Maya ceramics

Last updated
Painted Classic Period vase from Sacul in Guatemala Sacul vase.jpg
Painted Classic Period vase from Sacul in Guatemala

Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the Pre-Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. The vessels used different colors, sizes, and had varied purposes. Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes, while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. Elite pottery, usually in the form of straight-sided beakers called "vases", used for drinking, was placed in burials, giving a number of survivals in good condition. Individual examples include the Princeton Vase and the Fenton Vase.

Contents

Used for a plethora of daily activities, such as the storage of food and beverages, ceramics were also a canvas of commemoration. There were three main types of ceramics used in daily life: bowls, plates, and cylinders. They were often monochrome, meaning that only one type of mineral slip was used. [1] Polychrome pottery was more complex in nature and therefore more commonly used by the elite. Not only was polychrome pottery used as decoration, it was also used as a form of social currency—a physical display of status and others' approval. [2]

As time progressed, various features were added to ceramics to go beyond the fundamental needs of vessels; For example, pellets were put in larger bowls to not only serve as something to hold food, but would also become instruments used in the same feasts. [3]

Archaeological evidence has been found that suggests ceramics were used for industrial purposes. The discovery of highly uniform ceramic cylinders along with tools used in the production of salt indicate that the ceramics were used to mass-produce salt from brine. [4]

Surveys of Maya ceramics a major part of the ongoing controversy over the degree of elite political control over aspects the subsistence economy, the extent of economic centralization, and how it reinforces power (a common debate in the archaeology of complex societies). [5]

Typology

As defined and used by Southwestern archaeologists, a ware is "a large grouping of pottery types which has little temporal or spatial implication but consists of stylistically varied types that are similar technologically and in method of manufacture", and "a defined ware is a ceramic assemblage in which all attributes of paste composition (with the possible exception of temper) and of surface finish remain constant." [6] Generally each pottery classification and terminology system then becomes rather specific to a particular archaeological site and/or period.

A classification system can be epistemologically useful: [7]

What does a ceramic system “mean”? Most obviously, it means that Postclassic Petén potters recognized and adhered to a decorative canon—a set of rules—for design structure, layout, and colors. Vessel forms and proportions varied from ware to ware and settlement to settlement, but the principles that structured what kinds of decoration were to be applied, and where and how, were strictly adhered to in at least three production resource-groups (minimally defined by paste compositions) throughout the lakes area (approximately seventy-five kilometers east–west) over three hundred years. In addition, we were eventually able to successfully predict the decorative types we would find (which would otherwise be a process of categorization) in each ceramic group.

A type-variety classification system's criticisms include that it leaves a lot of variability unaccounted for, it should be accompanied by modal analysis, and it has limited use with whole vessels. [8]

Petén Lakes Postclassic system

"Postclassic slipped and decorated pottery at sites in the Petén Lakes region was manufactured of three distinctive paste wares. These indicate minimally three production nodes of Petén Postclassic pottery, at least one for each paste. ... These paste wares were used to manufacture the three most common red-slipped ceramic groups of the Postclassic.... [P]otters across the Petén Lakes area had a fairly uniform and widely shared set of ideas about what constituted proper pottery decoration regardless of their different clay and temper resources." [9]

"Whether painted or incised, decoration appeared in circumferential bands on the interior walls of tripod dishes (Rice 1983, 1985, 1989). The bands are defined above and below by multiple lines and divided into two or four panels by vertical lines or placement of simple motifs, which also may appear inside the panels (see Rice and Cecil 2009). This decorative coherence structures the classificatory coherence of types and varieties in the slipped ceramic groups across the three paste wares: monochrome, black-painted, red-painted, and incised." [9] [ excessive quote ]

Chocholá style

A firefly, among the most common of insects in Maya art, is carved on both sides of this vessel. The text on the rim mentions a young man, suggesting this vessel was involved in a rite-of-passage ceremony. Mexico, Campeche, Maya, Chochola Style - Carved Vessel - 1990.173 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif
A firefly, among the most common of insects in Maya art, is carved on both sides of this vessel. The text on the rim mentions a young man, suggesting this vessel was involved in a rite-of-passage ceremony.

