Diachronic Ceramic Evidence and its Social Implications in the Chikinchel Region, Northeast Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

In this paper I present new, surface-collected ceramic data from the previously little-known Chikinchel region in northeast Yucatan. My goals are twofold: first, to expand the utility of surface-collected materials by suggesting a technological approach (paste analysis) to classify small or eroded sherds; and second, to place Chikinchel into the larger spatial and temporal framework of the northern Maya lowlands. The ceramic analyses presented here span the Late Formative through Spanish Colonial periods. Diachronic changes in the regional distributions of the different wares that compose the Chikinchel ceramic inventory are demonstrated and discussed in terms of larger processes occurring across the peninsula.

The Elusive Maya Marketplace: An Archaeological Consideration of the Evidence

“…Maya civilization was characterized by many changes during its long history, and distributional analyses require temporally specific data sets across the region of study. For the Maya area, the distributional approach has been used only sparingly, largely in evaluating regional patterning in temporally specific ceramic types (e.g., Fry 2003;Kepecs 1998;Sagebiel 2005;West 2002). Stanton and Gallareta Negrón (2001), in discussing Sotuta ceramics, caution that distributions could be the result of a complex array of behaviors that include gift-giving, termination rituals, and feasting that followed warfare events, in addition to trade or marketplace exchange.…”

“…The northern Yucatan coast served as a region for trade between central Mexico and the Caribbean lowlands, with marine canoes laden with goods becoming the dominant means of transport in the Early Postclassic (Guderjan 2005;Masson 2003;Masson and Peraza Lope 2004). Chichén Itzá, which dominated trade along the northern coast in the Late Classic and Early Postclassic, was a nexus of both goods and ideology (Andrews 1990;Andrews and Robles 1985;Cobos Palma 2004;Kepecs 1998;Ringle et al 1998). Chichén Itzá's major port on Isla Cerritos had modifications to accommodate this maritime trade, including the 330-m-long seawall that created a safe harbor for canoes ).…”

“…The analyses of clays or slips have been used to try to link production areas with consumption locations and, from these, to identify the direction of exchange (e.g., Fry 1979Fry , 1980Kepecs 1998;Rands and Bishop 1980). However, using ceramics to argue for marketplace exchange comes with some complications.…”

Ancient Maya Commerce : Multidisciplinary Research at Chunchucmil

“…P. Andrews and Mock 2002). For example, research at the site of Emal (Kepecs 1998), on the north coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, shows an abundance of Late Classic ceramics (Celestún Red, Chablekal Fine gray) that predate the Terminal Classic rise of Chichén Itzá and originate on the southern gulf Coast in the Mexican states of Campeche and Tabasco. Even stronger evidence for a large volume of Classic-period coastal trade comes from the site of Xcambo, also on the north coast, located approximately halfway between Emal and Chunchucmil's harbor.…”

New World States and Empires: Economic and Social Organization

“…Ceramic sourcing is also making inroads in other parts of Mesoamerica, notably West Mexico (Williams and Weigand, 2001). Unfortunately, ceramic petrography has lagged far behind chemical analysis in Mesoamerica (Kepecs, 1998).…”