The pin is defined as an elongated and slender tool with a tip at one end that is used for fastening, whether in textile manufacturing, hairstyling, or the placement of headdresses. There are variations in material, shape, size, and processing technique. They are made of bone, wood, stone, and metal, as in Mesoamerica the metal ones came later and the copper ones stand out. The most recognized ones have a "head" at one end to prevent their displacement, there are also those without this bulge or with a "lost head." The two seen here are made of grayish-green stone marbled in ocher, are circular in section, and have the peculiarity of having two tips. It should be noted that in each case one of the pointed ends has been lost, perhaps as a result of use. Undoubtedly, they are fragile pieces of reduced thickness and less than 9 cm long. Their apparent simplicity does not imply immediate manufacture, as revealed by the study of the so-called operational chains.
In the analysis of ancient lithic technology, the specific function of the artifacts is often inferred. However, indirect testimonies such as plastic representations can be revealing in this regard Even on utensils made with perishable materials, as in the stone relief of one of the stelae from Huilocintla, Tuxpan, Veracruz, from the Teenek culture of the Post-classic, a lavishly attired individual crosses their tongue with a long wooden stick, which is identified because one of its ends is bifurcated. Archaeological images and evidence also reveal uses of the instruments other than for practical purposes. In one of the scenes painted on page 36 of the Codex Tonalámatl of the Pochtecas, a bone awl can be seen next to a sacrificial thorn between a couple of corn deities, as a symbol of the sacrificial discourse they maintain, corroborated by the presence of other objects alluding to this theme. In Teotihuacan, fragments of lithic workshop debris were found as funerary offerings, and metal needles were found in human burials recorded in Tizapán, Jalisco, and Amapa, Nayarit. From the above mortuary deposits it is inferred that the deceased were accompanied by materials related to their trades, in the form of insignia. These are clearly symbolic values of the instruments, which leads us to revisit the material aspect of this pair of pins from the Amparo Museum collection.
Furthermore, the antiquity of the manufacture of stone objects is remote. In what is currently Mexico, it dates back to the initial presence of human societies, some thirty thousand years ago according to current knowledge. It was fundamental in the development of its three cultural super-areas: Aridoamerica, Oasisamerica, and Mesoamerica. The pins we are looking at have the latter attribution, given the history of the collection in which they were found.
They were probably made from serpentine boulders, which is an abundant mineral in Guerrero and Puebla. Due to its easy access, rocks reduced in size and smoothed when moving along the rivers were recurrently used in the lithic industry. Blocks extracted from mines were also used. Lithics involve complex operational chains that encom the process of obtaining raw materials, elaboration, techniques, the existence or disposition of technologies, the use and disposal or reuse of objects, and groups that control the entire sequence, including the processes of knowledge transmission.
The specific context of these double-pointed pins would determine whether they were prestige objects, their practical uses, and final destination, perhaps exalting their workmanship in green stone, whether their elaboration was local, in relation to the availability of the material and specialized craftsmen, or whether the stone or the objects themselves were imported.
The pin is defined as an elongated and slender tool with a tip at one end that is used for fastening, whether in textile manufacturing, hairstyling, or the placement of headdresses. There are variations in material, shape, size, and processing technique. They are made of bone, wood, stone, and metal, as in Mesoamerica the metal ones came later and the copper ones stand out. The most recognized ones have a "head" at one end to prevent their displacement, there are also those without this bulge or with a "lost head." The two seen here are made of grayish-green stone marbled in ocher, are circular in section, and have the peculiarity of having two tips. It should be noted that in each case one of the pointed ends has been lost, perhaps as a result of use. Undoubtedly, they are fragile pieces of reduced thickness and less than 9 cm long. Their apparent simplicity does not imply immediate manufacture, as revealed by the study of the so-called operational chains.
In the analysis of ancient lithic technology, the specific function of the artifacts is often inferred. However, indirect testimonies such as plastic representations can be revealing in this regard Even on utensils made with perishable materials, as in the stone relief of one of the stelae from Huilocintla, Tuxpan, Veracruz, from the Teenek culture of the Post-classic, a lavishly attired individual crosses their tongue with a long wooden stick, which is identified because one of its ends is bifurcated. Archaeological images and evidence also reveal uses of the instruments other than for practical purposes. In one of the scenes painted on page 36 of the Codex Tonalámatl of the Pochtecas, a bone awl can be seen next to a sacrificial thorn between a couple of corn deities, as a symbol of the sacrificial discourse they maintain, corroborated by the presence of other objects alluding to this theme. In Teotihuacan, fragments of lithic workshop debris were found as funerary offerings, and metal needles were found in human burials recorded in Tizapán, Jalisco, and Amapa, Nayarit. From the above mortuary deposits it is inferred that the deceased were accompanied by materials related to their trades, in the form of insignia. These are clearly symbolic values of the instruments, which leads us to revisit the material aspect of this pair of pins from the Amparo Museum collection.
Furthermore, the antiquity of the manufacture of stone objects is remote. In what is currently Mexico, it dates back to the initial presence of human societies, some thirty thousand years ago according to current knowledge. It was fundamental in the development of its three cultural super-areas: Aridoamerica, Oasisamerica, and Mesoamerica. The pins we are looking at have the latter attribution, given the history of the collection in which they were found.
They were probably made from serpentine boulders, which is an abundant mineral in Guerrero and Puebla. Due to its easy access, rocks reduced in size and smoothed when moving along the rivers were recurrently used in the lithic industry. Blocks extracted from mines were also used. Lithics involve complex operational chains that encom the process of obtaining raw materials, elaboration, techniques, the existence or disposition of technologies, the use and disposal or reuse of objects, and groups that control the entire sequence, including the processes of knowledge transmission.
The specific context of these double-pointed pins would determine whether they were prestige objects, their practical uses, and final destination, perhaps exalting their workmanship in green stone, whether their elaboration was local, in relation to the availability of the material and specialized craftsmen, or whether the stone or the objects themselves were imported.
