El Gigante Rock Shelter: Archaic Mesoamerica and Transitions to Settled Life

Miscellaneous Material

Fiber remains including cordage and examples of textile and basketry were recovered from Formative strata. Preservation is such that we also found fragments of double-twinned cordage in strata dating to Paleoindian times.

Another interesting item from early Formative strata was a small (9 mm diameter) shell bead, made from the top spiral of a marine cone snail. Perhaps as early as the Archaic-Formative transition people in the area were trading obsidian for wealth items derived from the coast?

Bone implements have been recovered from Archaic strata as well. These point to a bone tool industry that is little described for the Archaic period. It has been suggested that the bone awls recovered from levels 17a and b in unit 1, were used for basketry. However, local informants, unbiased in their assessment, suggested they were tapizcadores, or corn huskers that they used every year. They brought and showed me one the next day that looked very similar to the archaeological specimens. If these items are indeed harvesting tools, it would indicate an even richer plant processing economy than we now suspect.

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