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Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hector Neff ,
Jeffrey Blomster ,
Michael D. Glascock ,
Ronald L. Bishop ,
M. James Blackman ,
Michael D. Coe ,
George L. Cowgill ,
Richard A. Diehl ,
Stephen Houston  and
Arthur A. Joyce
...Show all authors
Hector Neff
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Societies, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840-1003 USA
Jeffrey Blomster
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052 USA
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 USA
Ronald L. Bishop
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013 USA
M. James Blackman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013 USA
Michael D. Coe
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology/Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8277 USA
George L. Cowgill
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
Richard A. Diehl
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0210 USA
Stephen Houston
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Box 1921, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 USA
Arthur A. Joyce
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0233 USA
Carl P. Lipo
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840-1003 USA
Barbara L. Stark
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
Marcus Winter
Affiliation:
Centro INAH Oaxaca, Pino Suarez 715, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
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Abstract

A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to "overturn" the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data on a small sample of Early Formative pottery (Stoltman et al. 2005) are potentially useful, but they do not overturn INAA of nearly 1000 pottery samples and hundreds of raw material samples.

Una investigación reciente de la cerámica del período Formativo Temprano de Mesoamérica se realizó por medio de análisis a través de activación de neutrones (INAA). El estudio produjo resultados sorprendentes, que provocaron dos críticas que fueron publicados en la revista Proceedings of the Nacional Academy of Sciences. El estudio por INAA indicó que el centro Olmeca de San Lorenzo exportaba cantidades apreciables de cerámica tallada-incisa y de pasta blanca, pero que la cantidad de cerámica producida en otras regiones que llegaba a San Lorenzo no alcanza el nivel de detección. Las críticas supuestamente anulan el estudio por INAA y demuestran un patrón de circulación de cerámica más equilibrado entre los centros del Formativo Temprano. Sin embargo, las críticas dependen en una serie de errores y faltas de entendimiento que se explica aquí. Nuevos datos petrográficos obtenidos de una muestra pequeña de la cerámica del Formativo Temprano (Stoltman et al. 2005) son potencialmente de interés, pero no anulan los resultados de INAA de casi 1000 tiestos y cientos de muestras de barros crudos.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 54 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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