Mi Museo y Vos

Mi Museo y Vos
Granada, Nicaragua. June 2014
Year 8 No. 28
The Ancestral Wars
Mi Museo y Vos
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Editor:
Nora Zambrana Lacayo
Writers:
Oscar Pavón Sánchez
Table of Contents
Geoffrey McCafferty
Pat Werner
Edgar Espinoza Pérez
Carrie L. Dennett
Martha Barahona
Design and diagramation:
Nora Zambrana Lacayo
English translation:
Linda Heatherly
Owner:
Peder Kolind
www.mimuseo.org
mimuseo@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/mimuseo.granada
The Ancestral Wars .........................................................
2
Recent Research in Nicaragua .....................................
5
The investigation of San Jacinto: Two theories,
orthodoxy, and the future of historical archaeology
in Central America ............................................................
7
The White Slip Ceramic Horizon of Early
Postclassic Mexico and Central America ................
20
Antique furniture of Mi Museo ......................................
31
Visits to Mi Museo ..............................................................
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The Ancestral Wars
Oscar Pavón Sánchez
Archaeologist, Mi Museo
The Development of Conflict
skilled smiths. In second rank were the
people, that is: warriors, businessmen,
farmers, hunters, fishermen, artisans,
prostitutes, and beggars; in third rank
were the slaves, and in the fourth, captives of war.
The Origins of the Wars
T
he theme of the new exposition at
Mi Museo is the ancestral wars. The
main purpose is that the visitors who
turn to the museum for information will
learn about the history of our ancestors,
history which as a whole has been forgotten. The display shows several tools of
war which may have been used in conflicts, and pottery with designs we can interpret which relate to the practices of war.
The peoples of Nicaragua were often at
war among themselves and military arts
were well-developed. Young men were
carefully trained and organized in companies which were on guard regularly
and always ready for battle.
Social Structure
According to Tomas Ayon, various indigenous people practiced the art of war. For
these people, war was sacred. The primary reasons for war were religious and
territorial, related to their cosmovision,
traditions and culture.
According to historian Tomas Ayon, the
indigenous social structure had four levels. In first place came the nobles, including caciques, the council of elders, chief
captains, priests, market officials, and
Oviedo states that the primary causes of
war were territorial disputes (Book XLI I,
Chapter III). However, probably the desire to obtain slaves for sacrifice also played a role.
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Mi Museo y Vos
Declarations of war were made via messengers. The cacique did not accompany
the army into battle, unless he was an
exceptionally brave man. The council of
ancients named a man distinguished by
his courage to lead the army. If this man
died and the cacique was present, the cacique immediately named a new leader
or took command himself. Otherwise the
army disbanded immediately and retreated. The military chief’s obligations were
to direct battle operations and encourage
his men “to kill as many enemies as they
could, and cut off arms, heads and other
parts of their opponents, and not to flee”.
(Oviedo, loc. cit.)
Commenting on some of the military
goods that the Chorotega and Nicararo
tribes used, Oviedo notes that the aboriginals “were protected by sleeveless
vests or breastplates made of cotton and
exceedingly strong wood, and many of
them carried bows and arrows (not poisoned) and others carried rods to throw."
Military items like these were used
throughout Mexico and Central America.
“Their shields are made of tree bark or
light wood, covered with feathers and
handiwork fashioned of feathers and
cotton; thus they are very lightweight,
pretty, and strong ... the lances end in
a flint point, or in sharpened bone. The
lances are also made of canes (of which
there are many in the lake)”.
Pedro Martir says that the temples served as arsenals where they could keep
large quantities of weapons ready.
After the battle, the cacique, if he was
not accompanying the troops, went out
to meet them. If they had won a victory,
he received them with great displays of
elation, and some of the captives were
sacrificed on the spot. If the army had
been defeated, the cacique cried in view
Figure 1: Pottery with alluding decorations to military equipment, such as wooden bows and
spears with flint points. Mi Museo Collection.
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of the troops, and the chief captains went
to the mound dedicated to sacrificial use
and “wept very bitter tears”.
Through participation in conflicts, warriors improved their family's reputation
and prospects.
Recent Research in Nicaragua
The Gains to be earned
The Punishments
Geoffrey McCafferty
Courage was rewarded with promotion
to various warrior ranks. A man who had
defeated an enemy in single combat
seen by the two armies was part of the
group known as the "tapaliguis". Describing a tapaligui, Oviedo says, “He wears
his hair shaven, with hair ofthe crown on
top as high as the space between the
high midpoint of the index finger to the
end of the same.” (Oviedo, Book. XLII,
Chapter 1)
Disobedience in combat was punished
severely. The man who disobeyed was
stripped of his weapons. He could be exiled and his military leader could even kill
him.
Oviedo recounts that apparently the
warriors could raise their social standing, acquire wealth, and successfully
distinguish themselves as counselors.
Figure 2: Biface flint, used for personal
protection. Mi Museo Collection.
References
Ayón, Tomás
1956 Historia de Nicaragua. Escuela Profesional de Artes Gráficas. Madrid.
Lothrop, Samuel K.
2000 Cerámica de Costa Rica y Nicaragua vol. I. Traducción de Gonzalo Meneses
Ocón. Colección Cultural de Centro América, Managua.
University of Calgary
N
icaragua has experienced an upsurge in archaeological research
in recent years. This has included
both international researchers from Canada, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and
the United States as well as the professionalization of Nicaraguan archaeologists through graduate training and collaboration with large projects. In April
2014 a symposium at the Society for
American Archaeology in Austin, Texas
brought together scholars from diverse
backgrounds to discuss recent research
results and new interpretations. Discussants then commented on longer term
trajectories and led discussion of future
directions.
Participants:
Clifford Brown - Recent Investigations
in the Department of Chinandega,
Nicaragua.
Justin Lowrie - Chiquilistagua
Archaeology Project First Season
Findings.
Alexander Geurds - The Cuapa Phase:
Notes on the Last Prehispanic Ceramic
Period in Central Nicaragua.
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Mi Museo y Vos
Jennifer Lapp - Proyecto La Flor.
Sharisse McCafferty and Geoffrey
McCafferty - Monumentality at
Sonzapote, Nicaragua.
Larry Steinbrenner - Managua
Polychrome: The Missing Link to
Mesoamerica?
Carrie Dennett - Getting to Know
You: Ceramics and Identity in Greater
Nicoya.
Kelsey Friesen and Geoffrey McCafferty
- Recent Research concerning the
X-ray Diffraction of Nicaraguan Ceramic
Composition.
Jessica Manion - Memory and
Manipulation in the Greater Nicoya.
Kendra Philmon - Bioarchaeological
Analysis of Cusirisna Cave, Nicaragua.
Gina Carroll - Investigating Isotopic
Inter- and Intra-Skeletal Variation in
Lesionous and Non-Lesionous Tissues
in Pathological Specimens from
Nicaragua.
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Suzanne Baker - Enigmatic Pecked
Features on Ometepe Island,
Nicaragua.
Katrina Kosyk - A Prelude: Aerophones
from Pre-Columbian Greater Nicaragua.
