BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Coastal Oaxaca is one of the few regions of Mexico where Indigenous communities have maintained nearly all aspects of their traditional textile production techniques. This includes cultivating native cotton, hand-spinning thread, utilizing local dyes, and weaving on the back-strap loom. What can archaeologists learn from Oaxaca’s textile producers to help interpret the archaeological record? This presentation focuses on the few remaining artisans in coastal Oaxaca who continue to make spindle whorls (malacates) in the traditional manner for spinning cotton thread.

BRIEF BIO

Marc Levine is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and Associate Curator of Archaeology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Since 2004, he has directed archaeological research at the Late Postclassic (1100-1520 CE) coastal capital of Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa). Levine’s current research focuses on political economy, textile production, foodways, ceramic production, obsidian blade production, and metallurgy. In all of this work, Levine has collaborated closely with the Museo Yucusaa—Tututepec’s community museum.