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AXE-MONIES AND THEIR RELATIVESAuthor(s): DOROTHY HOSLER, HEATHER LECHTMAN and OLAF HOLMSource: Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 30, AXE-MONIES AND THEIRRELATIVES (1990), pp. 1-97, 99-103Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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STUDIES
IN PRE-COLUMBIAN
ART & ARCHAEOLOGY
NUMBER THIRTY
AXE-MONIES
AND THEIR
RELATIVES
DOROTHY
HOSLER,
HEATHER
LECHTMAN,
and
OLAF HOLM
Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library
and Collection
Washington,
D.C.
1990
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To Isabel
Kelly
and Emilio Estrada
Library
f
Congressataloging-in-Publication
ata
Hosier,
orothy.
Axe-moniesnd heirelatives
Dorothy
osier,
eather
echtman,
and laf olm.
p.
cm.
(Studies
n
pre-Columbian
rt
archaeology
no.
30)
Includes
ibliographical
eferences.
ISBN
-88402-185-8
1.
ndiansfMexico
Money.
.
ndiansf outh merica
Andes
RegionMoney..Money,rimitiveMexico..Money,rimitive
Andes
egion.
.
Lechtman,
eather.I.
Holm,
laf. III.
Title.
IV. eries.
E51.S85
o.
30
[F1219.3.M597]
970
dc20
[737.4972]
89-17148
Copyright
1990
y
Dumbarton
aks
Trustees
orHarvard
niversity,
ashington,
.C.
All
rights
eserved
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Contents
Introduction
I
AXE-MONIES
AND
RELATIVES
14
Axe-monies:
Ecuador
14
Axe-monies: Mexico
17
Relatives:
Naipes
18
Relatives: Feathers 20
Relatives: "Hides" and
Insignia
22
WERE THEY AXES AND WERE THEY MONIES?
38
Mexico
39
Ecuador
50
Peru
66
THE
TECHNOLOGIES OF EXCHANGE
70
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
89
TABLES
90
BIBLIOGRAPHY
99
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Introduction
The two
articles,
ow
classics,
hat
rought
meri-
can
axe-monies o the
ttention f scholars f New
World
rehistory
ere
published
irtually
imulta-
neously:
Olaf Holm's
discussion f theEcuadorian
variety,
which comments
upon
its closeness
to
similarartifacts rom Oaxaca, Mexico (Holm
1966/67),
nd
Dudley
Easby's
more
metallurgi-
cal^
technical ook at the
Oaxacan
types,
which
comments
pon
their loseness
o similar rtifacts
from cuador
(Easby
et al.
1967).
Easby
and his
coworkers onclude their
tudy
thus:
"Virtually
every
uthorwho has written bout the
examples
from cuador and Peruconsiders
xe-money
o be
clear
proof
of maritime ommerce
between that
area and
[the]
western
coast of]
Mexico.
. . .
Axe-money
as
not been
reported
rom he nter-
vening
rea,
so that
conclusion
trikes
s as
en-
tirely easonable ndprobable" Easbyetal. 1967:
132).
Holm,
on the other
hand,
ooks
southward,
suggesting
hat
n
the Peruvian
region
some re-
lated
phenomenon
s
to be
expected:
"The
pres-
ence
of
copper
money-axes
s
not
safely
estab-
lished nthe Peruvian
ultures,
ut we do
suspect
their
presence
n
f[or] inst[ance]
Lambayeque,
although
n a
different
resentation"
Holm
1966/
67:
142).
'The rticle
yEasby, aley,
ndMoazed
1967)
oncen-
tratesn wo
spects
fMexicanxe-monies:heirse nd he
methodsywhichheyweremade. he small orpusf
objects
hese
nvestigators
tudiedame rom he
present
Mexican
tate
f
Oaxaca
whereuch
tems ere
eported
o
have een oundnhoardsr aches. n the asis f
yewit-
ness
ccountst he ime f nd
mmediately
fter
he
panish
invasion,
nd
fter
n
exhaustive
eview f the
ubsequent
available
iterature,
asby
maintainedhatMexican achuelas
were,
ithout
oubt,
... a kind f
money
r
unit f x-
change
n
the
amous
ianquiztli
r
ndian arkets.o other
possible
se s
mentioned
n
any
f their
the hroniclers']
Since
those
publications,
he iterature
oncern-
ing
axe-monieshas been
sparse.
They
have occa-
sionally
been
reported
rom
Ecuador as
issuing
accountsf
New
pain"Easby
t
l.
1967:
10).
aley
nd
Lowellhank
erformed
hemical
nalyses
f ix
Oaxacanxe-
monies.heirmostnterestingesult1967: ableI)was he
determinationf
rsenic,
t oncentrationevels
anging
rom
0.30
o
.51
weightercent,
n
our
f
he
ix,
he
emainderf
themetal
eing
opper
ith
variety
f trace
mpurities.
Moazed's
metallographic
xamination
f cross ections
e-
moved romour axacanxe-moniesemonstratedhat he
objects
ad een
ammered,
ot ast o
hape,
resulthat as
confirmedater hen
asby
nd eonardeinrich
abricated
typical
axacan
xe-money.
aving
ast blank f
copper
roughly
o
the
hape
f an
hachuela,
hey
ammerednd
annealedhemetal ntilhe inal ormnd
ppropriate
hick-
nessesf
lade,hank,
nd
langes
ere chieved.
Holm's
967
rticlen Ecuadorian
xe-moniesraws n-
tirelypon
nternalvidence
resentedy
he
bjects
hem-
selves,
ince eknew fno thnohistoricources
hen
nor
o
weknow f
ny
ow that escribehe se f uch
xe-monies
inEcuadort
he
ime f
he
panish
nvasion.
evertheless,
theirxe-likehape,heirhinness,nd he resencef aised
flangeslong
heir orders ere ll featureslose
nough
o
those f theMexican
ariety
or im o
suggest
similar
function.
e
presents
typology
f thebasic
xe-money
shapes,
escribesll the
ypes
s
having
een
ashioned
y
hammering,lots
heir istributionithin he
Manteno/
Huancavilcaulturerea f
he
entralcuadorian
oast
where
they
re ound
n
arge
uantities)
nd own s far s
Tumbes
on
he ar orthoast f
eru,
nd ets he cuadorian
aterial
chronologically
ithinhe
ntegration
eriod
ca.
a.d.
800/
900-1500).
oncernedo discover
ny
tandardnit
gainst
whichhese
bjects
ad
been
made,
olm
xaminedeveral
hundred
xamples
nd
ttempted
o eriatehem
yweight.
e
reports
hat
he
weightsppeared
o
concentrate
n
groups
around
quinaryystem
5,
10,
5
. .
grams
and
peculates
upon
whetherrnot uch
ractionary
alues
might
ave een
of
commercialr
measuringignificance.onsidering
he
possible onetaryse f hesetems,olm emarks:All he
specimens
hich ehave escribedo
fitwell
nto he asic
requirements
f
primitiveoney,hey
re
portable,
hey
o
have
ntrinsicalue nd
hey
re
well
ecognizable
.."
(1967:
138).
With
espect
o heast f hese
haracteristics,
e
ingles
out he
aised
langes
nd
hammered
uperficial
triations
n
Ecuadorianxe-moniess
egitimating
evices.
ike heMexi-
can
variety,
cuadorian
xe-monies
ere
oundn
hoards,
often
n
graves,
ndicating
hat ealth
n
opper
as
ccumu-
lateds
well
s
tradedver onsiderableistances.
