Jadeite from Manzanal, Guatemala

Abstract

The use of jade by the ancient indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica was widespread and endured for a long time. The earliest jade objects from this region have been found in pre-Classic sites at Tlatilco, Zacatenco (Vaillant 1930), Ticoman (Vaillant 1930), Gualupita (Vaillant 1934), and El Arbollilo (Vaillant 1935) in Mexico; and Finca Arizona (Shook 1945) and Kaminaljuyii (Shook and Kidder 1952) in Guatemala. Radiocarbon dating of the Tlatilco site gave an age about 1500 B.C. (Libby 1952). The use of jade continued in Mexico until the early days of the Spanish colonial period when its use as a piedra de ijada or amulet for alleviating pain in the loins and for curing diseases of the kidney had a wide vogue. Fifty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, jade had become rare, largely because the supply obtainable from the nobles and chiefs was by then depleted (Monardes 1569), and very soon after the use and all knowledge of jade disappeared from Mesoamerica where but a short time before it was looked upon as the most precious of substances.