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AXE-MONIES AND THEIR RELATIVESAuthor(s): DOROTHY HOSLER, HEATHER LECHTMAN and OLAF HOLMSource: Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 30, AXE-MONIES AND THEIRRELATIVES (1990), pp. 1-97, 99-103Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University

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2/106

STUDIES

IN PRE-COLUMBIAN

ART & ARCHAEOLOGY

NUMBER THIRTY

AXE-MONIES

AND THEIR

RELATIVES

DOROTHY

HOSLER,

HEATHER

LECHTMAN,

and

OLAF HOLM

Dumbarton Oaks Research

Library

and Collection

Washington,

D.C.

1990


http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/106

To Isabel

Kelly

and Emilio Estrada

Library

f

Congressataloging-in-Publication

ata

Hosier,

orothy.

Axe-moniesnd heirelatives

Dorothy

osier,

eather

echtman,

and laf olm.

p.

cm.

(Studies

n

pre-Columbian

rt

archaeology

no.

30)

Includes

ibliographical

eferences.

ISBN

-88402-185-8

1.

ndiansfMexico

Money.

.

ndiansf outh merica

Andes

RegionMoney..Money,rimitiveMexico..Money,rimitive

Andes

egion.

.

Lechtman,

eather.I.

Holm,

laf. III.

Title.

IV. eries.

E51.S85

o.

30

[F1219.3.M597]

970

dc20

[737.4972]

89-17148

Copyright

1990

y

Dumbarton

aks

Trustees

orHarvard

niversity,

ashington,

.C.

All

rights

eserved




4/106

Contents

Introduction

I

AXE-MONIES

AND

RELATIVES

14

Axe-monies:

Ecuador

14

Axe-monies: Mexico

17

Relatives:

Naipes

18

Relatives: Feathers 20

Relatives: "Hides" and

Insignia

22

WERE THEY AXES AND WERE THEY MONIES?

38

Mexico

39

Ecuador

50

Peru

66

THE

TECHNOLOGIES OF EXCHANGE

70

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

89

TABLES

90

BIBLIOGRAPHY

99




5/106

Introduction

The two

articles,

ow

classics,

hat

rought

meri-

can

axe-monies o the

ttention f scholars f New

World

rehistory

ere

published

irtually

imulta-

neously:

Olaf Holm's

discussion f theEcuadorian

variety,

which comments

upon

its closeness

to

similarartifacts rom Oaxaca, Mexico (Holm

1966/67),

nd

Dudley

Easby's

more

metallurgi-

cal^

technical ook at the

Oaxacan

types,

which

comments

pon

their loseness

o similar rtifacts

from cuador

(Easby

et al.

1967).

Easby

and his

coworkers onclude their

tudy

thus:

"Virtually

every

uthorwho has written bout the

examples

from cuador and Peruconsiders

xe-money

o be

clear

proof

of maritime ommerce

between that

area and

[the]

western

coast of]

Mexico.

. . .

Axe-money

as

not been

reported

rom he nter-

vening

rea,

so that

conclusion

trikes

s as

en-

tirely easonable ndprobable" Easbyetal. 1967:

132).

Holm,

on the other

hand,

ooks

southward,

suggesting

hat

n

the Peruvian

region

some re-

lated

phenomenon

s

to be

expected:

"The

pres-

ence

of

copper

money-axes

s

not

safely

estab-

lished nthe Peruvian

ultures,

ut we do

suspect

their

presence

n

f[or] inst[ance]

Lambayeque,

although

n a

different

resentation"

Holm

1966/

67:

142).

'The rticle

yEasby, aley,

ndMoazed

1967)

oncen-

tratesn wo

spects

fMexicanxe-monies:heirse nd he

methodsywhichheyweremade. he small orpusf

objects

hese

nvestigators

tudiedame rom he

present

Mexican

tate

f

Oaxaca

whereuch

tems ere

eported

o

have een oundnhoardsr aches. n the asis f

yewit-

ness

ccountst he ime f nd

mmediately

fter

he

panish

invasion,

nd

fter

n

exhaustive

eview f the

ubsequent

available

iterature,

asby

maintainedhatMexican achuelas

were,

ithout

oubt,

... a kind f

money

r

unit f x-

change

n

the

amous

ianquiztli

r

ndian arkets.o other

possible

se s

mentioned

n

any

f their

the hroniclers']

Since

those

publications,

he iterature

oncern-

ing

axe-monieshas been

sparse.

They

have occa-

sionally

been

reported

rom

Ecuador as

issuing

accountsf

New

pain"Easby

t

l.

1967:

10).

aley

nd

Lowellhank

erformed

hemical

nalyses

f ix

Oaxacanxe-

monies.heirmostnterestingesult1967: ableI)was he

determinationf

rsenic,

t oncentrationevels

anging

rom

0.30

o

.51

weightercent,

n

our

f

he

ix,

he

emainderf

themetal

eing

opper

ith

variety

f trace

mpurities.

Moazed's

metallographic

xamination

f cross ections

e-

moved romour axacanxe-moniesemonstratedhat he

objects

ad een

ammered,

ot ast o

hape,

resulthat as

confirmedater hen

asby

nd eonardeinrich

abricated

typical

axacan

xe-money.

aving

ast blank f

copper

roughly

o

the

hape

f an

hachuela,

hey

ammerednd

annealedhemetal ntilhe inal ormnd

ppropriate

hick-

nessesf

lade,hank,

nd

langes

ere chieved.

Holm's

967

rticlen Ecuadorian

xe-moniesraws n-

tirelypon

nternalvidence

resentedy

he

bjects

hem-

selves,

ince eknew fno thnohistoricources

hen

nor

o

weknow f

ny

ow that escribehe se f uch

xe-monies

inEcuadort

he

ime f

he

panish

nvasion.

evertheless,

theirxe-likehape,heirhinness,nd he resencef aised

flangeslong

heir orders ere ll featureslose

nough

o

those f theMexican

ariety

or im o

suggest

similar

function.

e

presents

typology

f thebasic

xe-money

shapes,

escribesll the

ypes

s

having

een

ashioned

y

hammering,lots

heir istributionithin he

Manteno/

Huancavilcaulturerea f

he

entralcuadorian

oast

where

they

re ound

n

arge

uantities)

nd own s far s

Tumbes

on

he ar orthoast f

eru,

nd ets he cuadorian

aterial

chronologically

ithinhe

ntegration

eriod

ca.

a.d.

800/

900-1500).

oncernedo discover

ny

tandardnit

gainst

whichhese

bjects

ad

been

made,

olm

xaminedeveral

hundred

xamples

nd

ttempted

o eriatehem

yweight.

e

reports

hat

he

weightsppeared

o

concentrate

n

groups

around

quinaryystem

5,

10,

5

. .

grams

and

peculates

upon

whetherrnot uch

ractionary

alues

might

ave een

of

commercialr

measuringignificance.onsidering

he

possible onetaryse f hesetems,olm emarks:All he

specimens

hich ehave escribedo

fitwell

nto he asic

requirements

f

primitiveoney,hey

re

portable,

hey

o

have

ntrinsicalue nd

hey

re

well

ecognizable

.."

(1967:

138).

With

espect

o heast f hese

haracteristics,

e

ingles

out he

aised

langes

nd

hammered

uperficial

triations

n

Ecuadorianxe-moniess

egitimating

evices.

ike heMexi-

can

variety,

cuadorian

xe-monies

ere

oundn

hoards,

often

n

graves,

ndicating

hat ealth

n

opper

as

ccumu-

lateds

well

s

tradedver onsiderableistances.

