Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:29:56.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preclassic ceramic economy in Belize: neutron activation analysis at Cahal Pech

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2019

Claire E. Ebert Open the ORCID record for Claire E. Ebert [Opens in a new window] ,
Daniel E. Pierce  and
Jaime J. Awe
Claire E. Ebert*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, 5 East McConnell Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5200, USA
Daniel E. Pierce
Affiliation:
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri Research Reactor, 1513 Research Park Drive, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Jaime J. Awe
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, 5 East McConnell Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5200, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: claire.ebert@nau.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study uses neutron activation analysis of ceramics to examine economic change and increasing social complexity at the Preclassic Maya site of Cahal Pech in Belize (1200 cal BC–cal AD 300). Seven compositional groups were identified from the site's civic-ceremonial centre and two peripheral residential groups. Analyses indicate that both utilitarian and non-utilitarian ceramics were locally produced as early as 1200 cal BC, and that by c. 700 cal BC, fineware vessels were being exported into neighbouring parts of Guatemala. These results provide direct evidence for economic interaction between Maya lowland communities and for their increasing socio-political complexity.

Keywords

Preclassic Mayaneutron activation analysisceramic economycraft productionexchange
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 371 , October 2019 , pp. 1266 - 1283
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angelini, M.L. 1998. The potter's craft: a study of formative Maya ceramic technology at K'axob Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Boston University.Google Scholar
Awe, J.J. 1992. Dawn in the land between the rivers: formative occupation at Cahal Pech, Belize, and its implications for Preclassic development in the central Maya lowlands. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Awe, J.J. & Healy, P.F.. 1994. Flakes to blades? Middle Formative development of obsidian artifacts in the upper Belize River Valley. Latin American Antiquity 54(4): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/971879Google Scholar
Awe, J.J., Hoggarth, J.A. & Aimers, J.J.. 2017. Of apples and oranges: the case of E-Groups and eastern triadic architectural assemblages in the Belize River Valley, in Freidel, D.A., Chase, A.F., Dowd, A.S. & Murdock, J. (ed.) Maya E-Groups: calendars, astronomy, and urbanism in the early lowlands: 412–49. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Ball, J.W. & Taschek, J.T.. 2003. Reconsidering the Belize Valley Preclassic: a case for multiethnic interactions in the development of a regional culture tradition. Ancient Mesoamerica 14: 179–217. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536103142034Google Scholar
Bishop, R.L. 2014. Instrumental approaches to understanding Mesoamerican economy: elusive promises. Ancient Mesoamerica 24: 251–69. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536114000157Google Scholar
Bishop, R.L. & Neff, H.. 1989. Compositional data analysis in archaeology, in Allen, R.O. (ed.) Archaeological Chemistry IV: 576–86. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/ba-1988-0220.ch004Google Scholar
Bishop, R.L., Rands, R.L. & Holley, G.R.. 1982. Ceramic compositional analysis in archaeological perspective. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 5: 275–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-003105-4.50012-1Google Scholar
Blackman, J.M., Stein, G.J. & Vandiver, P.B.. 1993. The standardization hypothesis and ceramic mass production: technological, compositional, and metric indexes of craft specialization at Tell Leilan, Syria. American Antiquity 58: 60–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/281454Google Scholar
Blomster, J.P., Neff, H. & Glascock, M.D.. 2005. Olmec pottery production and export in ancient Mexico determined through elemental analysis. Science 307: 1068–72. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1107599Google Scholar
Brown, M.K. 2003. Emerging complexity in the Maya lowlands: a view from Blackman Eddy, Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Southern Methodist University.Google Scholar
Brown, M.K., McCurdy, L., Lytle, W. & Chapman, T.. 2013. Mopan Valley Preclassic Project: results of the 2011 field season. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 10: 137–46.Google Scholar
Callaghan, M.G., Pierce, D.E., Kovacevich, B. & Glascock, M.D.. 2017a. An atlas of paste fabrics and supplemental paste compositional data from late Middle Preclassic-period ceramics at the Maya site of Holtun, Guatemala. Data Brief 12: 55–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.03.024Google Scholar
Callaghan, M.G., Pierce, D.E., Kovacevich, B. & Glascock, M.D. 2017b. Chemical paste characterization of late Middle Preclassic-period ceramics from Holtun, Guatemala and its implications for production and exchange. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 12: 334–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.01.040Google Scholar
Callaghan, M.G., Pierce, D.E. & Gilstrap, W.D.. 2018. The first Maya trade ware? New data on Middle Preclassic-period Mars Orange ware from Holtun, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 12: 821–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2018.42Google Scholar
Clark, J.E. & Cheetham, D.. 2002. Mesoamerica's tribal foundations, in Parkinson, W.A (ed.) The archaeology of tribal societies: 278–339. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Day, P.M., Kiriatzi, E., Tsolakidou, A. & Kilikoglou, V.. 1999. Group therapy: a comparison between analyses by NAA and thin section petrography of Early Bronze Age pottery from central and east Crete. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 1025–36. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1999.0424Google Scholar
Ebert, C.E. 2017. Preclassic Maya social complexity and origins of inequality at Cahal Pech, Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Ebert, C.E., Culleton, B.J., Awe, J.J. & Kennett, D.J.. 2016. AMS 14C dating of Preclassic to Classic period household construction in the ancient Maya community of Cahal Pech, Belize. Radiocarbon 58: 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2015.7Google Scholar