Northern Yucatán; as they did not come directly from digs they are often "labeled as 'unprovenanced' and hence 'unusable'. ... In 1973, the name Chocholá was first assigned to the waxy, chocolatey, bowls and cylinders, which due to their uniquely carved surfaces, stand out from the majority of ancient Maya ceramics. ... Coe named the style after a small village 30 kilometers southwest of Mérida, near the larger settlement of Maxcanu, from which he was told the ceramics originated" [13]

"On a significant number of Chocholá pots the decorative information is restricted to hieroglyphics, either the diagonal band described above, or a more elaborate combination of diagonal glyph bands, rim texts, or a single large Calendar Round date." The Primary Standard Sequences are text that occurs usually as a rim text on many ceramic vessels from all parts of the Maya Lowlands. The PSS is a glyphic formula that refers to the dedication of a vessel, its method of adornment, the class of vessel involved, its use and content (cacao drinks and maize gruels), and sometimes the owner or artisan. [14]

Monte Albán typology

A ceramic classification by paste color and texture first defined in Caso et al. 1967 is commonly used: gris (gray, abbreviated "G"), crema (cream, abbreviated "C"), café (brown, abbreviated "K"), and amarillo (yellow or orange, abbreviated "A"). "Most ceramic types produced after the founding of Monte Albán are designated by an alphanumeric code indicating their ware and type number (e.g., G.12, C.11, K.17, A.9). In contrast, ceramic types dating to pre-Monte Albán phases generally have descriptive names (e.g., Socorro Fine Gray, Atoyac Yellow-White). Although Oaxaca archaeologists do not formally assign these types to the four ware categories defined by Caso et al. (1967), similar gray, brown, and buff/cream pastes were used by earlier (Middle Formative) potters, and several pre-Monte Albán types clearly were "ancestral" to particular types in the Monte Albán sequence (e.g., Drennan, 1976: 22; also Flannery and Marcus, 2005: 473; 2015: 115–116)." [15]

Crema ware (cream)

Creamware vessel featuring the Smoking Xul glyph, Maya, Alta Verapaz region, Guatemala, Late Classic Period, Royal Ontario Museum. Creamware vessel featuring the Smoking Xul glyph, Maya, Alta Verapaz region, Guatemala, Late Classic Period, 600-900 AD, ceramic - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC04484.JPG
Creamware vessel featuring the Smoking Xul glyph, Maya, Alta Verapaz region, Guatemala, Late Classic Period, Royal Ontario Museum.

Designs could be incised or carved post-firing. "In the Rosario phase and Early MA I, production loci generally produced both “costly” and utilitarian vessels. By Late MA I, the production of costly vessels was dominated by potters in the Cacaotepec-Atzompa locality northwest of Monte Albán, who specialized in the manufacture of elaborate cream ware (crema) vessels, while other communities produced primarily (though not exclusively) utilitarian vessels. We suspect that these patterns reflect the efforts of rulers at Monte Albán to control the production and distribution of elite pottery, particularly crema vessels." [16] "Many other sites in which crema-ware ceramics were found were interpreted to have had close ties to Monte Albán, because these ceramics were only produced from clay sources located near the ancient city." [17] The distribution of crema ware in combination with other archaeological evidence suggests "efforts by the leaders of Monte Albán to control, perhaps because of trade, the valleys lying between the Valley of Oaxaca and the coast." [18]

Gris ware (gray)

Cafe ware (brown)

Amarillo ware (yellow or orange)

Slate ware

characterized by its waxy and lustrous surface finishing, Late Classic to Early Postciassic in northwestern Yucatán peninsula. one of the most sophisticated ceramic traditions of Northern Yucatán, and encompasses a multitude of elite wares. [19]

Color types: red ware, orange ware, polychrome

Gralisa ware

"A distinctive incised and graphite-painted red ware pottery known only from Bajos de Chila and four other sites on Oaxaca’s central coast." [20] Their great abundance and variety in Bajos de Chila and the Guatemala highlands have suggested a possible greater extent of Maya trade and influence, but Oaxaca coast excavations have been limited. [21]

Chocolate pots

Spouted vessels of the Middle Preclassic (1000–400 B. C.) and Late Preclassic (400 B. C.-A. D. 250) Maya are traditionally called "chocolate pots", but lacked direct evidence that they had use in association with cacao until recently. [22]

Unique styles

Stamped or mould-made pottery are generally rare among Maya ceramics. [23]

Decoration

The utilitarians ware of the common people usually had simple decoration that reflected its use. Vessels in the palace were more elaborately decorated by carved forms or highly skilled polychrome paintings with hieroglyphs which named their function, the patron and rarely, the artist signature. For example, cylindrical bowls used for cacao drinks often had the plant species Q. guatemalteca depicted on them because that flower was used to enhance the flavor of the cacao drink. [1] Designs often included rituals, supernatural figures or common day practices. [24] Rulers were often depicted next to deities and shown to be equal, or nearly equal, in power and status as them. Other pots functioned more as storytelling devices, with glyphs from the Maya script that likely were guides for songs or other ritualistic texts. [2]

For many potters, decoration and imagery was more important than the structure of each vessel. [3] Cylindrical vases and plates were popular because they maximized the surface area for storytelling through imagery on each piece. There was more evolution in pictorial representations than shapes. As the complexity of painting increased, vessel shapes remained fairly simple. [2] Different regions in Mesoamerica also featured different color schemes regarding the area. In Holmul the color scheme surrounded reds and oranges on a white background. [25] Black backgrounds often indicate supernatural forces featured in the plate's scene or the depiction of the underworld because of the dark color used. [24] Different regions also featured a variety of regional symbols depicted on pottery. In Tikal, the Tikal Dancer represents the young Maize God, often depicted with his arms outspread and one leg bent, and has been seen on eighty-two compiled plates. [26] [27] [28] The Maize God was incredibly important to Maya culture because the god not only symbolized the Maya's main resource but rebirth as well. In the Popol Vuh, the Maize God is represented in a cyclical nature in order for the Maya to understand the human life cycle. [29] By placing an important figure in Maya culture onto pieces of pottery, it provides a higher importance of the pottery itself and its purpose. The Holmul Dancer, although similar to the Tikal Dancer in positioning, features a male dancing with a small dwarf or hunchback figure off to one side and has been seen on forty-five compiled vessels. [26] [30] Although the decoration had a higher importance, structure was still taken in to account. Specific pieces often featured other characteristics such as rattle feet, hollow cylinders located on the bottom of the plate that hold a ball on the inside. The rattle feet were often used for ritual purposes in the form of music because when shaken, the plate rattles. [24] [3] Pieces created with a diameter over 0.3m were often used for ceremonial feasts and those with smaller diameters, often including jars, were used for storage. [31]

Ceramics in society

Maya ceramics are made from two main types of materials that relate to their social structure, limestone and volcanic ash. Most of the land around the Mayans was limestone, which is where calcite comes from. These were mainly made as gifts and given to make local alliances, and these vessels are found in a more localized area. Whereas the ones made from volcanic ash are more widespread because they were thought to be given as gifts from the upper class to make very large alliances, through the Maya trade systems. [32]

Although the Maya are well known for creating a multitude of art, they are perhaps most well-known for their pottery. The Maya used these potteries to perform their sacrifice rituals with melodic tones. Because these rituals were a way of praying for rain, the blood spilled by the sacrificial victim (frequently a prisoner of war) was a form of asking their gods for rain and bounty in agriculture. Since these two components are connected, with rain, the Maya would have grown along with their agriculture.

Ceramics played a big role in society during the Maya Classic Period, when the Maya elite used ceramics not only to give gifts to foreign dignitaries, but they were also used in feasts during the Classic Period. Specialized pottery was made for the graves of nobles. Not anyone could make this pottery as it was very important they knew about the Maya history, mythology, and more. On these ceramics, intricate scenes were depicted which showed the palace life of the elite. The decorative scenes needed to feature the elite because they were the primary customers and wanted to have artwork that featured themselves. [3] On each ceramic piece near the rim, its contents would be listed out, a type of beverage for a vase or food for a plate, then who it belonged to was written next. The rim also may feature Saurian head labels which may indicate a specific location where the piece was made or where the scene on the piece took place. [24] Since these ceramics were traded and gifted, many end up in differing environments. In Teotihuacan, many ceramics from Tikal have been found due to being traded between traveling merchants between different cities in Mesoamerica. [33] Specialists mainly pay attention to the writing, drawings, and hieroglyphs, since they were different for the different people and cultures they were made by. [34] As for the everyday use more simple ware was made, generally of only one color, and would be produced in large quantities for the general public use. [35] Maya pottery only weakly correlates to socio-economic levels of Maya society because of the value the culture emphasized ceramics. Rituals were where the Maya registered status rather than in pottery. [36]

Economics

There is evidence in Postclassic Oaxaca that there was significant local production and trade of ceramics independent of the markets at the region imperial capital of Tututepec. [37]

Production techniques

Maya vase depicting a costumed noble; burial offering. Late classical period (600-900 CE). Copan, Honduras. Mayanvase.jpg
Maya vase depicting a costumed noble; burial offering. Late classical period (600-900 CE). Copán, Honduras.

The Maya had specific techniques to create, inscribe, paint, and design pottery. To begin creating a ceramic vessel the Maya had to locate the proper resources for clay and temper. The present-day indigenous Maya, who currently live in Guatemala, Belize and southern Mexico still create wonderful ceramics[ editorializing ]. Prudence M. Rice provides a look at what the current Guatemalan Maya use today for clay. Highland Guatemala has a rich geological history comprised mainly from a volcanic past. The metamorphic and igneous rock, as well as the sand and ash from the pumice areas provide many types of tempering. In the area, there are a range of clays that create varied colors and strengths when fired. Today's Maya locate their clays in the exposed river systems of the highland valleys. It is hypothesized that the ancient people obtained their clay by the same method as today's Maya. The clays are located in exposed river systems of the highland valleys. Most likely, due to the climatic similarities over the last millennia it is likely that these same deposits or similar ones could have been used in early times.

Once the clay and temper were collected, pottery creation began. The maker would take the clay and mix it with the temper (the rock pieces, ash, or sand). Temper served as a strengthening device for the pottery. Once worked into a proper consistency, the shape of the piece was created.

A potter's wheel was not used in creating this pottery. Instead, they used coil and slab techniques. The coil method most likely involved the formation of clay into long coiled pieces that were wound into a vessel. The coils were then smoothed together to create walls. The slab method used square slabs of clay to create boxes or types of additions like feet or lids for vessels. Once the pot was formed into the shape, then it would have been set to dry until it was leather hard. Then, the pot was painted, inscribed, or slipped. The last step was the firing of the vessel. Kilns were used to fire the vessels, and they were normally found outside in the open air. Unlike many modern kilns, they were fired by wood, charcoal, or even grass.

Like the Ancient Greeks, the Maya created clay slips from a mixture of clays and minerals. The clay slips were then used to decorate the pottery. By the fourth century, a broad range of colors including yellow, purple, red, and orange were being made. However, some Mayan painters refrained from using many colors and used only black, red, and occasionally cream. This series of ceramics is termed the "Codex Style", it being similar to the style of the Pre-Columbian books.

From the 5th century onwards, post-firing stucco was adopted from Teotihuacan. By preparing a thin quicklime, the Maya added mineral pigments that would dissolve and create rich blues and greens that added to their artistic culture. The original use of the Maya Blue that is so well known was for ritualistic purposes in pre-Columbian times by combining indigo, copal, and palygorskite to burn as incense which left a blue hue used for many other types of art later on in Maya history. [38] Many times this post-fire stucco technique was mixed with painting and incising. Incising is carving deeply or lightly into partially dried clay to create fine detailed designs. This technique was mostly popular during the Early Classic Period. [38]

Development chronology

Incense Burner with face and side flanges, Classic Mayan, highland Guatemala, Museum of Us. Incense Burner with Face and Side Flanges, Classic Mayan, highland Guatemala - San Diego Museum of Man - DSC06837.JPG
Incense Burner with face and side flanges, Classic Mayan, highland Guatemala, Museum of Us.

The Maya were a diverse people whose culture has developed through the centuries. As they developed, so did their pottery. Archaeologists have found stages of commonality between types of ceramics, and these phases coincide with the Mayan timeline.

Middle Preclassic (900/800-250 BC) Late Preclassic (250 BC- AD 250) Early Mayan ceramics stemmed from a past that began even years before the Maya became a group. Originally, the early Maya used gourds cut into useful shapes to create vessels to carry liquids and foodstuffs. These portable and durable gourds made excellent containers. The first ceramics closely resembled gourds and many were decorated with rocker stamps and simple slips. During the Late Preclassic period, many of the ceramics took on appendages of tetrapod mammiform supports. These supports were four legs underneath the pot holding it up. Tetrapods are relatively rare in the Maya Lowlands- even in the Peten where they were first described. Characteristic cream-on-red stripes colored these unique vessels.