I




6/106

from ontrolled xcavations

Ubelaker

1981;

Mar-

cos

1981);

they

have been

suggested

s

examples

f

thekind of

copper

money

Chincha merchants

re

reported

o have used

n theirmaritime ommerce

between

the

central

coast of Peru and

Ecuador

(Oberem

and Hartmann

1982;

Shimada

1985a;

Rostworowski

970,

1988);

and

a fruitless

ttempt

has been made to establish a relation

between

Ecuadorian axe-monies and the

ancientMexican

system

f

weights,

nown

ethnohistorically,

ased

on the

cacao

bean

(Szaszdi

1980).

Very

recently

few

publications

ave

paid

somewhat loser tten-

tion to these unusual

artifacts.

Mayer

(1982a)

considers hem

n

a brief

urvey

f ancientAmeri-

can

money

and related

goods

made

of

metal;

Morse and Gordon

1986)

report

n theirmetallo-

graphic xamination f three ypicalOaxacan axe-

monies;

and Prumers

n.d.)

presents

rguments

for

including

artifactswith

provenience

s far

south s the Chillon

valley,

n the

central oastof

Peru,

n

a

broadly

rawndefinitionf

axe-monies.

There are several

good

reasons

to reconsider

axe-monies at this

time,

from a fresh

vantage

point.

Chief

among

them

s the

publication

f a

major study by Dorothy

Hosier

on the

origins,

technology,

nd social

construction f

metallurgy

in

ancient West Mexico

(Hosier

1986, 1988a,

1988b, 1988c,

n.d.).

Hosier

establishes

nequivo-

callythatmetallurgywas introduced irectly o

WestMexico from

Ecuador and Peruvia a mari-

timeroute nd

that hat ntroductionncluded

not

only

a certainconstellation f

object types

but

almost

the entire

range

of metals and

alloys

in

common use

in

the central nd northern

ndes.

Whatmoved from heAndes to Mesoamerica

was

neither inished

bjects

(with

a

few

exceptions)

nor

tockmetal.

Rather,

he

knowledge

nd techni-

cal know-how behind

mining,

melting,

nd the

manipulation

f

metal;

an interest

n

producing

certain lasses of

objects,

such

as

needles,

twee-

zers, open rings, and axe-monies; and specific

attitudes about the

qualities

of metal

as a

material its

olor,

for

xample

that

were

mpor-

tant

n

channeling

West Mexican cultural

nvest-

ment

n

the new

medium,

were what West

Mexi-

cans took from their

distant

neighbors

to the

south.

Axe-monies were

among

the Andean

object

types

hat nterestedWestMexican

peoples,

which

is not

urprising

n view of the ultural

ignificance

of the metal axe

among

Mexican societies.

Axes

made frommetal

appear frequently

n

ethnohis-

toric documents s items of ritual

paraphernalia

associated with

gods

and

rulers

Hosier

1986).

Mexican smiths ended o make axe-monies

rom

copper-arseniclloys,2

he same

alloy system

hat

typifies

he Ecuadorian

variety

f

axe-money

see

Table

2),

though

the Mexican

shapes

are

quite

distinct.

ome

time around a.d.

800-900,

ust

at

the time hatWestMexico had its first

xperience

withmetal

Pendergast

962;

Hosier

1986,

1988b),

a certain

tyle

n

handling

his material

became

prominent

long

the Peruviannorth oast and in

coastal Ecuador. The productionof relatively

small

objects

which could be

stacked,

packeted,

tied,

or

bundled,

from metal sheet

that was at

times

paper

thin,

ecame

oined

to the eliteuse of

such

objects,

to their circulation nd eventual

hoarding

n

arge

numbers,

nd to some

system

f

2There

s

no

commonlycceptederminology

hich e-

scribes

he

inary

lloys

f

opper

nd

rsenic.

etallurgists

refero all such

lloys

s arsenical

opper,egardless

fthe

amountf rsenic

lloyed

ith he

opper.

echtman

1981)

introducedhe ermrsenicronzeorefero

lloys

f

opper

and

rsenic

hosemechanical

roperties

re lose o

those f

the in ronzes.

hroughout

his rticle ehave dheredo

terminologyhich elateshe rseniconcentrationf a

copper-arsenic

lloy

othemechanical

roperties

f

he

lloy,

in hemost

eneral

ense:rsenical

opper


7/106

value that

apparently rized

not

ust

the

objects

but

the

copper-arseniclloy

of which

they

were

made. This

style

of

manipulating

he

alloy

was

played

out

n

thenorthern ndes

Ecuador)

n the

manufacturef the

prototypicalxe-money

Figs,

i,

2)

and,

nthenorth entralAndes

Peru),

nthe

design

f

ts closest

elative,

he

naipe Figs.

3a,

4),

thePeruvian

manifestation

f

"axe-money"

whose

presence

Holm had

predicted

correctly

Holm

1966/67).

When this

metallurgical tyle

reached

West Mexico at about a.d. 1200

(Hosier

1986,

1988b),

t was

elaborated

n

the

form f

the

axe-

money Figs.

5,

6,

7),

notas

naipes

r as

feathers,

the wo

stack-packet

orms hatwere

prominent

n

the north entral

Andes

at

the time. Axe-monies

may

be

particularly

seful, hen,

n

helping

stab-

lishthenorthAndeanrole ndisseminating etal-

lurgical

technologies

nd

styles during

this

dy-

namic

period

of

coastal

Pacific

nterchange

see

map, Fig.

8).

Another eason for closer ook at axe-monies

stemsfrom he clear

picture

we

now

have of the

way

in which

they

were made. The technical

study

of

Oaxacan axe-monies carried out

by

Easby,

Caley,

and Moazed

(1967)

is still

useful,

though

it does not examine

any

of the West

Mexican

artifacts,

ome of which are

unique

to

thesePacific oast states nd bear

mportant

imi-

larities to Ecuadorian and Peruvian thin-style

smithing.

Hosier's

metallurgical

tudies

(1986,

1988a,

1988b)

corroborate

many

of

Easby's

find-

ings

and

go

much further

n

establishing

henear-

exclusive se of

copper-arsenic

lloys

for he

pro-

duction f both

West

Mexican and

Oaxacan

types

(see

Table

2).

She deals with a

large

and diverse

corpus

f

objects

see

Table

3),

with heir

unction,

bothutilitariannd

social,

and with he

uestion

f

standardizationn

production,

nd relates

alloy

composition

o the

probable

use of these tems.

Hosier also

provides

dditional thnohistoric

ata,

especially orWestMexico. Furthermore, e can

provide

for he first ime detailed econstruction

of the

smithing equences

that

resulted

n

the

Ecuadorian

orpus,by

far

he

argest roup

of xe-

monies vailablefrom he Americas.

All,

without

exception,

re made of

copper-arsenic

lloy

(see

Table

2),

including

he tiniest rtifacts

Fig.

11)

hammered nto foil

20

microns hick

1

micron

=

io~3

mm).

Our

aboratory

xamination f

represen-

tative

objects

fromEcuador included

also exam-

ples

of their losest

tack-packet,

hin-style

eru-

vian

relatives,

naipes

nd feathers

Figs.

3a,

9).

These

too,

we

found,

re

made of

extremely

hin

sheet,

hammered rom

opper-arsenic

tockmetal

(Table

2;

see also

Shimada

1985a

for

chemical

analyses

f

naipes).

Finally,

xe-monies nd

theirrelativesdeserve

particularcrutiny

n

view of the

uggestion

made

recently y

zumiShimada hat he

copper-arsenic

alloys

of which the Ecuadorian artifacts nd

the

Peruvian

naipes

re

fashionedwere

produced

and

distributed

n

theform f "blank

heets,

ngots

of

copper nd arsenical opper" Shimada1985a:390)

by

the Middle

Sican

polity

based

in

the Lamba-

yeque valley

f north oast Peru. The

archaeologi-

cal

investigations

f

Shimada nd

his

colleagues

t

various sites within

the

La

Leche-Lambayeque

river

rainages

Shimada

1985a, 1987b;

Shimada t

al.

