The Aztecs

by Michael E Smith

  Pulque or octli, the only alcoholic beverage drunk by the Aztecs, was made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant. When a plant reached maturity, its center was cut out to leave a cavity. The sides of the cavity were then scraped with an obsidian scraper to stimulate the flow of sap into it. The collector extracted the sap by sucking it into a hollow gourd, and then emptied it into a ceramic jar. The sap was brought to the workshop, where it was emptied into large fermentation vats. The plants had to be scraped and emptied two or three times daily for a period of several weeks to six months, and each maguey plant provided two to four liters of sap each day. The sap, called aguamiel today, could be drunk both fresh or in its fermented form, pulque; it was also used for medicinal purposes.

  Although archaeologists have not located pulque production workshops at Aztec sites, they have identified the obsidian tools used to scrape the plant for sap extraction. These tools are widely distributed at Aztec sites in the Valley of Mexico, which suggests that pulque production was carried out in many local areas. The drink was used in rituals, and the pulque cult with numerous deities was a major component of Aztec religion.11 Drinking to intoxication was restricted by law, but old people were permitted to indulge as a reward for their long lives. Pulque is still a popular beverage among central Mexican peasants today; its alcoholic content is similar to that of beer or wine.

  Copper and bronze tools

  The technology of metallurgy was introduced into Mesoamerica from Andean South America.12 The ancient ancestors of the Incas had developed sophisticated methods for working gold, silver, and copper, including the ability to produce tools of bronze alloys, several millennia prior to the Spanish Conquest. Around AD 700, seaborne traders or artisans brought the techniques of copper metallurgy from South America to west Mexico. Later, around AD 1200, the more advanced technique of bronze working was introduced into west Mexico, again from a South American place of origin. Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper with limited amounts of tin or arsenic that improve its strength and workability. The smelting of bronze is a far more complex technology than copper working, requiring greater skills and higher temperatures. This technology flourished in west Mexico, and by the Late Aztec period, metalsmiths had perfected a repertoire of techniques for fashioning copper and bronze objects. Cold hammering, hot hammering, open-mold casting, and lost-wax casting were used to make a variety of products, including both ritual/elite items such as bells, rings, tweezers, and ornaments, and utilitarian tools such as sewing needles, chisels, awls, axes, and fishhooks (figure 4.7). Some of these techniques originated in South America and others were developed independently by west Mexican peoples.

  Figure 4.7 Bronze tools from Aztec houses in Yautepec. There are three sewing needles, an axe, two punches or awls, a bell, and a tweezer (photograph by Michael E. Smith)

  Experimental research by Dorothy Hosler has shown that Mesoamerican metalsmiths carefully controlled the elemental composition of the two bronzes – copper-arsenic and copper-tin – in order to achieve several ends. To improve the functionality of tools, they added tin or arsenic to copper in low concentrations (2 to 5 percent), which provides the necessary hardness and strength but avoids brittleness. To achieve desired colors in bells and tweezers, artifacts with great symbolic significance, they added tin or arsenic in high concentrations (10 to 20 percent), which alters the colors of the metal to resemble silver and gold. And to make the small bells produce the desired sounds, varying combinations of the elements were used.

  Copper and bronze metallurgy was practiced by the Tarascans, enemies of the Aztecs who lived west of central Mexico. Although the Aztecs of the Valley of Mexico did not adopt the technology themselves, it had begun to spread through the Aztec Empire in the final century or two before the Spanish Conquest. When the Aztecs conquered territory along the Tarascan border, they captured towns with metalsmiths and areas with major copper deposits. An independent metal-producing area recently has been identified in the Huaxtec territory in the eastern empire. My excavations in Morelos and the Toluca Valley yielded surprising numbers of copper and bronze tools. Although these tools were probably manufactured in west Mexico, metallurgical analyses by Hosler indicate that some of them were reworked locally to maintain their shape and hardness. Copper needles, awls, and chisels were sold in the central Tlatelolco market, probably imported from the western frontier of the empire. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, bronze metallurgy was becoming popular in the Aztec Empire, and the people of the Valley of Mexico may have been on the verge of developing a more complex metallurgy by adopting copper and bronze smelting from their Tarascan enemies.