The pottery of the Maya Early Classic dated from AD 250 to 550. The Maya soon began using polychrome slip paint, meaning they used many different colors to decorate the pots. This method of decoration became almost homogeneous for Mayan potters, thus signaling the beginning of the Classic Period. Across the Classic period, Maya pottery has little comparisons between its assemblages. [39] Polychrome pottery was a luxury item not commonly available to the general population. Most Early Classic Ceramics were monochrome types. Figural Polychromes were an elite prerogative, probably produced by and for other elites. [3] The Classic Period of the Maya provided beautiful ceramics in many forms. The lidded basal flange bowl was a new style of potter to add to the already growing repertoire. This type vessel usually had a knob on top in the form of an animal or human head, while the painted body of the animal or human spreads across the pot. Many of these pots also had mammiform supports, or legs. These unique vessels are usually found in great condition signaling a ritual function. [3] [24] The reason many are in good condition is their frequent use as burial goods. [28] As such, they are often the target of looters who cut deep trenches through many Maya buildings in search of a marketable vessel.

Sample timelines

Chama Style Vessel. Chama Style Vessel, Maya Art and Architecture, 1999.jpg
Chama Style Vessel.
Tripod showing a lord seated on a throne. Fondacion La Ruta Maya, classic period (250 to 900). Fundacion La Ruta Maya Tripod showing a lord seated on a throne.jpg
Tripod showing a lord seated on a throne. Fondacion La Ruta Maya, classic period (250 to 900).

There is no 'standard' timetable for Maya ceramics. There is significant variability in timing and content between sites. The first table below lists the ceramic complexes for Uaxactun (1955, modified, 2000), and may not apply to any other site.

Period [40] Ceramic SphereApproximate Date
Terminal ClassicTepeu IIIAD 850-?
Late ClassicTepeu IIAD 700-850
Late ClassicTepeu IAD 550-700
Early ClassicTzakolAD 250-550
Late PreclassicChicanel350 BC - AD 250
Middle PreclassicMamon600-350 BC

Version of a Maya ceramic timetable, adapted from a tourist booklet for Chichen Itza, 1984, based on Valliant's work from 1927, and modified from Smith's 1955 work at Uaxactun. It is a mix of phases, types, and technology, and therefore of no indicative value.

