gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology

In the archaeological excavations carried out at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs’ main ceremonial building, archaeologists have recovered hundreds of objects representing rich offerings corresponding to the foundation of the pre-Hispanic city until the Spanish conquest (1325–1521 AD). Among the recovered objects, a significant number of greenstone artefacts, which were particularly appreciated by pre-Hispanic cultures, were found. They were produced using raw materials from the Mexico Basin and other Mesoamerican areas. Various green minerals (jadeites, antigorite, lizardite, diopside) and rocks (serpentinites and even green marble) may have been used in the production of these artefacts. Jadeite sources are located far away, in the Motagua River basin in Guatemala, and, as a result, we may expect that a limited number of jadeite objects arrived in Central Mexico through trade (Taube et al. 2004). Nevertheless, the identity and provenance of most of the different green stones employed as raw materials for producing beads, pendants, plaques, earplugs, and pectorals is still unknown. Because of that, the aim of this study is to identify the green minerals and/or rocks used for producing the artefacts and to establish a relationship between raw materials and their sources with the manufacturing techniques employed for the Aztec offerings. Some preliminary results on manufacturing trends and materials characterization for some greenstone objects are presented in this paper.