Ebert, C.E., Peniche May, N., Culleton, B.J., Awe, J.J. & Kennett, D.J.. 2017. Regional response to drought during the formation and decline of Preclassic Maya Societies. Quaternary Science Reviews 173: 211–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.020Google Scholar
Falabella, F., Sanhueza, L., Correa, I., Glascock, M.D., Ferguson, T.J. & Fonseca, E.. 2013. Studying technological practices at a local level: neutron activation and petrographic analyses of Early Ceramic period pottery in central Chile. Archaeometry 55: 33–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00681.xGoogle Scholar
Ford, A. & Spera, F.. 2007. Fresh volcanic glass shards in the pottery sherds of the Maya lowlands. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 4: 111–18.Google Scholar
Garber, J.F. & Awe, J.J.. 2009. A terminal Early Formative symbol in the Maya lowlands: the iconography of the Cunil phase (1100–900 BC) at Cahal Pech. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 6: 151–60.Google Scholar
Garber, J.F., Brown, M.K., Awe, J.J. & Hartman, C.J.. 2004. Middle Formative prehistory of the central Belize Valley: an examination of architecture, material culture, and sociopolitical change at Blackman Eddy, in Garber, J.F. (ed.) The ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: half a century of archaeological research: 25–47. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Gifford, J.C. 1976. Prehistoric pottery analysis and the ceramics of Barton Ramie in the Belize Valley. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University.Google Scholar
Glascock, M.D. 1992. Characterization of archaeological ceramics at MURR by neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics, in Neff, H. (ed.) Chemical characterization of ceramic pastes in archaeology: 11–26. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 1987. Resource diversity in Belize and its implications for models of lowland trade. American Antiquity 52: 753–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/281383Google Scholar
Grave, P., Stark, M., Ea, D., Kealhofer, L., Han, B.S. & Tin, T.. 2015. Differentiating Khmer stoneware production: an NAA pilot study from Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. Archaeometry 59: 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12220Google Scholar
Harbottle, G. 1976. Activation analysis in archaeology. Radiochemistry 3: 33–72. https://doi.org/10.1039/9781847556882-00033Google Scholar
Hayashida, F.M. 1995. State pottery production in the Inka provinces. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Horn, S.W. III 2015. The web of complexity: socioeconomic networks in the Middle Preclassic Belize Valley. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Tulane University.Google Scholar
Jordan, J.M. & Prufer, K.M.. 2017. Identifying domestic ceramic production in the Maya lowlands: a case study from Uxbenká, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 28: 66–87. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2016.3Google Scholar
Kosakowsky, L.J. 2012. Ceramics and chronology at Chan, in Robin, C. (ed.) Chan: an ancient Maya farming community: 42–70. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Lecount, L.J., Mixter, D.W. & Simova, B.S.. 2017. Preliminary thoughts on ceramic and radiocarbon data from Actuncan's E-Group excavations, in LeCount, L.J. & Mixter, D.W. (ed.) The Actuncan Archaeological Project: report of the 2016 field season: 21–42. Belmopan: Belize Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Minc, L.D. & Sterba, J.. 2016. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (NAA) in the study of archaeological ceramics, in Hunt, A. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of archaeological ceramic analysis: 424–46. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MURR Archaeometry Laboratory Database n.d. Available at: http://archaeometry.missouri.edu/datasets/datasets.html (accessed 7 June 2019).Google Scholar
Neff, H. 2000. Neutron activation analysis for provenance determination in archaeology, in Cilberto, E. & Spoto, G. (ed.) Modern analytical methods in art and archaeology: 81–134. New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Neff, H. & Glascock, M.D.. 2002. Instrumental neutron activation analysis of Olmec pottery. Columbia: Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri.Google Scholar
Neff, H., Blomster, J., Glascock, M.D., Bishop, R.L., Blackman, M.J., Coe, M.D., Cowgill, G.L., Diehl, R.A., Houston, S., Joyce, A.A., Lipo, C.P., Stark, B.L. & Winter, M.. 2006. Methodological issues in the provenance investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17: 54–76. https://doi.org/10.2307/25063036Google Scholar
Peniche May, N. 2016. Building power: political dynamics in Cahal Pech, Belize during the Middle Preclassic. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Rice, P.M. 2015. Middle Preclassic interregional interaction and the Maya lowlands. Journal of Archaeological Research 23: 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-014-9077-5Google Scholar
Sabloff, J.F. 1975. Excavations at Seibal: ceramics (Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 13). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University.Google Scholar
Simmons, M.P. & Brem, G.F.. 1979. The analysis and distribution of volcanic ash-tempered pottery in the lowland Maya area. American Antiquity 44: 79–91. https://doi.org/10.2307/279191Google Scholar
Sullivan, L.A. & Awe, J.J.. 2013. Establishing the Cunil ceramic complex at Cahal Pech, Belize, in Aimers, J. (ed.) Ancient Maya pottery: classification, analysis and interpretation: 107–20. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813042367.003.0007Google Scholar
Sullivan, L.A., Awe, J.J. & Brown, M.K.. 2018. The Cunil complex: early villages in Belize, in Brown, M.K. & Bey, G.J. III, (ed.) Pathways to complexity: a view from the Maya lowlands: 35–48. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Sunahara, K.S. 2003. Ancient Maya ceramic economy in the Belize River Valley region: petrographic analyses. Unpublished PhD dissertation, McMaster University.Google Scholar
Weigand, P.C., Harbottle, G. & Sayre, E.V.. 1977. Turquoise sources and source analysis: Mesoamerica and the southwestern USA, in Earle, T.K. & Ericson, J.E. (ed.) Exchange systems in prehistory: 15–34. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Willey, G.R., Bullard, W.R., Glass, J.B. & Gifford, J.C.. 1965. Prehistoric Maya settlements in the Belize Valley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Ebert et al. supplementary material

Ebert et al. supplementary material 1

Download Ebert et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.2 MB