The investigation of San Jacinto: Two
theories, orthodoxy, and the future of
historical archaeology in Central America
Adam Benfer - A Century in Stone: One
Hundred Years of Lithic Analysis in
Nicaragua.
Fred Lange - Discussant
Karen Olsen Bruhns – Discussant
In July many of these scholars will present their ideas in a conference to be
held in Nicaragua, with details to be announced. This conference will also include Nicaraguan archaeologists, and will
be open to the public.
Pat Werner* and Edgar Espinoza Pérez**
* Academic Dean. Keiser University Latín American Campus.
**Member of the Academy of Geography and History of Nicaragua.
I
ntroduction
The anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto September 14, 1856, is a national
holiday celebrated everywhere in the republic. After working on pre-Columbian
subjects, the two authors decided to
examine a historic event and use both
historical and archaeological methods to
investigate conclusively what happened.
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The battle of San Jacinto was chosen
because there are contemporary reports,
and the site is intact and very accesible.
The investigation began with the assumption that in the end there could be
no difference between what really happened and what is found in the ground and
the physical remains of the battle. There
are two sources of information: published
histories and the battle remains still located near the mansion of San Jacinto.
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The basic published material is familiar to
every student in school for the past sixty years. Of the remains still at the site,
nothing has been known. We thought
there were possibilities: the bullets in the
mansion walls and the common grave of
soldiers and filibusters who died in the
battle. We never found a common grave
but did indeed find bullets in the walls that
were almost certainly discharged during
the battle.
The study found 68 bullets in the walls,
not more. Given that result, the researchers developed two models of the battle. One model proposed that 250 filibusters attacked the mansion and garrison
of Jose Dolores Estrada, with 151 men
fighting for four hours. The filibusters had
24 casualties and Estrada had 51 casualties. The weapons of the filibusters
were capable of dispatching between six
and ten thousand bullets during the four
hours. We found 68 bullets in the walls.
The other model suggested 63 filibusters
attacking Estrada’s mansion and garrison
of 151 men, and fighting for five minutes.
The filibusters suffered 24 casualties,
Estrada, 51 casualties. The weapons of
the filibusters could fire 700 bullets within
a five minute time span. We found 68 bullets in the walls. The question is which
of the models is the correct description
of the battle and how did various groups
of historians react to this analysis. This
is the first time that this type of analysis,
which includes written records and the
product of an archeaological analysis
about the same site or event, has been
used in Nicaragua.
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Mi Museo y Vos
The Location of the Hacienda
Hacienda San Jacinto is about 45 kilometers from Managua, on the Panamerican
Highway to the north, which connects
the departments of Nicaraguan Segovia
and then turns about three kilometers to
the east. It was constructed with adobe
walls and a pitched tile roof. The building
is surrounded by roofed corridors and
divided into three domestic areas which
now house a museum dedicated to the
National War.
The historic site was declared a National Monument in 1960, that is, 103 years
after the battle, a declaration which has
permitted its almost complete preservation. The Nicaraguan goverment has
provided maintenance and restoration
of the site, protecting at least 80% of the
building as it was orginally as well as its
surrounding area, which has not been
affected by contemporary human activities. Perhaps the only thing that has
changed is access to the property. In the
19th century, one reached the hacienda from the south through the Valley of
Ocotal, a large rocky plain of black earth
which in winter became impassible for
carts and animals. Now one reaches the
site from the east side.
The idea of attempting to reconstruct
the Battle of San Jacinto first surfaced
in various conversations between the
authors of this article and Nicaraguan
experts in the National War and the materials written by various participants in
the war. Basically the written materials
come from the part of the war carried out
by the leader of the troops stationed in
the hacienda, Colonel Jose Dolores Estrada, the report of William Walker that
was published in his magazine, El Nicaraguense, a week after the battle, the documents of Francisco Ortega Arancibia,
mayor of Masaya and soldier in the National War. Ortega Arancibia published
his book 50 years after the battle, and it
contained a general history from 1838 to
1878, but he was more involved in administrative matters and was never on the
battlefields. Another important source for
understanding the battle of San Jacinto
is the Complete Historic Works written
by Jerónimo Pérez in 1865. Pérez was a
Masaya politician, involved in all the Nicaraguan political events between 1854
and 1868. He married the sister of Tomás
Martínez, hero of the National War and
dictator from 1858 until 1868. Pérez was
a supporter of Martinez, but an eye witness of many events of the National War.
Military technology of the National
War
To reconstruct the Battle of San Jacinto
it was necessary to understand the technology available to the groups in the conflict. The absence of artillery in the Battle
of San Jacinto limits the investigation to
the rifles and revolvers of the two armies.
The black powder rifles used were the
weapons used in the battle of the National war. The primary component of black
powder is potassium nitrate, a salt which
is very hygrosopic and rapidly causes
severe rust on iron. Besides this, it adds
Figure 1: Architectural facade and current
condition of the Casa Hacienda San Jacinto
(Taken from the book “ La Historia, La
Arqueología y La Batalla de San Jacinto”).
much humidity to the atmosphere. When
it explodes, it leaves about 35-50% of its
bulk in the weapon in the form of ash—
thick, greasy, and dirty—which gets into
the mechanism of the weapon and stops
up its moving parts. This is different from
smokeless powder, which leaves next to
no ash. Also important was studying the
bullets themselves; the firearms of the
era used cartridges, not metal ones but
instead cartridges made of paper or linen
saturated with saltpeter. Although it was
possible to reload the Colt without disassembling it, this was difficult. The fastest
way was to remove the cylinder, load six
linen cartridges, open them at the back,
replace the cylinders and barrel, place
explosives behind each chamber, and
pull the trigger.
For the muskets, the process was to remove the back part of the linen cartridge with one’s teeth, use the ramrod to
force it into the barrel chamber, replace
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the rod, put an explosive into the small
tube near the chamber, point the rifle and
press the trigger. With the flintlock musket, it was more difficult; the shooter had
to bite the cartridge behind the bullet,
place a small amount of powder in the
snaplock before closing it, put the rest of
the powder in the barrel, use the rod to
push the cartridge into the chamber, engage the hammer, point the gun and pull
the trigger.
The following at least can be identified as
being among the firearms which Walker’s
army had:
The bullet was oblong and weighed 476
grams, with a hollow base, more or less
a copy of the Minie ball invented by the
French army in 1845.
It carried a charge of 60 grams of powder and left the gun barrel at 900 feet
per second. Its great advantage was that
one could shoot and reload very rapidly,
despite the ash from the black powder,
which left a lot of dirt inside the barrel until it became imposible to push another
bullet through the opening of the barrel.
The bullet of this Minie rifle was slim and
went in easily.
US rifle, model 1841, known as the
Mississippi Rifle, .54 caliber, grooved:
Mentioned by Walker’s men. It was the
two-banded Mississippi type rifle, model
1841, caliber .54, with a discharge of 60
grams of powder, a round bullet and a
speed of 950 feet per second. The barrel
was grooved and the projectile weighed
about 280 grams. This musket was used
in the American war with Mexico and
could be aimed precisely.
The gases from firing pushed on the
base of the projectile, which opened to
engage the barrel rifling. This provided
stability and spin for accuracy.
