Exotics for the Lords and Gods: Lowland Maya Consumption of European Goods along a Spanish Colonial Frontier

Abstract

In the volume The Lowland Maya Postclassic, Arlen Chase and Prudence Rice (1985, 5) contend that Spanish presence in the Maya lowlands “is not clearly detectable in the archaeological record until the nineteenth century.” To this they add that: “This is partially a consequence of an apparent reluctance on the part of the Maya to accept European trade items or at least to deposit them in the archaeological record.” This point of view echoes the previous observation by Nancy Farris (1984, 110) that “Except for some simple metal tools [...] one can find little European material impact” on Maya culture during the early colonial period. Farris (1984, 45) also argued that the Maya of the Yucatan generally had a “cultural bias against European goods” and that the few tools and trinkets that were acquired “were passed on through generations as treasured heirlooms.” Farris (1984, 45) further noted that, with the exception of metal tools and gunpowder, “which came to be regarded as a requirement for any fiesta, besides its use in hunting,” there were only a few items that the Maya actually desired from the Spaniards. While we would agree that the volume and diversity of European goods were limited along the lowland Maya colonial frontier, considerable ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence that has come to light in recent years, demonstrate both increasing acquisition and integration as well as desire, if not demand, for European objects by the contact period Maya. Avendaño y Loyola (1987, 29; see also Means 1917, 131) went even further in his assessment of the Maya interest in obtaining Spanish goods, reporting that the Itza demonstrated an “insatiable desire” for these objects. Whereas all such assertions must be tempered by the relative ubiquity or scarcity of European objects in archaeological contexts, we can nevertheless identify a series of different driving factors that fueled the Maya desire for European goods. Among these was the acquisition of European goods as status symbols, for practical and mundane or quotidian purposes, as well as for their incorporation in ceremonies