Spinning and Weaving in Coastal Oaxaca: An Ethnoarchaeological Study

Speaker: Dr. Marc N. Levine, Associate Curator of Archaeology, Sam Noble Meuseum, and Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma 

Coastal Oaxaca is one of the few regions of Mexico where native 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 modern artisans who continue to make spindle whorls (“malacates”) for spinning cotton by hand.