The Minie rifle: This rifle, model 1855,
was manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the government’s armory,
and was adopted by the American army
in 1855. It was of .58 caliber, and had
three grooves, with a 72 inch spin in its
barrel to stabilize the projectile. This the
first weapon designed for the Minie ball
in the United States.
British pattern Enfield carbine rifle,
caliber .577 with 24 inch barrel and
grooves for use of a Minie type ball:
These rifles were all loaded through the
end of the barrel and had a very sure
firing system using mercury. The propellant was black powder.
Before this, the American rifles with
grooves used bullets shaped like a ball.
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British pattern Enfield carbine rifle,
caliber .577 with a 28 inch barrel and
grooves for use of a Minie type ball: It
used a load of 60 grams of black powder
and the ball weighed about 500 grams,
in an elongated form with a hollow base.
Sharps carbine model 1853 “slant
breech”: The fourth weapon used in the
battle was the Sharps carbine, model 1853,
with slant breech, of .52 inch caliber. This
was the first Sharps model sold commercially. Shortly after the National War
in 1859, the Sharps Company changed
the design so that the breech rose and
fell vertically, not on a slant. Because of
this, the firearm is rare (they manufactured more or less one thousand, many
used in guerrilla warfare in Kansas in
1859; it was never sold internationally.) A
Sharps type rifle with slant breech found
in Central America was probably used by
Walker’s army. This weapon was mentioned by Walker and was loaded behind
the barrel by means of a breech which
the shooter could rapidly lower, recharge the chamber, elevate and close the
chamber. Its barrel was 25 inches long
and it was 52 caliber, that is, its bullet
diameter was of .52 inches. The barrel
was grooved, but what type of bullet was
used is not known; however, the most
common was a elongated bullet. It was
used by the American army in their civil
war as a precision weapon for snipers.
Colt Revolver, First Model of the Walker
Type “Whitneyville” (Cumpston, Fadala, 1847, .44 caliber): Perhaps the
revolvers mentioned by both Walker and
Francisco Ortega Arancibia were the
most important. Ortega Arancibia observed that each revolver had a barrel nine
inches long.
The object was to make a revolver powerful enough to kill a rider or his horse with
a single shot, and this was successful.
It weighed almost five pounds with the
barrel empty and was nearly 18 inches
long. It was of 45 caliber although they
Figure 2: Sharps Model 1853, one of the
weapons used by filibusters in the Battle of
San Jacinto.
termed it 44 caliber, with bullet diameter
of .451 inches. There were two types of
bullets, one a ball of 145 grams, the other
bullet in an elongated form with a very
sharp point, and weighing 141 grams. Its
powder charge was up to 60 grams, the
usual charge for rifles. It was the most
powerful revolver of the 19th century and
not exceded in firepower until the invention of the .357 magnum in 1935. Its bullet of 200 grams had a speed of 1100
feet per second.
This revolver was useful for the American
cavalry during their war with Mexico, and
Walker’s troops had the most powerful
and dangerous revolver of the era. Its barrel had chambers for six shots, but then
the shooter had to dismantle the revolver
to recharge the barrel, not with cartridges
but with powder and a ball in front and an
explosive behind each chamber to light
the powder.
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The weaponry of the Nicaraguan army
is more difficult to identify, but certainly
came from the Spanish rifles of the years
1752, 1791 or 1803.
It’s mentioned that President Carrera’s
government in Guatemala sent weapons
to the Nicaraguans. Other documents
speak of flintlock muskets, which lit up
the area around the face of the shooter
when discharged.
The system of percussion ignition was
invented in 1814, using a small amount
of mercury explosive to light the powder, and most armies in Europe and the
Americas had converted their old rifles
to this new system or had acquired new
rifles around mid century. The great advvantage of this sytem of ignition through
mercury explosive is that it worked more
surely and rapidly, and made training an
ill-educated soldier easier than the flintlock system, which used a hammer and
a with a flintstone to generate sparks on
encountering the hammer to light the
black powder. The disadvantage of the
flintlock system was that the black powder easily fouled the firearm with dirt and
might not light; it was also much affected
by humidity, and might even not light only
because of humidity in the air.
The Battle according to documentary
sources:
Walker’s and Estrada’s reports are similar enough; both report that the battle
took place on the morning of September
14. Walker describes the attack as taking
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place on three flanks simultaneously. He
reports that his forces were a few yards
from the corrals of the hacienda and
had taken positions when they received
heavy fire from the Nicaraguans which
completely wiped out the leaders of the
foray. Estrada states that they had lost
the left flank, that it was impossible to
regain it frontally due to heavy fire, and
that he had an officer make a flanking
movement and attack to retake the position. Estrada’s strategy to contain the
advance was to shoot when the enemies
were close enough, mainly because of
the poor range and effectiveness of his
weapons; this caused the death of many
of his men, but the final result was a
withering fire from the front and the left
flank. In the end the filibusters lost 27 of
63 men, while the Nicaraguans lost 55
of 160.
Although Estrada’s merits are undeniable, it’s posible that based on the reports
and the technique used in the assault, the
battle lasted minutes rather than the four
hours which historiography has allotted
to it. To test these suppositions, excavations and explorations were carried out
and analyzed at the hacienda to determine the scope of the battle. To make clear
what happened but avoid damaging the
site, non-intrusive methods were used to
manage the materials resulting from the
combat, that is, the ammunition of the
combatants and the human remains from
the fight. One advantage of the hacienda
walls is that they are made of adobe, and
this material acts almost like a sponge,
absorbing all impacts; another is that we
know that the elongated shots are from
the rifles and pistols used by the filibusters. A Mine Lab metal detector model
ABN was used to locate all possible bullets remaining in the walls; this detector
can identify both ferrous and non ferrous
metals and thus both gold and lead. The
search of the house walls located at least
68 bullets. The main concentrations of
shots were found in the northeast part
of the house; this being the area where
the largest concentrations of shots were
found, the main door of the hacienda
did not appear to have received a heavy
barrage of shots. What is indeed clear
is that there is no evidence of a strong
concentration of firepower on the entire
building.
The small number of shots into the walls,
considering also the technology of the era,
does not support a scenario with 200 filibusters attacking for more than two hours
and shooting more than six thousand times.
Figure 3: The author Pat Werner and his
assistant Gerardo Blandon, looking bullets in
the walls of La Casa Hacienda San Jacinto.
(Taken from the book “ La Historia, La
Arqueología y La Batalla de San Jacinto”).
Human remains
Three individuals were found buried in
the surroundings of Hacienda San Jacinto. They were young men between 19
and 25 years old; only one showed signs
of death in combat, having an entry bullet
wound in the back of his head and an exit
hole in front. There were no other signs
of human remains and no arrowheads
were found at any time in the study.
The question is whether to follow orthodox thinking in written history when
archaeological inquiry leads to different
results, or possibly in conflict with written
histories.
As an assumption, finally there can be no
difference or conflict between the complete historical information and the complete archaeological information base.
The reason to apply both methodologies is that one can support the other,
and each can discover facts that can’t
be found by using only one of the two
methodologies. Some years ago I travelled to various towns in the department of
Carazo, accompanied by the Costa Rican archaeologist Doctor Silvia Salgado.
