Loosening the Knots: Cordage, Lashings, and Knots, Their Purposes, and Their Meanings in Olmec Art
Billie J. A. Follensbee, PhD, Missouri State University

While only small fragments of actual cordage have been recovered in excavations at Gulf Coast Olmec sites, depictions of cordage figure prominently in Olmec and Olmec-related art. Reliefs of string, rope, lashings, and knots appear as costume components on Colossal Heads and on figures in the round, and as costume, accessories, and tools in relief images on thrones and stelae; these depictions illustrate cordage being used as an instrument to connect, secure, or bind objects or people. The meanings behind these rope-based costume elements and paraphernalia have proven elusive, however; while some scholars suggest that depictions of rope symbolize captivity and subordination, others suggest that this imagery refers to familial connections or even symbolizes umbilical cords, and still others suggest that depictions of rope indicate control, power, and status.

This research project closely examines depictions of cordage to identify the types of knots and lashings used in Gulf Coast Olmec depictions. The resulting identifications help to reveal the purposes of the different types of ropework and to bring new understanding to the nature of what is being portrayed. Further examinations of Olmec depictions of ropework in specific contexts serve to shed additional light on the symbolism and on the purposes and meanings of Olmec cordage imagery in the sculpture.
 
Dr. Billie Follensbee is a Professor, Area Coordinator of the Visual Art and Culture program, and Coordinator of the Museum Studies Program at Missouri State University. She holds a PhD in Art History and Archaeology, specializing in the Pre-Columbian Americas, from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Starting with her dissertation research, she has deeply explored sex, gender, age, and costume in Olmec and Olmec-related imagery and archaeology, producing among other publications the edited volume Dressing the Part: Power, Dress, Gender, and Representation in the Pre-Columbian Americas with co-editor Sarahh Scher, and culminating in the invited chapter “Sex and Gender in Olmec Imagery” for The Oxford Handbook of the Olmecs, now in press. More recently her research has focused on analyzing fiber and textile imagery in Olmec and Olmec-related sculpture, topics explored in two forthcoming edited volumes with co-editor Lois Martin and with co-editor Ann H. Peters. Dr. Follensbee’s current research expands upon her fiber and textile research through the analysis of specific stone and shell artifacts of Preclassic/Formative period Mesoamerica and Archaic period North America, for which she is conducting replication studies to test hypotheses on the functions of these objects as fiber- and textile-related tools and paraphernaliae m.

This lecture will be presented on Zoom. To attend, please pre-register. A registration link will be posted here later in September.