Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T01:40:35.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interregional Relationships in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Maya Ceramics at Teotihuacan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sarah C. Clayton
Sarah C. Clayton*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Interaction between distant, culturally distinct, complex societies can significantly impact the sociopolitical development of the societies involved. In Classic period Mesoamerica, the urban center of Teotihuacan was a dominant force in the Valley of Mexico, and there is compelling evidence that its influence extended well beyond this region. The role of Teotihuacan in the political development of Maya cities has been debated for decades, though interaction may have also included exchange and the presence of Maya individuals at Teotihuacan. In this study I investigate interaction between Teotihuacan and several Maya polities through typological, spatial, and compositional analyses of Maya ceramics found at Teotihuacan. Data from instrumental neutron activation analysis are used to identify probable subregions from which Maya ceramics were imported to Teotihuacan. Results indicate that diverse Maya polities interacted with Teotihuacan over the course of five centuries, and that relationships involving polities in the central Petén region were particularly long-lived. This research has important implications for understanding the sociopolitical histories of Mesoamerican complex societies specifically, and interaction among complex societies in general.

La interacción entre las sociedades complejas alejadas y culturalmente distintas puede afectar el desarrollo sociopolítico de las sociedades involucradas. En el período clásico de Mesoamérica, el centro urbano de Teotihuacan era una fuerza dominante en el Valle de México, y hay evidencias convincentes de que su influencia se extendió más allá de esta región. Los arqueólogos han discutido por décadas el papel de Teotihuacan en el desarrollo político de las ciudades mayas, pero han puesto menos atención al intercambio y a la presencia de los inmigrantes mayas en Teotihuacan. En este estudio investigo las relaciones entre Teotihuacan algunos centros políticos mayas por medio de análisis tipológicos, espaciales, y de composición de la cerámica de una muestra de tiestos mayas encontrados en Teotihuacan. Utilizo los resultados de un análisis de activación neutrónica para identificar las probables subregiones de las cuales provinieron las cerámicas mayas que fueron importadas a Teotihuacan. Los resultados indican que diversos centros políticos mayas interactuaron con Teotihuacan durante cinco siglos. Las relaciones con los centros políticos de la zona central del Petén fueron particularmente duraderas. Esta investigación tiene implicaciones importantes para entender específicamente las historias sociopolíticas de las sociedades complejas de Mesoamérica, y en general, la interacción entre las sociedades complejas.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 427 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Arnold, Dean E. 1981 A Model for the Identification of Non-Local Ceramic Distribution: A View from the Present. In Production and Distribution: A Ceramic Viewpoint, edited by Hilary Howard and Elaine L.L. Morris, pp. 31–44, BAR International Series 120. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W. 1977 The Archaeological Ceramics of Becan, Campeche, Mexico. Middle American Research Institute Publication 43. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W. 1983 Teotihuacan, the Maya, and Ceramic Interchange: A Contextual Perspective. In Highland-Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Arthur G. Miller, pp. 125–145. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Barth, Fredrik (editor) 1969 Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference. Little, Brown, and Company. Boston.Google Scholar
Beaudry, Marilyn P., and Bishop, Ronald L. 1994 Chemical Compositional Analysis of Southeastern Maya Ceramics. In Ceramics and Artifacts from Excavations in the Copan Residential Zone, edited by Gordon R. Willey, Richard M. Leventhal, Arthur A. Demarest, and William L. Fash, Jr., pp. 407–438. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 80. Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Becker, Marshall J. 1983 Kings and Classicism: Political Change in the Maya Lowlands During the Classic Period. In Highland-Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Arthur G. Miller, pp. 159–200. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L. 1980 Aspects of Compositional Modeling. In Models and Methods in Regional Exchange, edited by Robert E. Fry, pp. 47–66. Society for American Archaeology Papers No. 1. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L. 1994 Pre-Columbian Pottery: Research in the Maya Region. In Archaeometry of Precolumbian Sites and Artifacts, edited by D. A. Scott and P. Meyers, pp. 15–66. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L. 2003 Five Decades of May a Fine Orange Ceramic Investigation by INAA. In Patterns and Process: a Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Edward V. Sayre, edited by Lambertus van Zelst, pp. 80–91. Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education. Suitland, Maryland.Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., and Neff, Hector 1989 Compositional Data Analysis in Archaeology, In Archaeological Chemistry IV, edited By Ralph O. Allen, pp. 57–86. Advances in Chemistry Series 220. American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., Rands, Robert L., and Holley, George R. 1982 Ceramic Compositional Analysis in Archaeological Perspective. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. Volume 5, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 275–330. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borowicz, James 2003 Images of Power and the Power of Images: Early Classic Iconographic Programs of the Carved Monuments of Tikal. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 217–247. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. 2003 Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 1–43. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Buikstra, Jane E., Douglas Price, T., Wright, Lori E., and Burton, James A. 2004 Tombs from the Copan Acropolis: A Life History Approach. In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Ellen E. Bell, Marcelo A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 191–212. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1993 Tikal Report No. 25, Part A: The Ceramics of Tikal: Vessels from the Burials, Caches and Problematical Deposits. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Dahlin, Bruce H. 1984 A Colossus in Guatemala: The Preclassic City of El Mirador. Archaeology 37(5):18–25.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., and Foias, Antoinia E. 1993 Mesoamerican Horizons and the Cultural Transformations of Maya Civilization. In Latin American Horizons, edited by Don Stephen Rice, pp. 147–191. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Dominguez Carrasco, María del Rosario 1994 Calakmul, Campeche: Un Análisis de las Cerámicas. Universidad Autónoma de Campeche. Colección Arqueología, México.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A. 1979 Culture Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emergence of Civilization in the Maya Lowlands. American Antiquity 44:36–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freidel, David A., and Scheie, Linda 1988 Kingship in the Late Preclassic Maya Lowlands: The Instruments and Places of Ritual Power. American Anthropologist 90:547–565.Google Scholar
Gifford, James C. 1976 Prehistoric Pottery Analysis and the Ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Helms, Mary W. 1993 Craft and the Kingly Ideal. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kubler, George 1973 Iconographic Aspects of Architectural Profiles at Teotihuacan and in Mesoamerica. In The Iconography of Middle American Sculpture, edited by D.T. Easby, Jr., pp. 24–39. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Laporte, Juan Pedro 2003 Architectural Aspects of Interaction Between Tikal and Teotihuacan. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, 199–216. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Vlillon, René 1973 The Teotihuacan Map. Part One: Text. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Moholy-Nagy, Hattula 1999 Mexican Obsidian at Tikal, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 10:300–313.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector 2002 Quantitative Techniques for Analyzing Ceramic Compositional Data. In Ceramic Production and Circulation in the Greater Southwest, edited by Hector Neff and Donna Glowacki, pp. 15–35. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Parsons, Jeffrey R. 1974 The Development of a Prehistoric Complex Society: A Regional Perspective from the Valley of Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 1:81–108.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 2003 Teotihuacan at Altun Ha: Did it Make a Difference? In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 235–247. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1993 Maya History. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn C. 1987 Los Barrios Foraneos de Teotihuacan. In Teotihuacan: Nuevos Datos, Nuevas Síntesis, Nuevos Problemas, edited by Emily McClung de Tapia and Evelyn C. Rattray, pp. 243–273. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F. Google Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn C. 1989 El barrio de comerciantes y el conjunto de Tlamimilolpa: Un estudio comparativo. Arqueología 5:105–129.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie, Bell, Ellen E., Traxler, Loa P., and Bishop, Ronald L. 2003 Early Classic Ceramic Offerings at Copan: A Comparison of the Hunal, Margarita, and Sub-Jaguar Tombs. In Understanding Early Classic Copán, edited by Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canute, and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 159–190. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie and Bishop, Ronald L. 2003 More than Methodology: INAA and Classic Maya Painted Ceramics. In Patterns and Process: a Festschrift in Honor of Dr. Edward V. Sayre, edited by Lambertus van Zelst, pp. 92–106. Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, Suitland, Maryland.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie, Bishop, Ronald L., and MacLeod, Barbara 1994 Painting Styles, Workshop Locations, and Pottery Production. In Painting the Maya Universe, edited by Dorie Reents-Budet, pp. 164–233. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1989 The Epiclassic as a Stage in Mesoamerican Prehistory: An Evaluation. In Mesoamerica After the Decline of Teotihuacan: A. D. 700–900, edited by Richard A Diehl and Janet Catherine Berlo, pp 211–218. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., Parsons, Jeffrey R., and Santley, Robert S. 1979 The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Price, Barbara J. 1968 Mesoamerica: The Evolution of a Civilization. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1983 Obsidian Trade and Teotihuacan Influence in Mesoamerica. In Highland-Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Arthur G. Miller, pp. 69–124. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Sayre, Edward V. 1975 Brookhaven Procedures for Statistical Analyses of Multivariate Archaeometric Data. Report 21693. Ms. on file at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York.Google Scholar
Sayre, Edward V. and Harbottle, Garman 1978 The Analysis by Neutron Activation of Archaeological Ceramics Related to Teotihuacan: Local Wares and Trade Sherds. Report for the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York.Google Scholar
Scheie, Linda 1986 “The Tlaloc Heresy.” Paper presented at the Blood of Kings Conference, the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.Google Scholar
Scheie, Linda, and Freidel, David 1990 A Forest of Kings. Quill, William Morrow, New York.Google Scholar
Scheie, Lindan and Grube, Nikolai 1992 The Founding Events at Copán. Copán Note 107. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia and the Copán Acropolis Archaeological Project, Austin.Google Scholar
Schortman, Edward M., and Urban, Patricia.A. 1994 Living on the Edge: Core/Periphery Relations in Ancient Southeastern Mesoamerica. Current Anthropology 35:401–430.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert 2003 Founding Events and Teotihuacan Connections at Copan, Honduras. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 143–165. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Smith, Robert E. 1955 Ceramic Sequence at Uaxactun, Guatemala, volume I. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Smith, Robert E. 1987 A Ceramic Sequence From the Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 75. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1996a Commodity or Gift: Teotihuacan Obsidian in the Maya Region. Latin American Antiquity 7:21–39.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael W. 1996b A Comparative Analysis of Ethnic Enclaves. In Arqueología Mesoamericana: Homenaje a William T. Sanders, edited by A. Guadalupe Mastache, Jeffrey R. Parsons, Mari Carmen Serre Puche, and Robert S. Santley, pp. 333–353. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia y Arqueología Mexicana, México.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil 1999 Rethinking World Systems: Diasporas, Colonies, ami Interaction in Uruk, Mesopotamia. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil 2002 From Passive Periphery to Active Agents: Emerging Perspectives in the Archaeology of Interregional Interaction. American Anthropologist 104:903–916.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 2000 “The Arrival of Strangers”: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History. In Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by Davíd Carrasco, Lindsay Jones, and Scott Sessions, pp. 465–513. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 2003 Tetitla and the Maya Presence at Teotihuacan. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell, pp. 273–314. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Viel, Rene 1993 Evolutión de las Cerámicas de Copán, Honduras. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa. Wallerstein, Immanuel 1974 The Modern World-System, Vol.1. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
White, Christine D., Spence, Michael W., Longstaffe, Fred J., Stuart-Williams, Hilary, and Law, Kimberley R. 2002 Geographic Identities of the Sacrificial Victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Implications for the Nature of State Power. Latin American Antiquity 13:217–236.Google Scholar