Determinación de medidas que regulen los impactos que causa la actividad

As mentioned throughout the thesis, numerous bells have been found incompletes. Almost half of Lamanai’s bells were not useable (see Tab.9; 31 out of 79 bells). The frequent miscast may be due to the difficulty of casting an object with a clay and charcoal core. Verly has cast several cat’s heads following an Egyptian model and has encountered similar problems, notably the spreading of the liquified bronze on the surface of the core (Personal communication: 2019). Numerous specimens were miscast, with the walls of the resonator chamber usually partially or totally lacking, but a number of initially complete bells were found flattened. As Noted by Simmons and Cockrell, bell’s flattening was intentional and certainly not due to taphonomic processes. They consider that hammering bells was part of the recycling process.

Excepting one, all flattened bells were found in Yglesia’s layers (A.D. 1300-1750), the presence of a unique bell predating this period, support the proposed recycling.

Although I agree with this interpretation, flattening bells may have served other additional purposes. Hendon (2010) showed that objects possess agency and exert it upon humans. Objects should not be viewed as simple intermediaries between human beings, but ‘are another possible participant in ‘interpersonal’ and intersubjective relations, a participant that is not merely a tool, a device, or a means to an end, but an agent that helps shape the relationship through its properties, its purpose, and its connections to larger social projects’ (Hendon 2010 in Katz, 2018: 185). In this framework, bells should be considered impactful elements that both developed human interactions but also modified them. As stated above, depictions of human faces along with ethnolinguistic analyses demonstrated that bells were perceived as a representation of the actual voice of their forebears in Mesoamerica. This notion is not exclusive to bells since several aerophones, including conch shells and flutes, have representations of ancestors on them (Barber et al., 2009; Carter, 2010). As breath and voice were precious (Taube 2004), the breath and voice of instruments were certainly valued as well.

Numerous instruments analysed by Katz (2018) had kill holes in the head. Maya considered that power emanated from important objects (Stanton et al. 2008:235); therefore, the presence of drill holes on discarded instruments could be sign of termination rituals.

85 Often associated with death, those ceremonies were used to remove the power from an item (Stanton et al., 2008:236). By ritualistically demolishing the instrument, its agency and voice were removed (Healy 1988 in Katz 2018: 186). Katz exemplifies this principle with the Aztec ritual sacrifice of Tezcatlipoca. The Aztecs chose an immaculate youth to act as the impersonator of the god, Tezcatlipoca, for a year. He was adored, taught to play the flute, and learned to behave as a member of the utmost dignity (Both 2002; Stevenson 1968 in Katz 2018: 186). He would walk and play his flute through the streets of Tenochtitlan every day. Twenty days before the impersonator’s sacrifice, four wives were selected and had to attend to his every desire (Stevenson 1968 in Katz 2018: 186). On its sacrificial day, the Aztecs would take the youth five kilometres away from the city. As he ascended the steps of a temple, the youngster shattered his flutes and was quickly sacrificed. “By playing the flutes, acting like a noble, and personifying Tezcatlipoca for a year, he (the impersonator) has become Tezcatlipoca in the mind of the Aztecs. The flutes, therefore, are themselves agents within this ritual. They have helped to bestow god-like qualities on the impersonator and are therefore ritually charged. It is also possible (that) the voice of the flutes represented the voice of Tezcatlipoca (Both 2002). Just as objects need to be destroyed or ritually defaced to remove the agency of the previous owner (Stanton et al. 2008), it seems the flutes of the impersonator also needed to be destroyed in order to remove their power” (Katz 2018: 186). Although bells generally do not show evidence of kill holes91_{, they were frequently flattened.} When worn during performances, this item likely bestowed god-like qualities and power upon the performer. Thus, before discarding and/or recycling them, Maya most likely felt the necessity to ritually destroy them.

Next, one of the bells found at Zacpetén was posed in a ceremonial waste deposit composed of deity censer sherds and hematite mirror fragments. Pugh states that all those ritual objects had been symbolically “killed” before discard (2009: 379). Little information is given on the state of those artefacts, excepting that censers were smashed to pieces. A picture of Zacpetén bells is available on the Itza Archaeology website92 and shows that they were both most likely

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Cockrell realised his PhD’s dissertation on 168 copper artefacts found in the Chichén Itzá’s Grand Cenote. Among the 38 bells analysed (Cockrell 2014: 10), he denoted four bells marked by conical depressions, seemingly pierced by a drill (Cockrell 2014: 15). This may be evidence of ritual destruction in the western Mexican tradition, but so far similar features have yet to be noticed in the Maya tradition.

miscast and not flattened. Without a close-up investigation, a definitive answer is not accessible. Nevertheless, Pugh raised an interesting point when mentioning the presence of this bell. Discarded iron, copper and gold items, found in Zacpetén Historic period, were placed along an east-west axial path to mimic the passage of the Sun. Iron was considered a subtype of ta’-k’in, that are metals associated with the Sun; copper as its excrement and gold as its representation (2009: 379). If Pugh’s interpretation is correct, bells had power and agency even when miscast, and were discarded in specific places. Lastly, when elaborating on the presence of metallic assemblages at Tipu, Simmons and Cockrell mention the presence of both complete and a miscast bell in tombs (see Tab.9). The wealth of the individuals is not discussed but placing a miscast bell in burial is indicative that neither the sonority nor the aspect of this item was of major significance93. Indeed, the symbolism of copper seems as important as the definitive function. This could suggest that bells may have gained value through their casting and not exclusively as finished objects. Martinon Torres et al. (2015) studied the propagation of the lost-wax casting in South America and focused on the goldsmith of the Muisca culture. Their research states that wax itself had more significance than the actual final product. Modelling the wax would have given the future object his value and was not just the primary and compulsory part of the gold casting.

Wax and Copal value and association with the Sun, demonstrates the use of highly ritualised resources to produce bells. Although copper is closely related to the Sun himself#, the addition of highly regarded resources to manufacture the mould must have been as important as the metal itself. Thus, both miscast and complete bells may have exerted agency on Maya94_, but the discarding process has yet to be completely understood.

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The small sample does impede the discussion but is worth mentioning.

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Copper significance and power does not signify that every bronze object was systematically highly valued and that they only played a symbolic role, utilitarian objects still existed. For instance, casting fishhooks in bronze was undoubtedly the result of a practical choice rather that holding a specific significance.

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