After listening to various stories of inhabitants of the towns, who told all the fine
details of stories of each town over 2,000
years, Doctor Salgado commented that
it was not necessary to make an exploration there because the people already
knew it all. Obviously archaeology can
contribute something.
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In the case of the archaeological investigation of the San Jacinto site, we began, Edgar and I, with the intent to obtain
any information available and go where
the information led us. And for each of
us the most important was the number
of bullets in the mansion walls. We spent
much time studying old photos of the
mansion, examining old maps and interviewing the family that had lived there
since the thirties of the past century. We
also examined the exterior of the house
to see if changes had been made to the
exterior walls. The two of us appeared in
2008 much as we do today, and the exterior of the mansion in 2008 was also little
changed or even unchanged in comparison with the exterior of the house on
September 14, 18561.
The reaction of the historians and intelletuals was of two very different kinds.
The majority of the Marxists concluded
that the investigation was a new development in Nicaraguan historiography.
The head of the Sandinista voting group
in the National Assembly wanted to read
it, so I gave him a copy and told him that
if he didn’t like it, it would not be published. He wrote the preface. The owner of
the press also supported it, as well as the
chief cultural officer of the Mayoralty of
Managua.
Two notable examples are these:
Figure 4: Remains of an individual found during
the investigation.
The reaction of some historians of the
conservative party and also of the party
of Caronel Jose Dolores Estrada, hero of
the battle, was one of indifference, even
to the point of belittling the researchers.
One person commented that one of the
researchers was like William Walker because his surname also begins with the
letter W2.
In a larger sense the problem some had
was that the true history of Nicaragua
is being changed, that is to say, a process of historical and archaeological investigation was being confused with the
process of nationalism. And doubtless
considerations of national feeling and
personal opinions have made history a
fruitful activity and at times controversial.
1 Another alternative is that someone modified the exterior in order to fool 150 future historians.
2 Another comment was that the results of the investigation were mere speculation. For some it is more doubtful that the filibusters could
1. The case of Sir Eric S. Thompson’s
opinion and the inability to read the
Mayan glyphs: Champollon’s deciphering of the Egyptian glyphs is an outstanding feat which should have suggested
how to decipher the Mayan glyphs. In the
1840’s John Lloyd Stephens suggested
a process like that used by Jean Francois Chapollion in Egypt would work.
But the intellectual heritage of Athanasius Kircher, and later that of Sir Eric S.
Thompson, had the effect of preventing
understanding of the messages of the
ruins, Mayan writings, and ultimately of
Mayan history for an entire century, and
is a good example of the effect of the
orthodox thinking which slowed the development of knowledge of the Mayan
language through its writing3.
Kircher suggested the idea that the
glyphs might represent ideas or symbols not represented by a language, something perhaps impossible. Thompson,
expert in calculating Mayan numbers
and dates, never thought that the glyphs
represented sounds and Mayan words
from a language existing at the time of
the Mayas. Besides this, he attacked the
school of thought which argued that the
glyphs were a form of writing with its own
grammar and that they were written in the
form of a Mayan language. The effect of
Thompson’s influence on Mayan studies
was that Mayan studies did not advance
during his entire lifetime.Thompson died
in 1975 and the ability to begin deciphering the glyphs took on speed. Today,
most of the glyphs have been interpreted,
comprising a written history of many places and ruins in Mayan territory in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The impact of orthodoxy greatly
delayed the study of glyphs and Mayan
languages.
The advantage of having another source of information is that it broadens our
knowledge of the past. On another occasion Sir Eric S. Thompson revived this
reasoning. Since the Classic period of
the Maya ended shortly after 900 A.D. or
the year 300 of Islamic calculation, there
were no histories of it created by the Spaniards who conquered Mayan-speaking
lands in the 16th and 17th centuries. The
information generated by archaeology,
directed by Thompson, covered the catalogs of glyphs, maps of buildings, examination of human remains, treatments
of the pottery sequence, and work on the
handling and use of stones, among other
subjects. But this was not the history or
histories of the Mayas, nor of any city,
nor of any king. The image of the Mayas
as intellectuals calculating the movement of the stars, a non-violent people,
was very similar to an ideal of behavior
of academics of the 20th century; it was
the creation of various researchers who
worked without knowing the content of
the inscriptions, writings and stories of
have fought for four hours at 30 meters distance from the mansion, shooting perhaps 600 times, and only leaving 68 bullets in the walls.
Perhaps with very por aim.
14 Mi Museo y Vos
3 See, eg, Michael D. Coe, Breaking the Maya Code, Thames & Hudson, New York, 1999.
Mi Museo y Vos
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the Mayas, which emerged only when a
new generation began to read the Mayan
glyphs and inscriptions, beginning in the
1970’s. And a history and documentation
of Maya culture began thanks to this new
source of information about the Mayas in
their own words. The Mayas emerge from
their writings and inscriptions not as a
society of intellectuals, but as a dynamic
culture involved in dynastic wars between
city-states, with wars, early imperalism,
assassination of kings who had been
overthrown, and self-mutilation. Or as
may be, a culture within Meso-American
traditions4.
Clearly, being able to understand the
Mayan writings and inscriptions opens
a huge base of information not available
when using only the information drawn
from traditional archaeology. And one
can note the usefulness of history in modifying the orthodox view of history and
orthodox archaeology. It is information
which is complete and different from other
sources, and provides information not accessible through other approaches. The
reaction is to defend the orthodox when
one can place other sources side by side,
which can provide information strongly
contradictory of orthodoxy.
2. In the case of the history of the
United States: the view of George
Bancroft as orthdoxy and the work of
Charles A. Beard, The Economic Interpretation of the United States Constitution (1913): In U.S. history, there is
another example of orthodoxy standing in
the way of historicl research. Since 1789,
many have written U.S. history in various
ways. As if typical of histories written by
historians with nationalistic interest, the
first century of U.S. history reflects an
attitude defining the development of the
United States as the work of God and
destiny. Perhaps the most well known
historian was George Bancroft, author
of several books on the U.S. and related histories. For example, he asked for
many documents from President Cuadra
on Nicaraguan colonial history. His practice was to make an exhaustive survey of
a theme before writing about it5.
In his writings, he attributed the development of the United States to four factors,
one being divine providence.
The accepted thinking about U.S. history changed completely when progressive historian Charles A. Beard rejected
completely the idea that the history of the
4 There is little evidence, but the possibility exists that the Maya were familiar with various psychotropic drugs such as Brugmansia
suaveolens (floripón), Ipamoea violácea, and mushrooms, possibly Amanita muscaria. At least the Maya made drawings of toadstools
or mushrooms very similar to the famous Amanita muscaria. It’s more difficult to say about cocaine, but the Nahuas in the area of the
cacique Nicaragua described substances and effects of those substances very similar to the leaves of Erythroxolom coca.
5 It seems that Cuadra sent many documents to Bancroft, and they were never returned to Nicaragua. A Bancroft collection exists at a
California university. The documents sent by President Cuadra have not been identified as part of this collection.
