Maya Ceramics Analysis

Pottery sherds the most abundant artifacts recovered from sites reveal much about artistic expression religious ritual economic systems cooking traditions and cultural exchange in maya society.

Maya ceramics analysis.

The vessels used different colors sizes and had varied purposes. For this research we are interested in reconstructing how ancient maya potters and painters made these vessels. But they didnt burn the torch instead something that looked like fire was substituted. The ancient maya produced a broad range of ceramics that has attracted concerted scholarly attention for over a century.

The maya ceramics project smithsonian center for materials research and education has a growing database of chemical fingerprints of dozens of classic maya ceramic production sites. The result is a book that serves both as a valuable resource for archaeologists involved in pottery classification analysis and interpretation and as an illuminating exploration of ancient maya culture. The process of creating ceramics involved many steps and different materials both local and imported. At its height it was a densely populated culturally dynamic society with cities throughout the region that is now mexico belize guatemala and honduras.

Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. Individual examples include the princeton va. The maya ceramic book of creation the trials of the popol vuh hero twins displayed on classic maya polychrome painted pottery first they entered the dark house. Ancient mayan pottery maya civilization is one of the great ancient civilizations of the world.

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. This was the tail of the macaw which looked like a torch to the sentries. Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the pre columbian maya culture of mesoamerica. Ancient maya pottery brings together many of the archaeologists signally involved in the analysis and interpretation of ancient maya ceramics and offers new findings and state of the art thinking.

In 2015 lacma s program in the art of the ancient americas embarked on the maya vase research project a fruitful collaboration with the museum s conservation center to conduct technical analysis of ancient maya ceramic vessels. All maya pottery was built by hand as opposed to on a potter s wheel.