I
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from ontrolled xcavations
Ubelaker
1981;
Mar-
cos
1981);
they
have been
suggested
s
examples
f
thekind of
copper
money
Chincha merchants
re
reported
o have used
n theirmaritime ommerce
between
the
central
coast of Peru and
Ecuador
(Oberem
and Hartmann
1982;
Shimada
1985a;
Rostworowski
970,
1988);
and
a fruitless
ttempt
has been made to establish a relation
between
Ecuadorian axe-monies and the
ancientMexican
system
f
weights,
nown
ethnohistorically,
ased
on the
cacao
bean
(Szaszdi
1980).
Very
recently
few
publications
ave
paid
somewhat loser tten-
tion to these unusual
artifacts.
Mayer
(1982a)
considers hem
n
a brief
urvey
f ancientAmeri-
can
money
and related
goods
made
of
metal;
Morse and Gordon
1986)
report
n theirmetallo-
graphic xamination f three ypicalOaxacan axe-
monies;
and Prumers
n.d.)
presents
rguments
for
including
artifactswith
provenience
s far
south s the Chillon
valley,
n the
central oastof
Peru,
n
a
broadly
rawndefinitionf
axe-monies.
There are several
good
reasons
to reconsider
axe-monies at this
time,
from a fresh
vantage
point.
Chief
among
them
s the
publication
f a
major study by Dorothy
Hosier
on the
origins,
technology,
nd social
construction f
metallurgy
in
ancient West Mexico
(Hosier
1986, 1988a,
1988b, 1988c,
n.d.).
Hosier
establishes
nequivo-
callythatmetallurgywas introduced irectly o
WestMexico from
Ecuador and Peruvia a mari-
timeroute nd
that hat ntroductionncluded
not
only
a certainconstellation f
object types
but
almost
the entire
range
of metals and
alloys
in
common use
in
the central nd northern
ndes.
Whatmoved from heAndes to Mesoamerica
was
neither inished
bjects
(with
a
few
exceptions)
nor
tockmetal.
Rather,
he
knowledge
nd techni-
cal know-how behind
mining,
melting,
nd the
manipulation
f
metal;
an interest
n
producing
certain lasses of
objects,
such
as
needles,
twee-
zers, open rings, and axe-monies; and specific
attitudes about the
qualities
of metal
as a
material its
olor,
for
xample
that
were
mpor-
tant
n
channeling
West Mexican cultural
nvest-
ment
n
the new
medium,
were what West
Mexi-
cans took from their
distant
neighbors
to the
south.
Axe-monies were
among
the Andean
object
types
hat nterestedWestMexican
peoples,
which
is not
urprising
n view of the ultural
ignificance
of the metal axe
among
Mexican societies.
Axes
made frommetal
appear frequently
n
ethnohis-
toric documents s items of ritual
paraphernalia
associated with
gods
and
rulers
Hosier
1986).
Mexican smiths ended o make axe-monies
rom
copper-arseniclloys,2
he same
alloy system
hat
typifies
he Ecuadorian
variety
f
axe-money
see
Table
2),
though
the Mexican
shapes
are
quite
distinct.
ome
time around a.d.
800-900,
ust
at
the time hatWestMexico had its first
xperience
withmetal
Pendergast
962;
Hosier
1986,
1988b),
a certain
tyle
n
handling
his material
became
prominent
long
the Peruviannorth oast and in
coastal Ecuador. The productionof relatively
small
objects
which could be
stacked,
packeted,
tied,
or
bundled,
from metal sheet
that was at
times
paper
thin,
ecame
oined
to the eliteuse of
such
objects,
to their circulation nd eventual
hoarding
n
arge
numbers,
nd to some
system
f
2There
s
no
commonlycceptederminology
hich e-
scribes
he
inary
lloys
f
opper
nd
rsenic.
etallurgists
refero all such
lloys
s arsenical
opper,egardless
fthe
amountf rsenic
lloyed
ith he
opper.
echtman
1981)
introducedhe ermrsenicronzeorefero
lloys
f
opper
and
rsenic
hosemechanical
roperties
re lose o
those f
the in ronzes.
hroughout
his rticle ehave dheredo
terminologyhich elateshe rseniconcentrationf a
copper-arsenic
lloy
othemechanical
roperties
f
he
lloy,
in hemost
eneral
ense:rsenical
opper
8/18/2019 Axe-monies and Their Relatives
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value that
apparently rized
not
ust
the
objects
but
the
copper-arseniclloy
of which
they
were
made. This
style
of
manipulating
he
alloy
was
played
out
n
thenorthern ndes
Ecuador)
n the
manufacturef the
prototypicalxe-money
Figs,
i,
2)
and,
nthenorth entralAndes
Peru),
nthe
design
f
ts closest
elative,
he
naipe Figs.
3a,
4),
thePeruvian
manifestation
f
"axe-money"
whose
presence
Holm had
predicted
correctly
Holm
1966/67).
When this
metallurgical tyle
reached
West Mexico at about a.d. 1200
(Hosier
1986,
1988b),
t was
elaborated
n
the
form f
the
axe-
money Figs.
5,
6,
7),
notas
naipes
r as
feathers,
the wo
stack-packet
orms hatwere
prominent
n
the north entral
Andes
at
the time. Axe-monies
may
be
particularly
seful, hen,
n
helping
stab-
lishthenorthAndeanrole ndisseminating etal-
lurgical
technologies
nd
styles during
this
dy-
namic
period
of
coastal
Pacific
nterchange
see
map, Fig.
8).
Another eason for closer ook at axe-monies
stemsfrom he clear
picture
we
now
have of the
way
in which
they
were made. The technical
study
of
Oaxacan axe-monies carried out
by
Easby,
Caley,
and Moazed
(1967)
is still
useful,
though
it does not examine
any
of the West
Mexican
artifacts,
ome of which are
unique
to
thesePacific oast states nd bear
mportant
imi-
larities to Ecuadorian and Peruvian thin-style
smithing.
Hosier's
metallurgical
tudies
(1986,
1988a,
1988b)
corroborate
many
of
Easby's
find-
ings
and
go
much further
n
establishing
henear-
exclusive se of
copper-arsenic
lloys
for he
pro-
duction f both
West
Mexican and
Oaxacan
types
(see
Table
2).
She deals with a
large
and diverse
corpus
f
objects
see
Table
3),
with heir
unction,
bothutilitariannd
social,
and with he
uestion
f
standardizationn
production,
nd relates
alloy
composition
o the
probable
use of these tems.
Hosier also
provides
dditional thnohistoric
ata,
especially orWestMexico. Furthermore, e can
provide
for he first ime detailed econstruction
of the
smithing equences
that
resulted
n
the
Ecuadorian
orpus,by
far
he
argest roup
of xe-
monies vailablefrom he Americas.
All,
without
exception,
re made of
copper-arsenic
lloy
(see
Table
2),
including
he tiniest rtifacts
Fig.
11)
hammered nto foil
20
microns hick
1
micron
=
io~3
mm).
Our
aboratory
xamination f
represen-
tative
objects
fromEcuador included
also exam-
ples
of their losest
tack-packet,
hin-style
eru-
vian
relatives,
naipes
nd feathers
Figs.
3a,
9).
These
too,
we
found,
re
made of
extremely
hin
sheet,
hammered rom
opper-arsenic
tockmetal
(Table
2;
see also
Shimada
1985a
for
chemical
analyses
f
naipes).
Finally,
xe-monies nd
theirrelativesdeserve
particularcrutiny
n
view of the
uggestion
made
recently y
zumiShimada hat he
copper-arsenic
alloys
of which the Ecuadorian artifacts nd
the
Peruvian
naipes
re
fashionedwere
produced
and
distributed
n
theform f "blank
heets,
ngots
of
copper nd arsenical opper" Shimada1985a:390)
by
the Middle
Sican
polity
based
in
the Lamba-
yeque valley
f north oast Peru. The
archaeologi-
cal
investigations
f
Shimada nd
his
colleagues
t
various sites within
the
La
Leche-Lambayeque
river
rainages
Shimada
1985a, 1987b;
Shimada t
al.
1982, 1983;
Epstein
nd
Shimada
1983)
demon-
strate
learly
nd
conclusively
he serious
nvest-
ment nthe
production
f
copper-arsenic
metal
t
large
ore
smelting
or
refining)
enters
closely
linked o the Sican economic and ceremonial
ub
at Batan Grande.
Shimada
believes
that
naipes,
whichhe ikens o Ecuadorian xe-monies,were a
form f
primitivemoney
nd that heir
imilarity
to
the Ecuadorian
objects
ndicates radebetween
Ecuador
and
Peru
during
he tenth nd eleventh
centuries
Shimada
1985a,
1987a).
He
argues
fur^
ther
hat
he
alloy-producing
iddle
Sican
polity
probably
ontrolled ... not
only
the
goods
be-
ing
distributed
ut he
ransport
echanisms hem-
selves"
Shimada
1985a:
391),
trains f lamasand
ocean-going
balsa rafts off the
Pacific coast.
WhereasHosier
1986,
1988c)
has
shownthat uch
maritimetrafficwas
the chief mechanism
by
whichmetallurgys a technical nd conceptual
system
moved from he
northern
ndes to Meso-
america,
we shall
concentrate ere on the axe-
money
as
representative
f
that
ystem
nd,
per-
haps,
as the rtifact
ype
hat
bearsbest witness o
its roots.
3
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Fig.
North ndean
xe-moneyypes. ype
a
always
has urface
triations;
nly
he iniest
ype
b items
ack
striations.
ype
axe-monies
ometimes
ear triations
but ften o not.
Drawing y
S.
Whitney
owell.
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Fig.
2
Type
a
axe-money
rom he
iteofEl
Barro,
Ecuador.
ollection:
Museo
Antropologico
el Banco
Central
el
Ecuador,
Guayaquil,
cuador
MIT 3310).
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Fig.
3
Relatives,
)
Naipes:
he
example
t the eft
s
flat;
heone at the
right
as a central val "bubble."
Feathers:he socket-end
ype
middle)
asbeen ound
in
Peru nd
Ecuador;
he
patulate-endype
left
nd
right)
s
known
nly
rom eru,
)
"Hides" nd
nsig-
nia. The "hide" at the
right
s shown
with urface
striations.
ot
all "hides" f this
hape
ear
triations.
Drawing y
S.
Whitney
owell.
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"Hides"
-O fU
I
•
"*
~aj m
o
i ;
-
1
' ' '
Insignia
11
^
^
cm 0-J '
j
u
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12/106
Fig.
5
Mexican
xe-money
ypes.
he formsllustrated
can be consideredtandard or ach
type,
ut theres
often ariationn ize nd
hape
within
type. ype
a is
found
lmost
xclusively
nWestMexico.As itstwo
transverseections
ndicate,
ome
are flat ut others
describe
wave
pattern.
he cm
cales
n
hese
rawings
permit
measurement
f the
verall imensions
f each
axe-moneyype
ut
not ts ross
ection hickness.
he
form f ach ross
ection
s rendered
ccurately
includ-
ing
ratio f
flange
eight
o
body
hickness);
ts hick-
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8/18/2019 Axe-monies and Their Relatives
13/106
ness s
presented
s a linewhosewidths relativeo that
used odescribe
ype
a,
the hinnest
ariety.
hus
Type
ib is
presented
s
virtually
he ame hicknesss
Type
i
a;
Type
c
s drawn
X
s
thick;
ll the ther
ypes
re
drawn
with thickness
x
that f
Type
a. The relative
thicknessf shank
nd
flange
or
Types
a
through
b
represents
mean
value of
this
ratiofor
these xe-
monies,
ut thevariation
round
he
mean s
small.
Drawing y
S.
Whitney
owell.
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-»->
u
J-
3
^3
t
*£.3
J ois'' Si
o^J£&<
.
2
u
^
5
o
o
S
-'-»
_
L>
2
53 rt 3
n *S
rt
^
-E
°
2
C
u
h
£*
E
S
«
u
h
53
*
io«c8
3 "83
-S
«
~
6B.O
O
t»
o
2
g
U;£
8/18/2019 Axe-monies and Their Relatives
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Fig.
7
Type
2a
axe-money,
axaca,
Mexico. Collec-
tion:Museo
Regional
e
Guadalajara,uadalajara,
ex-
ico
MRG
F247;
MIT
3460).
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Fig.
8
Map llustrating
he
egions
f western
exico,
thenorthAndean
rea,
nd the central
ndean one
mentioned
n
the text.The WestMexican tates
f
Nayarit,alisco,
olima,Michoacan,
ndGuerrero
p-
pear
s an
nset,
long
with he
tate
f
Oaxaca.
MEXICO
I
GOLFO
DE MEXICO
'
LEYENDA
I'i
•"
/
CIUDAD
DE
CI _ ^
•
,
,
,
'
-
f
c--4-.
MEXICO
J
[
■
Capital
•
,
del
,
pais
,
( f
1
•
Ciudad,
ueblo
J#"
-I
^
arciueo^^co
OCEANO
P^CTHCO^"^
PANAMA]
""""V--,
>
COLOMBIA
S
/
>
COLOMBIA
^
S
19
QUITO
*v
f
I
/"■*.*>
'»
E
APortoviejo %
i
c
rSalango
y
f
^ i
i. i
^
Tumb^^
CtJADOR d
Cz-J
Piura*
icus
J
^
v il
cwi$«Bat4nGran
'
APLIMA
'
'
JALISCO
^
__T
. '»Chincha
r
•Cuzco
Bolivia
V
7
^
i
CIUDAD
_T
.
DE r
}
'
J
t
m
MEXICO
V
X
Jl. Titicaca I
:
COLIMA,
■*'
MICHOACAN
'
■
V
Qv
T nlirr
rv-
f'
V
^S>V
?"LAPAZ
T nlirr
.
^W^C'GUERREROV"i(i''""
''
A
0
1
100
m '
OAXACA
~~~)
j
'
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17/106
Fig.
9
Feathers f socket-end
nd
spatulate-end
ype
from
he
Lambayeque
alley,
eru.
Collection: useo
Arqueologicoruning,ambayeque,
eru. hoto our-
tesy fEugenMayer 1982a: ig.4; we have added
scale nd
rearranged
he rder f he
bjects).
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Axe-monies
If
we leave aside the
possible
uses of the
objects
under review here
as functional
mplements,
s
primitivemoney,
as tribute
tems,
as headdress
paraphernalia,
as
status
symbols
and ritual
offerings
and concentrate
nly upon
their
ar-
chaeological nd metallurgicalharacteristics,he
salient
eatures
hat
describe
hem nd
that luster
them
nalytically
re:
1
Shape
Predominantly
xe-like
2.
Metal
Copper-arsenic
lloys
composition
(arsenic ronze);
occa-
sionally mpure opper
3.
Fabrication
Hammered,
o form hin
procedure plate,
heet,
r foil
4. Physical eatures Mechanical trengthen-
ing
devices,
uch as
raised
flanges long
edges,
thickened
dges,
corrugations
5.
Archaeological Primarily ravegoods
in
deposition single
r
multiple
uri-
als;
caches
6.
Deposition
Found n
groups,
often
features
in
large
hoards;
ome-
timesbound
n
packets
orwrapped nbundles
Axe-monies of the Ecuadorian
and
Mexican
types Figs.
1,5),
the north oast Peruvian
naipes,
and
a
feather ormknown
from eru and
Ecuador
(Fig.
3a)
share most
of these features nd consti-
tute
ur
inclusive
group
of "axe-monies nd rela-
14
and
Relatives
rives." Under the same set
of
considerations,
er-
tain
object types
falloutside the
core
group:
cast
objects,
uch s the
giant opper-arsenic
xes from
Ecuador,
llustrated ere
n
Figure
10
Holm
19
6/
67:
fig.
4),
and hoardsof
heavy,
ast and
socketed
copper-arsenicpoints from north coast Peru
(Lechtman 981),
as well as bound
packets
f
bits
of hammered metal sheet sometimes
folded
scraps,
ometimes
haped
forms of
copper,
sil-
ver,
gold
and their
lloys
(Priimers
n.d.;
Mayer
1982b).
By
definition,
e consider
xe-monies s
those
objects
n our
core
group
that meet all six
classification
eaturesisted bove. Their
relatives,
which
depart
n
certain
ways
from
omplete
it
n
all
features,
re
naipes,
eathers,
nd several f
the
objects
Holm included
s
axe-monies
n
his
origi-
nal
classification,
herehe
groups
them s
"aber-
rant ypes" Holm 1966/67: 39,fig.3), and which
we have termed hides"
(Figs.
3b,
20,
21)
and
insignia Figs.
3b
and
22).
Axe-monies: Ecuador
Figure
1
illustrateshe
xe-money
ypes
hat re
foundn
arge
numbers
long
the entral
nd south
coasts of
Ecuador.
Type
a is most
common.
The
largest
f these
range
n
height
rom bout
7.7
to
8.9
cm and
appear
to have been
the normal or
standard
ize
(Fig.
2).
Small
axe-monies
measure
from bout6.5 to6.9 cm,andtiny xe-monies an
vary
rom .2 to
4.5
cm n
height.
he
normal nd
small izes
re
dentical
n
shape
nd were buried s
individual
tems,
though
often n
great quantity.
The
tiny
xe-monies,
ype
b in
Figure
1,
usually
have ostthe
pronounced
houlder
f
theblade and
tend o assume
triangular
orm
see
Figs.
11,
12).
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They
are almost
always
found stacked and
in
packets,
ither iedor corroded
ogetherFig.
12).
Type
2,
though
ess
commonly
found,
s
close
to
Type
1
in
shape
and
size,
but the
ngle
formed
y
the
shoulder
to the blade is less
abrupt
and the
blade more
flaring.Type
2
shares
the formal
characteristicsf the
Type
3
variety
f Mexican
axe-money
see
Figs.
5,
29).
The
distinguishing
haracteristics
f these arti-
facts re
their hinness
thickness
eterminations
made
microscropically
n cross
sectionsof sam-
ples
taken
from elected
objeccts yielded
the fol-
lowing
measurements or
representative
ormal,
small,
and
tiny
axe-monies;
all measurements
were made
interior
o the raised
flanges:
0n
=
0.055-0.12
cm;
0S
-
0.011
cm;
0t
=
0.0022-0.014
cm);thepresence fanuninterruptedaised lange
along
the
butt, hank,
nd shoulder
dges;
a
blunt,
squared-off
lade
edge;
and a series f striations r
grooves
ndented nto the surfacemetal on both
sides of the
object
which
run
along
the
ength
f
the shank nd across the width of the blade. The
flanges
nd
grooves
were
recognized by
Holm
(1966/67:
137)
as
legitimating
evices,
visual and
tactile lues
by
which the
objects
could be
recog-
nizedforwhat
they
were. The
tiny
xe-monies re
too thin o
support
aised
flanges,
ut their
dges
have been
thickened
deliberately
to
provide
greatermechanical trength o the thin sheet or
foil. But even the smallest
examples
bear the
identifyinggrooves (Figs.
11, 12;
see also
Ubelaker
1981:
fig.
102).
To this ist we can now
add a
further
dentifying
haracteristic
o the
typology:
heuse of
copper-arsenic
ronzefor he
manufacturef Ecuadorian axe-monies.
n all
of
the
nalyses
we have carried
ut,
reported
ere
n
Table
2
and
Figure
51a,
as
well as
in
thoseof
Scott
(n.d.)
on the
ingle
xample
Bushnell ollected n
the Santa Elena Peninsula
Bushnell
195
),
and of
Minato
(i960)
on
an
excavated
example
from
Garbanzal,Peru, themanufacturing aterialhas
been
copper-arsenic
lloy,
without
xception:
Cu,
2.1%
As in
the atter
ase,
Cu,
0.33%
As
in
the
former. he
addition f arsenic o
copper
trength-
ens
the
lloy
nd
changes
tscolor.
The
strengthen-
ing
effect ecomes useful t arsenic oncentrations
of
about
0.5
weight percent
nd
higher,
articu-
larly
for
objects
like axe-monies that are ham-
mered o
shape,
sincethe
presence
f
the
alloying
element
arsenic)
nhances he
work-hardening
f
the metal. Withthe addition f as much as
3.5%
arsenic,
he richred color of
copper changes
to a
pale pink,
and
alloys
containing
%
and more
arsenic are
silvery
white
(Lechtman
1988,
and
personal
ommunication;
osier
1986, 1988a;
see
also
notes
2
and
10,
this
volume).
Within
he
modern
olitical
oundaries f Ecua-
dor,
these kinds
of
axe-money
have been
found
principally
n the
provinces
f
El
Oro, Manabi,
Los
Rios,
and
Guayas,
which
correspondgeo-
graphically
o the
prehistoric
ulture reas
associ-
ated with the
Manteno-Huancavilca
presence
along
thePacific ittoral nd the
Milagro-Quevedo
peoples who occupied the territoriesomewhat
farthernland.
These societies flourished
uring
the so-called
ntegration eriod,
from
bout
a.d.
800-900
to the
Spanish
nvasion
n
the
early
ix-
teenth
entury
see
Table
).3
The
map
of
Figure
13
indicates
ll
sites
at which
finds of
axe-monies
have been
reported
n
the iteraturer
dentified
n
the
field
y archaeologists,
armers,
nd
huaqueros.
During
the course of this
study,
we have
per-
formed hemical nd
metallographic
nalyses
on
representativexamples
from
30%
of
the sites
indicated. he
map
includes he
present
cuador-
Peru border rea,since a few finds fEcuadorian
style
axe-monieshave been found at
Garbanzal,
just
7
km
south of Tumbes
(Mejia
i960;
Ishida
i960),
and near
Talara
Bushnell
195
).
This
repre-
3The
hronological
hart or cuadorian
rehistoryub-
lished
y
Evans
nd
Meggers
n
1961
wasbased n
36
radio-
carbon ates erivedrom
amples
f
charcoalnd shell.
Twenty-one
fthese ates
20
from aldivia
ites;
from
Chorrera
ite)
orrespond
o the ormative
eriod;
1
repre-
sent he
egionalevelopmenteriod;
newasderived
rom
materialhat anbe
consideredransitional
etweenheRe-
gional
evelopment
nd
ntegration
eriods;
nd
hree ates
came rom
materialssociatedith
he
ntegration
eriod
(Manta ontext).
his aluable
ompilation
f
C-14
datess
the nly ublishedummaryvailableor cuador,utwe
note hat
nly
our
ates
11%
f he
otal)
orrespond
o
he
chronological
nd
cultural
ntervalhat
pertains
o
axe-
monies.n the
8
years
ince he
ublication
f
Evans' nd
Meggers'
mportant
tudy, any
dditionalates
ave een
publishedy
ndividual
nvestigators,
ut o
up-to-date
um-
mary
f hese ew ata as
ppeared.
he
hronological
nd
culturalhart e
present
n
Table s
generally
cceptedy
scholarsf Ecuadorian
rehistory
o
represent
he urrent
statef
esearch
n he
ubject.
15
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20/106
sents he
southernmost
imitof the occurrence
f
theEcuadorian
hacha-moneda.
