Using the lens of costume and dress in the ancient Americas to examine gender and its representations is important on many levels, and this volume brings new insight through its detailed analyses of case studies that span regions throughout the Americas. Garments and garment styles may be considered a primary identifier of gender in the Pre-Columbian world.
In the absence of actual artifacts, the representation of garments in mural paintings, ceramic figurines, stone carvings, shell, and other media can provide the basis for gender identification, assessment and interpretation, as it has in this publication. In the introduction, the editors support this idea: “The focus on costume representation is due in part to the lamentable fact that textiles and other perishable costume elements do not fare well archaeologically in certain climate zones and soil compositions” (5). This is especially evident in Mesoamerica, where only handfuls of extant textiles have been preserved. The Andes, however, is another story. Here, tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of textiles preserved in the coastal desert of Peru and Chile provide ample opportunity to examine the actual garments and costume elements. Nevertheless, identifying which of these garments, which were generally made with untailored rectangular pieces of cloth, pertaining most often, or uniquely, to female identity can be problematic.
The identification of female traits and characteristics in garments is an ongoing subtext in this volume. The fact that many garment types—whether wrapped body coverings, ornamental capes, or elaborate headdresses—are found in both male and female contexts (for example, in burial caches from Peru, or on stone-carved statues, ceramic vessels, or bone ornaments from Mexico and vicinity) is problematic. Several of the authors focus on this identification, as does Kim Richter in differentiating between male and female sculptured headdresses of the Huastec, or Melissa Logan in examining the shoulder capes of western Mexico. In these cases, the garment types may be associated with both men and women, with the commonality that they are primarily members of the elite and that their garments signal social and potentially political power.
Reading beyond the visual program, some authors, such as Billie Follensbee, revisit a scholarly assessment of a Mississippian cultural artifact, reinterpreting an ambiguously represented profile to be that of a female (rather than male). Kim Richter argues that Huastec sculptures generally interpreted as the representation of a female deity relate instead to a ‘real’ person with social and political power. Matthew Looper considers the netted garments of rulers depicted on Maya stelae to show how they adopted the guise of deities through the wearing of their dress, thereby underscoring the power of their association. Depictions of the Moche High Priestess on the north coast of Peru show female power symbolized in the adoption of male items such as ear spools, specific headdresses, and tunics, as Sarahh Scher finds. Similar elements found in burial contexts of Paracas in the south (Ann Peters) underscore how much more there is to investigate.
The volume provides 11 case studies, two from North America (on Southwest and Mississippian cultures), seven from Mesoamerica (including the Olmec, Maya, Huastec, and West Mexican cultures), and two from the Andean region (Moche and Paracas cultures), along with an introduction to present the issues and theoretical constructs. The regional skew of the collection may come from its genesis as a post-conference session publication endeavor, after the Society of American Archaeologists 2012 meeting. The volume itself is generous to its authors, allowing each to address their subjects expansively. Many essays are between 40 and 80 pages in length), utilize numerous photographs and drawings, and offer extensive notes and bibliography. There is also an index for the volume. The book has a strong visual component. Many authors use line drawings to represent their objects. The photographs, however, make the readers’ examination of the actual artworks in question difficult because of a somewhat disappointing quality of black-and-white representations.
Although the quantity of the images is impressive, the $125 cost for the book will be prohibitive for students and most scholars, so the publication will likely reside in university libraries alone. This is unfortunate, as the subject is relevant and important to address. The intensity and focus of the authors in this compilation warrant greater access by readers, to stimulate and move forward the discourse on power, dress, and gender in the Americas, and expand this conversation into global contexts.
