[Aztlan] Trolling for Spondylus

[Benjamin Carter]

Listeros,

I recently completed my dissertation on shell artifact production on the 
coast of Ecuador. As a part of that I wrote a culture history of 
Spondylus for South America. I am now trying to extend this into 
Mesoamerica. While I am still in the early stages of collecting 
material, I have found that (at least in South America) much of the 
material that I am concerned with is buried in "gray" literature (e.g. 
site reports and informes for government entities). So, I am now 
trolling for such materials from all of you. I have checked FAMSI and 
found some good resources and I have the major articles about Spondylus 
and shell artifact production in Mesoamerica, but what I would like is 
some suggestion about what you all know is out there, but might be 
buried in unpublished documents or appendices of publications. My goal, 
over the long term, is to publish a complete culture history of 
Spondylus in the Americas.

I am interested in anything Mesoamerican- even up into the American 
Southwest, but am particularly interested in material from West Mexico 
because I am interested in reassessing the Ecuador/West Mexico 
connection (this was hypothesized to be based upon Spondylus but my 
culture history seems to contradict this possibility).

On as side note, there is quite clear iconography of Spondylus in South 
America, but, even with extensive shell/marine iconography on some 
Mesoamerican materials (e.g. Maya vases and stone-work), I have yet to 
run into anything that clearly represents Spondylus. Has anyone seen 
anything that is clearly Spondylus (a 'spiny' bivalve) from any 
Mesoamerican culture?

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance,
Ben Carter