Notes by Martha Rees, 2020
Cotton, and sometimes agave fiber, weaving is ancient in Mesoamerica, at least 3500 years old [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textiles_of_Mexico]. A number of varieties of native cottons are found in Mesoamerica, white, green, brown (coyuche or coyote) and more.
The cleaned and carded cotton or fiber is spun into thread with this supported spindle (malacate). This video is from Pinotepa, just south, closer to the coast, of the Amuzgo region (the enredo or skirt of the women is dyed with indigo and púrpura dye from a sea snail [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOZ2_HGrxSA].
Weaving is historically women’s work, so much that spindle whorls are identified with sacred females in iconography and in tombs. A famous case is tomb 7 at Monte Albán, the ancient city of the Zapotec. Tomb 7 is obviously a noble site so archaeologists assumed that it was, obviously, a male. Jeff McCafferty re-read the evidence, pointing out that the evidence of spindle whorls supported his theory that this is the tomb of a noble woman (https://antharky.ucalgary.ca/mccafferty/gender-research/tomb-7-monte-alban). Unfortunately, the criteria bones (pelvis) ‘disappeared’ in excavation and restoration, and so, it is impossible to substantiate this claim with physical evidence. However, nowhere in the ancient writings or iconography are spindle whorls associated with males.
Images of ceramic spindle whorls, like this one that belong to a friend’s father, back in the day when artefacts were gifted among Mexicans, abound, often folks don’t know that it’s a spindle whorl. But I did, as soon as I saw it.
So, I always looked for spindle whorls still in use today, and I found one at the market in Tlaxiaco in 2018, I think, on the IOHO, historical organs of Oaxaca tour. This one is from the Amuzgo ethnic area [https://www.clothroads.com/meet-the-makers-of-the-traditional-oaxacan-hand-spindle/#.Xo87pVNJFUU], down on the coast, but the vendor, an old man leaning against the portal of the open market, brought them up to the highlands to sell.
With the introduction of sheep, and wool after the conquest, with the colonial, or upright loom, spinning and weaving changed, and men came to dominate in the weaving process.
But not in spinning…
Some other sources
Carpenter, Lacey B., Gary M. Feinman and Linda M. Nicholas. Spindle Whorls From El Palmillo: Economic Implications. Latin American Antiquity. Vol. 23, No. 4 (December 2012), pp. 381-400. Published by: Cambridge University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23645604
Mccafferty, Geoffrey and Sharisse McCafferty. 2003 Questioning a Queen? A Gender-Informed Evaluation of Monte Alban’s Tomb 7. Ancient Queens: Archaeological Explorations, edited by Sarah Nelson, pp. 41-58. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
King, Stacie M. Thread Production In Early Postclassic Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico: Technology, Intensity, And Gender. Ancient Mesoamerica / Volume 22 / Issue 02 / September 2011, pp 323 343. DOI: 10.1017/S0956536111000253, Published online: 30 December 2011. https://collections.peabody.yale.edu/search/Record/YPM-ANT-135340
Schortman, Edward M. and Patricia A. Urban, eds. Resources, Power, and Interregional Interaction
De Avila, Alejandro. 1997. Threads of Diversity. Oaxaca Textiles in Context. Pp. 87-152. Kathryn Klein, ed.
| Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca, 1997. Historia del arte de Oaxaca: Arte Contemporáneo |
Martha's Genteel Decline 
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