Textile-Clay Laminates:  A special-use material in ancient Mesoamerica

Laminate Products

Object type and possible usage
Generally, many of the documented occurrences are of a limited number of fragments, preventing identification of the type of object made using the laminate material. At the other extreme, however, are four substantial concentrations that were once whole objects. Three are most confidently identifiable as ceremonial gear, and all were found in the Palace Group at Aguateca.

Two of these were the first recognizable objects made of textile-clay laminate [A, B]. The face mask [A], roughly life-size and depicting an old man, has holes in the eyes suggesting positioning over the face (Figure 2). The other [B] has more exaggerated animal/grotesque facial elements with no apparent eye openings and is probably a headdress component (Figure 3). Both objects were found in a small storeroom in a royal residence, along with other personal costume elements and musical paraphernalia, probably utilized for ritual performance [Inomata et al. in press]. The third concentration [C, currently missing] was also reported to be a mask on the basis of large eye and ear fragments. It was found next to an administrative structure within the Palace Group, a place where public ritual performance activities were also likely to occur [Urquizú, in Valdés et al. 1999].

The fourth substantial concentration, again from Aguateca [D], includes a reassembled segment with a smoothly curving expanse and finished edge (Figure 5); a number of otherwise flat fragments from the deposit have features such as small perforations. The fragment cluster was found in a high status residence notable for strong evidence of craft activities. Its find spot–near a bench in the roofed entry area just outside the central room–could be related to use in connection with more public activities carried out in this room of the household. Alternatively, since many work activities today occur in roofed areas outside the rooms, it is possible that the object was being produced there. From the range of ornaments found in various stages of production in various parts of the household, it has been suggested that the resident may have been responsible for preparing or refurbishing royal attire [Inomata et al. 2002]; this may have included the laminate object.

Less substantial occurrences still provide glimpses of object type or possible use. Several of these include fragments that are more sculptural, reminiscent of the masks. The one from Piedras Negras [U], originating from an elite midden, has wrinkle-like ridges (Figure 10). Two of the fragments from Cueva de los Quetzales (the first reported occurrence of laminate [S]) are particularly easy to imagine as facial elements, such as a chin (Figure 1). The midden in which they were deposited had formed under the cave’s roof opening, which was situated in the plaza area at the ceremonial center of Las Pacayas. Its contents suggest controlled disposal of high status items [Brady and Rodas 1995].

Other types of objects are also possible. A group of fragments [J], small in number but notable for their overall form, make up a thick-walled segment with a rim-like edge, perforation and red slip coloring (Figure 6). These were found near a residential structure in the elite zone. A cluster of plain fragments [L], found in wall collapse of an administrative building in Aguateca’s elite zone, may be remnants of an object connected to some aspect of public activities (Figure 7).

These last examples are more typical of the newly recorded occurrences, characterized by small fragment numbers and undistinguished forms. Such deposits were somewhat surprising for Aguateca, where rapid abandonment and absence of later occupation produced deposits with largely reconstructible objects in use-contexts. Nevertheless, low-density occurrences were recorded from inside or beside three household structures in the elite core [E, F; G, H, I; and J, K], and one administrative building [L]. Three others came from residential buildings [M, N, Q], which were outside the Main Plaza and elite core areas; two were within the close-in defensive wall system, and one was further away. Most of the examples were found in above-floor wall collapse, and it is not clear why more fragments weren’t found.

Disarticulated fragments in low numbers are less surprising in middens or trash-filled contexts. At Aguateca, a few samples were under a patio [O] and associated with construction debris [P], from a cluster of structures located immediately behind the site’s largest temple, on the west side of the Main Plaza; a service relationship is assumed. The fragments from Arroyo de Piedra [R] came from the midden area immediately behind the North Plaza’s small palace (Figure 8). The two from Tamarindito [T] were found in wall collapse of part of the palace complex (Figure 9). The fragment from Piedras Negras [U] came from trash-filled layers leveling the plaza of a group probably occupied by elites or by those serving them (Figure 10).

Geographic distribution
The occurrence of textile-clay laminate samples at Aguateca, augmented by those from Arroyo de Piedra, Tamarindito and Las Pacayas, place the craft securely in the Petexbatún region, at the heart of the Río Pasión drainage in the southern lowlands (see Figure 4). Aguateca’s notable prominence in the data set might suggest that it was also a production center of this specialized craft. Through networks supported by its political prominence during this period, the laminate products or practices might have made their way easily from there to other sites within the Petexbatún polity. The presence of a sample from Piedras Negras, given its strategic location on the Río Usumacinta, a trade route between the Maya highlands and lowlands, opens up intriguing lines of inquiry about the craft practice’s wider distribution.

Temporal distribution
The textile-clay laminate samples known to date are from Late Classic contexts; although found in a poorly stratified midden in Cueva de los Quetzales, the fragments deposited by activities at Las Pacayas are likely also to be from this time period. The strong showing at Aguateca might suggest a late 8^th century flowering of the craft production, but further investigation of the earlier occupation of all of these sites and additional examples would be necessary to clarify this aspect.

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