Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T18:53:03.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

America’s First Polymer Scientists: Rubber Processing, Use and Transport in Mesoamerica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael J. Tarkanian  and
Dorothy Hosler
Michael J. Tarkanian
Affiliation:
Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 8-003, Cambridge, MA 02139 (tarky@mit.edu)
Dorothy Hosler
Affiliation:
Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 8-204, Cambridge, MA 02139 (hosler@mit.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ancient Mesoamericans were making rubber by at least 1600 B.C, mixing latex from Castilla elastica trees with juice from Ipomoea alba (morning glory) vines. The combination of ethnographic, archaeological and mechanical data presented in this text illustrate that ancient Mesoamericans had fully developed this process, and consciously tailored the mechanical properties of rubber to suit requirements of specific applications by altering the ratio of latex to I. alba juice. Our data focus on rubber balls, sandal soles, and rubber bands for hafting and joining. Elasticity, the mechanical property that defines the ability of a rubber ball to bounce, is maximized with a 1:1 volume ratio of latex to I. alba juice. Rubber with high wear resistance, vital to the life and functionality of a sandal sole, can be created by mixing C. elastica latex with 25 percent I. alba juice by volume. Unprocessed C. elastica latex, without I. alba juice, is the material best suited for joining applications, such as adhesives or hafting bands, where strength and ability to absorb shock is of the greatest importance. Tribute data from sixteenth-century codices substantiate that rubber was processed for specific applications within the Aztec empire—rubber and latex goods were processed and constructed in the C. elastica-bearing regions, and then shipped to the capital for use or further distribution.

