Maya Ceramics

Despite a widespread notion that feasting played a major role in the workings of Classic Maya polities, the very concept of feasting in the context of its textual and visual representations remains poorly defined and understood. The present paper reviews the ancient narratives in order to present a more nuanced interpretation of the consumption and display of exquisite food and drinks at the courts of Maya lords and nobles. It also considers some tangible evidence of the socio-political networks created through feasting by looking at the spatial distributions of signed serving vessels which changed hands as gifts.

This article documents the attapulgite (the former name of palygorskite) mine in the cenote at Sacalum, Yucatan. Attapulgite/palygorskite was used by the ancient Maya (from the Preclassic (at Calakmul) to the Colonial Period) to produce a pigment called Maya Blue that is found on pottery, murals, and stonework largely in the Maya lowlands. Over the centuries the Maya have removed more than 307 cubic meters of palygorskite from the mine and used it for medicinal purposes and for the production of Maya Blue. More recently, LA-ICP-MS analyses of palygorskite and Maya Blue have shown that this mine was the source of some of the palygorskite used in Maya Blue by the ancient Maya. (A paper showing this relationship will be added to this site in due time.)

The notion of standardization in pottery production has been used as an indicator of ceramic specialization. Yet, this notion and the assumptions behind it are still largely untested ethnographically. This paper attempts to identify some factors that affect the standardization of ceramic vessel shapes in Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico. A sample of 448 ethnographic vessels of three shapes were measured and analyzed statistically. Interpretation of these analyses within the ethnographic context of the workshop industry in Ticul provides insight into the factors associated with variability in dimensional uniformity as a function of market, technique, and the potter's own views of variability. In caution, we suggest that the coefficient of variation should not supplant the use of the standard deviation as an expression of standardization.

This book is about the Maya who inhabited northern Yucatán, México, during the centuries around the European arrival,
the Late Postclassic (AD c. 1100-1500). The Europeans arrived only decades after the abandonment of Mayapán, the last
Maya capital in this region. The nature of Late Postclassic (LP) society is not well understood, primarily because its socioeconomic
nature eludes researchers. To gain a better understanding of the Late Postclassic social and economic
environment in northern Yucatán, this study focuses on ceramic production, a crucial socio-economic aspect of the ancient
Maya society.
Through a combination of analytical methods that include petrographic, chemical, and surface features analyses, this
research reconstructs ceramic production technology and examines regional patterns in this technology for vessels from
Mayapán, minor north-central sites, and eastern sites. The research questions can be summarised as follows. Were there
patterns in raw material selection and ceramic technology reflecting zones of production, groups of potters, technological
traditions, or other social divisions? What might such patterns tell us about the organisation of production and the nature
of interactions, including networks of ceramic exchange and technological traditions that may reflect social divisions or
integration?
The results of this study have provided new insights into the technology involved in the manufacture of Late Postclassic
ceramics. The potters who produced these ceramics had a deep working knowledge of the very challenging raw materials
available for pottery making in northern Yucatán.
This study shows that raw material selection is not random and follows patterns determined by overarching technological
traditions dictating the appropriate materials for different types of vessels at different geographical locations. These
traditions can be traced back to, at least, the northern Terminal Classic, and continue up to the present. Furthermore,
cultural divisions between Mayapán and minor north-central sites may be reflected in the data. Divisions are also observed
between eastern fabrics in utilitarian vessels and fabrics in north-central vessels. At least two orientations to production
are emerging because the association between raw materials and types of vessels at Mayapán differs from minor northcentral
sites. This study found that many potters’ groups may have supplied the minor north-central centres, while the
compositionally and technologically homogeneity of Mayapán pottery points to few raw materials sources.
New perspectives have been gained on long-standing questions about the location of zones of productions, the extent of
the export and import of Mayapán vessels, and the mechanisms of exchange that may have been involved in this
movement of vessels. Mayapán imported few vessels and exported many. However, vessels with Mayapán fabric style
are found only at sites less than two days’ march from this major site. A ritual context or a limited sub-regional market
context may explain this movement. These findings have informed current views about Late Postclassic ceramic
production, exchange, and advanced our understanding of the socio-economic nature of this period.

Technological analyses by visual examination, thin-section petrography, INAA and SEM-EDS of an assemblage of elite serving vessels from the site of Altun Ha, Belize, provide important data on technology and organization of production. According to the manner in which they were decorated, these vessels are referred to in the literature as 'molded-carved', but prior research has also shown that they share a distinctive iconographic program. Evidence so far indicates that they constitute a ceramic tradition that is reflective of social and political changes that characterized the Terminal Classic period in the Maya lowlands. The results of the technological analyses described here combined with prior research on contexts, iconography and glyphic texts suggest that alterations in political and social systems during the Terminal Classic stimulated changes not only in the type of elite pottery being produced but also in the manufacturing technology and concomitantly in the organization of production.

In this paper we present a review about the murals located in the Temples of the Descending God (Temple 5) and the Frescos (Temple 16) at the pre-Columbian city of Tulum, Quintana Roo. We first study some of the characters dressed as gods, as Chahk, K'awil, Quetzalcóatl, and Xólotl. Secondly, we analyze the ritual paraphernalia, mostly composed of ceramic objects in the form of effigy urns, incense burners, idols, containers with offerings of corn in different preparations, and large jars used to contain liquids, presenting correspondences with the archaeological record. Afterwards, we analyze the intertwined serpents, as well as the vegetal elements that we identify with the flower and fruits of balché tree. Finally, these data are integrated in order to interpret the meaning of the Tulum murals in relation to the practice of bending over the maize stalks in the autumn, and also to the first fruits harvest, which coincides with the flowering of the balché tree and the beginning of the harvest of tajonal honey in Yucatán.

Los vasos dinásticos forman parte de un material cerámico que destaca por su decoración y los contenidos informativos registrados en sus superficies. En el caso de los vasos de la dinastía Kaan, estos sobresalen porque en su narrativa jeroglífica aparecen listados de gobernantes cuyos orígenes parecen perderse en el tiempo; sin embargo, hay excepciones y, en algunos casos, la temática del objeto se complementa con referencias sobre el contenido, el uso y los propietarios en cuestión. En el presente trabajo se abordará, a través de un análisis epigráfico e iconográfico integral, el caso del vaso K955, el cual se utilizó para contener una bebida embriagante empleada en diferentes eventos de tipo ritual. Los resultados de este análisis permiten inferir diferentes contextos socio-políticos en los que el uso de dicho objeto cobró protagonismo.

At the 1985 Maya Ceramic Workshop, Arthur Demarest noted that the intense interest in the Protoclassic.  Indeed, ceramists with only a mammiform support and a handful of sherds would pause to speculate on the significance of a statistically insignificant number of sherds.  During the 1990s, Joseph Ball and I doggedly worked to reexamine every aspect of the Protoclassic issue.  Aided by contributions of a number of colleagues, the resulting document attempted to strip the protoclassic of association with a specific temporal period and specific culture-historical events, reducing it to a simple ceramic stage.  In the wake of the publication, a number of attempts have been made to reestablish a protoclassic.  This presentation discusses the flaws in those proposals and clarifies points made in the original publication.

The recent salvage archaeological project in a large area of Tabasco gave way to the exploration of the San Román site, where a ceramic collection was obtained. This rather large amount of sherds allowed the construction of a ceramic sequence for this important region.