

Appendix 



Comment: Pearls come from a number of molluscs 

 and vary tremendously in quality. Most archaeo- 

 logical specimens would be classified as baroques 

 (irregular in form rather than purely spherical), 

 which would bring little or no price on the modern 

 market, but which nevertheless made attractive 

 nacreous ornaments and were valued as such in 

 ancient times. They are actually produced by a num- 

 ber of molluscs, afflicted by the intrusion of grains 

 of extraneous material into the mantel (the shell- 

 producing organ) of the animal. The molluscs which 

 produce the most perfect pearls in the area under 

 discussion are the so-called pearl oysters; in the Gulf 

 of Mexico and Caribbean, these are Pteria colymbus 

 and Finctada radiata\ in the Pacific, these are re- 

 placed by their cousins, Pteria sterna and Pinctada 

 mazatlanica. In the Gulf of California, the latter 

 species have been depleted by pearl fishing (Keen, 

 1958, p. 58). Many other genera produce pearls 

 of inferior quality. Among these are Strombus (S. 

 gigas, the largest conch in this part of the Atlantic lit- 

 toral, produces attractive but irregular pink pearls), 

 Turbinella, and other gastropods. And among the 

 bivalves are the giant Tridacna, several of the com- 

 mon edible oysters and clams and members of the 

 family Pinnidae (the "Sea Pens," see p. 24 above). 



Boekelman (1935, pp. 261—62), in evaluating 

 Oviedo's description of a pearl fishery in Nicaragua, 

 reaches some provocative conclusions: 



"A rather amusing point is brought out by Oviedo, 

 on page 617, regarding the sale or barter of the 

 pearls secured from these Pinna molluscs. It is a 

 well-known fact that the pearls produced by this 

 shell by no means can compare in their water to 

 those of the true pearl mollusc Meleagrina margari- 

 tifera. Oviedo explains that the natives (who ap- 

 parently fished for these shells primarily for food 

 purposes) did not discard the pearls found, and even 

 though their quality was not of the best . . . but 

 as pearls, according to Oviedo, at this time (1535) 

 were sold and bartered here by weight . . . they 

 mixed these inferior Pinna pearls with the better 

 ones, and obliged the purchaser to accept them, 

 whereupon the purchaser did the same when selling 

 in turn to the regular merchants. 



"While Oviedo exclaims on the apparent tricki- 

 ness of the natives as well as the Spanish purchasers, 

 I wonder if he is entirely right in drawing such con- 

 clusions, at least insofar as the Indians are concerned. 

 To mind comes the statement made by so many 



109 



chroniclers of how disappointed the early explorers 

 were upon finding the pearls spoiled by the action 

 of fire which was used to open the shells. However 

 it would appear these specimens had the same value 

 as the undamaged ones in the mind of the natives. 

 Could it not be quite probable, therefore, that in the 

 eyes of the natives of Nicaragua, pearls from the 

 Pinna shells held as great a value as those from 

 M. margaritifera, and that the distinction was made 

 by the Spaniards?* If so, Oviedo would have accused 

 the natives unfairly. The same could not be said of 

 the Spaniards who bought from them and know- 

 ingly sold them by weight to the next Spanish 

 purchaser." 



CIRRIPEDIA 



DZIBILCHALTUN: 32 barnacles, not identified 

 by a specialist, probably of the genus Balanus, were 

 found in a single Late Early period cache. Certainly 

 some (which could be fitted into scars) and prob- 

 ably all of these were removed from two large 

 Strombus costatus included in the cache, but they 

 were scattered throughout the cache material. The 

 large conchs were stripped of these and epiphytes 

 before interment. 



TIKAL: Moholy-Nagy's preliminary summary (M-- 

 MS) lists more than 200 Balanus. It will be inter- 

 esting to see if these were also epiphytic to larger 

 Mollusca in ceremonial offerings. 



ECHINODERMS 



BARTON RAMIE: "About fifty tiny tubular beads 

 were made from either Dentalium shell or echino- 

 derm spines (fig. 309,^). . . . They have been cut 

 at both ends" (W, p. 509). 



TIKAL: I echinoderm fragment, 2 "sand dollars," 

 context not yet specified (M— MS). 



* Bockelman's footnote, a point well-taken: "If the reader 

 will bear in mind the vital psychological diiTerence between 

 the Caucasian's viewpoint on pearls, and the more primitive- 

 minded civilizations, this point becomes clearer. To the more 

 civilized races pearls have a purely monetary and aesthetic 

 value, whereas the others value them primarily from a reli- 

 gious standpoint. This applies to shells in general. The greatest 

 market for pearls is not the United States, as might be sup- 

 posed from the great concentration of wealth in this country, 

 but in China, India, and Asiatic countries, and to a lesser 

 degree in Europe. In the East pearls still maintain their reli- 

 gious symbolism, in Europe less so, and in the United States 

 probably they have none." 



