Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-06-02T22:57:49.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identifying ceramic production and exchange in the Valley of Puebla, Mexico: a multifaceted approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2014

Ronald A. Castanzo
Ronald A. Castanzo*
Affiliation:
*Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA (Email: rcastanzo@ubalt.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pottery production in Formative Period Mesoamerica appears to have been organised at the household level, but its distribution also provides evidence of political or economic boundaries. One distinctive ware from the Valley of Puebla, Tlaquexpa Red, used for the manufacture of sub-hemispherical bowls, was analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The results indicated that many of these vessels were being made by families at Tlaquexpa itself, but that some of their products were being traded to other communities, including the nearby civic-ceremonial centre of Xochiltenango. The study gives new insight into the role of pottery production in pre-Hispanic households.

Keywords

Valley of PueblaFormative Periodpottery productionhousehold craftsinstrumental neutron activation analysisTlaquexpa Red
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 341 , September 2014 , pp. 805 - 821
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2014

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

Abascal, R. 1996 [1975]. Los hornos prehispánicos de la region de Tlaxcala, in GarcíA Cook, Á. & Merino Carrion, B.L. (ed.) Antología de Tlaxcala, Volumen I: 321—32. Mexico D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia & Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.T. 1999. Mesoamerican house lots and archaeological site structure: problems of inference in Yaxcaba, Yucatan, Mexico, 1750—1847, in Allison, P.M. (ed.) The archaeology of household activities: 78–100. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Allison, P.M. 1999. Introduction, in Allison, P.M. (ed.) The archaeologyofhousehold activities: 1–18. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arnold, D.E., Neff, H. & Bishop, R.L.. 1991. Compositional analysis and ‘sources’ of pottery: an ethnoarchaeological approach. American Anthropologist 93: 70–90. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1525/aa.1991.93.1.02a00040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, P.J. III & Santley, R.S.. 1993. Household ceramics production at Middle Classic Period Matacapan, in Santley, R.S. & Hirth, K.G. (ed.) Prehispanic domestic units in western Mesoamerica: studies of the household, compound, and residence: 67–86. Boca Raton (LA): CRC.Google Scholar
Balkansky, A.K., Feinman, F.M. & Nichols, L.M.. 1997. Pottery kilns of ancient Ejutla, Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal ofField Archaeology 24: 139–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/530468Google Scholar
Bayman, J.M. 1999. Craft economies in the North American Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Research 7: 249–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02446113CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaudry, M.P. 1991. New World paste compositional investigations, in Bishop, R.L. & Lange, F.W. (ed.) The ceramic legacy of Anna O. Shepard: 224–56. Niwot: university of Colorado Press.Google Scholar
Berdan, F.F. 1985. Markets in the economy of Aztec Mexico, in Plattner, S. (ed.) Markets and marketing: 339–67. Lanham (MD): University Press of America.Google Scholar
Berdan, F.F. & Anawalt, P.R.. 1992. The Codex Mendoza. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Berg, I. 2004. The meanings of standardisation: conical cups in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. Antiquity 78: 74–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, R.L. 1980. Aspects of ceramic compositional modelling, in Fry, R.E. (ed.) Models and methods in regional exchange (SAA Papers 1): 47–65. Washington, D.C.: Society for American Archaeology.Google Scholar
Bishop, R.L. & Neff, H.. 1989. Compositional data analysis in archaeology, in Allen, R.O. (ed.) Archaeological chemistry IV: 57–86. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, R.L., Rands, R.L. & Holley, G.R.. 1982. Ceramic compositional analysis in archaeological perspective, in Schiffer, M.B. (ed.) Advances in archaeological method and theory, volume 5: 275–330. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, R.L., Canouts, V., Crown, P.L. & De Atley, S.P.. 1990. Sensitivity, precision, and accuracy: their roles in ceramic compositional data bases. American Antiquity 55: 537–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281283CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackman, M.J., 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281454CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. 2002. The development of socioeconomic complexity in the Formative Period central Puebla-Tlaxcala Basin, Mexico. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. 2010. Ceramics on the side: pottery making as an augmentation of household economy in Puebla-Tlaxcala during the Formative Period, in Hirth, K. (ed.) Housework: craft production and domestic economy in ancient Mesoamerica (Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 19): 133–47. Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association; Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. & Anderson, J.H.. 2004. Formative Period lime kilns in Puebla, Mexico. Mexicon 26: 86–90.Google Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. & Hirth, K.G.. 2008. El asentamiento del periodo Formativo en la cuenca central de Puebla-Tlaxcala, México, in Cyphers, A. & Hirth, K.G. (ed.) Ideología política y sociedad en el periodo Formativo: 301–21. Mexico D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. & Sheehy, J.J.. 2004. The Formative Period civic-ceremonial centre of Xochiltenango in central Puebla-Tlaxcala, Mexico. Antiquity 78(301) Project Gallery. Available at: http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/castanzo301/ (accessed 6 March 2014).Google Scholar
Castanzo, R.A. & Vonarx, A.J.. 2011. Ceramic production in the Formative Period Valley of Puebla, Mexico. Mexicon 33: 147–51.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. 1991. Craft specialization: issues in defining, documenting, and explaining the organization of production, in Schiffer, M.B. (ed.) Archaeologicalmethod and theory: 1–56. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. 2001. Production and exchange of ceramics, in D'Altroy, T.N. & Hastorf, C.A. (ed.) Empire and domestic economy: 203–41. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. 2007. Thinking about production: phenomenological classification and lexical semantics, in Hruby, Z.X. & Flad, R.K. (ed.) Rethinking craft specialization in complex societies: archaeological analyses of the social meaning of production (Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 17): 143–62. Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association; Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Costin, C.L. & Hagstrum, M.B.. 1995. Standardization, labor investment, skill, and the organisation of ceramic production in late prehispanic highland Peru. American Antiquity 60: 619–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/282046CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curet, A. 1993. Regional studies and ceramic production areas: an example from La Mixtequilla, Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 20: 427–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/530072Google Scholar
De La Fuente, G.A. 2011. Urns, bowls, and ollas: pottery-making practices and technical identity in the southern Andes during the Late Period (ca. A.D. 900–A.D. 1450) (Catamarca, northwestern Argentine Region, Argentina). Latin American Antiquity 22: 224–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.17183/1045-6635.22.2.224CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinman, G.M. 1999. Rethinking our assumptions: economic specialization at the household scale in ancient Ejutla, Oaxaca, Mexico, in Skibo, J.M. & Feinman, G. M. (ed.) Pottery and people, a dynamic interaction: 81–98. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M. & Balkansky, A.. 1997. Ceramic firing in ancient and modern Oaxaca, in Rice, P.M. & Kingery, W.D. (ed.) The prehistoryandhistoryof ceramic kilns: 129–48. Westerville (OH): American Ceramic Society.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M., Feinman, R.A. & Kowalewski, S.A.. 1984. Market system development in the Prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, in Hirth, K.G. (ed.) Trade andexchange in early Mesoamerica: 157–78. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Garcia Cook, A. 1976. El desarrollo cultural prehispánico en el norte de Valle Poblano-Tlaxcalteca: inferencias de una secuencia cultural, espacial y temporalmente establecida (Serie Arqueología, Departamento de Monumentos Prehispánicos 1). Mexico D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Garcia Cook, A. 1981 The historical importance of Tlaxcala in the cultural development of the central highlands, in Sabloff, J.A. (ed.) Handbook of Middle American Indians: supplement 1, archaeology: 244–76. Austin: University of Texas.Google Scholar
Garcia Cook, A. & Merino CarrióN, B.L.. 1989. El Formativo en la región Tlaxcala-Puebla, in MacíAs, M.C. (ed.) El Preclasico o Formativo, Avances y Perspectivas, Seminario de Arqueologia “Dr. Roman Piña Chan”: 161–93. Mexico D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Glascock, M.D. 1992. Neutron activation analysis, in Neff, H. (ed.) Chemical characterization of ceramic pastes in archaeology: 11–26. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M.B. 1985. Measuring prehistoric ceramic craft specialization: a test case in the American Southwest. Journal of Field Archaeology 12: 65–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/529375Google Scholar
Halstead, P. & O'Shea, J.. 1989. Introduction: cultural responses to risk and uncertainty, in Halstead, P. & O'Shea, J. (ed.) Bad year economics: cultural responses to risk and uncertainty: 1–7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbottle, G. 1982. Chemical characterization in archaeology, in Ericson, J.E. & Earle, T.K. (ed.) Contexts for prehistoric exchange: 13–51. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harry, K.G. 2005. Ceramic specialization and agricultural marginality: do ethnographic models explain the development of specialized pottery production in the prehistoric American Southwest? American Antiquity 70: 295–319. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40035705CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayashida, F.M. 1999. Style, technology, and state production: Inka pottery manufacture in the Leche Valley, Peru. Latin American Antiquity 10: 337–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/971961CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hein, A., Tsolakidou, A. & Mommsen, H.. 2002. Mycenaean pottery from the Argolid and Achaia—a mineralogical approach where chemistry leaves unanswered questions. Archaeometry 44: 177–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-4754.t01-1-00051CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendon, J.A. 1996. Archaeological approaches to the organization of domestic labor: household practice and domestic relations. Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 45–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.25.1.45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, R.S., Neff, H., Glascock, M.D. & Elam, J.M.. 1999. Ceramic patterns, social interaction, and the Olmec: neutron activation analysis of Early Formative pottery in the Oaxaca highlands of Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 967–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1999.0433CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirth, K.G. 2010. Craft production, household diversification, and domestic economy in Prehispanic Mesoamerica, in Hirth, K.G. (ed.) Housework: craft production and domestic economy in ancient Mesoamerica (Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 19): 13–32. Arlington (VA): American Anthropological Association; Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Joyce, A.A., Neff, H., Thieme, M.S., Winter, M., Elam, J.M. & Workinger, A.. 2006. Ceramic production and exchange in Late/Terminal Formative period Oaxaca. Latin American Antiquity 17: 579–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25063073CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koh Choo, C.K., Kim, K.H., Lee, Y.E. & Kim, J.S.. 2002. A scientific study of Choson white ware: early porcelain from a royal kiln at Kwangju Usanni. Archaeometry 44: 199–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-4754.t01-1-00053CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llcate, J.A. 1981. Creation of a Mexican landscape, territorial organization and settlement in the eastern Puebla Basin, 1520-1605. Chicago (IL): Department of Geography, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Menzies, A.C.J. & Haller, M.J.. 2012. Embedded craft production at the late Pre-Columbian (A.D. 900–1522) community of He-4 (El Hatillo), central region of Panama. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 36: 108–40.Google Scholar
Orton, C., Tyers, P. & Vince, A.. 1993. Pottery in archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Payne, W.O. 1982. Kilns and ceramic technology of ancient Mesoamerica, in Olin, J.S. & Franklin, A.D. (ed.) Archaeologicalceramics: 189–92. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Pool, C.A. 1997. Prehispanic kilns at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico, in Rice, P.M. & Kingery, W.D. (ed.) The prehistoryandhistoryofceramic kilns: 149–72. Westerville (OH): American Ceramic Society.Google Scholar
Pool, C.A. 2000. Why a kiln? Firing technology in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz (Mexico). Archaeometry 42: 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2000.tb00866.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pool, C.A. & Santley, R.S.. 1992. Middle Classic pottery economics in the Tuxtla Mountains, southern Veracruz, Mexico, in Bey, G.J. III & Pool, C.A. (ed.) Ceramic production anddistribution, an integrated approach: 205–34. Boulder (CO): Westview.Google Scholar
Rice, P.M. 1987. Pottery analysis, a sourcebook. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rice, P.M. 1991. Specialization, standardization, and diversity: a retrospective, in Bishop, R.L. & Lange, F.W. (ed.) The ceramic legacy of Anna O. Shepard: 257–79. Niwot: University Press of Colorado.Google Scholar
Rice, P.M. 2009. Late Classic Maya pottery production: review and synthesis. Journal ofArchaeological Method and Theory 16: 117–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/ s10816-009-9063-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roux, V. 2003. Ceramic standardization and intensity ofproduction: quantifying degrees of specialization. American Antiquity 68: 768–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3557072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, R.S., Arnold, P.J. III & Pool, C.A.. 1989. The ceramics production system at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16: 107–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/529884Google Scholar
Sillar, B. 2000. Dung by preference: the choice of fuel as an example of how Andean pottery production is embedded within wider technical, social, and economic practices. Archaeometry 42: 43–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2000.tb00865.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sillar, B. & Tite, M.S.. 2000. The challenge of ‘technological choices’ for materials science approaches in archaeology. Archaeometry 42: 2–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2000.tb00863.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M.E. 1999. On Hirth's ‘distributional approach’. Current Anthropology 40: 528–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/20004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M.E. 2004. The archaeology ofancient state economies. Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 73–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.144016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, B.L. 1985. Archaeological identification of pottery production locations: ethnoarchaeological and archaeological data in Mesoamerica, in Nelson, B.A. (ed.) Decoding prehistoric ceramics: 175–204. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Stark, B.L. 1992. Ceramic production in prehistoric La Mixtequilla, south-central Veracruz, Mexico, in Bey, G.J. III & Pool, C.A. (ed.) Ceramic production anddistribution, an integrated approach: 205–34. Boulder (CO): Westview.Google Scholar
Underhill, A.P. 1991. Pottery production in chiefdoms: the Longshan period in northern China. World Archaeology 23: 12–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1991.9980156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, M.C. 1984. Exchange in Formative highland Oaxaca, in Hirth, K.G. (ed.) Trade andexchange in early Mesoamerica: 179–214. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar