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Production Characteristics of Postclassic Maya Pottery from Caye Coco, Northern Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Marilyn A. Masson  and
Robert M. Rosenswig
Marilyn A. Masson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The University at Albany SUNY, Albany, New York 12222
Robert M. Rosenswig
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 51 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
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Abstract

This analysis of production variability of Postclassic Maya pottery from consumer contexts at Caye Coco implies that household pottery making varied and that products destined for different social and functional use contexts were made with differing degrees of standardization. New chronological and typological information from the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic Periods at Caye Coco provide data important to the study of long-term interregional affiliations leading up to the Late Postclassic. Our attribute analysis of major type and form classes of Postclassic Period vessels quantifies the relative diversity and homogeneity of products made for Caye Coco consumers. Greater standardization is found in serving dishes and other slipped vessel forms as opposed to unslipped storage and food preparation containers within the site’s assemblage, and evidence for regional scale similarities in dish attributes is also found. High levels of serving dish standardization likely reflect conditions of open social and economic boundaries and perhaps the direct exchange of some vessels. Minimally, stylistic templates were broadly shared due to the widespread use of highly visible serving dishes at regional feasts and religious celebrations.

Este análisis de la variabilidad en la producción de la cerámica del Posclásico Maya en el contexto del consumidor en Caye Coco implica la existencia de un rango de actividades artesanales, las cuales estaban inmersas en las relaciones socioeconómicas locales y regionales. La nueva información cronológica y tipológica de los Períodos Terminal Clásico y Temprano Posclásico en Caye Coco provee datos importantes para el estudio de las afiliaciones interregionales a largo plazo, llegando hasta el Posclásico Tardío. Nuestro análisis de los tipos y formas más importante de las vasijas del período Posclásico cuantifica la diversidad relativa de los productos hechos para los consumidores de Caye Coco. Se encuentra una mayor estandarización en cajetes y otras formas con engobe que en las formas sin engobe que fueron utilizadas para el almacenamiento y la preparación de alimentos, así como también similitudes regionales de aspectos de la forma de los cajetes. Los altos niveles de estandarización reflejan tal vez relaciones sociales y económicas muy abiertas entre territorios políticos, y quizás intercambios directos de vasijas. Como mínimo, la información estilística de cómo se fabricaban los cajetes era generalmente compartida debido al amplio uso de los platos de servir muy destacados en banquetes regionales y celebraciones religiosas.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 355 - 384
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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