IDENTIFYING DOMESTIC CERAMIC PRODUCTION IN THE MAYA LOWLANDS: A CASE STUDY FROM UXBENKA, BELIZE

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian M. Jordan ◽  
Keith M. Prufer
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Data ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Ceramic Vessels

Utilitarian ceramic vessels form the bulk of artifact assemblages in the Maya Lowlands, but little is known about their production beyond the likelihood that they were made in a domestic context without elite involvement. Characterizing the production and distribution of these vessels is vital to understanding ancient Maya economic systems; nevertheless, this is a difficult task in the absence of primary production locales. We use spatial data, use-wear analyses on stone and ceramic tools, and analyses of finished products to identify households involved in ceramic production at three settlement groups at Uxbenka, Belize, during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 600–800). Our analyses indicate that Uxbenka potters were likely involved in some level of residential specialization focused on specific vessel forms. These data, in conjunction with ceramic data from nearby Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit, suggest that all three polities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production and primarily engaged in intrapolity distribution. We argue that this self-sufficiency is due to widely available resources, smaller population sizes, and the availability of high quality agricultural lands.

After 30 Years and During a Pandemic: Pottery Production and Distribution in Bagacay, Talibon in the Island of Bohol in the Philippines | Pagkalipas ng Tatlumpung Taon at sa Panahon ng Pandemya: Produksyon at Distribusyon ng Seramiko sa Bagacay, Talibon sa Isla ng Bohol sa Pilipinas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhayan Gatbonton Melendres ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Training Workshop ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Production Organization ◽  
The Village

In 1986, SEAMEO SPAFA conducted training in Ethnoarchaeology in Bagacay, Talibon, from July 22 to September 22. From the training workshop and ethnographic fieldwork in the village, Mary Jane Calderon and Thelma Roales, who attended the course, wrote an article for the SPAFA Digest in 1987 to describe the village’s pottery-making tradition. After 30 years, I re-visited and conducted pottery studies in Bagagay, Talibon pre-pandemic in 2017 to 2018 and during the pandemic in 2021. Using ethnoarchaeology as a research strategy and participant observation and survey interview as methods, I will identify and describe the ceramic production, organization, and distribution changes in Bagacay, Talibon, Bohol for the last 30 years and during this pandemic. Noong 1986, and SEAMEO SPAFA ay nagsagawa ng pagsasanay sa Ethnoarkeolohiya sa Bagacay, Talibon noong Hunyo 22 hanggang Setyembre 22. Pagkatapos ng pagsasanay at ethnograpikong pagaaral sa komunidad, sina Mary Jane Calderon at Thelma Roales ay nagsulat ng artikulo para sa SPAFA Digest nuong 1987 para ilarawan ang tradisyon ng paggwa ng seramiko sa pamayanan. Pagkalipas ng 30 taon, ako ay bumisita at nagsaliksik ulit sa nasabing nayon bago ang pandemya nuong 2017 hanggang 2018 at sa kasagsagan ng pandemiko nito lamang 2021. Gamit ang ethnoarkeolohiya bilang stratehiyang sa pananaliksik at pakikiugaling pagmamasid at sarbey na panayam bilang metodo, aking kikilalanin at ilalarawan ang mga pagbabago sa produksyon, organisasyon, at distribusyon ng seramiko sa Bagacay, Talibon sa Bohol pagkalipas ng tatlumpung taon at ngayong panahon ng pandemya.

Pottery and Trade

2019 ◽  
pp. 327-348
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Núñez
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Behavior ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Full Extent ◽  
Demand Planning ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Ceramic Production And Distribution ◽  
Planning Production

This chapter focuses on the economic activity surrounding Phoenician ceramic production and distribution, in contrast with the traditional focus on ceramic typologies or other formal or chronological aspects. Given the limited data available, however, it is difficult to analyze the complex issues surrounding production to their full extent. Therefore, this chapter does not offer definitive answers. Instead, the chapter identifies diverse factors that play an important role in Phoenician pottery production, such as demand, planning, production, and distribution, as well as the respective dynamic behavior, incidence, and consequences accompanying each process, thus offering here an approach to Phoenician ceramics that breaks away from the rigidity of current models.

From Texts and Iconography to Use-Wear Analysis of Ceramic Vessels

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-210
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Lis ◽  
Trevor Van Damme
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
Funerary Rites

While handwashing is attested in the Bronze Age cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and appears in both Linear B records and Homeric epics, the custom has not been discussed with regard to the material culture of Mycenaean Greece. On analogy with Egyptian handwashing equipment, we explore the possibility that a conical bowl made of bronze and copied in clay was introduced in Greece early in the Late Bronze Age for this specific use. We integrate epigraphic, iconographic and formal analyses to support this claim, but in order to interrogate the quotidian function of ceramic lekanes, we present the results of use-wear analysis performed on 130 examples. As use-wear develops from repeated use over a long time, it is a good indicator of normative behaviour, particularly when large datasets are amassed and contrasted with other shapes. While not conclusive, our results allow us to rule out a function as tableware for food consumption, and in combination with all other analyses support the interpretation of lekanes as handwashing basins. We then trace the development of this custom from its initial adoption by elite groups to its spread among new social classes and venues after the collapse of the palace system: at home, as part of communal feasting and sacrifice or as an element of funerary rites. The widespread distribution of handwashing equipment after 1200 bc closely mirrors the situation in our earliest surviving Greek Iron Age texts and joins a growing body of evidence pointing to strong continuity in social practices between the Postpalatial period and the early Iron Age in Greece.

THE FIRST MAYA TRADE WARE? NEW DATA ON MIDDLE PRECLASSIC-PERIOD MARS ORANGE PASTE WARE FROM HOLTUN, GUATEMALA

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Callaghan ◽  
Daniel E. Pierce ◽  
William D. Gilstrap
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Neutron Activation ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The West ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Combined Data

This study reports on type: variety-mode classification, digital stereomicroscopy, petrography, neutron activation analysis, and previously published reports and characterizes production and distribution of Mars Orange Paste Ware in the Middle Preclassic-period Maya Lowlands. The sample consists of 2028 sherds of Mars Orange Paste Ware from Holtun, Guatemala, and 4105 sherds reported from sites in Central Belize and Peten Guatemala. The combined data suggest Mars Orange Paste Ware was a “short-distance” trade ware produced in the northeastern Maya Lowlands and distributed from Central Belize to the west.

scholarly journals Lidar survey of ancient Maya settlement in the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249314
Author(s):  
William M. Ringle ◽  
Tomás Gallareta Negrón ◽  
Rossana May Ciau ◽  
Kenneth E. Seligson ◽  
Juan C. Fernandez-Diaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Civic Architecture ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Cultivable Land ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Storage Technologies

The application of lidar remote-sensing technology has revolutionized the practice of settlement and landscape archaeology, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Maya lowlands. This contribution presents a substantial lidar dataset from the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico, a cultural subregion of the ancient Maya and a distinct physiographic zone within the Yucatan peninsula. Despite the high density of known sites, no large site has been fully surveyed, and little is known about intersite demography. Lidar technology allows determination of settlement distribution for the first time, showing that population was elevated but nucleated, although without any evidence of defensive features. Population estimates suggest a region among the most densely settled within the Maya lowlands, though hinterland levels are modest. Lacking natural bodies of surface water, the ancient Puuc inhabitants relied upon various storage technologies, primarily chultuns (cisterns) and aguadas (natural or modified reservoirs for potable water). Both are visible in the lidar imagery, allowing calculation of aguada capacities by means of GIS software. The imagery also demonstrates an intensive and widespread stone working industry. Ovens visible in the imagery were probably used for the production of lime, used for construction purposes and perhaps also as a softening agent for maize. Quarries can also be discerned, including in some cases substantial portions of entire hills. With respect to agriculture, terrain classification permits identification of patches of prime cultivable land and calculation of their extents. Lidar imagery also provides the first unequivocal evidence for terracing in the Puuc, indeed in all northern Yucatan. Finally, several types of civic architecture and architectural complexes are visible, including four large acropolises probably dating to the Middle Formative period (700–450 B.C.). Later instances of civic architecture include numerous Early Puuc Civic Complexes, suggesting a common form of civic organization at the beginning of the Late Classic demographic surge, (A.D. 600–750).

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