Period [41] Ceramic TypeApproximate Date
Red PotteryPeriod of Mexican

Absorption

AD 1200-1540
Maya-Toltec or

Mexican Period

Fine OrangeAD 975-1200
Interregnum or

Transitional

PlumbateAD 925-975
ClassicTzakol and

Tepeu

Collapse

AD 800-925

Florescence

AD 625-800

Early

AD 325-625

Classic

AD 325-925

Formative or

Preclassical

Mamom and

Chicanel

500 BC - AD 326

Notes

  1. 1 2 Zidar, Charles; Elisens, Wayne (June 2009). "Sacred Giants: Depiction of Bombacoideae on Maya Ceramics in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize". Economic Botany. 63 (2): 119–129. doi:10.1007/s12231-009-9079-2. S2CID   8037030.
  2. 1 2 3 Reents-Budet 1994
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Doyle, James (April 2017) [2000–]. "Ancient Maya Painted Ceramics". metmuseum.org. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  4. Robinson, Mark; McKillop, Heather (Spring 2014). "Fuelling the Ancient Maya Salt Industry". Economic Botany. 68 (1): 96–108. doi:10.1007/s12231-014-9263-x. S2CID   255556021.
  5. See for example introduction of Moriarty, Ellen Spensley (2012). Classic Maya ceramic technology and political dynamics in the central Peten Lakes region, Guatemala (PhD). Boston University. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  6. Aimers 2013 , p. 19, citing (1st quote) WGW 1958 pp. 34–35, which cites Hargrave and Colton 1935 pp. 49–51, Colton and Hargrave 1937 pp. 1–2; citing (2nd quote) Sabloff and Smith 1969 p. 278.
  7. Aimers 2013 , p. 23, in the Petén case study.
  8. Aimers 2013 , p. 24
  9. 1 2 Aimers 2013 , p. 21
  10. Aimers 2013 , p. 21, citing A. Chase 1983
  11. Aimers 2013 , p. 21, citing Cowgill 1963
  12. Aimers 2013 , p. 21, citing Rice 1979
  13. Ardren 1996 , p. 1 citing Coe, Michael D. (1973). A Maya Scribe and His World. p. 114.
  14. Grube, Nikolai (1990). "Primary Standard Sequence in Chocholá Style Ceramics" (PDF). In Kerr, J. (ed.). The Maya Vase Book. Vol. 2. New York: Kerr Associates. pp. 320–330. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  15. Sherman et al. 2019 , p. 9
  16. CITEREFSherman_et_al.2019
  17. Mechaca 2015 pp. 37-38, citing Elson, Christina M.; Sherman, R. Jason (2007). "Crema Ware and Elite Power at Monte Albán: Ceramic Production and Iconography in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico". Journal of Field Archaeology. 32 (3): 265–282. doi:10.1179/009346907791071548. S2CID   129444807.
  18. Mechaca 2015 pp. 37-38.
  19. Ardren 1996 , p. 2
  20. Barber & Pierce 2018 , 2: line 170
  21. Menchaca, Victoria Lynn (Summer 2015). Settlement history and interaction in the Manialtepec basin of Oaxaca's Central Coast (PDF) (MA). University of Central Florida, Department of Anthropology. p. 42. Retrieved 2022-08-13, citing Houston, Margaret S. (1974). Gralisa Ceramic Group: A Graphite-and-red-painted Pottery from the Coast of Oaxaca (MA). University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Department of Anthropology.
  22. Powis, Terry G.; Valdez, Fred Jr.; Hester, Thomas R.; Hurst, W. Jeffrey; Tarka, Stanley M. Jr. (March 2002). "Spouted Vessels and Cacao Use among the Preclassic Maya". Latin American Antiquity. 13 (1): 85–106. doi:10.2307/971742. JSTOR   971742. S2CID   163554946.
  23. M. B. (April 1935). "A Maya Pottery Vase". Museum Bulletin. V (6). Philadelphia: Penn Museum: 78–79. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Plate with rattle supports (Earthenware; pink, black and orange slip decoration; 38.1 cm × 38.1 cm × 12.4 cm). Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  25. Reents-Budet 1994 , pp. 294–299
  26. 1 2 Looper, Matthew G. (2010). To Be Like Gods: Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization. University of Texas Press. p. 125. ISBN   978-0292778184.
  27. Boot, Erik (2003). "An Annotated Overview of 'Tikal Dancer' Plates" (PDF). Mesoweb. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  28. 1 2 Zralka, Jaroslaw; Koszkul, Wieslaw; Martin, Simon; Hermes, Bernard (September 2011). "In the path of the Maize God: a royal tomb at Nakum, Peten, Guatemala". Antiquity. 85 (329): 890+. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00068381. S2CID   161127947 . Retrieved 2019-10-30 via Gale In Context: World History.
  29. Christienson, Allen (2000). "Popol Vuh" (PDF). BYU Studies. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  30. Reents-Budet, Dorie (1991). "The 'Holmul Dancer' Theme in Maya Art". In Fields, Virginia M. (ed.). Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 217.
  31. Tsukamoto, Kenichiro (2017). "Reverential abandonment: a termination ritual at the ancient Maya polity of El Palmar". Antiquity. 91 (360): 1630–1646. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2017.143 . S2CID   55873493 . Retrieved 2019-10-30 via Gale In Context: World History.
  32. Ting, Carmen; Martinόn-Torres, Marcos; Graham, Elizabeth; Helmke, Christophe (October 2015). "The production and exchange of moulded-carved ceramics and the 'Maya Collapse'" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science. 62: 15–26. Bibcode:2015JArSc..62...15T. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.06.013. S2CID   16912779.
  33. Clayton, Sarah C. (December 1, 2005). "Interregional Relationships in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Maya Ceramics at Teotihuacan". Latin American Antiquity. 16 (4): 427–448. doi:10.2307/30042508. JSTOR   30042508. S2CID   164112743 . Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  34. Reents-Budet, Dorie; Bishop, Ronald (March–April 2003). "What Can We Learn From a Maya Vase?". Archaeology. 56 (2). Archaeological Institute of America.
  35. Rice, Prudence (1987). "Economic change in the lowland Maya Late Classic period". In Brumfiel, Elizabeth M.; Earle, Timothy K. (eds.). Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–80. ISBN   978-0-521-32118-1 via Google Books.
  36. Shott, Michael J. (1999). "Pottery ethnoarchaeology in the Central Maya Highlands". Antiquity. 73 (282): 967. doi:10.1017/S0003598X0006590X. S2CID   246046654 . Retrieved 2019-10-24 via Gale In Context: World History.
  37. Barber & Pierce 2018 , 5.2 pp. 36-39
  38. 1 2 Arnold, Dean E.; Branden, Jason R.; Williams, Patrick Ryan; Feinman, Gary M.; Brown, J.P. (2008-03-01). "The first direct evidence for the production of Maya Blue: rediscovery of a technology". Antiquity. 82 (315): 151+. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00096514. S2CID   59425601 . Retrieved 2019-11-20 via Gale In Context: World History.
  39. Masson, Marilyn A.; Rosenswig, Robert M. (2005). "Production characteristics of Postclassic Maya pottery from Caye Coco, northern Belize". Latin American Antiquity. 16 (4): 355+. doi:10.2307/30042505. JSTOR   30042505. S2CID   163725189 . Retrieved 2019-11-20 via Gale In Context: World History.
  40. Kosakowsky, Laura J. (2000). Preliminary Report on the Ceramics from Holmul, Guatemala: Year 2000 Season (Report). FAMSI: Francisco Estrada-Belli (Boston U., now Vanderbilt U.). Archived from the original on 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 'standard ceramic complex time periods and ceramic sphere names' from Smith, 1955.
  41. Elizabeth Varela G. (1984) [Purchased new as a tourist souvenir, Chichen Itza, Yucatán, México, December 29, 1989]. "Ceramics". Chichen Itza. photography by Xavier Alducin. Mar Tirreno 96 Col. Popótla, Mexico, D.F. 11400: Ediciones Alducin. pp. 13–14.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tayasal (archaeological site)</span>

