Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

The Maya nacreous shell garment of Oxtankah (Quintana Roo, México)
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different diameters, allowed us to propose a concentric
setting, where the biggest pieces where
located near the lower edge (fig. 12a). The pieces
with a hole in the middle were few and seemed to
be the lateral border of the garment. The big rectangular
pendants seemed to be in horizontal
position, getting smaller at the back of the garment.
In the case of the “L” forms, distributed
symmetrically in three intervals over the chest, the
polished surfaces allowed us to distinguish the “L”
forms from the inversed “L”, one of each form in
each pair (fig. 12b).
7. ICONOGRAPHICAL AND DOCUMENTAL INVES-
TIGATION OF DIFFERENT PRE-HISPANIC SHELL
GARMENTS
The manufacture trace investigation allowed us
to interpret the elements as a unit in a horizontal setting.
We started a quite complete documental and
iconographic research about prehispanic garments,
specially the ones made with shell. After this
investigation we noticed that in 32 mayan sites, as
Tikal, Yaxchilan, Palenque, Calakmul, Naranjo,
Bonampak, Copán, Uxmal and Chichén Itzá there
are images in architectural elements and mural
paintings with representations of semicircular chest
garments that cover the shoulders as well (Greene
et al. 1972; Schele and Miller, 1992). In most of them
it is difficult to distinguish the constitutive materials of
the garments because the circular, quadrangular or
rectangular forms of their elements do not have any
color. But in almost every one, we can observe a
lower edge, maybe made of a different material
because of the different form and dimension, that
usually has unique or pairs of pendants, located in
regular intervals in the lower part of the garment.
This kind of garment is rarely shown in the Early
Classic period, as in Tikal, then in the Post-Classic
Period it became very common as in Yaxchilán,
Tikal, Calakmul, Palenque, and Seibal, to finally
almost disappear in the Early Post Classic as in
Uxmal and Chichén Itzá.
In archaeological context there is a “cape”
made of Spondylus princeps pendants over a
female body located in the XV Structure of Calakmul
(Patricia Meehan 2005: Pers. Comm.). Also, on the
16, 18, 26, 45 and 46 architectural lintels from
Yaxchilán there are representations of shell vests.
This type of garment had been recovered from
Garra de Jaguar tomb, one of the Calakmul rulers in
the Late Classic (García and Granados 2000: 33).
Related to the Colonial Maya linguistic dictionaries,
we found two words related to garments: kancotom
“garment with beads of Kan, for the chest”
(Códice de Calkiní 1957: 118); and yopat, “a kind of
garment of the ancient indians” (Arzápalo 1995:
375).
8. HYPOTHETICAL RESET OF THE UNIT AND ITS
CONSERVATION
After excavation and analyses, all the pieces
were taken to the conservation laboratory at the
Museo del Templo Mayor for their treatment. In the
first place, we observed the actual conservation
condition of the pieces, in order to have a conservation
procedure. All the pieces were cleaned after
excavation at the archaeological site, using a solution
of alcohol mixed with water 1:1. After that, all
the S. alatus and S. gigas pendants were stable.
But the nacreous beads were not.
The second phase of the treatment consisted in
the setting of all the elements in one unit. In this phase
our proposal was confirmed, because it was obvious
Figure 12. The restoration of the shell garment.
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián