Challenges for microwear analysis of figurative shell ornaments from pre-Colonial Venezuela

J Archaeol Method Theory

Cuisin

Delpuech

et al. 2018

Self Cite

The use of microwear analysis has made substantial contributions to the study of archaeological bodily ornaments. However, limitations persist with regard to the interpretation of use and the reconstruction of systems of attachment, hampering a holistic understanding of the diversity of past bodily adornment. This is because the complexities of ornament biographies and the resulting wear traces cannot be grasped exclusively from the study of experimental reference collections. In this paper, we propose to bridge this gap in interpretation by systematically researching ethnographic collections. We conducted a microscopic study of 38 composite ornaments from lowland South America housed at the Musée du quai Branly (Paris). These objects involve organic, biomineral, and inorganic components, attached through different string configurations. The combined use of optical and 3D digital microscopy at different magnification ranges provided a thorough understanding of wear trace formation, distribution, and characterization. We demonstrate how individual beads develop characteristic use-wear in relation to one another and to the strings. We further challenge common assumptions made in the analysis of archaeological ornaments. In sum, this research addresses methodological and interpretative issues in the study of bodily adornment at large, by providing insight into the biographies of objects that were actually worn in a lived context. In the future, our results can be applied as reference for a more effective understanding of the use of ornaments worldwide.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: State Of Preservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shellmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

New Insights into Use-Wear Development in Bodily Ornaments Through the Study of Ethnographic Collections

J Archaeol Method Theory

Cuisin

Delpuech

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…High magnifications afford better insights into the contact materials used for treating the surface of lithic artefacts during manufacture, such as stone platforms, polishing materials and abrasives (Breukel 2019;d'Errico et al 2000;Groman-Yaroslavski and Bar-Yosef Mayer 2015;Melgar Tísoc et al 2013;Procopiou et al 2013). Interpretation was based on comparison with the preliminary results of an on-going experimental programme focused on pre-colonial Caribbean technical systems (Breukel 2019;Breukel and Falci 2017;Falci 2015;Falci et al 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lapidary production in the eastern Caribbean: a typo-technological and microwear study of ornaments from the site of Pearls, Grenada

Knaf

Gijn

et al. 2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

Self Cite

The present paper examines bodily ornaments made of semiprecious lithic materials from the site of Pearls on the island of Grenada. The site was an important node in long-distance interaction networks at play between circum-Caribbean communities during the first centuries of the Common Era. Pearls was an amethyst bead-making workshop and a gateway to South America, from where certain lapidary raw materials likely originated. The importance of the site for regional archaeology and local stakeholders cannot be overstated. However, it has undergone severe destruction and looting over the decades. Here, we present a study of a private collection of ornaments from Pearls, which combines raw material identification, typo-technological analysis and microwear analysis. We identify great diversity in lithologies and in techniques adapted to their working properties. Multiple abrasive techniques for sawing, grinding, polishing and carving are identified. Furthermore, the use of ornaments is examined for the first time. Finally, we contrast our dataset to other Antillean sites and propose management patterns for each raw material. Our approach ultimately provides new insights on ornament making at Pearls and on its role in regional networks.

“…The detailed results and broader contextualisation of the collection and sample have been published elsewhere. 76 Here we demonstrate how such a study sheds new light on artefacts that have been held in a museum for over a century. The analysis involved careful examination of the surface of each studied artefact under a stereomicroscope (model Leica M80, mag.…”

Section: Reconstructing the Cultural Biographies Of Bodily Ornaments mentioning

confidence: 80%

Vibrant pasts in museum drawers: Advances in the study of late precolonial (AD 800–1500) materials collected from north-central Venezuela

Antczak

2019

Museum History Journal

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Starting in the second half of the nineteenth century, museums and private collectors across the Americas and Europe began amassing objects produced by the indigenous peoples of north-central Venezuela before the European conquest. The rich imagery displayed on decorated pottery and figurines, as well as on skilfully made body ornaments, strongly appealed to the aesthetic tastes of the museum curators and visitors of that time. With some laudable exceptions, most of the excavations that expanded these collections did not follow the archaeological practice standards of our time and did not leave behind any written reports. In consequence, these objects and associated data have remained disconnected from subsequent advances in regional archaeology. In this paper, we provide a general overview of the diverse archaeological collections from the region under study and insert them, critically, into the current understanding of north-central Venezuelan archaeology. We go on to focus on body adornments in order to show how microwear analysis of their production, along with the use wear traces they exhibit, combined with data concerning raw material procurement and depositional contexts, can shed light on the intricacies of the social life of these objects. We argue that up-to-date knowledge of regional archaeology interwoven with new interdisciplinary approaches on museum collections enables researchers to resuscitate the vibrant indigenous pasts lying in museum drawers.