Resumen

Resumen

Los antiguos pobladores de Mesoamérica procesaban el hule desde por lo menos 1600 a.C., mezclando el látex del árbol Castilla elastica con el jugo obtenido de los bejucos de Ipomoea alba, una especie de dondiego de día. La combinación de los datos etnográficos, arqueológicos y físicos que se presentan en este texto muestra que los mesoamericanos descubrieron el amplio rango de propiedades mecánicas que se pueden obtener al combinar el látex con el jugo de I. alba en diferentes proporciones, y que aplicaron estos conocimientos para manipular las propiedades del hule según el uso específico que se le fuera a dar. Nuestro estudio se enfocará en tres ejemplos: las pelotas de hule, las bandas anchas de hule que servían para enmangaduras, y las sandalias con suelas de hule. Los datos de nuestra investigación revelan que el hule que se obtiene al mezclar un 50 por ciento de Ipomoea alba por volumen, sería la combinación ideal para la manufactura de las pelotas donde se requiere de una máxima elasticidad y rebote. En cambio, para las suelas de hule de las sandalias, la resistencia al desgaste y la fatiga son las propiedades mecánicas más importantes, y esto se lograba al agregar el 25 por ciento de jugo de I. alba por volumen. Por su parte, el látex seco, sin procesar, es el material más apropiado para crear las bandas anchas de enmangar, donde se requiere de una mayor fuerza de tensión, rigidez y capacidad de amortiguamiento. La hipótesis de que el hule se preparaba en varias formas en Mesoamérica es sugerida por algunas fuentes documentales del siglo dieciséis. En los documentos tributarios del imperio azteca se apunta que los artículos de hule y látex habrían sido procesados y manufacturados en las regiones donde los árboles de C. elastica son endémicos y desde ahí transportados a la capital mexica o a los centros tributarios del imperio.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 469 - 486
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Altamirano, y Rose, Fernando 1905 El palo amarillo. Imprenta y Fototipia de la Secretaría de Fomento, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Anghiera, Pietro Martire d’ 1966 [1530] Opus Epistolamm. Akademische Druck- u, Verlagsanstalt, Austria.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W., and Ladd, John M. 1992 Ceramics. In Artifacts from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chickén Itzd, Yucatan, edited by Clemency Chase Coggins, pp. 191–233. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Benavente, Toribio de 1984 Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España. Editorial Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances F, and Rieff Anawalt, Patricia 1997 The Essential Codex Mendoza. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Coggins, Clemency Chase, and Ladd, John M.. 1992 Copal and Rubber Offerings. In Artifacts from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichén ltzá, Yucatán, edited by Clemency Chase Coggins, pp. 345–357. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Corominas, Joan 1954 Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellano. Editorial Franckes, Bern.Google Scholar
Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo 1959 Historia general y natural de las Indias. Ediciones Atlas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Filloy Nadal, Laura 2001a Rubber and Rubber Balls in Mesoamerica. In The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, edited by E. Michael Whittington, pp. 21–31. Thames & Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Filloy Nadal, Laura 2001b Rubber. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, Volume 3, edited by David Carrasco, pp. 92–93. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hill, Warren D., Blake, Michael, and Clark, John E. 1998 Ball Court Design Dates Back 3,400 Years. Nature 392:878–879.Google Scholar
Hosier, Dorothy, Burkett, Sandra L., and Tarkanian, Michael J 1999 Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284:1988–1991.Google Scholar
Kelly, Isabel 1943 Notes on a West Coast Survival of the Ancient Mexican Ball Game. Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. I, No. 26. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Division of Historical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Lloyd, Francis Ernest 1911 Guayule (Parthenium argentatum gray), A Rubber Plant of the Chihuahuan Desert. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Máitir de Anglería, Pedro 1989 Décadas del Nuevo Mundo. Sociedad Dominicana de Bibliofilos, Inc., Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.Google Scholar
Muñoz Camargo, Diego 1984 Relaciones geográficas del sigh XVI: Tlaxcala. Edited by René Acuña. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Ponciano, and Rodríguez, María del Carmen 1994 Los espacios sagrados olmecas: El Manatí, un caso especial. In Los olmecas en Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark, pp. 69–92. El Equilibrista y Turner Libros, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Ponciano, Rodríguez, María del Carmen, and Alfredo Delgado, C. 1997 Las investigaciones arqueológicas en el cerro sagrado Manatí. Universidad Veracruzan, Xalapa, Veracruz.Google Scholar
Rochín, Roberto (director) 1986 Ulama, eljuego de la vida y la muerte. Clasa Films Mundial, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, María del Carmen, and Ortiz, Ponciano 1994 El Manatí, un espacio sagrado de los olmeca. Universidad Veracruzana, Jalapa, Veracruz.Google Scholar
Rojas, Jose Luis de (editor) 1997 Informatión de 1554: sobre los tributos que los indiospagaban a Moctezuma. Centra de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph 1965 Ritual of the Bacabs. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 1961 The Florentine Codex, Book 10. Translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. The School of American Research and The University of Utah, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 1963 The Florentine Codex, Book 11. The School of American Research and The University of Utah, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 1969 The Florentine Codex, Book 6. The School of American Research and The University of Utah, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de 1981 The Florentine Codex, Book 2. The School of American Research and The University of Utah, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Schallamach, Adolph 1968 Abrasion, Fatigue, and Smearing of Rubber. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 12:281.Google Scholar
Siméon, Rémi 1977 Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana. Editorial Siglo XXI, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Standley, Paul C. 1920 Trees and Shrubs of Mexico. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Standley, Paul C. 1942 On the Use of Rubber by the Ancient Mexicans. Mas-terkey 15:123–124.Google Scholar
Stone, Andrea J. 2002 Spirals, Ropes and Feathers. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:21–39.Google Scholar
Tarkanian, Michael J. 2000 3,500 Years Before Goodyear: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Unpublished Bachelor’s Thesis, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Tarkanian, Michael J. 2003 Prehistoric Polymer Engineering: A Study of Rubber Technology in the Americas. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Barker Engineering Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Google Scholar
Tarkanian, Michael J., and Hosier, Dorothy 2000 La elaboración de hule en Mesoamérica. Arqueología Mexicana, 8(44):54–58.Google Scholar
Tarkanian, Michael J., and Hosier, Dorothy 2001 An Ancient Tradition Continued: Modern Rubber Processing in Mexico. In The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, edited by E. Michael Whittington.pp. 117–121. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1985 Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Torquemada, Juan de 1977 Monarquía Indiana. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1957 Chichen Itza and its Cenote of Sacrifice. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
van Ooststroom, Simon Jan 1940 The Convolvulaceae of Malaysia. Blumea 3:547.Google Scholar
Wildman, Sam G., McMullan, Albert V., and Griggs, Rosamond 1943 Isolation of an Active Substance from Calonyction aculeatum Capable of Coagulating Castillo Latex. Science 97:471–472.Google Scholar