Late Classic Maya Pottery Production: Review and Synthesis

Abstract

Studies of the organization of Maya pottery production have been pursued via numerous methods but without theoretical models. I review available data on production of Late Classic southern lowland Maya polychrome pottery in light of my calendrically based may model of geopolitical organization. I conclude that: (1) production arrangements vary by "kind" of pottery; (2) "craft specialization" and "workshops" are inappropriate concepts; (3) study of polychrome production necessitates multiple approaches, including analysis of decorative content; (4) better "bridging arguments" and "middle-range theory" are needed; (5) figural polychromes were "inalienable" wealth goods; and (6) they were painted in palaces of primary and secondary centers-may and k'atun seats in the model-in realmspecific signature styles.Pottery in Mesoamerica was made in a multitude of shapes and colors to meet a multitude of needs, both quotidian and ceremonial. The most abundant pottery consists of containers for the preparation, serving, and storage of solid and liquid foodstuffs and also might be used for gifts, display, funerary service, burning of resins, and ritual caches. Non-container fired clay goods such as figurines, whistles, rattles, drums, and the like are also common. Among the Classic Maya, the best known ceramics are multi-colored polychromes painted with human figures, glyphic texts, mythic and palace scenes, and myriad floral, faunal, and geometric motifs.

Prismatic Blade Production in the Lower Cacaulapa Valley, Honduras: Implications for a Late Classic Political Economy

“…As many have noted (e.g., Feinman 2013;Hirth 1996Hirth , 1998Rice 2009), the resulting socioeconomic configurations often combine varying means of accomplishing all three highlighted tasks (Stark 1992;Stark and Garraty 2010). Grasping how craft production figured in these complex structures requires specifying who made particular items and at what scales and levels of intensity.…”

1 Introduction: Inalienability, Value, and the Construction of Social Difference

“…Finally, LeCount (:947), Callaghan (:56–57, this volume), Rice (:145–146), and Halperin and Foias (:395–396, 407) have recently begun to apply the concept of inalienable possessions to Late Classic–period serving vessels that display the Primary Standard Sequence (PSS) of hieroglyphs (Coe , ; Houston and Taube ; Houston et al ; Reents‐Budet ). The PSS usually appears in a band running across the exterior rim of vases and bowls, and interior rim of wide dishes.…”

“…It is not unusual for vessels once belonging to a lord of a specific polity to be found in the burial of the lord of another polity, sometimes far from the objects’ place of origin (see Reents‐Budet et al ). LeCount (:947), Rice (:145–146), and Callaghan (:56–57, this volume) argue that such vessels can be considered a type of inalienable possession that was allowed to circulate in restricted exchange among elites. Like Trobriand kula shells, Samoan fine mats, and Maori toanga, these vessels carried with them the identities of their original owners.…”

Technology, production, and distribution of terminal classic molded-carved vases in the Central Maya Lowlands

“…The rationale behind the physiochemical analyses of ceramic materials is that potters' recipes of clay and tempers are unique to individual workshops and potters, thus their products are chemically and mineralogically distinguishable from those of other pottery producers within the region and even among different potters in the same community (Ball, 1993;Rice, 2009). We, therefore, propose that the four distinct compositional groups represent the products of four potential production groups, each of which produced molded-carved vases according to its own ceramic recipe.…”