Getting Closer to the Source: Using Ethnoarchaeology to Find Ancient Pottery Making in the Naco Valley, Honduras

Abstract

The problem of finding the locations of ceramic production has limited interpretations of prehispanic Mesoamerican economies. A new method for locating pottery-making is offered that emphasizes ties between the process of clay extraction and the manufacture of ceramic goods at the same clay source. Observations at modern brick and roof tile-making factories (tejeras) in the Naco Valley, Honduras, show that an effective arrangement for intensive production of ceramic goods is to create the finished product at the clay source. The major topographic transformations caused by clay extraction at tejeras, such as borrow pits and escarpments, are also signatures of prehistoric clay removal and, in many cases, can contribute to the identification of ancient pottery-making locations. A potential production locus was identified at the previously unremarkable and peripheral Site 108, where excavations successfully uncovered a prehistoric pottery workshop. By expanding the scope of our research methodologies, in this case actually implementing ethnoarchaeological understandings to the archaeological record, and by gathering more evidence for ancient pottery production, in this case at clay sources in rural areas, we are better positioned to understand the complexities of Mesoamerican economies.

Tracing the clay source of Nasca polychrome pottery: results from a preliminary raw material survey

“…Nonetheless, after many centuries of geological activity, the original source could potentially be buried under many meters of alluvium in this environment, and not be accessible today. Wherever the clay source was located, the site of polychrome production must have been near the source, as it has been shown that ceramics are often produced at clay sources themselves [8]. We hypothesize therefore that the locus of production for the majority of Early Nasca polychromes was within a 3e4-km radius (the ethnographic upper limit of clay transport) of where sample #CS029 was found.…”

Enacting power through networks

“…Some ceramic vessels were fashioned at the Late Classic capital where at least one massive, stone-lined kiln measuring 6 m in diameter was built and used during the Terminal Classic (Urban et al, 1997). No comparably large facilities are known from the valley during the 9th through 10th centuries though evidence for ceramic production on a smaller scale is suggested by materials recovered from five rural sites (Connell, 2001). Obsidian blades were fabricated at 20 Terminal Classic households within La Sierra and its immediate vicinity, though during this interval there are signs of knapping from seven other settlements.…”

Opportunities for Advancement: Intra-Community Power Contests in the Midst of Political Decentralization in Terminal Classic Southeastern Mesoamerica

“…A 1.43 m-deep depression measuring 32 x 45 m lies on the site's northwest margin; Structure 24 overlooks and is built into the southeastern rim of this declivity (Figures 3 and 5). Excavations revealed that the pit was dug into extensive clay deposits during the early Terminal Classic, creating a borrow pit analogous in form and size to those associated with both modern and ancient ceramic manufacturing facilities in the Naco Valley (Connell 2002). Associated with the northwest depression was an unusually dense concentration of worked and used sherds, vessel fragments whose edges were rounded intentionally or through use.…”