  Utilitarian crafts and the economy

  The makers of the goods described above were not the only artisans who specialized in utilitarian crafts. In addition to obsidian-knappers, potters, weavers, maguey-workers and metalsmiths, ethnohistoric sources mention numerous other artisans, from basketmakers to arrow-makers (table 4.1). Most of these artisans practiced their crafts part-time as a supplement to farming. They sold their goods in the marketplace, which put them at the mercy of economic forces outside of their control. If the demand for their products declined, the families of artisans could devote more effort to farming. Conversely if the demand for craft items increased, or if income from farming decreased, more attention could be given to the family workshop.

  Table 4.1 Types of craft specialists in Late Postclassic Mesoamerica.

  At Cuexcomate and Capilco, we found evidence that increasing economic hardship led certain poor peasant households to increase their production of cotton textiles. As standards of living fell in the Late Aztec B period, the houses of the poorest residents had the greatest numbers of spindle whorls and spinning bowls. It appears that part-time cloth production was stepped up by the families who lived in these houses to compensate for hardship due to either declines in agricultural production or increases in their tax burden.13

  Full-time producers of utilitarian goods may have practiced their crafts in some Aztec cities (such as Otumba; see below), but many utilitarian craft producers lived in rural areas where they could easily combine their craft with agriculture. The craftsmen described above produced the kinds of goods – pottery, clothing, tools – required by consumers in most preindustrial societies. These petty artisans contrasted greatly with the full-time specialists in luxury goods.

  Luxury Crafts

  Hernando Cortés and the Spanish conquerors were awed by the exquisite beauty and craftsmanship of Aztec jewelry and ceremonial art. Ornaments of gold and silver, earrings and lip plugs of jade and obsidian, decorative feather art, religious statues of stone, ceremonial knives whose handles were inlaid with shell and turquoise – these and many other luxury goods graced the temples and palaces of the Aztecs. These were not mere baubles, the frivolous playthings of the Aztec nobility. Rather they played a key role in Aztec society, communicating information about status, wealth, etiquette, and belief. Nobles used these goods to show off their position in society. They gave them as gifts to other nobles at important ritual and diplomatic occasions where such gift-giving helped to cement social ties and political alliances (see chapters 6 and 7). Priests used these objects in rituals, and many of these ended up in the ground as buried offerings (see chapter 10).

  Ethnohistoric documents provide most of the evidence for luxury goods. Archaeologists have uncovered examples of some of these crafts – particularly stone sculptures and items of jewelry – but to date there is archaeological information on the actual production of only one type of item – obsidian jewelry. Most of our knowledge of these crafts comes from the descriptions in Friar Sahagún's Florentine Codex. Information on the styles and uses of luxury goods is discussed in chapter 12, where they are treated as manifestations of Aztec art.

  Featherworking

  The activity in which they seem to excel over all other human intellects and which makes them appear unique among the nations of the earth is the craft they have perfected of repr
esenting with real feathers, in all their natural colors, all the things that they and other excellent painters can paint with brushes. They used to make many things of feathers, including animals, birds, men, cloaks or mantles, apparel for the priests, crowns or miters, shields and flyswatters, and a thousand other things.

