A Reconstructed Chaîne Opératoire for Mesoamerican Cochineal: Implications for the Archaeological Analysis of Insect Dye Production

Abstract

The relationship between Indigenous Mesoamerican societies and the cochineal insect they reared for its vibrant dye has long intrigued scholars. As methodologies to identify cochineal production in the archaeological record are not yet developed, archaeological contributions to the field are scarce. Instead, the written record dominates, perpetuating a colonial-period bias. Consequently, significant questions about human-cochineal entanglement, including the antiquity of the insect’s semi-domesticated status and coccidoculture’s impact on the lives of those who practised it, remain poorly investigated. This paper draws from historical and ethnographic sources to reconstruct the stages of Mesoamerican cochineal production, their associated archaeological materials, and modifications these materials may have undergone in their use lives. The results suggest that existing paleoethnobotanical and archaeo-chemical techniques may allow archaeologists to identify specialisation in cochineal agriculture and the contexts in which people killed and ground insects, dyed textiles, and produced lake pigments. Prior to their application to archaeological data, however, these hypotheses must be tested using experimental archaeological and/or ethnoarchaeological research.