Jade was one of the most valuable materials for the towns of Mesoamerica. From the origins of the Mesoamerican civilization until the Conquest, jade was found in burial and propitiatory offerings, and formed part of the attire of the highest-ranking individuals. There was also a rhetoric resource, a "diphrase": "jade bead, quetzal feather", which was used metaphorically to refer to the most valuable things. Gold and turquoise were also very important, but not as important as those mentioned above.
Jade was associated with water from the Olmec era, particularly with the idea of primordial water, the water that accumulates inside the mountains and can bring fertility and wealth to men. The circular bead with a hole in the middle, in Nahuatl called chalchihuitl (Hispanized as chalchihuite), was the most abstract representation of the idea of water and fertility. However, jade (and chalchihuite in particular) was also associated with another precious liquid, used by men to reward and feed the gods: sacrificial blood.
The jade used in Mesoamerica came from the deposits in the Motagua River basin, present-day Costa Rica. The rarity and distance of this resource surely made it more valuable in the eyes of the noblemen and gave it a high value in the market. However, Mesoamerican towns also used other green stones that are today called serpentine and malachite, and used them to make similar objects with a similar symbolic value.
These beads must have been part of a necklace; they were strung with beads, thanks to the longitudinal hole, and were sometimes combined with other round beads or with shell pendants or another material on the same string. Precision was needed to obtain this shape; first the small blocks were carved and then their exterior was polished by grinding or friction, until they achieved a cylindrical shape, before finally being drilled. The hole was made with a cone-shaped stone drill that was turned using a type of small bow; the stone drill was inserted into the string of the bow and turned by moving it backwards and forwards in a sawing motion. One side was drilled first and then the other until the hole was completed.
The use of these types of necklaces, due to their very high value, was reserved for the highest ranking individuals, the ruler and his family, the richest noblemen and the priests. It is very likely that the necklace used by one person their entire life was the same one hung around their neck when they died to form part of the burial offering.
Jade was one of the most valuable materials for the towns of Mesoamerica. From the origins of the Mesoamerican civilization until the Conquest, jade was found in burial and propitiatory offerings, and formed part of the attire of the highest-ranking individuals. There was also a rhetoric resource, a "diphrase": "jade bead, quetzal feather", which was used metaphorically to refer to the most valuable things. Gold and turquoise were also very important, but not as important as those mentioned above.
