Maya Pottery Research Articles

Archaeometric study of Maya pottery from Comalcalco, Tabasco, Mexico

In this paper, structural, morphological, and mineralogical characterizations of Maya archaeological pottery from Comalcalco, Tabasco, Mexico are presented. The fired clay ceramic samples were taken from Maya settlements, previously classified in traditional way, using the type-variety method from physical and cultural features. It is shown that the ceramics studied have some similarities and differences, indicating that the classification by type-variety must be complemented with physicochemical characterization techniques to issue more compelling proposals about Maya ceramics. Physicochemical analysis revealed that the raw materials used by ceramic groups to manufacture different types of pottery such as vases, cups, incense burners and pots have the same composition and origin than the raw materials located in the surrounded region of the archaeological site. Quite similar mineralogical compositions were found between the various studied ceramic materials which indicate a great knowledge of the manufactured materials type. However, significant differences in fired temperatures and carbon concentration were observed which may be related to type of materials used as fuel (organic materials) and whether such ceramics were fired in open or pit ovens.

Maya Pottery Production at Nakum, Guatemala, during the Protoclassic Period (100/50 BC – AD 300/350)

This study investigates the Protoclassic ceramic production at Nakum, Guatemala, using it as a proxy to explore the nature of the transition from the Preclassic to Classic period (100/50 BC – AD 300/350) in Central Maya lowlands. Petrographic analysis reveals that household specialisation existed in the local production of slipped serving and utilitarian wares at Nakum. The recovery of locally made polychrome vessels further indicates that Nakum might have participated in a new network of cultural interactions and trade, enabling the community to sustain stable growth at a time when many major Preclassic sites declined.

Comprehensive structural and compositional investigation of Maya pottery sherds from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala, Central America

Maya pottery samples collected from various sites in Guatemala were investigated for their elemental composition, mineral crystalline phases, particle size, and thermogravimetric properties. The samples were analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), FT-IR, ICP-OES, and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Investigations showed the presence of aliphatic CH, CC, and CO functional groups in samples. The SEM/EDX results revealed samples contain approximate %w/wt elemental concentrations C (3.4), O (54.8), Mg (0.45), Al (7.25), Si (11.2), K (0.3), Ca (21.3 w/w %), and trace amounts of Mn, Cu, S, Na, Ti. The ICP-OES examination further confirmed the composition and concentrations of macro-elements Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, S and microelements Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn, and V. Powder XRD analysis determined that the major mineral crystalline phases in the samples were bassanite, quartz, aluminite, alunogen, andalusite, borax, gypsum, hexahydrite, hornblende, laumontite, mirabilite, palygorskite M, talc, and vermiculite. This investigation revealed the conservative nature of the technology and materials used in the preparation of pottery among the Maya people.

REVISITING MONKEYS ON POTS: A CONTEXTUAL CONSIDERATION OF PRIMATE IMAGERY ON CLASSIC LOWLAND MAYA POTTERY

AbstractFour species of monkeys may have lived in the Maya region in pre-Columbian times: two howler monkey species, the spider monkey, and possibly the capuchin. Simians also played an important role in Maya creation myth and cosmology, and are frequently represented on Maya pottery and in glyphic texts. Scholars disagree, however, on which monkeys are depicted. Here we provide an analysis of 142 monkey images on 97 pots, focusing especially on Classic-period lowland polychromes. Multiple physical characteristics of the primates are considered, along with cultural traits, to provide appropriate biological and cultural contexts and artistic conventions necessary to their interpretation. Besides the well-known scribal roles (attributed to howlers and “Monkey-Men”), we conclude that monkeys commonly take on pictorial and non-pictorial roles that involve carrying or bringing goods such as tribute or cacao. In contexts of liminality, these creatures are often charged with transcending natural and social realms.

Volcanic ash provenance from zircon dust with an application to Maya pottery

When analyzed using secondary ion mass spectrometry, dust-sized (<63 μm) zircon in distal ash deposits of the Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption of Ilopango Volcano (El Salvador) yielded results consistent with ages obtained from those in proximal deposits. This finding indicates insignificant age sorting of zircon crystals during their dispersal in the TBJ ash plume. As a result, analysis of zircons may permit reliable source identification of distal tephra marker beds commonly found in terrestrial and marine environments. This technique was applied to test whether an enigmatic volcanic ash used to manufacture Late Classic Maya pottery from El Pilar is from distal TBJ ash deposits, a hypothesis supported by the location, extent, and timing of the TBJ eruption, and the matching high silica content and trace element ratios between TBJ glass and glass in the archaeological samples. The exclusively older than 1 Ma ages of the archaeological zircons compared with the dominantly ca. 0–30 ka ages of the TBJ zircons, however, rule out the TBJ eruption as the source of the pottery ash. The three analyzed archaeological pottery samples define two distinct zircon age distributions, indicating that the ash in the Maya pottery must be from multiple sources, which currently remain unidentified.

The Malevolent Demons of Ceramic Producction: Where Have All the Failures Gone?

La producción y distribución son consideradas como dimensiones importantes de intercambio, especialmente: en el caso de la cerámica. Poco se conoce sobre la evidencia directa de la producción de cerámica en las tierras bajas mayas. Mientras los métodos indirectos de producción han sido evaluados, pocos estudios han examinado específicamente la evidencia directa, y las discusiones acerca de las fallas de producción son escasas. En este escrito examinamos el problema de la producción de cerámica a través de un experimento conducido a reproducir los indicadores de las fallas. Los resultados, utilizando alfarería maya antigua y pequeños conglomerados preparados, demuestran reacciones determinadas y predecibles de los desgrasantes básicos a las variaciones de temperatura. Las implicaciones de estos datos ilustran el porqué la producción cerámica continua siendo objeto de evasión para los arqueó1ogos mayistas y la necesidad de desarrollar nuevas estrategias para identificar la producción cerámica arqueológicamente.

A Critical Ethnography of Sex Offender TreatmentHound Pound Narrative: Sexual Offender Habilitation and the Anthropology of Therapeutic Intervention. By James B. Waldram. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

Aimers, James J., ed. 2012. Ancient Maya pottery: classification, analysis, and interpretation. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Miller, Daniel, and Sophie Woodward, eds. 2011. Global denim. New York: Berg. Pool, Christopher A., and George J. Bey III, eds. 2007. Pottery economics in Mesoamerica. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Tilley, Christopher, Webb Keane, Susanne Kuechler-Fogden, Michael J. Rowlands, and Patricia Spyer, eds. 2006. Handbook of material culture. London: Sage. Wengrow, David D. 2008. Prehistories of commodity branding. Current Anthropology 49(1):7–34. West, Georgia. 2002. Ceramic exchange in the late classic and postclassic Maya lowlands: a diachronic approach. In Ancient Maya political economies. Marilyn A. Masson and David Freidel, eds. Pp. 140–196. New York: Altamira. Wiessner, Polly. 1983. Style and social information in Kalahari San projectile points. American Antiquity 48(2):253–276.

Late Classic Maya Pottery Production: Review and Synthesis

Studies of the organization of Maya pottery production have been pursued via numerous methods but without theoretical models. I review available data on production of Late Classic southern lowland Maya polychrome pottery in light of my calendrically based may model of geopolitical organization. I conclude that: (1) production arrangements vary by “kind” of pottery; (2) “craft specialization” and “workshops” are inappropriate concepts; (3) study of polychrome production necessitates multiple approaches, including analysis of decorative content; (4) better “bridging arguments” and “middle-range theory” are needed; (5) figural polychromes were “inalienable” wealth goods; and (6) they were painted in palaces of primary and secondary centers—may and k'atun seats in the model—in realm-specific signature styles.

Neighboring Museums Make Time Travel Easy and Fun

Neighboring Museums Make Time Travel Easy and Fun

Production Characteristics of Postclassic Maya Pottery from Caye Coco, Northern Belize

AbstractThis analysis of production variability of Postclassic Maya pottery from consumer contexts at Caye Coco implies that household pottery making varied and that products destined for different social and functional use contexts were made with differing degrees of standardization. New chronological and typological information from the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic Periods at Caye Coco provide data important to the study of long-term interregional affiliations leading up to the Late Postclassic. Our attribute analysis of major type and form classes of Postclassic Period vessels quantifies the relative diversity and homogeneity of products made for Caye Coco consumers. Greater standardization is found in serving dishes and other slipped vessel forms as opposed to unslipped storage and food preparation containers within the site’s assemblage, and evidence for regional scale similarities in dish attributes is also found. High levels of serving dish standardization likely reflect conditions of open social and economic boundaries and perhaps the direct exchange of some vessels. Minimally, stylistic templates were broadly shared due to the widespread use of highly visible serving dishes at regional feasts and religious celebrations.

Characterization of Maya pottery by INAA and ICP-MS

A total of 81 pottery and 25 clay samples from the archaeological site and hinterland areas of Blue Creek in northwest Belize were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis and inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometry at the University of Missouri Research Reactor. Data generated for this study offers insight into local clay-resource variability and movement of pottery in the transition from Early (A.D. 250–600) to Late Classic (A.D. 600–850) occupation. Comparison of data generated by the two analytical techniques demonstrates the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method.

Ceramics Technology at Late Classic K’axob, Belize

Excavation of a Late Classic Maya platform at K’axob, Belize, has revealed a suite of pit features and associated artifacts that are strongly suggestive of pottery production. Interpretation of the features as remnants of pit kilns used to fire pottery is bolstered by comparanda from the Andean region. Archaeometric and experimental replication studies also support the interpretation of this locale as one of pottery fabrication. Findings discussed include features identified as kilns, raw material suitable for temper, lumps of fired clay, ground stone, and expedient clay-working tools made of recycled pottery sherds. This research contributes to knowledge of the organization of Maya pottery production by providing the most comprehensive information presented to date on the technology of ancient Maya pottery fabrication and firing.

Late-Terminal Classic Maya Pottery in Northern Belize: A Petrographic Analysis of Sherd Samples from Colha and Kichpanha

Two petrographic studies of Late-Terminal Classic (ad 680–850) Maya ceramic sherds from northern Belize provide evidence of significant inter- and intra-site technological variability. An initial study of Subin Red sherds from Colha and Kichpanha indicates the predominance of quartz inclusions in vessels of this type from both sites, but suggests inter-site differences as well. Moreover, the extensive use of quartzitic clays in ceramics, which had not been identified in previous petrographic studies of archaeological ceramics in northern Belize, appears to represent a departure, distinctive to this region, from an earlier, widespread ceramic tradition based on the exploitation of fine calcareous clays. A second study of sherds drawn from three of the most prevalent pottery types in the Late-Terminal Classic Masson Complex at Colha further confirms this pattern. Comparisons with local clay samples suggest this new technology represents less selective use of available clay resources during this period. Results also suggest significant intra-site variability in ceramic composition and appear to support other lines of evidence indicating the formation of a Late-Terminal Classic political sphere extending from San Estevan in the north to the Northern River Lagoon site in the south.

Elite Maya Pottery and Artisans as Social Indicators

Pre‐Columbian Maya Classic period (A.D. 250–850) polychrome pottery underwent a metamorphosis during the sixth century A.D. to become a polyvalent pictorial and hieroglyphic narrative phenomenon whose transformation is tied directly to the period's sociopolitical developments. These specialized ceramics, created for and sometimes by members of the ruling stratum, are important indicators of the social and political dynamics of the Late Classic period (A.D. 550–850). This pictorial pottery informs on the heightened sociopolitical role of specialized crafting and also on that of the artists during this dynamic period. The elevated social identities of some of these artisans, in part created by a perceived connection between them and the gods of Creation, lent prestige to their crafted items. This constructed identity increased the social value of these crafted objects in their role as important accouterments of the sociopolitical power structures of the Late Classic period.

Painting the Maya Universe: royal ceramics of the classic period

Lavishly illustrated with nearly 400 color images, Painting the Maya Universe is the most thorough study and brilliant display of Classic Maya ceramic painting yet published. Building on twenty years of research and debate, Dorie Reents-Budet and her collaborators Joseph W. Ball, Ronald L. Bishop, Virginia M. Fields, and Barbara MacLeod bring together many perspectives, including the art historical, archaeological, epigraphical, and ethnohistorical, to examine one of the world's great but overlooked painting traditions. With an emphasis on sixth- to eighth-century pottery featuring both pictorial and hieroglyphic imagery, Painting the Maya Universe presents an extraordinary exploration of the cultural roles and meanings of these Guatemalan, Belizean, and Mexican elite painted ceramics. Maya pottery is discussed both in aesthetic terms and for the important information it reveals about Maya society, artistry, politics, history, religion, and ritual. The range of ceramic painting styles developed during this period is also presented and defined in detail. Painting the Maya Universe is the first publication to present a definitive translation of the hieroglyphic texts painted on these objects. With many glyphs deciphered here for the first time, this analysis reveals much about how these vessels were perceived and used by the Maya, their owners' names, and, in several cases, the names of the artists who created them. This information is combined with archaeological and other data, including nuclear chemical analyses, to correlate painting styles with specific Maya sites. Published in conjunction with Duke University Museum of Art and an exhibition touring the United States, Painting the Maya Universe presents an astonishing visual record as well as a monumental scholarly achievement. With photographs by Justin Kerr, the foremost photographer of pre-Columbian art, it includes over 90 unique full-color rollout photographs, each showing the entire surface of an object in a single frame. The book also addresses the questions and controversy regarding the loss of information that occurs when objects are removed from their archaeological context to become part of public and private collections. Painting the Maya Universe will energize discussion of Maya pottery, hieroglyphic texts, and iconography. Its photographs, a lasting resource on this great painting tradition, will stimulate and delight the eye. It is a breakthrough in art history and Latin American scholarship that will enrich general readers and scholars alike.