1982, 1983;

Epstein

nd

Shimada

1983)

demon-

strate

learly

nd

conclusively

he serious

nvest-

ment nthe

production

f

copper-arsenic

metal

t

large

ore

smelting

or

refining)

enters

closely

linked o the Sican economic and ceremonial

ub

at Batan Grande.

Shimada

believes

that

naipes,

whichhe ikens o Ecuadorian xe-monies,were a

form f

primitivemoney

nd that heir

imilarity

to

the Ecuadorian

objects

ndicates radebetween

Ecuador

and

Peru

during

he tenth nd eleventh

centuries

Shimada

1985a,

1987a).

He

argues

fur^

ther

hat

he

alloy-producing

iddle

Sican

polity

probably

ontrolled ... not

only

the

goods

be-

ing

distributed

ut he

ransport

echanisms hem-

selves"

Shimada

1985a:

391),

trains f lamasand

ocean-going

balsa rafts off the

Pacific coast.

WhereasHosier

1986,

1988c)

has

shownthat uch

maritimetrafficwas

the chief mechanism

by

whichmetallurgys a technical nd conceptual

system

moved from he

northern

ndes to Meso-

america,

we shall

concentrate ere on the axe-

money

as

representative

f

that

ystem

nd,

per-

haps,

as the rtifact

ype

hat

bearsbest witness o

its roots.

3




8/106

Fig.

North ndean

xe-moneyypes. ype

a

always

has urface

triations;

nly

he iniest

ype

b items

ack

striations.

ype

axe-monies

ometimes

ear triations

but ften o not.

Drawing y

S.

Whitney

owell.




9/106

Fig.

2

Type

a

axe-money

rom he

iteofEl

Barro,

Ecuador.

ollection:

Museo

Antropologico

el Banco

Central

el

Ecuador,

Guayaquil,

cuador

MIT 3310).




10/106

Fig.

3

Relatives,

)

Naipes:

he

example

t the eft

s

flat;

heone at the

right

as a central val "bubble."

Feathers:he socket-end

ype

middle)

asbeen ound

in

Peru nd

Ecuador;

he

patulate-endype

left

nd

right)

s

known

nly

rom eru,

)

"Hides" nd

nsig-

nia. The "hide" at the

right

s shown

with urface

striations.

ot

all "hides" f this

hape

ear

triations.

Drawing y

S.

Whitney

owell.




11/106

"Hides"

-O fU

I

•

"*

~aj m

o

i ;

-

1

' ' '

Insignia

11

^

^

cm 0-J '

j

u




12/106

Fig.

5

Mexican

xe-money

ypes.

he formsllustrated

can be consideredtandard or ach

type,

ut theres

often ariationn ize nd

hape

within

type. ype

a is

found

lmost

xclusively

nWestMexico.As itstwo

transverseections

ndicate,

ome

are flat ut others

describe

wave

pattern.

he cm

cales

n

hese

rawings

permit

measurement

f the

verall imensions

f each

axe-moneyype

ut

not ts ross

ection hickness.

he

form f ach ross

ection

s rendered

ccurately

includ-

ing

ratio f

flange

eight

o

body

hickness);

ts hick-




13/106

ness s

presented

s a linewhosewidths relativeo that

used odescribe

ype

a,

the hinnest

ariety.

hus

Type

ib is

presented

s

virtually

he ame hicknesss

Type

i

a;

Type

c

s drawn

X

s

thick;

ll the ther

ypes

re

drawn

with thickness

x

that f

Type

a. The relative

thicknessf shank

nd

flange

or

Types

a

through

b

represents

mean

value of

this

ratiofor

these xe-

monies,

ut thevariation

round

he

mean s

small.

Drawing y

S.

Whitney

owell.




14/106

-»->

u

J-

3

^3

t

*£.3

J ois'' Si

o^J£&<

.

2

u

^

5

o

o

S

-'-»

_

L>

2

53 rt 3

n *S

rt

^

-E

°

2

C

u

h

£*

E

S

«

u

h

53

*

io«c8

3 "83

-S

«

~

6B.O

O

t»

o

2

g

U;£


15/106

Fig.

7

Type

2a

axe-money,

axaca,

Mexico. Collec-

tion:Museo

Regional

e

Guadalajara,uadalajara,

ex-

ico

MRG

F247;

MIT

3460).




16/106

Fig.

8

Map llustrating

he

egions

f western

exico,

thenorthAndean

rea,

nd the central

ndean one

mentioned

n

the text.The WestMexican tates

f

Nayarit,alisco,

olima,Michoacan,

ndGuerrero

p-

pear

s an

nset,

long

with he

tate

f

Oaxaca.

MEXICO

I

GOLFO

DE MEXICO

'

LEYENDA

I'i

•"

/

CIUDAD

DE

CI _ ^

•

,

,

,

'

-

f

c--4-.

MEXICO

J

[

■

Capital

•

,

del

,

pais

,

( f

1

•

Ciudad,

ueblo

J#"

-I

^

arciueo^^co

OCEANO

P^CTHCO^"^

PANAMA]

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>

COLOMBIA

S

/

>

COLOMBIA

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S

19

QUITO

*v

f

I

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'»

E

APortoviejo %

i

c

rSalango

y

f

^ i

i. i

^

Tumb^^

CtJADOR d

Cz-J

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icus

J

^

v il

cwi$«Bat4nGran

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APLIMA

'

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JALISCO

^

__T

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r

•Cuzco

Bolivia

V

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i

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_T

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}

'

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t

m

MEXICO

V

X

Jl. Titicaca I

:

COLIMA,

■*'

MICHOACAN

'

■

V

Qv

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rv-

f'

V

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?"LAPAZ

T nlirr

.

^W^C'GUERREROV"i(i''""

''

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OAXACA

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17/106

Fig.

9

Feathers f socket-end

nd

spatulate-end

ype

from

he

Lambayeque

alley,

eru.

Collection: useo

Arqueologicoruning,ambayeque,

eru. hoto our-

tesy fEugenMayer 1982a: ig.4; we have added

scale nd

rearranged

he rder f he

bjects).




18/106

Axe-monies

If

we leave aside the

possible

uses of the

objects

under review here

as functional

mplements,

s

primitivemoney,

as tribute

tems,

as headdress

paraphernalia,

as

status

symbols

and ritual

offerings

and concentrate

nly upon

their

ar-

chaeological nd metallurgicalharacteristics,he

salient

eatures

hat

describe

hem nd

that luster

them

nalytically

re:

1

Shape

Predominantly

xe-like

2.

Metal

Copper-arsenic

lloys

composition

(arsenic ronze);

occa-

sionally mpure opper

3.

Fabrication

Hammered,

o form hin

procedure plate,

heet,

r foil

4. Physical eatures Mechanical trengthen-

ing

devices,

uch as

raised

flanges long

edges,

thickened

dges,

corrugations

5.

Archaeological Primarily ravegoods

in

deposition single

r

multiple

uri-

als;

caches

6.

Deposition

Found n

groups,

often

features

in

large

hoards;

ome-

timesbound

n

packets

orwrapped nbundles

Axe-monies of the Ecuadorian

and

Mexican

types Figs.

1,5),

the north oast Peruvian

naipes,

and

a

feather ormknown

from eru and

Ecuador

(Fig.

3a)

share most

of these features nd consti-

tute

ur

inclusive

group

of "axe-monies nd rela-

14

and

Relatives

rives." Under the same set

of

considerations,

er-

tain

object types

falloutside the

core

group:

cast

objects,

uch s the

giant opper-arsenic

xes from

Ecuador,

llustrated ere

n

Figure

10

Holm

19

6/

67:

fig.