  Bartolomé de las Casas, Obras escogidas

  Feather mosaic was perhaps the most unique art form of the Aztecs. Objects such as fans, shields, warriors' costumes, capes, headdresses, and decorative hangings were made by tying and gluing colorful feathers onto a stiff backing (figure 4.8). These were among the most valuable and esteemed items in Aztec culture. Unfortunately only eight examples survive today. Sahagún's noble informants were very familiar with the featherworkers and their products because many of the craftsmen had worked directly for nobles. Most of what we know of featherworking comes from the friar's descriptions.14

  Figure 4.8 Ceremonial featherwork shield (courtesy Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna, object no. 43.380)

  The great beauty of Aztec feather mosaics derives from the bright colors of the feathers. Often the feathers of readily available local birds such as ducks and turkeys were dyed, but the most striking colors were provided by the natural feathers of lowland tropical birds such as parrots, macaws, and the quetzal. The long tailfeathers of the quetzal in particular were esteemed for their iridescent green color. Quetzal feathers figured prominently in the painted and carved art of earlier Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Classic Maya and Teotihuacan. The name of the Aztec feathered-serpent god, Quetzalcoatl (“quetzal-feathered serpent”) is a testimony to the importance of these feathers in ancient Mesoamerica.

  Production of a feather mosaic began with the preparation of a stiff backing panel of cotton cloth and maguey fibers, held together and given strength with several layers of glue. The design was carefully drawn on a paper and cotton stencil, then transferred to the backing. The feathers were attached with maguey twine and glue. Modern studies have shown that the featherworkers' glue, made from a species of wild orchid, was quite strong and effective. Inexpensive local feathers were applied first. These were covered with the more attractive, expensive exotic feathers. Finally, ornaments of gold and other materials often were added as parts of the design.

  Sahagún describes a division of labor within the households of featherworkers. The master artisan prepared the stencils and backing, and applied the feathers; women of the household dyed and organized the feathers; and children prepared the glue. Like many Aztec crafts, featherworking was a hereditary occupation. Sons of artisans learned the craft by serving as apprentices. The Codex Mendoza shows several master craftsmen, including a featherworker, instructing their sons in their trades (figure 4.9).15

  Figure 4.9 Master craftsmen instructing their sons in their crafts (Codex Mendoza 1992:v.4:145:f.70r)

  Aztec featherworkers lived together in special calpolli or neighborhoods (see chapter 6) in the major cities such as Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, and Texcoco. The best-known of these calpolli, located in Tlatelolco, was called Amantlan, and featherworkers became known as amanteca. Within the calpolli the featherworkers had their own temple and school, where they joined together to sponsor and participate in public rituals. The exclusivity of the calpolli and the hereditary foundation for apprenticeship in the craft made featherworking a restricted occupation, organized much like medieval European craft guilds.

  Most of the feather mosaics were produced for rulers and nobles, who provided the raw materials and supported the artisans with food and other necessities. The nobles used featherwork items for a variety of purposes – for clothing, for gifts to other nobles, for palace decorations, and to adorn images of the gods. The artisans were not members of the noble class, however. They could not wear their products, and if they became wealthy, they were prohibited from openly displaying their wealth. In addition to their work for the ruler and other high nobles, many amanteca also produced items for sale in the marketplace. This was an independent operation in which the feathers and other raw materials were purchased in the market rather than obtained from a noble patron. Although commoners were permitted to buy feather items in the market, most could not afford to do so. The majority of these items probably were purchased by low-ranking nobles, priests, and wealthy merchants.

  Goldsmithing

  Some of the most beautiful and sophisticated art objects produced by the Aztecs were gold jewelry made with the lost-wax process.16 In contrast to copper and bronze metallurgy, which had not become fully established in the Valley of Mexico, goldworking had developed into an important luxury craft in Tenochtitlan. The technology of goldsmithing entered Mesoamerica from Central America through systems of overland trade during the Classic period. By the Late Aztec period, the Mixtec peoples of Oaxaca had acquired a reputation as master goldsmiths. Of the pre-Hispanic gold objects still in existence, some of the finest examples come from Mixtec tombs in the Valley of Oaxaca. We know that a number of Mixtec artisans came to live in Tenochtitlan, but it is not clear from the sources whether Aztec gold jewelry was made by resident Mixtecs, native Aztecs, or both.

