AN ASSESSMENT OF MIXTEC GOLD AND SILVERSMITHING TECHNOLOGY.

摘要

This study is concerned with the problem of the extent to which the Mixtecs and their successors, the Aztecs, assimilated the aboriginal metallurgical techniques of the New World. A review of New World technology, the methods of transferral of that knowledge from South America to Mesoamerica and the Mixtec region, and evidence closely linking the Mixtec and Aztec metalworking technology are given.;The sources of information for this study were four: historical documents, including pre-conquest codices and accounts written by the Spaniards shortly after the conquest; the writings of contemporary archaeologists, scientists, and scholars; examination of the gold and silver artifacts remaining; and the practical point of view of a jeweler experienced in direct metalwork and lost wax casting. The study deliberately excludes consideration of works of post-European influence and of the theories of Asiatic influences in the New World.;The cultural and historical backgrounds of the Mixtecs are summarized, the South American metallurgical techniques which were likely to have been transmitted to the Mixtecs are reviewed, evidence of these techniques having been used by the Mixtecs and the Aztecs seen in the remaining artifacts and in the accounts and inventories of the lost works is cited, and the achievement level of the Mixtec/Aztec craftsman is assessed in each of the major metalworking techniques known in the New World.;The Mixtecs lived in the valley of Oaxaca and in the adjacent Mixtec Alta region during almost all of the archaeological phases of the area. Their development as a cultural group is not fully documented. There are some major gaps in their history during the late Classic and transitional phases, but by the post-Classic phase the Mixtec culture is readily identified as a separate and influential unit. This culture strongly influenced the Aztec's development, particularly in the production of luxury goods, including gold and silver work.;The purpose of this study is to bring together the information necessary to assess the Mixtec goldsmithing techniques and the designation of these techniques as a culmination of New World metallurgy. Historical and technological backgrounds are examined in depth.;The metallurgical backgrounds of Mesoamerica as a whole, and the Mixtec region specifically, apparently came from two areas of development, those of Peru and of Colombia. These two regions probably interchanged techniques early in their own development, and both transmitted their metallurgy northward into Mesoamerica. The techniques developed by the South American cultures encompass most of the known ancient methods, and although the methodology was primitive, the resulting artifacts are technically very fine.;The remaining artifacts of the Mixtec culture are limited in number, but the finding of Tomb 7 at Monte Alban in 1932 added vastly to the store of knowledge about Mexican metallurgy. Mixtec knowledge of most of the New World techniques is documented by the various pieces in this treasure.;In this study each technique is analyzed according to levels of possible development. The Mixtec works are assessed according to the metallurgical possibilities of pre-Columbian technology, not according to how they compare with specific South American works. The conclusion is drawn that the Mixtecs were superior in some but not all metalworking techniques. Their role as culminators of the long metallurgical tradition of the New World is best seen in the area of lost wax casting. In this technique their excellence and invention of new applications of the technique were most remarkable.;Further discoveries and laboratory analyses may add information which will augment or change the conclusion drawn in this study because archaeological and scholarly exploration in the field still continue.