4),

and hoardsof

heavy,

ast and

socketed

copper-arsenicpoints from north coast Peru

(Lechtman 981),

as well as bound

packets

f

bits

of hammered metal sheet sometimes

folded

scraps,

ometimes

haped

forms of

copper,

sil-

ver,

gold

and their

lloys

(Priimers

n.d.;

Mayer

1982b).

By

definition,

e consider

xe-monies s

those

objects

n our

core

group

that meet all six

classification

eaturesisted bove. Their

relatives,

which

depart

n

certain

ways

from

omplete

it

n

all

features,

re

naipes,

eathers,

nd several f

the

objects

Holm included

s

axe-monies

n

his

origi-

nal

classification,

herehe

groups

them s

"aber-

rant ypes" Holm 1966/67: 39,fig.3), and which

we have termed hides"

(Figs.

3b,

20,

21)

and

insignia Figs.

3b

and

22).

Axe-monies: Ecuador

Figure

1

illustrateshe

xe-money

ypes

hat re

foundn

arge

numbers

long

the entral

nd south

coasts of

Ecuador.

Type

a is most

common.

The

largest

f these

range

n

height

rom bout

7.7

to

8.9

cm and

appear

to have been

the normal or

standard

ize

(Fig.

2).

Small

axe-monies

measure

from bout6.5 to6.9 cm,andtiny xe-monies an

vary

rom .2 to

4.5

cm n

height.

he

normal nd

small izes

re

dentical

n

shape

nd were buried s

individual

tems,

though

often n

great quantity.

The

tiny

xe-monies,

ype

b in

Figure

1,

usually

have ostthe

pronounced

houlder

f

theblade and

tend o assume

triangular

orm

see

Figs.

11,

12).




19/106

They

are almost

always

found stacked and

in

packets,

ither iedor corroded

ogetherFig.

12).

Type

2,

though

ess

commonly

found,

s

close

to

Type

1

in

shape

and

size,

but the

ngle

formed

y

the

shoulder

to the blade is less

abrupt

and the

blade more

flaring.Type

2

shares

the formal

characteristicsf the

Type

3

variety

f Mexican

axe-money

see

Figs.

5,

29).

The

distinguishing

haracteristics

f these arti-

facts re

their hinness

thickness

eterminations

made

microscropically

n cross

sectionsof sam-

ples

taken

from elected

objeccts yielded

the fol-

lowing

measurements or

representative

ormal,

small,

and

tiny

axe-monies;

all measurements

were made

interior

o the raised

flanges:

0n

=

0.055-0.12

cm;

0S

-

0.011

cm;

0t

=

0.0022-0.014

cm);thepresence fanuninterruptedaised lange

along

the

butt, hank,

nd shoulder

dges;

a

blunt,

squared-off

lade

edge;

and a series f striations r

grooves

ndented nto the surfacemetal on both

sides of the

object

which

run

along

the

ength

f

the shank nd across the width of the blade. The

flanges

nd

grooves

were

recognized by

Holm

(1966/67:

137)

as

legitimating

evices,

visual and

tactile lues

by

which the

objects

could be

recog-

nizedforwhat

they

were. The

tiny

xe-monies re

too thin o

support

aised

flanges,

ut their

dges

have been

thickened

deliberately

to

provide

greatermechanical trength o the thin sheet or

foil. But even the smallest

examples

bear the

identifyinggrooves (Figs.

11, 12;

see also

Ubelaker

1981:

fig.

102).

To this ist we can now

add a

further

dentifying

haracteristic

o the

typology:

heuse of

copper-arsenic

ronzefor he

manufacturef Ecuadorian axe-monies.

n all

of

the

nalyses

we have carried

ut,

reported

ere

n

Table

2

and

Figure

51a,

as

well as

in

thoseof

Scott

(n.d.)

on the

ingle

xample

Bushnell ollected n

the Santa Elena Peninsula

Bushnell

195

),

and of

Minato

(i960)

on

an

excavated

example

from

Garbanzal,Peru, themanufacturing aterialhas

been

copper-arsenic

lloy,

without

xception:

Cu,

2.1%

As in

the atter

ase,

Cu,

0.33%

As

in

the

former. he

addition f arsenic o

copper

trength-

ens

the

lloy

nd

changes

tscolor.

The

strengthen-

ing

effect ecomes useful t arsenic oncentrations

of

about

0.5

weight percent

nd

higher,

articu-

larly

for

objects

like axe-monies that are ham-

mered o

shape,

sincethe

presence

f

the

alloying

element

arsenic)

nhances he

work-hardening

f

the metal. Withthe addition f as much as

3.5%

arsenic,

he richred color of

copper changes

to a

pale pink,

and

alloys

containing

%

and more

arsenic are

silvery

white

(Lechtman

1988,

and

personal

ommunication;

osier

1986, 1988a;

see

also

notes

2

and

10,

this

volume).

Within

he

modern

olitical

oundaries f Ecua-

dor,

these kinds

of

axe-money

have been

found

principally

n the

provinces

f

El

Oro, Manabi,

Los

Rios,

and

Guayas,

which

correspondgeo-

graphically

o the

prehistoric

ulture reas

associ-

ated with the

Manteno-Huancavilca

presence

along

thePacific ittoral nd the

Milagro-Quevedo

peoples who occupied the territoriesomewhat

farthernland.

These societies flourished

uring

the so-called

ntegration eriod,

from

bout

a.d.

800-900

to the

Spanish

nvasion

n

the

early

ix-

teenth

entury

see

Table

).3

The

map

of

Figure

13

indicates

ll

sites

at which

finds of

axe-monies

have been

reported

n

the iteraturer

dentified

n

the

field

y archaeologists,

armers,

nd

huaqueros.

During

the course of this

study,

we have

per-

formed hemical nd

metallographic

nalyses

on

representativexamples

from

30%

of

the sites

indicated. he

map

includes he

present

cuador-

Peru border rea,since a few finds fEcuadorian

style

axe-monieshave been found at

Garbanzal,

just

7

km

south of Tumbes

(Mejia

i960;

Ishida

i960),

and near

Talara

Bushnell

195

).

This

repre-

3The

hronological

hart or cuadorian

rehistoryub-

lished

y

Evans

nd

Meggers

n

1961

wasbased n

36

radio-

carbon ates erivedrom

amples

f

charcoalnd shell.

Twenty-one

fthese ates

20

from aldivia

ites;

from

Chorrera

ite)

orrespond

o the ormative

eriod;

1

repre-

sent he

egionalevelopmenteriod;

newasderived

rom

materialhat anbe

consideredransitional

etweenheRe-

gional

evelopment

nd

ntegration

eriods;

nd

hree ates

came rom

materialssociatedith

he

ntegration

eriod

(Manta ontext).

his aluable

ompilation

f

C-14

datess

the nly ublishedummaryvailableor cuador,utwe

note hat

nly

our

ates

11%

f he

otal)

orrespond

o

he

chronological

nd

cultural

ntervalhat

pertains

o

axe-

monies.n the

8

years

ince he

ublication

f

Evans' nd

Meggers'

mportant

tudy, any

dditionalates

ave een

publishedy

ndividual

nvestigators,

ut o

up-to-date

um-

mary

f hese ew ata as

ppeared.

he

hronological

nd

culturalhart e

present

n

Table s

generally

cceptedy

scholarsf Ecuadorian

rehistory

o

represent

he urrent

statef

esearch

n he

ubject.

15




20/106

sents he

southernmost

imitof the occurrence

f

theEcuadorian

hacha-moneda.

