Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

The Maya nacreous shell garment of Oxtankah (Quintana Roo, México)
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9. CONCLUSIONS
During this investigation we recovered a remarkable
prehispanic garment as a result of an intense
interdisciplinary work that allowed us to propose a
new way to treat shell objects with holes, usually considered
as necklaces. In this sense, we reinterpret the
function of this shell assemblage of beads and pendants
as a garment with only one polished side and
a great technological standardization in the tools
employed for its production. Also, during the restoration
and sewing of the pieces we dealt with the shape
and disposition of them. We proposed the semicircular
shape and the imbricated patron after we displayed
all the pieces, based on the detailed iconographical
comparison, the final adjustments over the
model and the functionality of the unit as a garment in
relation to a human being.
By the way, in the future we will try to identify the
symbolism of this garment, which imbricated pieces
seemed to be the representation of fish scales and
can be related with the most valued fish in the
Chetumal bay: the xihua.
Finally, we want to point out the importance of
including other experiences and the work of so many
specialists in the study of other shell prehispanic pieces
in order to enrich our hypothesis and study. In the
same way we hope that the present work will help the
study and interpretation of new findings in the
archaeological contexts, and new approaches to the
already excavated ones.
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We give a special thanks to archaeologist Adrián
Velázquez, the architect Teresa Ontiveros, the biologists
Belem Zuñiga, Emilia González, Norma
Valentín, the engineer Antonio Alva for their comments
and suggestions and finally Ana Solís and
Victor Solís for helping us with the English translation.
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11. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián