Women of New Spain from the Convento de la Encarnación (México City) through their glass beads

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the symbolic significance of glass beads in New Spain, the territory of the Spanish Empire in the Americas north of the Isthmus of Panama and the Philippines. Here we present the archaeological collection of Convento de la Encarnación, located in the center of Mexico City. Our intention is to reflect on the role of material culture in constructing the social body of a particular group of women who lived there from the sixteenth century until the beginning of nineteenth century. Some theoretical-methodological issues faced within the discipline in addressing this type of context will be also debated.