All

Ecuadorian axe-monies

re

grave

goods

in-

terred

n

single

or

multiplegraves

(Mejia

i960;

Marcos

1981;

Stothert

.d.a; Netherly, ersonal

communication,

988,

concerning

xcavations t

El

Porvenir,

Arenillas

valley,

El

Oro)

and in urn

burials

Ubelaker

1981).

Most ofthedramatic inds

described

y

Holm

(1980)

such as a total f

30

kg

of axe-monies

eposited

n

ceramic essels t

Hda.

"Los

Alamos,

El

Oro;

a ceramic

essel,

urrently

in

the collections f the Museo de Arte Prehis-

torico,

Casa

de la

Cultura,

Guayaquil,

withhun-

dreds of

tiny

axe-monies

n

packets

of 20 from

Plagosa,

Manabi;

over

13,000

axe-monies f nor-

mal size buried

in

a

single

vessel at Hda.

"El

Retiro,"El Oro have been locatedthrough he

activities f

huaqueros

r

n

chance inds

y

farmers.

Inthosefew ases nwhich

hey

wereuncovered s

part

of

archaeological

xcavations,

they

are de-

scribed s

occurring

n close associationwith the

human keleton.

Mejia

(i960)

reports

8

ndividual

axe-monies ocatedonboth idesof the keleton

n

a

grave

he

dug

at

Garbanzal,

n the

far

north oast

of Peru.

In

the case of the Manteno-Huancavilca

burial tothert

n.d.a)

uncovered

t El

Tambo,

near

La

Libertad,

ach handheldone

axe-money

nd

six

otherswere

tacked

earby,

whereas

t

El

Porvenir

inthe middleArenillas alley,Netherlyxcavated

the burial of a

six-year-old

hild with four axe-

monies

placed

closed to the head

(Netherly,

er-

sonal

communication,

988).

Marcos

(1981)

de-

scribesthe normal size

axe-money

s

present

t

Loma de

los

Cangrejitos

n all

graves

he excavated

which

belong

to the Phase

A

(ca.

a.d.

900-1150)

utilization f the ite. The axe-monieswere

gener-

allyplaced

n

thehands fthe

body

but

occasionally

also

in

the mouth. He

reports

further hat the

normal ize

axe-money

lmost

disappears

n

Phase

B

(end

of twelftho onset

f

fifteenth

entury

.d.)

of theManteno-Huancavilca ecropolis nd is ab-

sent

in

Phase C

(fifteenth

o end of sixteenth

century

.d.),

whereas the

tiny

axe-moniesthat

measure

2-3

cm

in

length

nd occur

grouped

n

packets

f20 are

extremely requent

n

Phase

B

and

are lso found n

the

arliest urials

n

Phase

C,

until

about

a.d.

1400

(Marcos

1981; 55, 57;

personal

16

communication,

988).

Ayalan,

Late

Integration

period

urn

burial

cemetery

n

the

Province of

Guayas,

was in use between about a.d.

710

and

1600,

but he

pre-Spanish

materials ate

principally

from .d.

710

to a.d.

1230.

Ubelaker's xcavations

there

yielded

54

ceramic

funerary

rns

and

25

primary

keletons ithout rns

Ubelaker

1981:

9).

The

metal rtifactsoundmost

frequently

t the

ite

were axe-monies

he

refers o them as

copper

plates),

nd t s worth

uoting

his

careful

escrip-

tionof their ccurrence

Ubelaker

1981:

figs.

10

1,

102,

103).

. . .

groups

f

small

riangular

opper lates,

are]

frequently

ound

ogethery yarn

ied round

he

base . . . Of the

9

groups

ecovered,

8

41

percent)

display

he

yarn

binding

nd/or ssociated abric.

Analysis

f

the

yarn

ontent . .

revealed rown

single-plyarns,newith "Z" twistnd llothers

with n

"S"

twist.All

specimens

xamined

micro-

scopically

ppear

o be cotton.

A

total f

69

groups

f

plates

were

ecoveredrom

eight

eaturesithinhe

emetery.

.

. Since

ecom-

position

ad

destroyed any lates

. . exact

plate

countswere

ossible

or

nly

even

roups,

ach

of

which

contained

,

10, 10, 20, 20,

20,

and 20

plates.

.

.

Plate

groups

werefoundwithurns

2

features),

primary

keletons

6 features),

nd one

secondary

skeletal

eposit.

Within he urns the

plates

were

usually

oncentrated

n

thebase. With

he

primary

skeletons,

lates

ere

ecoveredrom ourmales nd

twofemalesndfrom

early

ll

parts

fthe

keleton

(feet,egs, elvis,rms,kull, tc.). Ubelaker 981:

100-101)

At least

778

axe-monieswere

recovered,

f which

a few were of normal

ize,

the atter

ound both

with urns and with skeletons.

Ubelaker does not

mention

ny

grouping

of

types

as a

function f

chronology,

owever,

s is

thecase at Loma de los

Cangrejitos.

Holm

(1978: 351)

also cites cases in

which normal and

tiny

xe-monies re found n

the

ame

grave.

In

general,

he farther

way

from thenuclear

coastal area the site is

located,

the fewer

axe-

monies it yields. Finds of hundreds,at times

thousands,

are

typical

in

the central

Milagro-

Quevedo/Manteno

culture

area,

whereas sites

along

ts

geographicmargins

re

imited o

a

few

specimens.

Holm

(1966/67)

as

received

eports

f

isolated

nd

unique

finds f

axe-monies

from he

provinces

f

Imbabura,Chimborazo, Canar,

and




21/106

Azuay

in

theEcuadorian

highlands,

ut we have

seen

none.

Axe-monies:

Mexico

Figure

5

illustrates he

proliferation

f axe-

money

forms

that Mexican societies

elaborated

after he

basic

notion,

tyle,

nd

use of this lass of

artifact

were introduced

o West Mexico from

Ecuador

(Hosier

1986,

1988c).

The transmittal

from

Ecuador to West

Mexico of

metallurgical

technologies

nd

the

knowledge

nvolved

n

ore

mining, smelting,

nd metal

manipulation

c-

curred n

two rather

istinct

hases.

The

first,

copper-basedmetallurgy, egan

at

approximately

a.d. 800

and continued

ntil .d. 1200-

13

0. The

second, n alloy-basedmetallurgy hich ncluded

the

binary

opper-silver

lloy,

the

copper-arsenic

and

copper-tin

ronzes

s

well

as a

ternaryopper-

arsenic-tin

lloy,

Hosier

places

at

a.d. 1200-

13

0

until

the

Spanish

nvasion

Hosier

1986,

1988c).

Axe-monies were a

phenomenon

of the second

wave.

Although

ll

of the

presently

nown Mexican

types

re shown in

Figure

5,

our discussionhere

focuses n

the WestMexican

variety,

ince t

was

through

West

Mexicanhands hat

metallurgy

s an

activity

nd notions about metal and its

proper

cultural se were disseminatedhroughheMeso-

american

egion

Hosier 1986),

and becausewe are

interested

recisely

n

thenature f the

echnologi-

cal and cultural

elations etween heAndean one

and Mexico.

The Oaxacan

material as

been

am-

ply

treated

y Easby

and his associates

Easby

et

al.

1967).

WestMexican smiths

ometimes

produced

ob-

ject

forms

n

metal denticalwith

those

that

ame

from he

outh,

whether rom heAndes

or,

n

the

case of ost wax cast

bells,

fromCentralAmerica.

More

typically,hey

ransformedhem

nd,

with

characteristiclair, roduced manyvariations n

the theme

Hosier

1986, 1988a,

n.d.).

