For Whom the Bells Fall: Metals from the Cenote Sagrado, Chichén Itzá

• Published in: Archaeometry Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 977 - 995
• Main Authors: Cockrell, B., Ruvalcaba Sil, J. L., Ortiz Díaz, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Bells; Copper; Gold; Mesoamerica; Metallurgy; Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy; X-Ray Diffraction; X-Ray Fluorescence
• ISSN: 0003-813X; 1475-4754
• DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12147

Bells of copper and copper alloys and gold–copper alloys were deposited in events at the Cenote Sagrado at Chichén Itzá, Mexico during the site's primary occupation (ad 750–1050) and in later centuries. Housed in three museums in the United States and Mexico, bells (n = 38) were evaluated for traces of fabrication and alteration using Vis–UV–IR optical microscopy. Bulk compositions were determined through p‐ED‐XRF. Phases and compositional variation by depth were characterized through XRD and RBS. The technological styles of bell groups were ascribed to communities of metallurgical practice, from West and Central Mexico to Costa Rica and Panama.