All
Ecuadorian axe-monies
re
grave
goods
in-
terred
n
single
or
multiplegraves
(Mejia
i960;
Marcos
1981;
Stothert
.d.a; Netherly, ersonal
communication,
988,
concerning
xcavations t
El
Porvenir,
Arenillas
valley,
El
Oro)
and in urn
burials
Ubelaker
1981).
Most ofthedramatic inds
described
y
Holm
(1980)
such as a total f
30
kg
of axe-monies
eposited
n
ceramic essels t
Hda.
"Los
Alamos,
El
Oro;
a ceramic
essel,
urrently
in
the collections f the Museo de Arte Prehis-
torico,
Casa
de la
Cultura,
Guayaquil,
withhun-
dreds of
tiny
axe-monies
n
packets
of 20 from
Plagosa,
Manabi;
over
13,000
axe-monies f nor-
mal size buried
in
a
single
vessel at Hda.
"El
Retiro,"El Oro have been locatedthrough he
activities f
huaqueros
r
n
chance inds
y
farmers.
Inthosefew ases nwhich
hey
wereuncovered s
part
of
archaeological
xcavations,
they
are de-
scribed s
occurring
n close associationwith the
human keleton.
Mejia
(i960)
reports
8
ndividual
axe-monies ocatedonboth idesof the keleton
n
a
grave
he
dug
at
Garbanzal,
n the
far
north oast
of Peru.
In
the case of the Manteno-Huancavilca
burial tothert
n.d.a)
uncovered
t El
Tambo,
near
La
Libertad,
ach handheldone
axe-money
nd
six
otherswere
tacked
earby,
whereas
t
El
Porvenir
inthe middleArenillas alley,Netherlyxcavated
the burial of a
six-year-old
hild with four axe-
monies
placed
closed to the head
(Netherly,
er-
sonal
communication,
988).
Marcos
(1981)
de-
scribesthe normal size
axe-money
s
present
t
Loma de
los
Cangrejitos
n all
graves
he excavated
which
belong
to the Phase
A
(ca.
a.d.
900-1150)
utilization f the ite. The axe-monieswere
gener-
allyplaced
n
thehands fthe
body
but
occasionally
also
in
the mouth. He
reports
further hat the
normal ize
axe-money
lmost
disappears
n
Phase
B
(end
of twelftho onset
f
fifteenth
entury
.d.)
of theManteno-Huancavilca ecropolis nd is ab-
sent
in
Phase C
(fifteenth
o end of sixteenth
century
.d.),
whereas the
tiny
axe-moniesthat
measure
2-3
cm
in
length
nd occur
grouped
n
packets
f20 are
extremely requent
n
Phase
B
and
are lso found n
the
arliest urials
n
Phase
C,
until
about
a.d.
1400
(Marcos
1981; 55, 57;
personal
16
communication,
988).
Ayalan,
Late
Integration
period
urn
burial
cemetery
n
the
Province of
Guayas,
was in use between about a.d.
710
and
1600,
but he
pre-Spanish
materials ate
principally
from .d.
710
to a.d.
1230.
Ubelaker's xcavations
there
yielded
54
ceramic
funerary
rns
and
25
primary
keletons ithout rns
Ubelaker
1981:
9).
The
metal rtifactsoundmost
frequently
t the
ite
were axe-monies
he
refers o them as
copper
plates),
nd t s worth
uoting
his
careful
escrip-
tionof their ccurrence
Ubelaker
1981:
figs.
10
1,
102,
103).
. . .
groups
f
small
riangular
opper lates,
are]
frequently
ound
ogethery yarn
ied round
he
base . . . Of the
9
groups
ecovered,
8
41
percent)
display
he
yarn
binding
nd/or ssociated abric.
Analysis
f
the
yarn
ontent . .
revealed rown
single-plyarns,newith "Z" twistnd llothers
with n
"S"
twist.All
specimens
xamined
micro-
scopically
ppear
o be cotton.
A
total f
69
groups
f
plates
were
ecoveredrom
eight
eaturesithinhe
emetery.
.
. Since
ecom-
position
ad
destroyed any lates
. . exact
plate
countswere
ossible
or
nly
even
roups,
ach
of
which
contained
,
10, 10, 20, 20,
20,
and 20
plates.
.
.
Plate
groups
werefoundwithurns
2
features),
primary
keletons
6 features),
nd one
secondary
skeletal
eposit.
Within he urns the
plates
were
usually
oncentrated
n
thebase. With
he
primary
skeletons,
lates
ere
ecoveredrom ourmales nd
twofemalesndfrom
early
ll
parts
fthe
keleton
(feet,egs, elvis,rms,kull, tc.). Ubelaker 981:
100-101)
At least
778
axe-monieswere
recovered,
f which
a few were of normal
ize,
the atter
ound both
with urns and with skeletons.
Ubelaker does not
mention
ny
grouping
of
types
as a
function f
chronology,
owever,
s is
thecase at Loma de los
Cangrejitos.
Holm
(1978: 351)
also cites cases in
which normal and
tiny
xe-monies re found n
the
ame
grave.
In
general,
he farther
way
from thenuclear
coastal area the site is
located,
the fewer
axe-
monies it yields. Finds of hundreds,at times
thousands,
are
typical
in
the central
Milagro-
Quevedo/Manteno
culture
area,
whereas sites
along
ts
geographicmargins
re
imited o
a
few
specimens.
Holm
(1966/67)
as
received
eports
f
isolated
nd
unique
finds f
axe-monies
from he
provinces
f
Imbabura,Chimborazo, Canar,
and
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Azuay
in
theEcuadorian
highlands,
ut we have
seen
none.
Axe-monies:
Mexico
Figure
5
illustrates he
proliferation
f axe-
money
forms
that Mexican societies
elaborated
after he
basic
notion,
tyle,
nd
use of this lass of
artifact
were introduced
o West Mexico from
Ecuador
(Hosier
1986,
1988c).
The transmittal
from
Ecuador to West
Mexico of
metallurgical
technologies
nd
the
knowledge
nvolved
n
ore
mining, smelting,
nd metal
manipulation
c-
curred n
two rather
istinct
hases.
The
first,
copper-basedmetallurgy, egan
at
approximately
a.d. 800
and continued
ntil .d. 1200-
13
0. The
second, n alloy-basedmetallurgy hich ncluded
the
binary
opper-silver
lloy,
the
copper-arsenic
and
copper-tin
ronzes
s
well
as a
ternaryopper-
arsenic-tin
lloy,
Hosier
places
at
a.d. 1200-
13
0
until
the
Spanish
nvasion
Hosier
1986,
1988c).
Axe-monies were a
phenomenon
of the second
wave.
Although
ll
of the
presently
nown Mexican
types
re shown in
Figure
5,
our discussionhere
focuses n
the WestMexican
variety,
ince t
was
through
West
Mexicanhands hat
metallurgy
s an
activity
nd notions about metal and its
proper
cultural se were disseminatedhroughheMeso-
american
egion
Hosier 1986),
and becausewe are
interested
recisely
n
thenature f the
echnologi-
cal and cultural
elations etween heAndean one
and Mexico.
The Oaxacan
material as
been
am-
ply
treated
y Easby
and his associates
Easby
et
al.
1967).
WestMexican smiths
ometimes
produced
ob-
ject
forms
n
metal denticalwith
those
that
ame
from he
outh,
whether rom heAndes
or,
n
the
case of ost wax cast
bells,
fromCentralAmerica.
More
typically,hey
ransformedhem
nd,
with
characteristiclair, roduced manyvariations n
the theme
Hosier
1986, 1988a,
n.d.).
This is as
true
or xe-monies
s
for
depilatory
weezers nd
bells,
yet virtually
ll
the
dentifying
haracteris-
tics f theEcuadorian
xe-money
re
present:
xe-
likeor
knife-like
orm;
abric f thin
late
r
sheet;
raised
flanges long
the
shank
edges
and in most
cases
along
the shoulder of the
blade,
though
rarely
n thebutt
dge;4
blunt,
quared-off
lade
edge
on
some
types notably ype
2a)
but a
sharp
blade
edge
on others
e.g.,
Type
3a).
The
large
majority 84%
of those
analyzed by
Hosier
(1986)
is made of the
lloy
of
copper
and arsenic
(see
Table
2):
16 out of
19
84%)
artifacts
nalyzed
from West Mexico
(Hosier
1986);
20
out of
25
(80%)
artifacts
nalyzed
from
Oaxaca
(Hosier
1986;
Easby
et al.
1967:
table
I).
The
only
feature
present
on
virtually
ll Ecuadorian
axe-monies
that
s
entirelymissing
rom he
Mexican
corpus
s
the linear
grooving
of the surfaces. As in
the
Ecuadorian
case,
extremely
mall
examples
of
certainnormal size
formswere
produced
Types
4b
and
5c
in
Fig.
5);
some of these have
raised
flanges, thers ave not.
Axe-monies constitute ne of
the most abun-
dant
metal artifact
ypes
n
Mesoamerica,
along
with bells and
open loops.
However,
they
have
rarely
een found
n
archaeological
ontexts.
Of
the varieties
llustrated
n
Figure
5,
Type
ia is
known
almost
exclusively
from West Mexico
where t s common to the states f
Guerrero nd
Michoacan nd to the
Guerrero-Michoacanorder
(Hosier 1986).
For our
discussion
ere,
we
include
Guerrero
mong
West Mexican
states. Few have
been found in
the state of Oaxaca which
has
yielded all the other types.5Type ia (Fig. 6),
discussed
ere or hefirst ime
reported
n
Hosier
1986,
1988c),
is of
particular
nterest
because,
except
for he
absence
of
raised
dge
flanges,
t is
in
many
espects
losest o the
production
tyle
we
have
outlinedfor the
Ecuadorian artifacts.
hese
4Type
aaxe-monies
ccasionally
ave raised
langelong
the utt
dge.
hissnot
ndicated
n
he
ypology
llustrated
n
Figure
.
5Hosler
eports
4
Type
a
axe-moniesromaxaca ut f
total f 100
Type
a
objects
n
the ollectionf
theMuseo
Regional
e
Guadalajara,
exico
1986:
98).
he
nalyses
f
sixofthese representederenTable . Theobjectsre
interesting
ecause
s
a
group
heir
omposition
alls t the
high
nd f rsenic
oncentrationhen
ompared
ith he
total
opulation
f
Mexicanxe-monies
see
ig.
50).
At he
same
ime,
hey
re
onsiderablyarger
han
he ther
ype
a
axe-monies
all fwhichre rom est
exico with
engths
that
ange
rom
7.6
o
20.5
m
mean
ength
f
19.6 m;
ee
Table
).
By
contrast,
he
mean
ength
f
51
Type
a
axe-
moniesromWest
Mexico
s
15.0
m,
with
range
f 12.2
-17.2
m
Hosier
986:
ppendix
.
-1).
17
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long,
paper-thin
xe-monies are hammered to
shape
from
heetwhose thickness
verages nly
14
microns
0.014 cm).
Their thickened
hank
dges
and their
lightly orrugated
onstruction,
vident
in
the
x-radiograph
f
Figure 14,
are deliberate
mechanical
evices
to
increase
igidity
f the
ong
and thin
heet,
thereby
nsuring
ntegrity
f the
form. n
some cases the heet escribes half-wave
pattern
long
its
longitudinal
xis
(see
Fig.
5),
a
feature hich
may perhaps
have aided
n
stacking
these tems
but
which
definitelymproves
their
strength.
f
25
Type
ia axe-monies
nalyzedby
Hosier
(1986),
only
two were found to be of
copper.
All
the others re
fashioned
rom
opper-
arsenic
lloy
in
the concentration
ange
between
0.05
and
6.4
weight percent,
with the
mean
at
2.6% (seeTable2 andFig. 50).
The
only
report
we have of the
stack-packet
assembly
of
axe-monies
n
Mexico refers o this
extremely
hin
Guerrero
variety.During
his ar-
chaeological
xplorations
n
Naranjo,
entral uer-
rero,
Weitlaner
urface-collected... a
package
of
13
copper
eaves
[
aminasin
theform f
an
axe
but the
thickness f
heavy
paper
about
whose
use
we wereunsure"
1947:
79;
translation
y
Hosier).
Villagers
whom Hosier
interviewed
t
Xochipala,
Guerrero lso refer o
them
s laminas
when
they
find
hem
Hosier 1986).
Of the otherMexican axe-monies llustratedn
Figure
,
only
Type
2a has been
reported
ccasion-
ally
fromWest
Mexico,
in
Guerrero
Hosier
1986)
and
n
Michoacan
Ortiz
Rubio
1920).
Types
and
3
have
rarely
eenfoundncontrolled
xcavations,
apart
from
group
of
five
Type
2a
objects
exca-
vated at Monte Alban
(Caso 1965).
They
are
sometimes found
in
caches,
however.
One
lot
(Type
2b)
given by
Saville to the AmericanMu-
seum of Natural
History,
or
xample,
came from
a
cache of 120 found
n
pairs
in a mound near
Xaaga,
Oaxaca
(Saville 1900),
and
23
dozen were
reported ound na terra-cottaotnearthecity f
Oaxaca
(Easby
et al.
1967).
With
regard
to
physical
characteristics,
t
is
interesting
o
note that the mean
length
of the
three
rimary ypes
n a
group
of
174
axe-monies
examined
y
Hosier
ia
(thin,
traight
hank:
5),
2a
(curved
blade:
72),
and
3
(flaring
lade:
37)
is
18
almost
dentical,
5.0
cm,
13.8
cm,
and
14.0
cm
respectively,
s are
the mean
weights
f
Types
2a
and
3a: 55.1
g
and
52.9
g
(Hosier
1986;
see
Table
3).
The
Type
a axe-monies
verage
only
5.7
g
in
weight.The
thickness
f Type2a and 3a objects
ranges
between
.04
and o. 1
cm,
with a mean
of
0.07
cm for
both
types.
All
Mexican
axe-monies
have raised
flanges long
theshank
edges
except
for West Mexican
Type
ia,
Type
ib,
and
the
miniatures f
Type
5
which are too thin
to
undergo
uch
mechanical reatment.
f
eight
Type
2a
objects analyzed
by
Hosier
(1986),
one is
of
copper
nd theothers
ange
from
rsenical
opper
to arsenic
bronze;
of
four
Type
3a
objects
she
analyzed,
all
are arsenical
coppers
or
very
low
arsenic,
opper-arseniclloys
see
Table
2).
Relatives:
Naipes
The
naipe,6 erhaps
he
closest ndmost
signifi-
cant
relative o the
Ecuadorian
axe-money,
s a
phenomenon
f
the
Lambayeque
valley complex,
formed
y
the
drainages
f
the La
Leche,
Reque,
and
Lambayeque
rivers n the far
north oast of
Peru. Until
very
ecently
e have
knownof
only
singleexample
found outside this
zone,
a
naipe
(Fig.
4)
collected
y Henry
Reichlen,
hough
with-
out
association,
t
Vicus
(Henry
Reichlen,
per-
sonal communication, 976) a site n theupper
Piura
valleyregion,
bordering
he Sechuradesert
and
approximately
0
km
east of Piura
which
he
gave
to
Heather Lechtman for
study
at MIT.
