Pre-Columbian jewelry and adornments are a vast, rich subject, owing to the wide variety of pieces and objects that have been found in archaeological excavations throughout the Mesoamerican cultural area. In indigenous societies such as the Mexica or Tarascans, the use of specific jewels by certain sectors of society was highly controlled. The Chronicles of Michoacan and various Codices such as the Ramirez and the Florentine, recorded the 16th century ceremonies, the variety of objects, and the reasons for which a person could or could not wear them. In this regard, jewelry in Mesoamerica was a body adornment that, like others, could indicate an individual's belonging to a community or a specific social sector, their social position, or even their marital status.
This piece is a carved, green obsidian pendant given the form of a bird, possibly a duck, identified by its stylized beak. The pendant, seen from above, has the form of a flattened drop, which first gets narrower and then wider as it moves towards its opposite end, where the piece has a circular form. In the middle of the opposite end there is a hole, made first by conically perforating one side of the piece and then repeating the action on the other side. This made the distal end of the piece very fragile. It eventually broke at the hole and lost its use as a pendant.
It is a highly delicate piece which suggests almost abstractly the aquatic birds that crowded the lake of Mexico in the 16th century. Its figure, of soft curves and lines, allows us to infer that the artist had a profound knowledge of the artisanal patterns and traditions of obsidian work. This design is repeated in many other pendants found in archaeological contexts in central Mexico, such as in Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlan, showing the importance of the social function of this object and its communication of specific meanings.
This was not just any design, but a form full of meaning, as the aquatic birds that lived in the salt waters of the lake of Mexico played a fundamental role in the indigenous worldview. They were particularly associated with the deity Ehecalt Quetzalcoatl, the god of wind, which surely had to do with their ability to take to the skies and announce coming rains, especially migratory birds.
This piece may have been hung to be worn as a necklace, or it could have accompanied other similar forms to create a bracelet. To imagine a necklace or a bracelet in which these forms would be repeated one after another, creating a band made of the union of the circular beaks, with an intense black color that appeared to generate its own sparkle, allows us to imagine the splendor of some of the attire worn, and with it, the reasons for which the use of these adornments was so controlled.
Pre-Columbian jewelry and adornments are a vast, rich subject, owing to the wide variety of pieces and objects that have been found in archaeological excavations throughout the Mesoamerican cultural area. In indigenous societies such as the Mexica or Tarascans, the use of specific jewels by certain sectors of society was highly controlled. The Chronicles of Michoacan and various Codices such as the Ramirez and the Florentine, recorded the 16th century ceremonies, the variety of objects, and the reasons for which a person could or could not wear them. In this regard, jewelry in Mesoamerica was a body adornment that, like others, could indicate an individual's belonging to a community or a specific social sector, their social position, or even their marital status.