This is as

true

or xe-monies

s

for

depilatory

weezers nd

bells,

yet virtually

ll

the

dentifying

haracteris-

tics f theEcuadorian

xe-money

re

present:

xe-

likeor

knife-like

orm;

abric f thin

late

r

sheet;

raised

flanges long

the

shank

edges

and in most

cases

along

the shoulder of the

blade,

though

rarely

n thebutt

dge;4

blunt,

quared-off

lade

edge

on

some

types notably ype

2a)

but a

sharp

blade

edge

on others

e.g.,

Type

3a).

The

large

majority 84%

of those

analyzed by

Hosier

(1986)

is made of the

lloy

of

copper

and arsenic

(see

Table

2):

16 out of

19

84%)

artifacts

nalyzed

from West Mexico

(Hosier

1986);

20

out of

25

(80%)

artifacts

nalyzed

from

Oaxaca

(Hosier

1986;

Easby

et al.

1967:

table

I).

The

only

feature

present

on

virtually

ll Ecuadorian

axe-monies

that

s

entirelymissing

rom he

Mexican

corpus

s

the linear

grooving

of the surfaces. As in

the

Ecuadorian

case,

extremely

mall

examples

of

certainnormal size

formswere

produced

Types

4b

and

5c

in

Fig.

5);

some of these have

raised

flanges, thers ave not.

Axe-monies constitute ne of

the most abun-

dant

metal artifact

ypes

n

Mesoamerica,

along

with bells and

open loops.

However,

they

have

rarely

een found

n

archaeological

ontexts.

Of

the varieties

llustrated

n

Figure

5,

Type

ia is

known

almost

exclusively

from West Mexico

where t s common to the states f

Guerrero nd

Michoacan nd to the

Guerrero-Michoacanorder

(Hosier 1986).

For our

discussion

ere,

we

include

Guerrero

mong

West Mexican

states. Few have

been found in

the state of Oaxaca which

has

yielded all the other types.5Type ia (Fig. 6),

discussed

ere or hefirst ime

reported

n

Hosier

1986,

1988c),

is of

particular

nterest

because,

except

for he

absence

of

raised

dge

flanges,

t is

in

many

espects

losest o the

production

tyle

we

have

outlinedfor the

Ecuadorian artifacts.

hese

4Type

aaxe-monies

ccasionally

ave raised

langelong

the utt

dge.

hissnot

ndicated

n

he

ypology

llustrated

n

Figure

.

5Hosler

eports

4

Type

a

axe-moniesromaxaca ut f

total f 100

Type

a

objects

n

the ollectionf

theMuseo

Regional

e

Guadalajara,

exico

1986:

98).

he

nalyses

f

sixofthese representederenTable . Theobjectsre

interesting

ecause

s

a

group

heir

omposition

alls t the

high

nd f rsenic

oncentrationhen

ompared

ith he

total

opulation

f

Mexicanxe-monies

see

ig.

50).

At he

same

ime,

hey

re

onsiderablyarger

han

he ther

ype

a

axe-monies

all fwhichre rom est

exico with

engths

that

ange

rom

7.6

o

20.5

m

mean

ength

f

19.6 m;

ee

Table

).

By

contrast,

he

mean

ength

f

51

Type

a

axe-

moniesromWest

Mexico

s

15.0

m,

with

range

f 12.2

-17.2

m

Hosier

986:

ppendix

.

-1).

17




22/106

long,

paper-thin

xe-monies are hammered to

shape

from

heetwhose thickness

verages nly

14

microns

0.014 cm).

Their thickened

hank

dges

and their

lightly orrugated

onstruction,

vident

in

the

x-radiograph

f

Figure 14,

are deliberate

mechanical

evices

to

increase

igidity

f the

ong

and thin

heet,

thereby

nsuring

ntegrity

f the

form. n

some cases the heet escribes half-wave

pattern

long

its

longitudinal

xis

(see

Fig.

5),

a

feature hich

may perhaps

have aided

n

stacking

these tems

but

which

definitelymproves

their

strength.

f

25

Type

ia axe-monies

nalyzedby

Hosier

(1986),

only

two were found to be of

copper.

All

the others re

fashioned

rom

opper-

arsenic

lloy

in

the concentration

ange

between

0.05

and

6.4

weight percent,

with the

mean

at

2.6% (seeTable2 andFig. 50).

The

only

report

we have of the

stack-packet

assembly

of

axe-monies

n

Mexico refers o this

extremely

hin

Guerrero

variety.During

his ar-

chaeological

xplorations

n

Naranjo,

entral uer-

rero,

Weitlaner

urface-collected... a

package

of

13

copper

eaves

[

aminasin

theform f

an

axe

but the

thickness f

heavy

paper

about

whose

use

we wereunsure"

1947:

79;

translation

y

Hosier).

Villagers

whom Hosier

interviewed

t

Xochipala,

Guerrero lso refer o

them

s laminas

when

they

find

hem

Hosier 1986).

Of the otherMexican axe-monies llustratedn

Figure

,

only

Type

2a has been

reported

ccasion-

ally

fromWest

Mexico,

in

Guerrero

Hosier

1986)

and

n

Michoacan

Ortiz

Rubio

1920).

Types

and

3

have

rarely

eenfoundncontrolled

xcavations,

apart

from

group

of

five

Type

2a

objects

exca-

vated at Monte Alban

(Caso 1965).

They

are

sometimes found

in

caches,

however.

One

lot

(Type

2b)

given by

Saville to the AmericanMu-

seum of Natural

History,

or

xample,

came from

a

cache of 120 found

n

pairs

in a mound near

Xaaga,

Oaxaca

(Saville 1900),

and

23

dozen were

reported ound na terra-cottaotnearthecity f

Oaxaca

(Easby

et al.

1967).

With

regard

to

physical

characteristics,

t

is

interesting

o

note that the mean

length

of the

three

rimary ypes

n a

group

of

174

axe-monies

examined

y

Hosier

ia

(thin,

traight

hank:

5),

2a

(curved

blade:

72),

and

3

(flaring

lade:

37)

is

18

almost

dentical,

5.0

cm,

13.8

cm,

and

14.0

cm

respectively,

s are

the mean

weights

f

Types

2a

and

3a: 55.1

g

and

52.9

g

(Hosier

1986;

see

Table

3).

The

Type

a axe-monies

verage

only

5.7

g

in

weight.The

thickness

f Type2a and 3a objects

ranges

between

.04

and o. 1

cm,

with a mean

of

0.07

cm for

both

types.

All

Mexican

axe-monies

have raised

flanges long

theshank

edges

except

for West Mexican

Type

ia,

Type

ib,

and

the

miniatures f

Type

5

which are too thin

to

undergo

uch

mechanical reatment.

f

eight

Type

2a

objects analyzed

by

Hosier

(1986),

one is

of

copper

nd theothers

ange

from

rsenical

opper

to arsenic

bronze;

of

four

Type

3a

objects

she

analyzed,

all

are arsenical

coppers

or

very

low

arsenic,

opper-arseniclloys

see

Table

2).

Relatives:

Naipes

The

naipe,6 erhaps

he

closest ndmost

signifi-

cant

relative o the

Ecuadorian

axe-money,

s a

phenomenon

f

the

Lambayeque

valley complex,

formed

y

the

drainages

f

the La

Leche,

Reque,

and

Lambayeque

rivers n the far

north oast of

Peru. Until

very

ecently

e have

knownof

only

singleexample

found outside this

zone,

a

naipe

(Fig.

4)

collected

y Henry

Reichlen,

hough

with-

out

association,

t

Vicus

(Henry

Reichlen,

per-

sonal communication, 976) a site n theupper

Piura

valleyregion,

bordering

he Sechuradesert

and

approximately

0

km

east of Piura

which

he

gave

to

Heather Lechtman for

study

at MIT.

