Ceramic Production and Exchange in Late/Terminal Formative Period Oaxaca

Abstract

Patterns of Late/Terminal Formative period (ca. 500 B.C.–A.D. 300) ceramic exchange in Oaxaca are examined through instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Samples of 453 Late/Terminal Formative period sherds were submitted to the Missouri University Research Reactor for INAA to determine elemental composition. The sherds came from 20 excavated sites and two surveys in the following regions: the Valley of Oaxaca, Mixteca Alta, Mixteca Baja, lower Río Verde Valley, and Cuicatlán Cañada. Selected for the study were vessel fragments from three recognized paste categories: grayware (gris), fine brownware (café fino), and creamware (crema). We also sampled clays and sherds from known sources in four modern pottery-making towns in the Oaxaca Valley. The research adds to the INAA database for Oaxaca by identifying the chemical signatures of six source groupings that we can link to specific regions and, in two cases, to particular source zones within regions. The evidence from chemical composition and typology indicates continuity in resource use and production practices in both Atzompa and Coyotepec from pre-Hispanic into modern times. The data show that the exchange of ceramics in Late/Terminal Formative Oaxaca was multidirectional, with ceramics imported both to and from the Oaxaca Valley.

Ceramic Microtypology and the Territorial Expansion of the Early Monte Albán State in Oaxaca, Mexico

“…The presence of broadly similar G.12 bowls over multiple regions probably reflects the exchange of stylistic information among producers and users in numerous locales, through modes of interaction that were relatively informal and not greatly distorted by political interference. To draw a contrast, it is likely that the G.12 distribution during the Late Monte Alban I and Monte Alban II phases was less affected by political affI1ia-tion between individual communities and Monte Alban than was the distribution of contemporaneous types of the cream or crema ware (e.g., Co2, C.6, C.7, C.ll, C.12, C.13, Co20); all crema wares were evidently produced with clay from deposits in the near vicinity of Monte Alban itself Feinman 1982: 188-191;Flannery and Marcus 1994: 22 ;Joyce et al 2006). Indeed, recent excavations of Monte Alban II phase kilns near the Main Plaza of Monte Alban yielded a predominance of these crema wares (MartInez Lopez and Markens 2004: 91;Markens and MartInez LOpez 2004).…”

Changes in the Style, Production and Distribution of Pottery in Santa María Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico during the 1990s

“…Subsequently, INAA was conducted on buff (crema) sherds from Monte Albán. Results showed strong correlations with modern Atzompa pottery (Joyce et al 2006).…”

“…were identified archaeologically during the Valley of Oaxaca Settlement Pattern project (Kowalewski et al 1989:94). They are located near sources of clays used by modern Atzompa potters (figure 2), and sourcing studies have shown that clays from the Atzompa source zone were used in the production of Formative to Post Classic buff wares at Monte Albán (Shepard 1967;Thieme 2001;Joyce et al 2006). 2 Classic Period (400-700 C.E.)…”

“…During this period, reduction fired graywares were the preferred pottery throughout Oaxaca. While most were made from clays distinct from those in the Atzompa area (Caso, Bernal, and Acosta 1967;Joyce et al 2006), one variety of grayware, gris cremosa, contained the white feldspathic inclusions typical of the Atzompa clays (Shepard 1963:7). Thus it appears that potters using those clays may, even then, have been adapting their type of production to the demands of their clients.…”

Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca

“…Another indication of status differences was the discovery of hundreds of sherds from vessels imported into the lower Río Verde Valley from the Oaxaca Valley, the Mixteca Alta, and an as yet unidentified region (as determined by INAA, ICP, and petrographic analyses; see Banker and Joyce 1991;Joyce 1991c;Joyce et al 2006;Workinger 2002, 345-369). These sherds were recovered at Cerro de la Cruz, Río Viejo, and San Francisco de Arriba in contexts with other evidence of public ritual activity or high status, indicating that they were imported as social valuables (Joyce 1991a, 517-519;Joyce et al 2006;Workinger 2002, 389-390;Chapter 7). The establishment of long-distance exchange relations and the acquisition of exotic goods through these networks were means through which people set themselves apart from others (see below).…”