Sound, color and meaning in the metallurgy of Ancient West Mexico

West Mexican metallurgy developed between AD 600 and the Spanish invasion. Laboratory evidence shows that metalworkers used a variety of metals and alloys, including copper‐tin and copper‐arsenic bronze, to craft both tools and status items. None the less, the primary technical focus was on two non‐utilitarian properties of metal, its sound in bells and its golden and silvery colors in bells and sheet metal ornaments. Ethnohistoric and linguistic evidence indicates that the sounds of bells offered protection in war and structured rituals that celebrated fertility and regeneration. Metallic colors, especially of gold and silver, were associated with the solar and lunar deities and a shimmering sacred paradise. In focusing on metallic sounds and metallic colors, this metallurgical technology in large measure constituted a system of visual and aural symbols that created and recreated the experience of the sacred.