  Sahagún devotes a chapter to goldsmiths, most of which is taken up with a detailed description of lost-wax casting. This was the primary technique for manufacturing lip plugs, bells, pendants and other items of gold jewelry (figure 4.10). A mold was made of clay, sand, and charcoal. First a solid inner section was fashioned and the outer surface modeled to the desired shape. When it had dried and hardened, a thin layer of beeswax and resin was placed over the mold and carefully pressed to cover the contours evenly. The finished gold piece would be an exact replica of this wax layer. The outer surface of the wax was modeled into the form desired for the gold piece, and was then covered with moist clay to form the outer mold. When this section dried and hardened partially, a tube was inserted for the wax to escape. The completed mold was baked, which caused the clay to harden and the wax to melt and run out. The gold ore was heated over a fire in a ceramic vessel, and the liquid metal was poured into the mold to form the object.

  Figure 4.10 Gold necklace and pendants made by lost-wax casting (each bead is 3 cm high) (© Dumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC)

  As far as we can tell from the limited evidence in Sahagún and other sources, the goldsmiths were organized in a manner similar to the featherworkers. They lived in their own calpolli and participated in common rituals in honor of their patron god, Xipe Totec. Most of their work was done for the king and nobles. The depiction in the Codex Mendoza of a goldsmith teaching his apprentice son the trade (figure 4.9) suggests that goldsmithing, like featherworking, was a hereditary occupation. The complexity of the techniques also suggests a hereditary craft with a long period of apprenticeship.

  Lapidary production

  Aztec lapidary specialists used a variety of precious stones to make jewelry and other valuable objects. As described by Sahagún, “Their creations were lip pendants, lip plugs, and ear plugs, ear plugs of obsidian, rock crystal, and amber; white ear plugs; and all manner of necklaces; bracelets.”17

  Obsidian ear spools (also called ear plugs) were among the finest objects made by lapidaries (figure 4.11). Great skill and patience were needed to grind the obsidian into the large thin cylinders favored by Aztec nobles. These ear spools were worn in the earlobes like earrings. Ear spools and lip plugs of obsidian are the only Aztec luxury craft items whose manufacture has been thoroughly documented by archaeologists; this information is discussed in the section on Otumba below. Lapidary producers also worked with jadeite, turquoise, amethyst, chert, and shell. Jadeite, a mineral whose polished products are often called “jade,” was the single most valuable material to the Aztecs, partly because of its beauty and rarity (it had to be imported from southern Mesoamerica) and partly because of the symbolism of the color green (which stood for water, fertility, and value). Necklaces and bracelets of jadeite beads were among the most common forms of jewelry.18

  Figure 4.11 Obsi
dian ear spools. These examples of fine jewelry took great craftsmanship to manufacture (height 3.5 cm) (photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979. 1979.206.1088, 1089. All rights reserved, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

  Mosaics were another lapidary product (figure 4.12).19 Small tiles of turquoise, imported from outside of Mesoamerica (Arizona and New Mexico) were used in abundance with shell, obsidian, and coral tiles providing color contrast. The most spectacular Aztec mosaics were human skulls covered partially or entirely with stone and shell tiles. Mosaics and inlays were also applied to jewelry, knife handles, stone sculptures, and a variety of other objects.

  Figure 4.12 Mosaic mask of stone with turquoise, shell, and coral inlay (height 14 cm) (Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Morton D. May, no. 96:1968; reproduced with permission)

  Ethnohistoric information on the organization of lapidary production is similar to that for featherworking and goldsmithing. Lapidary craftsmen probably lived in their own calpolli, worshiped their own gods, and had a system of apprenticeship and hereditary recruitment (see figure 4.9). Lapidary products were important enough to the noble class that these artisans were able to influence the course of Aztec imperial expansion. Friar Durán states that lapidary workers convinced Motecuhzoma to conquer certain towns in order to provide them with a more secure source of the special sands and abrasives they needed for their craft. According to ethnohistorical sources, Xochimilco in the southern Valley of Mexico was a center of lapidary production. Archaeological fieldwork has recently identified another city with a significant number of lapidaries – Otumba.