Premium
8
She Sells Seashells: Women and Mollusks in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico
Author(s) -
Pankonien Dawn
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
archeological papers of the american anthropological association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1551-8248
pISSN - 1551-823X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-8248.2008.00008.x
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , focus (optics) , shell (structure) , geography , archaeology , history , engineering , physics , civil engineering , optics
In this chapter, I examine seashells recovered from a 1985 archaeological study of Bahias de Huatulco, Mexico. I focus on both the primary and the secondary functions of the shells, describing their use as food, construction material, and an important dye source. I begin by discussing the shells in their local context and then later outline arguments both for and against shell trade inland. I ask, why are the shells here, and then, why these specific shells? In answering these questions, I investigate how these shells were used, the industries that they imply, and, finally, how women are necessarily implicated in processes of collection and production.