Tayasal is a Maya archaeological site located in present-day Guatemala. It was a large Maya city with a long history of occupation. Tayasal is a corruption of Tah Itza, a term originally used to refer to the core of the Itza territory in Petén. The name Tayasal was applied in error to the archaeological site, and originally applied to the Itza capital. However, the name now refers to the peninsula supporting both the archaeological site and the village of San Miguel. The site was occupied from the Middle Preclassic period through to the Late Postclassic (c. 1200–1539 AD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican chronology</span> Divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian ; the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – 250 CE), the Classic (250–900 CE), and the Postclassic (900–1521 CE); as well as the post European contact Colonial Period (1521–1821), and Postcolonial, or the period after independence from Spain (1821–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nakbe</span>

Nakbe is one of the largest early Maya archaeological sites. Nakbe is located in the Mirador Basin, in the Petén region of Guatemala, approximately 13 kilometers south of the largest Maya city of El Mirador. Excavations at Nakbe suggest that habitation began at the site during the Early Formative period and continued to be a large site until its collapse during the Terminal Formative period. The fall of Nakbe and El Mirador took place at roughly the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motul de San José</span> Ancient Maya site in northern Guatemala

Motul de San José is an ancient Maya site located just north of Lake Petén Itzá in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands. It is a few kilometres from the modern village of San José, in Guatemala's northern department of Petén. A medium-sized civic-ceremonial centre, it was an important political and economic centre during the Late Classic period (AD 650–950).

Ancient Maya art comprises the visual arts of the Maya civilization, an eastern and south-eastern Mesoamerican culture made up of a great number of small kingdoms in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Many regional artistic traditions existed side by side, usually coinciding with the changing boundaries of Maya polities. This civilization took shape in the course of the later Preclassic Period, when the first cities and monumental architecture started to develop and the hieroglyphic script came into being. Its greatest artistic flowering occurred during the seven centuries of the Classic Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade in Maya civilization</span> Transfer of ownership of goods and services

Trade was a crucial factor in maintaining Maya cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ixlu</span> Archaeological site in Flores, Guatemala

Ixlu is a small Maya archaeological site that dates to the Classic and Postclassic Periods. It is located on the isthmus between the Petén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. The site was an important port with access to Lake Petén Itzá via the Ixlu River. The site has been identified as Saklamakhal, also spelt Saclemacal, a capital of the Kowoj Maya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topoxte</span>

Topoxte is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the Petén Basin in northern Guatemala with a long occupational history dating as far back as the Middle Preclassic. As the capital of the Kowoj Maya, it was the largest of the few Postclassic Mesoamerican sites in the area. Topoxte is located on an island on Yaxha Lake across from the important Classic period center of Yaxha.

