gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

For scholars involved in the reconstruction and interpretation of Mesoamerican social and cultural systems, Pre-Hispanic clothing provides a rich repository of valuable and revealing ethnographic data. This is particularly true in the case of special-purpose ritual garments. These esoteric costumes often contain clues as to their own probable place of origin and the rationale underlying their adoption by other peoples. The discovery of such information leads to a much fuller understanding and appreciation of the pageant-like ceremonies in which these symbolic costumes played such an intricate role. The subject of this paper, the Aztec quechquemitl, is an excellent and intriguing example of just such an enigmatic yet informative garment. The Nahuatl term quechquemitl probably comes from the word quechtli, “neck,” and quemi, “to put on a manta or cape” (Molina 1970: 88v). This female costume, often referred to in the literature as a shoulder shawl or neck cape, is still being worn today. It is made by joining two rectangles of material in such a way that when they are laid one atop the other a square is formed with a V at the neck (Fig. 1). When the costume is put on and its points turned front and back, the sloped shoulders of the wearer give the garment a unique triangular appearance. However, when the points of the quechquemitl are worn to the side, it is no longer so easily identified (Fig. 2); a scholar tracking the quechquemitl must be sharp-eyed indeed. In addition to being a rich repository of food, these fabled “Hot Lands” were famous for their highly desirable luxury goods. Tribute from this region consisted of such raw materials as feathers, down, and jadeite, and of worked items such as turquoise mosaics, warrior costumes, and strings of jade and turquoise stones (Berdan n.d.: 350). Most highly valued of these imported commodities, however, was cotton, the status fabric par excellence of the Aztec world.