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Functional Variation of Maya Spiked Vessels: A Practical Guide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael Deal
Michael Deal*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
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Abstract

Ethnoarchaeological research has made valuable contributions towards our understanding of the functional variation of specific artifacts and features. The use of spiked vessel-forms among modern Maya groups, as well as the depictions of spiked vessels in the surviving Maya codices, suggest that spiked vessels have served a relatively wider range of functions (although invariably in a ritual context) than most Mesoamericanists have suspected. A critical review of the spiked vessel phenomenon, using the codices, the archaeological literature, and recent ethnographic data is presented as a guide for future archaeological interpretation.

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Type
Reports
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American Antiquity , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , July 1982 , pp. 614 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1982

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References

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