com/lords/international.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saulcordova/2492367864/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timt50/1350118406/
http://www.precolumbianjade.com/maya
http://precolumbiangold.com/aztec.htm
http://www.wikipedia.org

And last but not least I would like to thank the book that provided me with much needed information to fill the gaps that the internet couldn’t satisfy:

Dubin, Lois Sherr. The History of Beads, From 30,000BC to the present. Paperback Edition. Thames and Hudson, 2006.