16 Mi Museo y Vos
United States was directed by God and
proposed that the history of the formation of the Constitution in 1787 was guided and directed by the economic and
political interests of the authors of the
Constitution. That was a century ago,
and the battle continues. The history
of the U.S.Constitution follows various
paths, interpretations and doctrinal disputes in historic journals, conferences
and in departments of history at docent
of universities inside and outside the United States. There is only one constant:
George Bancroft’s view of history, the
most accepted in intellectual circles at
the end of the 19th century, the true orthodoxy, today is rejected by all. Similarly
the complete rejection of the intellectual
stance of Sir Eric S. Thompson as to
the impossibility of reading the Mayan
glyphs is another example of how the accepted thinking of one point in time may
be rejected due to new information, new
historians and archaeologists.
In what pertains to Central American
history, the reverse is also true. There is
abundant written information about conflicts. For El Salvador there is information
about General Gerardo Barrios, who was
captured by President Martinez and sent
to El Salvador, where they shot him. The
historian of Martinez, Jerónimo Pérez,
wrote that the execution was a big surprise. Which I do not believe. Archaeology
possibly can help with the understanding
of what happened with General Barrios.
In 19th century history there were movements to forcibly unify Central America, led by General Justo Rufino Barrios.
There were battles where an elite formed
by yoiung men, such as José Santos Zelaya y Benjamín Zeledón, received the
training they applied during the following
thirty years. And this movement ended
when Barrios received a bullet in the
heart. But, do we know everything about
this movement? I believe that we do not.
And a detailed examination of all the documents, the battlefields and knowledge
of the firearms and their bullets could
only enhance the complete knowledge of
the history of the liberal movement and
the reactions of those who opposed it in
Central America.
Another example of archaeological inquiry —the Battle of Namisigue. In 1907,
possibly because of resentment between
President Zelaya and President Bonilla,
the army and navy of Nicaragua attacked
Honduras and its ally, El Salvador. Santos
Zelaya’s attempt to establish a Prussian
academy in Managua, the incorporation
of Prussian strategy in the use of Maxim
machine gunes and Krupp cannons, was
complemented by the Honduras recourse to American mercenaries, General
Lee Christmas, Sam Dreben and Tracy Richardson, like what Castellón and
Jerez had done with William Walker 60
years earlier. The rsult was decisive in
Namisigue when the Nicaraguan army firing machine guns destroyed the armies
of Honduras and El Salvador. Little has
been written in Nicaragua about the foreign policies of Santos Zelaya and this
battle, and even less has been written
in Honduras and El Salvador about this
battle of great importance. Located not
Mi Museo y Vos
17
far from San Marcos de Colon, the battl field of Namisigue is partly intact, as
was the battlefield of San Jacinto. The
battle of Little Bighorn of Custer in 1876
was only clarified after a study of where
the bullets landed and where the shells
of cartridges of the army and the native
Americans were left. All the army participant died, none of the victors could write.
The archaeologists, using a methodology independent from writing finally figured out what happened in 19866. And
the knowledge of how the British infantry of the Duke of Wellington defeated
Napoleon’s Old Guard was completed
only in the 1960’s when they excavated
the site of the defeat to develop the concept of “bunching” or gathering together
when receiving much fatal fire and tropos
had lost their ability to respond. No participant wrote about this phenomenon and
the store of written information is scanty;
150 years later, archaeologists figured
out what had happened. Before June 18,
1815, the Old Guard had never lost in
an attack. The archaeologists explained
why for the first time Wellington could defeat them and end the political career of
Napoleon Bonaparte.
For the future
Having rejected the hallowed hagiography of a country’s history in its lifeless
form, one can think about a process
which incorporates history and archaeology as two information sources each
completing the other. These are suggested paths to explore:
1. In Nicaragua, the victory of the liberals
at the Cuesta de Plomo, 1893. It’s easy
to detect the bullets of the protagonists.
And the place is clearly identified.
2. The wars at the end of the regime of
José Santos Zelaya, the Mena war and
the attack on Masaya by the Marines in
October, 1912.
3. Several attacks on the cathedral of
Leon in the 1820s and the Guerra de Espina.
4. Determining how many buildings in
Granada still have bullets in their walls,
removing them and identifying the era
they belong to, especially the former
Convento San Francisco.
5. Seeing whether there are remains
from attacks by indigenous people in the
ruins of Santa Maria de Buena Esperanza and later Nueva Segovia.
3. In 1532 Pedro de Alvarado stole ships
and sunk at least one in the bay of El
Realejo. It’s worth a search, and Alvarado told about the area in which he sunk
it.
4. In 1854, General Ponciano Corral
sunk a boat belonging to the liberals near
Isla Zapatera and the Isla el Muerto.
5. The historian Alejandro Bolaños identified one of the Vanderbilt boats, which
had two wheels instead or one or two helixes, on the beach near La Virgen Bay,
which should be studied.
Nicaraguan history and archaeology
form a single body of information about
the country and can only support and
complete each other. In the end, there
can be no contradiction between the two.
Each one is the other side of the other.
Because of this it’s worth the effort to carry out both types of studies in order to
finally describe what happened in Nicaragua and Central America in the past.
In matters of marine archaeology, there
are at least four that deserve attention:
1. A boat on the other side of the El Diablo rapids, at the Castillo, Rio San Juan.
It is easily seen. It warrants study.
2. Admiral Fayssoux destroyed a Costa
Rican warship near the bay of San Juan
del Sur. With modern instruments possibly one could find it by searching the
bottom of the ocean.
6 See: Fox, Richard Allan Jr., Archaeology, History, and Custer´s Last Battle, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1992. and Keegan,
John, The Face Of Battle, Guildford, Biddles, 1978, and Weller Jac, Wellington at Waterloo, Greenhill Books, London, 1992.
18 Mi Museo y Vos
Mi Museo y Vos
19
The White Slip Ceramic Horizon of Early
Postclassic Mexico and Central America
wares, especially relating to periform
vessels that were likely used for ritual
chocolate consumption. In this paper we
document where and when this complex
appears, followed by consideration of
possible cultural interactions.
McCafferty became interested in the
Gulf Coast-style whitewares during his
dissertation research at Cholula (Puebla, Mexico). Whereas many of the later
Postclassic Cholula polychromes were
painted on an orange slip, a large percentage of the polychromes from the
Early Postclassic featured a white slip.
These corresponded to the polychrome
type originally described by Eduardo Noguera (1954) as ‘policroma mate.’ As a
result of the seriation analysis conducted
during this research, it was discovered
that the whiteware polychromes dated to
the Early Postclassic period (local Middle/Late Tlachichualtepetl phase) (A.D.
900-1200). Two distinctive types were
identified: Cuaxiloa Matte Polychrome
and Ocotlan Red Rim: Cristina variety
(Figure 2).
In a recent publication, Leonardo López
Luján (2013) recounts what he claims may
be the first article published on Mesoamerican archaeology, dealing with the site of
Isla de Sacrificios, Veracruz. The article
included several lithographs of artifacts
encountered, including several vessels of
A secure dated context for these whiteware polychromes was found by Sergio Suárez Cruz in a sealed well from the
urban area of San Pedro Cholula (McCafferty 1996). Mendable fragments of the
Ocotlan: Cristina variety were found with
mixed debris dating between A.D. 900
Geoffrey McCafferty* and Carrie L. Dennett**
*University of Calgary, Canadá.
**University of Calgary and the Denver Art Museum.
T
wenty-five years ago McCafferty
and John Hoopes began a collaboration to investigate the apparent
relationship between central Mexico
and the Greater Nicoya region of Central America. This theme is the impetus behind recent research in Pacific
Nicaragua, and is also the foundation
of longstanding interest in highland/
lowland interaction during the Epiclassic
and Early Postclassic of Cholula, Mexico. A material trait that links these two
topics is the use of polychrome decoration painted over white-slipped serving
20 Mi Museo y Vos
what has come to be called Isla de Sacrificios White on Cream (Figure 1). These
feature curvilinear painted decorations in
white (outlined in brown) on a cream background, with the decorations occasionally
outlined with fine-line incising. Similar pottery has been found at other sites in the
Gulf Coast region of Veracruz, including
Cerro Montoso, and it is traditionally dated
to the Early Postclassic period (A.D. 9001200).
Figure 1: Isla de Sacrificios White on Cream
from Veracruz, Mexico.
Figure 2: Cuaxiloa Matte Polychrome and
Ocotlan Red Rim: Cristina subtype from
Cholula.
Mi Museo y Vos
21
and 1000. These polychromes closely
resemble those discussed by López Lújan for Isla de Sacrificios in terms of painted decoration, while others have Mayalike iconography but are made from local
clay sources (Figure 3). Another context
excavated was a platform of the Great
Pyramid that included actual Gulf imports
associated with the earliest polychromes
in the sequence, supporting a suggestion
originally made by H.B. Nicholson (1982)
that the earliest polychromes were likely
related to Gulf influences.
Figure 3: Ocotlan Red Rim: Cristina subtype
with Gulf motifs.
Imported Isla de Sacrificios whitewares
are easily distinguished by their very fine
paste composition, lacking obvious inclusions and having a white/cream color, in
contrast to Cholula paste that is a relatively coarse textured and light brown in
color. Nevertheless, some of the painted
decoration found on locally produced
Ocotlan Cristina variety polychromes is
clearly reminiscent of the Gulf style (Figure 4). Cholula variations, however,
also include more diverse patterns, including realistic representations of birds,
22 Mi Museo y Vos
octopi, and at least one depicting a lord
with an elaborate feathered headdress.
Figure 5: Cuaxiloa Matte Polychrome.
Figure 4: Ocotlan Red Rim: Cristina subtype.
The second type of whiteware from Early
Postclassic Cholula – Cuaxiloa Matte
Polychrome – has a less glossy, more
matte finish, and the patterns generally
consist of a panel of geometric motifs
(Figure 5). This type has a closer resemblance to the dominant Yanhuitlan Redon-Cream polychrome type from the
Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca (Figure
6). Yanhuitlan Red-on-Cream also features a panel of geometric motifs over a
cream slip, and first appears in the Early
Postclassic and continues through the
Late Postclassic period. Whereas minor
stylistic variations may distinguish different Mixtec polities the overarching type
is ubiquitous in the Mixteca Alta. It is not
found in the adjoining Mixteca Baja or
in the Valley of Oaxaca. Notably the famous ‘Mixtec polychrome’ is not introduced until the Late Postclassic period, so
is not directly related to this Early Postclassic manifestation of the whiteware
horizon.
Figure 6: Yanhuitlan Red on Cream from the
Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca.
The whiteware horizon in central Mexico and the Gulf Coast remains enigmatic. It is linked to the Early Postclassic,
with the best dated remains coming from
Cholula. This is a time period associated with the Olmeca-Xicallanca occupation of the city, a group who are believed to have originated in the southern
Gulf Coast region (McCafferty 2007).
They may have been ethnically Maya,
but this was a multi-ethnic area where
several languages were spoken at the
time of the Spanish conquest. Lowland/
highland interaction may also relate to
southern Gulf Maya incursions into the
highlands beginning as early as A.D.
600. Whiteware polychromes are very
limited in their use, and are not present
in the more ‘Nahua’ parts of the central
highlands such as the Basin of Mexico
or Morelos. At Tula, a few examples of
whitewares were initially identified as Nicoya polychromes from Central America
(Healan 1988; Figure 7), but recently
have been more accurately identified as
belonging to the Honduran Las Vegas
polychrome tradition (contemporary with
Nicoya polychromes).
Having demonstrated the development
of whiteware ceramics in Mexico, we
turn now to the other major manifestation of this whiteware horizon from the
Greater Nicoya region of Central America. Greater Nicoya is comprised of Pacific Nicaragua and northwestern Costa
Rica. It has long been considered as the
southern frontier of greater Mesoamerica (McCafferty et al. 2012), especially
during the Postclassic period. Early Colonial chroniclers recorded the dominant
languages of the region as dialects of
Nahuat (Nicarao) and Oto-Manguean
(Chorotega and Monimbo), and cultural
traits as well as migration myths clearly
linking the inhabitants with central and
southern Mexico. In fact, these ‘mythstories’ identify Cholula as a point of origin
for migrating groups, and that the identifying term Chorotega is actually a derivation of the term ‘Choluteca.’ We note,
Mi Museo y Vos
23
however, that these traditional connections may not be as clear as originally
assumed. While it is absolutely reasonable to accept this linguistic argument,
there are certain other factors that cannot be overlooked or ignored. For example, Chorotega was also the name of a
dominant chief at the time of Spanish
conquest, and that the term Choluteca
has its strongest connections (linguistic, ethnic, and geographical) in western
Honduras, just north of the Greater Nicoya region.
The Classic to Postclassic transition,
locally known as the Bagaces to Sapoá
transition, features a dramatic shift in
ceramic types from the use of a wellburnished red surface to the innovative
use of white slip with polychrome decoration. Recent excavations at the site of
El Rayo provide a well-dated context for
this transition, while an additional 20 radiocarbon dates provide a solid basis for
a microchronology of whiteware ceramic
development from A.D. 800 and 1250
along the Isthmus of Rivas. Numerous
types and varieties of whiteware pottery
have been identified based on surface
treatment and decorative elements (Figure 8). Vallejo Polychrome is generally
credited with being the most ‘Mexican’ in
terms of symbolic elements, especially
in the use of feathered serpent motifs
(Manion and McCafferty 2013; Figure 9)
The association of Greater Nicoya whitewares with Mexican ceramics has long
been recognized, dating back to Samuel
Lothrop’s (1926) two-volume Ceramics
24 Mi Museo y Vos
Figure 8: Greater Nicoya whiteware polychromes.
migration to the region. This physical human impact was likely coupled with the
effects of protracted exchange and/or
interaction between Greater Nicoya and
the Mesoamerican southeast periphery
(Honduras and/or El Salvador). The result
appears to represent a "ceramogenesis"
that accompanies a developing "Chorotega ethnogenesis" occurring between A.D.
600 and 800.
Figure 7: ‘Nicoya’ polychromes from Tula, Hidalgo in the Museo Nacional de Antropologia,
Mexico City.
of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Art historian Jane Day (1994) tied the Greater
Nicoya polychromes to the somewhat
ambiguous Mixteca-Puebla stylistic tradition, while noting that it may have begun earlier in Central America than in
central Mexico.