Folk Classification of Classic Maya Pottery

other set of documents, recorded not in Chinese characters but in Mayan hieroglyphic writing, underscores the value of Chang's approach. The present paper reports on the decipherment in Mayan script of terms for a single category of artifact: Classic Maya pottery, which has long intrigued specialists for the light it sheds on chronology and intersite comparison (Sabloff and Smith 1969:283284; and more recently, Rice and Sharer 1987, cf. Dunnell 1971). These terms are of interest to specialists, but they also touch on a broader question: Do written sources, particularly those from periods of limited literacy, lend themselves easily to the reconstruction of folk classifications

A multidisciplinary approach to ritual enema scenes on ancient Maya pottery

There are various enema scenes on classic Maya pottery, which undoubtedly represent rituals and may very well indicate that the ancient Maya took intoxicating enemas in a ritual context. This idea is quite contrary to the traditional view that.the ancient Maya were a contemplative people, who did not indulge in ritual ecstasy. The occasional display of vomiting actors would seem to provide a plausible reason why the Maya opted for rectal application. Some scenes present a fair amount of evidence that an alcoholic beverage may have been taken rectally. Anecdotal experimental evidence suggests that an alcoholic liquid may certainly induce or intensify a state of inebriation, when it is administered via the rectal route. Other scenes open up the possibility that tobacco and the water lily or some other flowering plant may have served as an enema ingredient. The phytochemistry and psychopharmacology of tobacco are well documented and there can be little doubt that this herb may produce toxic effects, when it is taken in the form of a clyster. Unfortunately, little is still known about the constituents and pharmacological activity of the water lily. It is sometimes speculated that this plant is hallucinogenic, but experimental confirmation of this view is still awaited.

The potential use of petrological analysis in provenancing volcanic ash. Tempering in lowland maya pottery

The use of volcanic ash as a tempering material among the Maya became particularly prevalent during the Protoclassic and Classic periods. The sheer volume of ceramics containing ash and the often distinctly local ceramic styles encountered suggest that the ash itself was trated rather than finished vessels. As an attempt to isolate ash sources 160 specimens of ash-tempered ceramics have been so far analysed and the minerals associated with the ash examined. Although the number of mineral types encountered are limited there do appear to be petrological differences between ash types encountered in the specimens so far analysed.

: Prehistoric Pottery Analysis and the Ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley . James C. Gifford. ; Ancient Maya Pottery: A Folio of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British Honduras . James C. Gifford. ; Ancient Maya Pottery - 2: A Second Folio of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British

Book reviewed in this article: Archaeology: Prehistoric Pottery Analysis and the Ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley. James C. Gifford Archaeology: Ancient Maya Pottery: A Folio of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British Honduras. James C. Gifford Archaeology: Ancient Maya Pottery—2: A Second Folio of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British Honduras (Belize). James C. Gifford and Muriel Kirkpatrick

Prehistoric Pottery Analysis and the Ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley. James C. Gifford. Memoirs, Vol. 18, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1976. xvi + 359 pp., illus. $25.00. Ancient Maya Pottery. Two Folios of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British Honduras (Belize). Folio 1 by James C. Gifford;

Prehistoric Pottery Analysis and the Ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley. James C. Gifford. Memoirs, Vol. 18, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1976. xvi + 359 pp., illus. $25.00. Ancient Maya Pottery. Two Folios of Maya Pottery from the Site of Barton Ramie in British Honduras (Belize). Folio 1 by James C. Gifford;