During

a

1988

site

survey

f

the

upper

reaches f

thePiura

river,

himada,Kaulicke,

nd

Makowski

(Shimada

n.d.b)

collected

ome

naipes,

ssociated

with Middle

Sican blackware

bottles,

t

Buenos

Aires

just

upvalley

f

Morropon),

nd

istened o

accounts f

ocal

huaqueros

ho

reported

requent

6LootershuaquerosoperatingntheLambayequealley

region

se he

erm

naipe

to refer

o

objects

uch s

those

illustratederen

igures

and

5.

himada

1985a)

ntroduced

the ermotheiterature.rom

he rief

eport

fhis

ecent

metallurgicalurvey

arriedut n

the

upper

iura

alley

(Shimada.d.b),

t snot lear

hetherocal

ootershere ho

find uch

bjects

allthem

y

the

amename. he

most

common

eaning

f

naipe,"

Spanish

ord,

s

playing

ard.

Asused

n

he

ambayeque

egion,

hen,

naipes

would eem

to

uggest

metalards."




23/106

occurrences

f shallow

shaft tombs

containing

black

ceramic

ottles nd

packages

of tumis

nd/or

naipes

Shimada

n.d.b:

9)

at sites

along

the Piura

river s far

north s

Chulucanas

nd as far

outh

s

Morropon.

The first

naipes

recovered

through

archaeological nvestigations

were excavated

by

Wendell

Bennett n

1936

at a burial

ite he

desig-

nated

Lambayeque

One,

located

about

halfway

between

the town of San

Jose

and

Lambayeque

(Bennett

939).

He describes hem s "two identi-

cal

-shaped

hin

lates

.

.7.5

centimeters

ong;

3

centimeters ide at

the

center;

nd

6.2 centimeters

wide at

the ends"

(Bennett

939:

105).

Because he

did not

illustrate

hem,

these

objects

have been

overlooked,

but Lechtmanfound them

carefully

drawn

n

Bennett's

ield

notebooks,

which

are

in

thecollections f theAmericanMuseum of Natu-

ral

History.They

are

naipes

f the standard

hape

and size.

On thebasis of theceramics e excavated

at

Lambayeque

One,

Bennett

ssigned

he site to

Middle

Chimu

(1939: 106).

Holm,

in

his

early

discussion

f "aberrant

ypes"

of Ecuadorian xe-

monies,

llustrated alf a

naipe

without

knowing

what it was

but

recognizing

ertainfeatures t

sharedwith

the Ecuadorian material

Holm

19

6/

67:

fig.

3,

bottom

eft).

He remarked hat few

such broken

specimens

are known from the

Manteno area

(1966/67:139).

The

object

he illus-

tratedwas donatedto Holm and reportedlyame

from Manabi

province,

but no

similar

find

has

even

been

reported

rom

n

identified

rchaeologi-

cal context n

Ecuador.

The first nd dramatic

resentation

f

naipes

s

eliteburial

goods

stacked,

packeted,

bundled and

occasionally

nterred

n

very arge

numbers ame

withthe

publication y Asbjorn

Pedersen

1976)

of

the contents f a

partially

ooted tomb

in

the

Huaca

Menor at Batan

Grande.

n

going through

the

material

he looters left behind as of little

value,

Pedersen ound housands f

naipes

among

themmanypacketswhich containedup to 500

individual

specimens

"...

arranged

and inter-

locked

n a

special way,

forming ompact

blocs"

(Pedersen

976:

64;

translation

y

Lechtman) see

Fig.

15

and Prumers n.d.:

fig.

7,

a

schematic

rendering

akenfrom Shimada

1985b:

119).

The

naipes

ssembled

n

any

one

packet

were of the

same size and

shape.

Shimada describes

his omb

as

"enormous"

1985a:

385),

and it is no

surprise

that it has

yielded

the

largest

cache of

naipes

discovered

husfar

t Batan

Grande.He

goes

on to

say

that

the

single

pecimen

Pedersen]

llustrates

(1976:

fig.

2)

is

nearly

dentical nsize and form o

those

we have

recovered from various

looted

tombs at Huaca las Ventanas

and the

partially

looted tomb

at Huaca La

Merced.

A

radiocarbon

date for the Huaca

Menor tomb

and ceramics

associatedwithburials

ontaining aipes

llows us

to

confidentlypecify

hat

the

naipes

date to

the

middle to late Middle Sican

(ca.

a.d.

900-1050)"

(Shimada

1985a:

386).

The

C-14

date

reported y

Pedersen is a.d.

1035

(Pedersen

1976:

60).

In

Figure

15

we illustrate everal

naipes

from the

Huaca Menor tomb that Pedersengave to Olaf

Holm;

they

exhibit a central

oblong

bubble,

whereas

he Vicus

specimen Fig.

4)

is

flat.Given

the new

chronology

stablished

y

Shimada for

Batan

Grande

Shimada

1985a:

table 16.

1)

and the

formal

haracteristicsf theblackware esselsBen-

nett

llustrates rom he site of

Lambayeque

One,

it

is

clear that Bennett's

emporaldesignation

f

his

Lambayeque

One burials s "Middle Chimu"

is

appropriate, lacing

the site and the

naipes

t

abouta.d. 1

100,

toward the end

of Middle Sican

in

the

Lambayequevalley.

Shimada's work at Batan Grande n.d. , 1985a,

1987a,

1987b)

provides

hebest nformation

bout

variation

n

burial

practice,

ize,

and

packeting

f

naipes.Except

for minor

variations,

ll

naipes

re

of

the same

shape,

but

they

range

in

size from

about

4.2

X

2.1 cm to 10.

X

8.5

cm,

the atter

representing

he

argest

44

g

in

weight) salvaged

from the Huaca La

Merced

pyramid

Shimada

1985a: 385; 1987a:

fig.

11).

The variations

n

shape

include raisedoval

area,

ike a bubble or

hump,

in

the central

ortion

f

some,

or

a

slight

onvex

bulging

of the two

long edges

on others

see

Fig.

15). Pedersen ecognized wo maintypesofnaipe

at the Huaca

Menor on the basis of

presence

or

absence f the entral

aised

bubble,

nd

notedthat

those

which

present

hisfeature re more numer-

ous

than

the flat

type

(1976:

64).

He further

divided hese wo

types

nto

ubtypes ccording

o

whether the short

edges

of the

object

were

19




24/106

straight,

onvex,

or concave. The most

nteresting

aspect

f

the

packeting

f theHuaca Menor

naipes

is that here s no

mixing

f

types:

ny

one

packet

contains

nly

one

subtype

Pedersen

976:

64).

The

naipes

we have examined at MIT

from

Batan

Grande and fromVicus

range

n

thickness

from

0.019

cm to

0.078

cm.

They

are made of

copper-arsenic

ronze sheet metal

hammered o

thicknesses

hat

fall within

the

range typical

of

Ecuadorian xe-monies.

The inclusion f

naipes

n

Middle

Sican

burials s

common

t Batan

Grande,

but their ize and num-

ber n

any single

burial re

clearly

ssociatedwith

the statusof

the deceased

(Shimada

1985a:

384-

385).

The smaller ombs

generally

ontain

nly

ne

set of

naipes

f a certain

ize,

such as a

packet

of

"some 20 small . . specimens" n an adult male

burial t

Huaca Las Ventanas

Shimada

1985a:

385).

Larger

nd richer ombshave a

variety

f

izes nd a

larger

overall number of

specimens

(Shimada

1985a:

384-385

and

pl.

16.2).

Shimada

reports

packets

f

mall

naipes

s

"wrapped

n

coarse otton

cloth nd

cords of

plant

fiber"

1985a:

385).

