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CELEBRATING PLACE THROUGH LUXURY CRAFT PRODUCTION

Travesia and Ulua style marble vases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2008

Christina Luke  and
Robert H. Tykot
Christina Luke*
Affiliation:
Boston University, Department of Archaeology, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Robert H. Tykot
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SOC107 Tampa, FL 33620, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to:cluke@bu.edu
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Abstract

This paper explores the production of Late to Terminal Classic Ulua marble vases (ca. 600/650–800/850 a.d.), the hallmark luxury good from the lower Ulua Valley of northwestern Honduras. Unlike other areas of the greater Maya world, no one center appears to have held political sway in the valley. Yet marble-vase production at Travesia indicates that, through the patronization of this specific artifact, the site was able to celebrate its identity at home as well as abroad. Here the long-term production of the vases is investigated through a detailed analysis of stylistic groups and corresponding stable-isotope signatures from vases and potential procurement zones. The stylistic data suggest centralized production, which is confirmed through chemical signatures of vases and one specific procurement site. We argue that longstanding traditions of carving vases from marble in the Ulua Valley guided Travesian artisans in their procurement choices. The stylistic and chemical data augment settlement and ceramic data to situate vase production in its local social and political environment. In this case, luxury production corresponds not to a rise in central political authority but, rather, to a centrally located social center. The prestige granted to these luxury vases, then, stems from local histories of social and political networks that linked, rather than fragmented, communities. The results indicate that studies of material-cultural remains should consider the relationships between distinctive local social relations and the organization of craft production as integrative, not separate, processes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , Fall 2007 , pp. 315 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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