Abstract
AbstractRecent research carried out at the Maya site of Nakum, located in northeastern Guatemala, has brought about the discovery of a large collection of ceramic artefacts. This substantial assemblage, apart from monochrome ceramics, includes fragments of polychrome vessels that are decorated with elaborate iconographic scenes and painted hieroglyphic texts. Most of them date to the Late Classic period (ca. a.d. 600–800), which represents the peak of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. The style of these ceramics, their iconography and accompanying glyphic texts, supplemented in many cases by mineralogical and physicochemical analyses of the ceramic samples, indicate that Nakum was part of a broad and complex network of political and economic interactions between various sites and polities of the southern Maya lowlands in the Classic period. During the first part of the Late Classic period, Nakum seems to maintain close relations with Naranjo, probably serving as its vassal at least from the reign of its renowned king Aj Wosal. After the victory of Tikal over Naranjo in the first part of the eighth century, Nakum shows closer cultural and political connections with Tikal. Nevertheless, towards the end of the Classic era, when we observe the profound collapse of lowland Maya civilization, Nakum elites gain political independence from their former overlords.
Highlights
Whereas the vast majority of Maya ceramics are quotidian, unslipped, and plain, made to fulfill a wide range of practical functions, there is one category of ceramics that stands apart from the rest. This particular category is serving vessels, especially those manufactured for the royal court. These serving vessels are distinguished from other ceramics by their surface treatments alone, which are usually highly smoothed and burnished, as well as decorated with a wide array of dazzling colors, detailed patterns, and elaborate iconographic scenes and glyphic texts (e.g., Reents-Budet 1994)
By focusing on these highly decorated ceramics, we are able at times to appraise their motifs, iconography, and glyphs, which together enable us to determine where these ceramics were originally produced and for whom they were intended
One more example that betrays links with Naranjo under the reign of Aj Wosal is another ceramic bowl of the Saxche Orange Polychrome type, which is very similar to the fragment just described
Summary
Whereas the vast majority of Maya ceramics are quotidian, unslipped, and plain, made to fulfill a wide range of practical functions, there is one category of ceramics that stands apart from the rest. Helmke, Hermes, Koszkul, Ting, Bishop, and Bojkowska petrographic and physicochemical analyses of Late Classic-period Nakum ceramics indicate that this site had very close cultural and possibly political connections with various neighboring centers, but especially with two principal powers of this region: Naranjo and Tikal.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
