The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs by Nichols Deborah L.; Rodríguez-Alegría Enrique;

Author:Nichols, Deborah L.; Rodríguez-Alegría, Enrique;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

PREGNANT IN THE DANCING PLACE

Myths and Methods of Textile Production and Use

GEOFFREY MCCAFFERTY AND SHARISSE MCCAFFERTY

TEXTILES, including both clothing and other woven articles, were important commodities in ancient Aztec society. Although they have not preserved well in the archaeological record, textiles are abundantly depicted in pictorial manuscripts, statuary, and ceramic figurines. Additionally, Colonial period texts describe the gender associations between textile production and female identity and ideology. Ethnographic traditions among indigenous groups of the region continue these practices. Finally, archaeological spindle whorls are an abundant artifact type that are often decorated and therefore provide additional information about the functions and symbolic significance of textile production. This chapter summarizes information about Aztec textiles and their production, providing important information about the economics of this valued good as well as insights into female production and ideology.

Cotton was a common material used in Aztec textiles, and there is some ethnohistorical evidence to suggest sumptuary laws limiting cotton cloth to elite society (Duran 1994:234). On the other hand, different species of agave (maguey) produced fibers with distinct qualities, including some that were as fine as linen while others were used for sandals, bags, or rope. Other materials are also mentioned in early sources, including palma, chichicaztli nettles, feathers, and even fine metal wire. Some materials were more common in specific regions, such as palma in the Toluca region and chichicaztli in Oaxaca, but an active exchange network brought all of these into the markets of the Aztec capital, as suggested in the tribute lists found in the Codex Mendoza (1992; also Berdan 1987; Hicks 1994).

Patricia Anawalt has written the definitive descriptions of Aztec costume (1981, 1990), identifying maxtlatl loin-cloths and shoulder capes as characteristic male garments, while skirts and huipil upper-body garments were typical of females. A triangular cape known as a quechquemitl is also depicted on some women and goddesses, but Anawalt argues that this costume element may have been more diagnostic of warm climates such as the Gulf Coast (Anawalt 1982). It should be noted that different contexts and media portray a wider variety of costumes, including very elaborate battle dress. In general, male costume is elaborated with animal skins while females incorporate more elaborate woven and embroidered decoration (McCafferty and McCafferty 1994a).

As noted, perishable materials such as textiles have rarely preserved from the precolumbian period. Exceptions come from dry caves such as those from the Tehuacan valley where cordage and a loom-kit were discovered (Johnson de Weitlaner 1971). Another exceptional case was the La Garrafa cave in Chiapas where relatively complete examples of clothing were discovered (Landa et al. 1988), including some with painted decoration in the Mixteca-Puebla style. Lauro González-Quintero (1988) describes textile fragments recovered with burials from Tlatelolco, including one with decoration of stylized skulls with eyes and teeth. The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City proudly displays an elaborate huipil that tradition says was worn by Malintzin, the indigenous princess who helped Hernan Cortes during the Spanish Conquest (McCafferty 2009). It features a decorative embroidered escudo

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