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Amber and Jet From Tipu, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Joseph B. Lambert,
Elizabeth Graham,
Marvin T. Smith and
James S. Frye
Joseph B. Lambert
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208-3113, USA
Elizabeth Graham
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, York University, North York, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Marvin T. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA
James S. Frye
Affiliation:
Colorado State University Regional NMR Facility, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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Abstract

The C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of amber and jet beads found at Tipu, a Colonial-period Maya site in Belize, Central America, indicate that these materials are of European origin. The two jet beads were found in association with the burial of children in a Christian cemetery, and the single amber bead was in a midden from the early years of Spanish occupation. Both the cemetery and the midden probably date to the late sixteenth century. The amber is clearly of Baltic origin. The jet spectrum is consistent with a Spanish origin.

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Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1994, pp. 55 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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