On the Pacific coast of South America, Spondylus (especially S.
princeps) was employed to make beads more or less equivalent to the
wampum beads of N. America.  These beads and other small ornaments
were produced in enormous quantities, mainly in Ecuador, and traded
all over the Andean region and were of particular symbolic and
religious significance in Peru wherethey were prized for their rarity
(Peru being largely outside of Spondylus range).  Precolumbian Peruvian
art shows mythical figures holding a Spondylus in one hand and a
Strombus in the other.  The typical Spondylus beads, called mullu in
Quichua, were about 3-4 mm. in diameter and were made from the pink
part of the shell.  Since Spondylus is difficult to work, the beads
were roughed out and a hole drilled in the center with a tiny chert
drill (resembling a crude dentist's drill); then they were strung
and collectively ground down on sandstone blocks to produce beads of
uniform size.  This procedure resulted in a lot of unusable chips
and shell dust which, allegedly, crafty Ecuadorian merchants
convinced their Peruvian customers was an appropriate material to
throw before the feet of the nobility as they walked.  Thus, even
the byproducts of the bead industry returned a profit.
 
Ecuador was also a center for the manufacture of mother of pearl
doodads which were likewise traded throughout the region.  These were
made mostly from Pinctada mazatlanica and to a lesser extent Pteria
sterna.  A lot of the mother of pearl was made into crescent-shaped
shaped nose and ear rings.  Sequins in geometric, animal, and plant
shapes were also made and were sewn onto clothing which probably
represents the precolumbian precursor of the small mirrors that are
seen on the festive clothing worn in some Andean communities in
modern times.
 
Many other species were also used to make beads and pendants, most
notably Oliva undatella which were made into beads by simply grinding
off the tip of the spire.
 
By the time the Spanish arrived on the west coast of South America
shell bead manufacture and commerce was booming and was concentrated
on the central Ecuadorian coast from about the Santa Elena Peninsula
up to the port city of Manta.  The first explorers captured a large
ocean-going raft loaded with Spondylus shells, mullu, very finely
decorated clothing, and other luxury goods.  This raft was said to
come from a cluster of 4 large and wealthy towns located in southern
Manabi Province.  This group of towns is now known as the "League of
Merchants" and is believed to have taken control of the Spondylus
trade.  Their rafts ranged up into Central America and down to Peru.
 
With the arrival of the Spaniards, the trade in Spondylus rapidly
fell apart, although it is interesting that even today highland
Indians favor Spondylus colored plastic and glass beads.  The
decline was partly due to the very brutal treatment of the coastal
Indian population and also to an attempt by the Spanish to develop a
pearl diving industry using the former Indian Spondylus divers.  It
is not clear why the pearl industry failed to prosper on the
Ecuadorian coast.
 
Spondylus and other sorts of shell beads can be picked up by the
dozens along the coast of Ecuador today from the thousands of eroding
archaeological sites.
 
Kate Clark
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Howard L. Clark or Kate Clark /
[log in to unmask]  /
tel. & fax (593-2) 520837 /
P.O. Box 17-12-379, Quito, Ecuador
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