During
a
1988
site
survey
f
the
upper
reaches f
thePiura
river,
himada,Kaulicke,
nd
Makowski
(Shimada
n.d.b)
collected
ome
naipes,
ssociated
with Middle
Sican blackware
bottles,
t
Buenos
Aires
just
upvalley
f
Morropon),
nd
istened o
accounts f
ocal
huaqueros
ho
reported
requent
6LootershuaquerosoperatingntheLambayequealley
region
se he
erm
naipe
to refer
o
objects
uch s
those
illustratederen
igures
and
5.
himada
1985a)
ntroduced
the ermotheiterature.rom
he rief
eport
fhis
ecent
metallurgicalurvey
arriedut n
the
upper
iura
alley
(Shimada.d.b),
t snot lear
hetherocal
ootershere ho
find uch
bjects
allthem
y
the
amename. he
most
common
eaning
f
naipe,"
Spanish
ord,
s
playing
ard.
Asused
n
he
ambayeque
egion,
hen,
naipes
would eem
to
uggest
metalards."
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occurrences
f shallow
shaft tombs
containing
black
ceramic
ottles nd
packages
of tumis
nd/or
naipes
Shimada
n.d.b:
9)
at sites
along
the Piura
river s far
north s
Chulucanas
nd as far
outh
s
Morropon.
The first
naipes
recovered
through
archaeological nvestigations
were excavated
by
Wendell
Bennett n
1936
at a burial
ite he
desig-
nated
Lambayeque
One,
located
about
halfway
between
the town of San
Jose
and
Lambayeque
(Bennett
939).
He describes hem s "two identi-
cal
-shaped
hin
lates
.
.7.5
centimeters
ong;
3
centimeters ide at
the
center;
nd
6.2 centimeters
wide at
the ends"
(Bennett
939:
105).
Because he
did not
illustrate
hem,
these
objects
have been
overlooked,
but Lechtmanfound them
carefully
drawn
n
Bennett's
ield
notebooks,
which
are
in
thecollections f theAmericanMuseum of Natu-
ral
History.They
are
naipes
f the standard
hape
and size.
On thebasis of theceramics e excavated
at
Lambayeque
One,
Bennett
ssigned
he site to
Middle
Chimu
(1939: 106).
Holm,
in
his
early
discussion
f "aberrant
ypes"
of Ecuadorian xe-
monies,
llustrated alf a
naipe
without
knowing
what it was
but
recognizing
ertainfeatures t
sharedwith
the Ecuadorian material
Holm
19
6/
67:
fig.
3,
bottom
eft).
He remarked hat few
such broken
specimens
are known from the
Manteno area
(1966/67:139).
The
object
he illus-
tratedwas donatedto Holm and reportedlyame
from Manabi
province,
but no
similar
find
has
even
been
reported
rom
n
identified
rchaeologi-
cal context n
Ecuador.
The first nd dramatic
resentation
f
naipes
s
eliteburial
goods
stacked,
packeted,
bundled and
occasionally
nterred
n
very arge
numbers ame
withthe
publication y Asbjorn
Pedersen
1976)
of
the contents f a
partially
ooted tomb
in
the
Huaca
Menor at Batan
Grande.
n
going through
the
material
he looters left behind as of little
value,
Pedersen ound housands f
naipes
among
themmanypacketswhich containedup to 500
individual
specimens
"...
arranged
and inter-
locked
n a
special way,
forming ompact
blocs"
(Pedersen
976:
64;
translation
y
Lechtman) see
Fig.
15
and Prumers n.d.:
fig.
7,
a
schematic
rendering
akenfrom Shimada
1985b:
119).
The
naipes
ssembled
n
any
one
packet
were of the
same size and
shape.
Shimada describes
his omb
as
"enormous"
1985a:
385),
and it is no
surprise
that it has
yielded
the
largest
cache of
naipes
discovered
husfar
t Batan
Grande.He
goes
on to
say
that
the
single
pecimen
Pedersen]
llustrates
(1976:
fig.
2)
is
nearly
dentical nsize and form o
those
we have
recovered from various
looted
tombs at Huaca las Ventanas
and the
partially
looted tomb
at Huaca La
Merced.
A
radiocarbon
date for the Huaca
Menor tomb
and ceramics
associatedwithburials
ontaining aipes
llows us
to
confidentlypecify
hat
the
naipes
date to
the
middle to late Middle Sican
(ca.
a.d.
900-1050)"
(Shimada
1985a:
386).
The
C-14
date
reported y
Pedersen is a.d.
1035
(Pedersen
1976:
60).
In
Figure
15
we illustrate everal
naipes
from the
Huaca Menor tomb that Pedersengave to Olaf
Holm;
they
exhibit a central
oblong
bubble,
whereas
he Vicus
specimen Fig.
4)
is
flat.Given
the new
chronology
stablished
y
Shimada for
Batan
Grande
Shimada
1985a:
table 16.
1)
and the
formal
haracteristicsf theblackware esselsBen-
nett
llustrates rom he site of
Lambayeque
One,
it
is
clear that Bennett's
emporaldesignation
f
his
Lambayeque
One burials s "Middle Chimu"
is
appropriate, lacing
the site and the
naipes
t
abouta.d. 1
100,
toward the end
of Middle Sican
in
the
Lambayequevalley.
Shimada's work at Batan Grande n.d. , 1985a,
1987a,
1987b)
provides
hebest nformation
bout
variation
n
burial
practice,
ize,
and
packeting
f
naipes.Except
for minor
variations,
ll
naipes
re
of
the same
shape,
but
they
range
in
size from
about
4.2
X
2.1 cm to 10.
X
8.5
cm,
the atter
representing
he
argest
44
g
in
weight) salvaged
from the Huaca La
Merced
pyramid
Shimada
1985a: 385; 1987a:
fig.
11).
The variations
n
shape
include raisedoval
area,
ike a bubble or
hump,
in
the central
ortion
f
some,
or
a
slight
onvex
bulging
of the two
long edges
on others
see
Fig.
15). Pedersen ecognized wo maintypesofnaipe
at the Huaca
Menor on the basis of
presence
or
absence f the entral
aised
bubble,
nd
notedthat
those
which
present
hisfeature re more numer-
ous
than
the flat
type
(1976:
64).
He further
divided hese wo
types
nto
ubtypes ccording
o
whether the short
edges
of the
object
were
19
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straight,
onvex,
or concave. The most
nteresting
aspect
f
the
packeting
f theHuaca Menor
naipes
is that here s no
mixing
f
types:
ny
one
packet
contains
nly
one
subtype
Pedersen
976:
64).
The
naipes
we have examined at MIT
from
Batan
Grande and fromVicus
range
n
thickness
from
0.019
cm to
0.078
cm.
They
are made of
copper-arsenic
ronze sheet metal
hammered o
thicknesses
hat
fall within
the
range typical
of
Ecuadorian xe-monies.
The inclusion f
naipes
n
Middle
Sican
burials s
common
t Batan
Grande,
but their ize and num-
ber n
any single
burial re
clearly
ssociatedwith
the statusof
the deceased
(Shimada
1985a:
384-
385).
The smaller ombs
generally
ontain
nly
ne
set of
naipes
f a certain
ize,
such as a
packet
of
"some 20 small . . specimens" n an adult male
burial t
Huaca Las Ventanas
Shimada
1985a:
385).
Larger
nd richer ombshave a
variety
f
izes nd a
larger
overall number of
specimens
(Shimada
1985a:
384-385
and
pl.
16.2).
Shimada
reports
packets
f
mall
naipes
s
"wrapped
n
coarse otton
cloth nd
cords of
plant
fiber"
1985a:
385).
In
the
opulent
but rareburialPedersen
described,
naipes
represented
nly portion
f n
estimated
00
kg
of
copper
rtifactsnterredwith
17
bodies
(Pedersen
1976),
n
addition
o substantial
iscrete
ayers
f
Spondylus
hell,
apis
lazuli,
and
cinnabar,
mong
other pecialmaterials.