In

the

opulent

but rareburialPedersen

described,

naipes

represented

nly portion

f n

estimated

00

kg

of

copper

rtifactsnterredwith

17

bodies

(Pedersen

1976),

n

addition

o substantial

iscrete

ayers

f

Spondylus

hell,

apis

lazuli,

and

cinnabar,

mong

other pecialmaterials.

Naipes

have a

variety

of features

n

common

with Ecuadorian

axe-monies.

They

are burial

goods

which

were made

in

a

range

of

sizes and

often tacked nd

packeted,

ound and

sometimes

bundled n

cloth

when buried.

All

of

the

speci-

menswe

have

analyzed

re made of

copper-arsenic

bronze

see

Table

2),

as are those

whose

composi-

tion Shimada

and

his

colleagues

determined

(Shimada

1985a:

table

16.3).

Arsenic content f

individual

naipes anges

from

1.15

to

4.47

weight

percent;

he

ndependent

eterminations ade

by

the two laboratories7MIT: atomic

absorption

spectrophotometry;

ASCA:

proton

nduced

x-

ray

mission)

re nclose

agreement.

7The

roton

nduced

-ray

mission

PIXE)

nalyses

eported

heres

undertaken

y

he

MASCA

aboratory

f he

niversity

of

Pennsylvania

ere

arried

ut

y

Charles

.

Swanntthe

Bartol

esearch

nstitute,

niversity

fDelaware.

Naipes

do not have raised

flanges,

but

their

edges

are

deliberately

hickened

1.7X

in a

Huaca

Menor

specimen;

.6x in

the

Vicus

specimen)

to

improve rigidity

f

the thin

sheet

(see

Fig.

45).

None of

them bears

any

surface

triations,

nd

they

re not

axe-shaped.

Various

observershave

described hem s

double

T

shape

Shimada

1985a)

or

as I

shape

(Bennett

1939;

Priimers

n.d.),

and

one

might

ee them as

•

1

shape,

depending

upon

their

rientation. edersenhas

perhaps

done

us

a

disservice

y referring

o

naipes

s

"doble achas

monedas"

197

:

64),

Shimada

somewhat

echoing

that

description

n

calling

them

double

T

shape.

Shimada

argues

further

hat

"double-T

shaped

specimens

imilar o those

naipes]

ound n

Batan

Grande

. .

also

occur,

hough

ess

frequently"

n

Ecuador Shimada1985a: 388 andfig.16.7). He is

referring

o one of

the "aberrant"

Ecuadorian

forms

Holm

published

n

1966/67

fig.

3,

right-

hand

portion)

nd

which

we term a

"hide"

(see

Fig.

3b).

These

objects Figs.

20,

21),

oneof

which

is

heavily

markedwith

urface

triations,

ot

only

do not

resemble

aipes,

hey

renot

"double-T" in

shape

and

are unlike

any

known

Ecuadorian

axe

either

n

metal r in

stone.As Holm

remarked,

a

suggestion

f a

double axe is. . .

out of

place

in

Ecuadorian

archaeology"

1966/67:

139).

In

fact,

we have no

precedent

or he

naipe

orm.

Whereas

thenaipemayprovetohave beentheforerunnerf

the Ecuadorian

hacha-monedan

terms

f

the thin

smithing tyle

which

both

object

types

hare,

hey

were not

prototypes

n

theformal

ense.

Relatives:

Feathers

Bennett's

excavations at

Lambayeque

One

yielded

nother

kind of

object

we

include n our

category

frelatives:

Three

bundles

of thin

op-

per

eaves

wrapped ogether

. .

One such

bundle

is

composed

of leaves

15

centimeters

ong,

3.5

centimeters ide at one end and

tapering

o 2.0

centimeters ide at

the other nd.

The

bundle of

these thin

leaves is 1.8

centimeters

hick.

All

bundles how

traces f the

string

r cloth

used to

wrap

them"

Bennett

1939:

105).

Although

hese

stacked,

acketed,

nd

tied

eaves

are now

entirely

mineralized,

echtmanwas

permitted

o

examine

20




25/106

and

photograph

hem

t theAmerican

Museumof

Natural

History

and to

analyze

nondestructively

the surfaces f a few of the

stronger pecimens

using x-ray

fluorescence

echniques.

Figure

1

illustrateseveral f the sturdier

undle

fragments

excavated

by

Bennett,

with

bits of cloth

still

adhering

o some.

A

profile

iew of two

bundles

(Fig.

17)

shows not

only

the

stacking

f the

thin

leavesbut

also the

binding

f

groups

of eaves

nto

packets

with rather

wide

ribbon-like ies

of

reed.

Lechtman

was able to count

ten leaves

tied

to-

gether

n

each of three

ackets.

From

the

drawings

in

Bennett's

ield

notebook,

the

ntact

ndividual

leaves resembled

the

objects

illustrated

ere

in

Figure

18

(to

the

right

f

the

scale),

collected

by

Henry

Reichlen at the site

of

"Batanes,"

near

Chongoyape, in the Lambayeque valley (H.

Reichlen,

ersonal

ommunication,

976).

Briining

alled this

object type

"plumiforme"

(Antze

1930:24

and

fig.

2)

and found

t

eastmore

than

100 n

the

Lambayeque

valley

area. Accord-

ing

to Antze

1930: 24),

such feather

orms

made

of thin

opper

sheet

were used

as headdress

rna-

ments nd are common

finds.He describes

setof

five from Cerro

Sapame

as

measuring pproxi-

mately

.$

cm

n

ength,

onsiderably

horter

han

those found

by

Bennett

nd

by

Reichlen,

nd he

speculates

hat

hey

were

arranged

ogether

s hair

ribbonshuinchasorperhapswereset ntocircular

metal headbands

or on

a

type

of

helmet

Antze

1930:

24).

During

a visit in

1970

to

the

Museo

Arqueologico Briining,

Lambayeque,

Lechtman

noted hundreds f

such thin

feather orms

n

the

storeroom,

and

Mayer,

who

recently photo-

graphed

ome of them

here

see

Fig.

8),

describes

the museum

s

having

"a chest

with

a volume

of

8In

eptember

976

Henry

eichlen

onated

o

Heather

Lechtman's

aboratory

or esearch

n

Archaeological

ateri-

als t MIT a

large

ollection

fmetal

bjects

nd

ssociated

metallurgicalroductionaterialshat ehad ssembledn

site

urveyslong

he

orthoast

f eru.

pproximately

qual

numbersf

rtifactsere

romites

e

designated

s

"Vicus

(Piura)"

nd Batanes

Lambayeque)."

eichlen's

otesccom-

panying

he atanes

ollectioneadsfollows:

Documents

e

l'atelier e

metallurgistes

himu

de

Batanes,

res

de

Chongoyape

Lambayeque)."

t eems

learhat eichlen's

ite

"Batanes"s one f he

ambayequealley

etallurgical

ro-

ductionites imilar

o those

himada

as dentified

n the

general

icinity

fBatan

rande.

about three ubic meters

ull f these

tems,

often

corroded

ogether

n

groups" Mayer

1982a: 289;

translation

y

Lechtman).

He

reports aving

seen

them n thehundreds

n

other

collections n the

Peruvian

orth oast

as well.

There are two basic

types

f

feather,

ne with

spatulate

nd

(Figs.

9,

18),

the

otherwith

a

sock-

eted end

(Figs.

9,

18,

19)

formed

y turning

ver

two

edge flaps

of metal. The

Lambayeque

One,

Cerro

Sapame,

and Batanes feathers

re of the

spatulate

ype,

hough

f

differentizes.

In a

burial

Alva

recently

xcavated

n the Batan

Grande

rea

and whichhe dates to

a.d.

850-1100

(Middle Sican)

were the

remains f

long

and thin

leaves of

copper,

pproximately

0

cm

in

length,

which were

originally

intact

in bundles of

"channel-sha