<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Hi, all.</font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">I'm following a minor dissertation detail that arises in my discussion of <i>teocuitlatl</i> (gold) and gold-casting.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><!--StartFragment--><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">The gold-casting method
described in the </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">General History's Book 9: The Merchants</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> involves beeswax (<i>xicohcuitlatl</i>)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">, and although two genera of stingless bees are
indigenous to Mesoamerica (</font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Melipona</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> and </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Trigona</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">), the </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">xicomeh</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> (bees) described in </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Earthly Things</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> sting:</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">
</font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">“It is round, small and round, yellow-legged, winged.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> </font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">It is a flyer, a buzzer, a sucker, a
maker of hives, an earth excavator, a honey producer, a stinger (</font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">teminani</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">)” (</font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Book 11</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">:93-94).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> </font></span></span></span></font></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><span style=""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">European bees were
introduced into New Spain as early as 1520-1530 - long before the <i>General History</i> was compiled.</font><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> </font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">While beeswax would have been available to precontact
artisans, the</font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> General History</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">’s description may conflate pre- and postcontact gold-casting, as it does </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">xicomeh</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> (bees).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> [I'm relying on </font></span></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Donald D. Brand, "The Honey Bee in New Spain
and Mexico," </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Journal of Cultural Geography</font></i></span><span style=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"> 9, no. 1 (1988): 71-82 for information about bees.]</font></span></span></font></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Does anyone know of other descriptions of gold-casting that might confirm or dispute the use of beeswax?</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Thanks!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Molly</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Molly Bassett</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Ph.D. Candidate, Religious Studies</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">University of California, Santa Barbara</font></div></div></div></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></font> </div><br></div></body></html>