Naipes
have a
variety
of features
n
common
with Ecuadorian
axe-monies.
They
are burial
goods
which
were made
in
a
range
of
sizes and
often tacked nd
packeted,
ound and
sometimes
bundled n
cloth
when buried.
All
of
the
speci-
menswe
have
analyzed
re made of
copper-arsenic
bronze
see
Table
2),
as are those
whose
composi-
tion Shimada
and
his
colleagues
determined
(Shimada
1985a:
table
16.3).
Arsenic content f
individual
naipes anges
from
1.15
to
4.47
weight
percent;
he
ndependent
eterminations ade
by
the two laboratories7MIT: atomic
absorption
spectrophotometry;
ASCA:
proton
nduced
x-
ray
mission)
re nclose
agreement.
7The
roton
nduced
-ray
mission
PIXE)
nalyses
eported
heres
undertaken
y
he
MASCA
aboratory
f he
niversity
of
Pennsylvania
ere
arried
ut
y
Charles
.
Swanntthe
Bartol
esearch
nstitute,
niversity
fDelaware.
Naipes
do not have raised
flanges,
but
their
edges
are
deliberately
hickened
1.7X
in a
Huaca
Menor
specimen;
.6x in
the
Vicus
specimen)
to
improve rigidity
f
the thin
sheet
(see
Fig.
45).
None of
them bears
any
surface
triations,
nd
they
re not
axe-shaped.
Various
observershave
described hem s
double
T
shape
Shimada
1985a)
or
as I
shape
(Bennett
1939;
Priimers
n.d.),
and
one
might
ee them as
•
1
shape,
depending
upon
their
rientation. edersenhas
perhaps
done
us
a
disservice
y referring
o
naipes
s
"doble achas
monedas"
197
:
64),
Shimada
somewhat
echoing
that
description
n
calling
them
double
T
shape.
Shimada
argues
further
hat
"double-T
shaped
specimens
imilar o those
naipes]
ound n
Batan
Grande
. .
also
occur,
hough
ess
frequently"
n
Ecuador Shimada1985a: 388 andfig.16.7). He is
referring
o one of
the "aberrant"
Ecuadorian
forms
Holm
published
n
1966/67
fig.
3,
right-
hand
portion)
nd
which
we term a
"hide"
(see
Fig.
3b).
These
objects Figs.
20,
21),
oneof
which
is
heavily
markedwith
urface
triations,
ot
only
do not
resemble
aipes,
hey
renot
"double-T" in
shape
and
are unlike
any
known
Ecuadorian
axe
either
n
metal r in
stone.As Holm
remarked,
a
suggestion
f a
double axe is. . .
out of
place
in
Ecuadorian
archaeology"
1966/67:
139).
In
fact,
we have no
precedent
or he
naipe
orm.
Whereas
thenaipemayprovetohave beentheforerunnerf
the Ecuadorian
hacha-monedan
terms
f
the thin
smithing tyle
which
both
object
types
hare,
hey
were not
prototypes
n
theformal
ense.
Relatives:
Feathers
Bennett's
excavations at
Lambayeque
One
yielded
nother
kind of
object
we
include n our
category
frelatives:
Three
bundles
of thin
op-
per
eaves
wrapped ogether
. .
One such
bundle
is
composed
of leaves
15
centimeters
ong,
3.5
centimeters ide at one end and
tapering
o 2.0
centimeters ide at
the other nd.
The
bundle of
these thin
leaves is 1.8
centimeters
hick.
All
bundles how
traces f the
string
r cloth
used to
wrap
them"
Bennett
1939:
105).
Although
hese
stacked,
acketed,
nd
tied
eaves
are now
entirely
mineralized,
echtmanwas
permitted
o
examine
20
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8/18/2019 Axe-monies and Their Relatives
25/106
and
photograph
hem
t theAmerican
Museumof
Natural
History
and to
analyze
nondestructively
the surfaces f a few of the
stronger pecimens
using x-ray
fluorescence
echniques.
Figure
1
illustrateseveral f the sturdier
undle
fragments
excavated
by
Bennett,
with
bits of cloth
still
adhering
o some.
A
profile
iew of two
bundles
(Fig.
17)
shows not
only
the
stacking
f the
thin
leavesbut
also the
binding
f
groups
of eaves
nto
packets
with rather
wide
ribbon-like ies
of
reed.
Lechtman
was able to count
ten leaves
tied
to-
gether
n
each of three
ackets.
From
the
drawings
in
Bennett's
ield
notebook,
the
ntact
ndividual
leaves resembled
the
objects
illustrated
ere
in
Figure
18
(to
the
right
f
the
scale),
collected
by
Henry
Reichlen at the site
of
"Batanes,"
near
Chongoyape, in the Lambayeque valley (H.
Reichlen,
ersonal
ommunication,
976).
Briining
alled this
object type
"plumiforme"
(Antze
1930:24
and
fig.
2)
and found
t
eastmore
than
100 n
the
Lambayeque
valley
area. Accord-
ing
to Antze
1930: 24),
such feather
orms
made
of thin
opper
sheet
were used
as headdress
rna-
ments nd are common
finds.He describes
setof
five from Cerro
Sapame
as
measuring pproxi-
mately
.$
cm
n
ength,
onsiderably
horter
han
those found
by
Bennett
nd
by
Reichlen,
nd he
speculates
hat
hey
were
arranged
ogether
s hair
ribbonshuinchasorperhapswereset ntocircular
metal headbands
or on
a
type
of
helmet
Antze
1930:
24).
During
a visit in
1970
to
the
Museo
Arqueologico Briining,
Lambayeque,
Lechtman
noted hundreds f
such thin
feather orms
n
the
storeroom,
and
Mayer,
who
recently photo-
graphed
ome of them
here
see
Fig.
8),
describes
the museum
s
having
"a chest
with
a volume
of
8In
eptember
976
Henry
eichlen
onated
o
Heather
Lechtman's
aboratory
or esearch
n
Archaeological
ateri-
als t MIT a
large
ollection
fmetal
bjects
nd
ssociated
metallurgicalroductionaterialshat ehad ssembledn
site
urveyslong
he
orthoast
f eru.
pproximately
qual
numbersf
rtifactsere
romites
e
designated
s
"Vicus
(Piura)"
nd Batanes
Lambayeque)."
eichlen's
otesccom-
panying
he atanes
ollectioneadsfollows:
Documents
e
l'atelier e
metallurgistes
himu
de
Batanes,
res
de
Chongoyape
Lambayeque)."
t eems
learhat eichlen's
ite
"Batanes"s one f he
ambayequealley
etallurgical
ro-
ductionites imilar
o those
himada
as dentified
n the
general
icinity
fBatan
rande.
about three ubic meters
ull f these
tems,
often
corroded
ogether
n
groups" Mayer
1982a: 289;
translation
y
Lechtman).
He
reports aving
seen
them n thehundreds
n
other
collections n the
Peruvian
orth oast
as well.
There are two basic
types
f
feather,
ne with
spatulate
nd
(Figs.
9,
18),
the
otherwith
a
sock-
eted end
(Figs.
9,
18,
19)
formed
y turning
ver
two
edge flaps
of metal. The
Lambayeque
One,
Cerro
Sapame,
and Batanes feathers
re of the
spatulate
ype,
hough
f
differentizes.
In a
burial
Alva
recently
xcavated
n the Batan
Grande
rea
and whichhe dates to
a.d.
850-1100
(Middle Sican)
were the
remains f
long
and thin
leaves of
copper,
pproximately
0
cm
in
length,
which were
originally
intact
in bundles of
"channel-sha