La moneda de cobre en las sociedades mesoamericanas

The present work has the objective of analyzing the situation of the so-called choppers in the context of Mesoamerican societies, in order to determine whether or not they could have had relevance within pre-Hispanic commercial contexts. These objects, which are referred to as axes or hatchets, are the origin of the word tepuztli, which, more than referring to copper, makes sense in relation to the very form of the raw material support. It is demonstrated, in the end, that there is enough evidence to ensure the existence of golden hatches, which were evoked, in some cases, with identical pieces made of copper, which had an ornamental function. On the other hand, the finding of bars of “metal from Michoacán” provides a key to understand the metallic alloys of pre-Hispanic origin, in which the reduced but existing content of precious metals in relation to copper in certain objects is revealed.
En este trabajo se analiza la situación de las tajaderas —hachas, hachuelas o tepuztli— en el contexto de las sociedades mesoamericanas, para determinar si pudieron o no ser relevantes en el comercio prehispánico. Se demuestra, a su vez, la existencia de hachuelas de oro de función ornamental, que en algunos casos eran evocadas por piezas idénticas de cobre, de donde deriva la acepción de tepuztli como algo falso. Por otro lado, el hallazgo de barras de “metal de Michoacán” provee un soporte clave para comprender las aleaciones metálicas de origen prehispánico, en las que se revela el reducido pero existente contenido de metales preciosos en relación con el cobre, en ciertos objetos.