Zacpeten is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It is notable as one of the few Maya communities that maintained their independence through the early phases of Spanish control over Mesoamerica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Popol Vuh</span> Maya archaeology-Colonial art Museum in Zona , Guatemala

The Museo Popol Vuh is home to one of the major collections of Maya art in the world. It is located on the campus of the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Zone 10, Guatemala City. The museum is known for its extensive collection of pre-Columbian and colonial art of the Maya culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya civilization</span> Mesoamerican former civilization

The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The civilization is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.

Holmul is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northeastern Petén Basin region in Guatemala near the modern-day border with Belize.

Punta de Chimino is a Maya archaeological site in the Petexbatún region of the department of Petén in Guatemala. Occupation at the site dates to the Preclassic and Classic periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Punta de Chimino experienced a population surge in the Late Preclassic, followed by a reduction in occupation levels in the Early Classic and another increase in the Terminal Classic when the city became one of the few population centres to survive the political disintegration of the Petexbatún region after the collapse of the kingdom based at Dos Pilas. The neighbouring city of Seibal on the Pasión River appears to have intervened at Punta de Chimino at this time and to have politically dominated the smaller site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Blanca, Peten</span> Archaeological site in Petén, Guatemala

La Blanca is a Maya pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the municipality of Melchor de Mencos in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It has an occupation dating predominantly from the Middle Preclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. This site belongs to the later period of the Mokaya culture. The site is located in the lower reaches of the Mopan River valley and features a large acropolis complex. Activity at the site has been dated as far back as the Early Classic, with principal occupation of the site occurring in the Late Classic period, although some level of occupation continued into the Early Postclassic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén</span>

The Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén is an archaeological museum in the town of Dolores in the Petén Department of Guatemala. The museum is located 82 kilometres (51 mi) from Flores, the departmental capital, among the Maya Mountains in an area rich in archaeological sites. It is open daily from 8am to 5pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Rita, Corozal</span>

Santa Rita is a Maya ruin and an archaeological reserve on the outskirts of Corozal, Belize. Historical evidence suggests that it was probably the ancient and important Maya city known as Chetumal.

Baking Pot is a Maya archaeological site located in the Belize River Valley on the southern bank of the river, northeast of modern-day town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize; it is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) downstream from the Barton Ramie and Lower Dover archaeological sites. Baking Pot is associated with an extensive amount of research into Maya settlements, community-based archaeology, and of agricultural production; the site possesses lithic workshops, and possible evidence of cash-cropping cacao as well as a long occupation from the Preclassic through to the Postclassic period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture</span>

The use of mirrors in Mesoamerican culture was associated with the idea that they served as portals to a realm that could be seen but not interacted with. Mirrors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica were fashioned from stone and served a number of uses, from the decorative to the divinatory. An ancient tradition among many Mesoamerican cultures was the practice of divination using the surface of a bowl of water as a mirror. At the time of the Spanish conquest this form of divination was still practiced among the Maya, Aztecs and Purépecha. In Mesoamerican art, mirrors are frequently associated with pools of liquid; this liquid was likely to have been water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceramic art</span> Decorative objects made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery

Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While some ceramics are considered fine art, such as pottery or sculpture, most are considered to be decorative, industrial or applied art objects. Ceramic art can be created by one person or by a group, in a pottery or a ceramic factory with a group designing and manufacturing the artware.

The Codex Style is one of the most celebrated and recognizable styles of Ancient Maya art. It was first identified in 1973 by Michael Coe in the book The Maya Scribe and His World, in which the PSS was discovered. Coe called it “codex style” because he believed that the authors of the designs on the vessels were the same scribes who had painted or written the codices and that the paintings on the vessels imitated the images found within them.

References