3. What kind of cloth was used to make a lienzo?

A lienzo was made of cotton cloth. Cotton is native to Mesoamerica (Mexico, Central America, and Panama). The cotton was handspun and then handwoven by women using a backstrap loom (one end of the loom was tied around a post or tree and the other end the weaver slipped around her waist).

Indigenous woman from Guatemala weaves a panel of cotton cloth on a backstrap loom.

Fully assembled backstrap loom. These portable looms have been used since the pre-Hispanic period.

Cotton thread colored with natural dyes, from plants and animals, used traditionally in Mesoamerica.

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