Development of the whiteware tradition is
typically viewed as the "arrival marker" of
migrating foreign ethnic (Mexican) groups
into Pacific Nicaragua. Because these
whitewares have no antecedent in a mature form coming from Mexico, however,
we are now more inclined to view this tradition as the end result of intensive ethnic
mixing following (or during continuous)
Figure 9: Vallejo Polychromes with feathered
serpent imagery. Photo (a) courtesy of Mi
Museo, and (b) by G. McCafferty.
In northwest Costa Rica, the development of Galo Polychrome after A.D. 500
(the first true polychrome of the region)
is directly linked to contemporaneous
developments in the Ulua Valley of Honduras. The relationship between Ulua
Polychrome: Nebla class, for example,
and Galo: Jaguar and Lagarto varieties is undeniable; vessel forms, color
palettes and overall presentation are
inextricably linked (Figure 10). In fact,
the resemblances go beyond emulation
or copying, and are likely the result of
craftsperson exchange and/or training;
Mi Museo y Vos
25
probably Greater Nicoya potters being trained
in Honduras, because
the iconographic content is truly 'indigenous'
to Costa Rica. This argument for connectivity
does not rest on ceramics alone. During this
period we also witness
the appearance of Classic period Maya iron ore
mirrors and Ulua style
marble vases (elite obFigure 10: Comparison of (a) Galo Polychrome from Costa Rica
jects that are probably and (b) Ulua Polychrome from Honduras.
the result of peer gifting
and alliance formation)
schemes), however, seems to be more
in archaeological contexts in Costa Rica (Dennett and Blai- aligned with contemporaneous (Classic
ney 2014; Dennett et al. 2008), as well to Terminal/Epiclassic period) developas the height of post Olmec jade manu- ments in Copador wares from the Copán
facture in Central America, with raw ma- Valley area.
terials sources believed to be from the
While some of these changes were
southeastern periphery.
likely the result of developing ties betIn Pacific Nicaragua, the relationship ween distant groups in a broad intewith Honduras continues, but in a very raction sphere, we believe that these
different fashion than we see in Costa sudden changes, as well as the arrival
Rica. Galo polychrome is being imitated of actual migrants rather than just ideas/
here, rather than evolving alongside the technologies, was spurred on by a very
Guanacaste/Nicoya-Honduras relations- punctuated natural event – the devastahip seen so strongly in Costa Rica. The ting eruption of Volcan Ilopango ca. A.D.
development of local polychrome tradi- 536. This massive eruption had apotions is underway in Pacific Nicaragua calyptic impact in the local fallout region
after A.D. 600, nonetheless, with both of El Salvador, with subsequent longBelo and Momta Polychromes (Figure term environmental impacts directed
11) being generated out of the Ayala site, toward the north. We cannot ignore the
just southwest of modern day Granada timing of all these events concurrently,
city (Salgado González 1996a, 1996b). and must also consider the impact of
Their connection (in form and decorative other major events that followed in the
26 Mi Museo y Vos
Figure 11: Comparison of Momta Polychrome from Nicaragua and Copador Polychrome from Honduras.
next hundred years or so, including the
elite-political dissolution of the Maya
southern lowlands. Taken together, these events likely served as the impetus
for a significant reconfiguration of existing trade/exchange routes, as well as
the actual migration of human bodies
out of the peripheral impact area.
Whatever the mechanisms, by A.D. 800
Chorotega groups occupied the Greater
Nicoya region and had developed the
local whiteware tradition. We currently
have no evidence of whitewares anywhere in Central America (or Mesoamerica) at an earlier date. Interestingly,
following on the heels of the "Papagayo
revolution" is the appearance of Las Vegas polychromes in Honduras ca. A.D.
950. Support for this argument can also
be found in disseminated technological
knowledge from Honduras, specifically
the production of mold-made figurines,
which also marks the beginning of the
Sapoá period in different manifestations.
The earliest Papagayo varieties, Culebra and Serpiente, show affiliation with
Mesoamerican ceramics...and not necessarily those from Mexico (Figure 12).
There is sufficient material and iconographic influence from Honduras and El
Salvador to account for these first manifestations, especially with regard to serpent and human imagery. Both Culebra
and Serpiente varieties are most closely
tied to types such as Ulua Polychrome,
Copador wares, and later Las Vegas
Polychromes in the Terminal Classic.
Feathery serpent imagery, in its earliest
manifestation in Greater Nicoya appears
more closely tied with the Maya Vision
serpent and stylistic aspects of Copador
wares, than the Postclassic idea of the
feathered serpent as witnessed in later
Vallejo Polychrome. This re-evaluation
of early ‘feathery’ serpent imagery, and
a refocusing toward the Maya vision serpent, is also taking place in central Mexican research (Jordan 2013).
A clue to this connection may be found
in one of the diagnostic vessel forms of
the whiteware tradition from throughout
this pan-Mesoamerican region. Tall drinking vessels were among the whitewares
Mi Museo y Vos
27
found at Isla de Sacrificios, Cholula, Tula,
and throughout the Greater Nicoya region
(Figure 13). We believe these were used
for ceremonial consumption of cacao –
residue analysis of contents from periform
vessels from the El Rayo cemetery is currently underway to test this hypothesis.
If the overarching pattern of cacao consumption is tied to the whiteware ceramic
tradition, then the regions associated with
the mythstorical migration – Soconosco,
El Salvador, and Greater Nicoya – are all
prime cacao growing areas. Perhaps part
of the impetus was the economic control
of this valuable commodity.
The whiteware ceramic complex of Early
Postclassic Mesoamerica and the Greater Nicoya region of Central America is
just that: complex. As researchers continue to clarify the relative chronologies of
these areas, and as detailed iconographic
analysis explores the dynamic symbolic
Referencias
Day, Jane Stevenson 1994 Central Mexican Imagery in Greater Nicoya. In MixtecaPuebla: Discoveries and Research in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology, edited
by H.B. Nicholson and E. Quiñones Keber, pp. 235-248. Labyrinthos Press, Culver
City, CA.
Dennett, Carrie L. y Marc G. Blainey 2014 Reflecting on Exchange: Maya Iron ore
Mirrors beyond the Southeast Periphery. In Reflections of the Soul: Mirrors in the
Mesoamerican Realm, edited by Emiliano Gallaga and Marc Blainey. University
Press of Colorado, Boulder. In press.
Figure 12: (a) Papagayo Polychrome:
Serpiente variety. (b) Drawing of a detail
from Lintel 15 at the Classic Maya site of
Yaxchilan showing a vision serpent (Wikimedia
Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:YaxchilanDivineSerpent.jpg#filelinks).
contents of the vessels, whiteware ceramics offer important insights into the cultural, ideological and exchange relations
linking all of these regions across time.
Dennett, Carrie L., Christina Luke, y Paul F. Healy 2008 Which Came First? The
Marble or the Clay?: Ulua-style Vase Production and Precolumbian. Documento
presentado en the Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology,
Vancouver, BC.
Healan, Dan M. 1989 [ed.] Tula of the Toltecs: Excavations and Survey. Universidad
de Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa.
Jordan, Keith 2013 Serpents, Skeletons, and Ancestors?: The Tula Coatepantli
Revisted. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:243-274
López Luján, Leonardo 2013 La Isla de Sacrificios y la arqueología en los albores
del México independiente. Arqueología Mexicana 124:80-87.
Lothrop, Samuel K. 1926 Ceramics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. 2 vols. Heye
Foundation, Museum of the American Indian Memoir 8, New York, New York.
Manion, Jessica L. y Geoffrey McCafferty 2013 Feathered Serpents of Pacific
Nicaragua. Mi Museo y Vos 26: 19-24.
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. 1996 The Ceramics and Chronology of Cholula, Mexico.
Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2):299-323.
Figure 13: Whiteware cacao vessels from the Gulf Coast, Cholula, Tula, and Nicaragua.
28 Mi Museo y Vos
2007 So What Else is New? A Cholula-centric Perspective on Lowland/Highland
Interaction in the Classic/ Postclassic Transition. En Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá,
Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, editado por
Jeff Karl Kowalski and Cynthia Kristan-Graham, pp.449-481. Dumbarton Oaks
Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C.
Mi Museo y Vos
29
McCafferty, Geoffrey G., Fabio Esteban Amador, Silvia Salgado González y Carrie
L. Dennett 2012 Archaeology on Mesoamerica's Southern Frontier. En The Oxford
Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, editado por Deborah Nichols and
Christopher A. Pool, pp. 83-105. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Antique furniture of Mi Museo
McCafferty, Geoffrey G. y Larry L. Steinbrenner 2005 The Meaning of the MixtecaPuebla Stylistic Tradition on the Southern Periphery of Mesoamerica: The View
from Nicaragua. En Art for Archaeology’s Sake: Material Culture and Style across
the Disciplines Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Chacmool Conference, editado
por Andrea Waters-Rist, Christine Cluny, Calla McNamee and Larry Steinbrenner.
Pp.282-292 , The Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary, AB.
Nicholson, Henry B. 1982 The Mixteca-Puebla Concept Re-visited. En The Art and
Iconography of Late Post-Classic Central Mexico, editado por E.H. Boone, pp. 227254. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
Noguera, Eduardo 1954 La Cerámica Arqueológica de Cholula. Editorial Guaranía,
México, D.F.
Salgado González, Silvia 1996a Social Change in the Region of Granada, Pacific
Nicaragua (1000 B.C. - 1522 A.D.). Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New
York, Albany, NY.
1996b The Ayala Site: A Bagaces Period Site Near Granada, Nicaragua. En
Paths to Central American Prehistory, edited by Frederick W. Lange, pp.191-220.
University Press of Colorado, Niwot, CO.
Martha Barahona
Guide at Mi Museo
F
urniture has existed since the remote
past; there are no exact dates for its
emergence. We only know that it dates from primitive times.
Ancient furnishings vary a great deal,
depending on the era of their creation.
There are many factors which explain
why so many styles of furnishings exist,
such as the choices made by the artist
who designed each piece, and what led
the artist to innovate.
At Mi Museo, Peter Kolind has a collection of antique furnishings which illustrate
the work of architectural art. In them one
can see the evolution of decorative art
applied to furniture such as armchairs,
30 Mi Museo y Vos
cabinets, chests, mirrors, showcases,
etc. Their designs are described by the
name of their style, such as Jacobin,
Louis XV. The pieces date from the end
of the 19th and beginning of the 20th
century.
Cabinets are known to exist at least since
the Roman era. Initially, they were used
only to store weapons, as their name in
Spanish (armario) suggests. Soon they
were used to keep all kinds of objects
safe.
Starting in the 18th century, cabinets and
book shelvesfor displaying objects under
glass were built, as well as cupboards.
These were suitable for use in a salon
(living room).
You can see some of these kinds of
cabinets in the corridors of Mi Museo.
They may date from more than a century
ago (Figure 1).They were used to store
clothing and jewelry, and even had secret compartments for documents and
money. Today the cabinets are used to
store various encyclopedias.
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The antique furniture is made of the precious tropical wood of Nicaragua, including: royal cedar, oak, macuelizo, laurel,
quachipilin, and mahogany. Thanks to
the extraordinary abilities of our talented
artisans it's possible to see and preserve
these items of furniture, which are a true
master work of Nicaraguan art.
The museum also has a collection of furniture imported from Denmark. Among
the outstanding pieces are chairs and
armchairs from great Danish designers,
for example the Jacobsen Series 7 chairs
in the meeting room. This is one of the
most famous Nordic chairs representing
Scandinavian interior design worldwide.
Simply designed, with a wooden seat and
metal structure, more chairs in this design
have been sold than any other Nordic
chair in history. There are also the armchairs made of Danish oak and leather,
designed by Borge Morgensen, which are
located on one of the museum corridors
where visitors may rest while enjoying a
cup of organic coffee (Figure 4).
Figure 1: Antique cabinet at Mi Museo.
A specialist in antique furniture who is
familiar with the history of these objects
has visited the museum facilities. One of
the pieces of furniture located on the first
corridor of the museum drew his attention. The design, decoration and finish of
the piece suggest that it's very old, possibly dating from the 19th century (Figure
2). He affirms that the armchair shows
traces of bullet fire, perhaps because during the epoch when Granada was involved in a series of wars, the people used
many items of furniture as barricades.
The antique furnishings in Mi Museo
seem to speak for themselves; they
are as rich in design as in detail. Their
handmade ornamentation and shapely
legs are unusual. All these artistic details
make them unique in their quality of
craftsmanship.
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Figure 3: Set of chairs, Model 3107, also
known as Series 7; 1955 collection of the
Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen.
Figure 4: Armchairs made of Danish oak and
leather; designed by Borge Mogensen, 1950
collection.
Figure 2: Antique armchair at Mi Museo.
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Visits to Mi Museo
I
n the second quarter of this year, from March 15 to June 15, Mi Museo received a
total of 3048 visits, of which 2025 are foreign, 264 nationals and 559 students. We
are happy to welcome visitors to the different places and have a follow tour of the
facilities of the museum for free.
The following is detailed information about the countries whose citizens visited Mi
Museo:
Nicaragua 725
E.E.U.U 694
Costa Rica 181
United King 136
Francia 111
Canada 108
Germany 74
Spain 42
Holland 38
Denmark 32
Italy 28
Guatemala 25
Australia 25
Argentina 24
Venezuela 23
Puerto Rico 19
Honduras 19
Mexico 15
Sweden 14
El Salvador 14
Belgium13
Finland 13
Chile 13
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New Zealand 12
Switzerland 10
Hungary 8
Paraguay 7
Japan 7
Poland 6
Austria 5
Ireland 5
Colombia 5
Brazil 4
Luxembourg 3
Peru 3
India 3
Russia 3
Israel 2
Greece 2
Panama 2
Portugal 1
Barbados 1
Ecuador 1
China 1
South Korea 1
Czech Republic 1
Mi Museo, Street Atravesada 505, Front Bancentro.
Granada, Nicaragua.
Phone: (505) 2552-7614
E-mail: mimuseo@hotmail.com
Hours of operation: Monday-Sunday: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Free admission
www.mimuseo.org
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www.facebook.com/mimuseo.granada