In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

5 Ceramic Resemblances, Trade, and Emulation Changing Utilitarian Pottery Traditions in the Maya Lowlands Robert E. Fry This chapter examines the role of exchange and emulation in assessing resemblances among regional ceramic assemblages. I review changing assumptions about the nature of ceramic production and distribution in light of recent research . Interest in exchange has tended to center on widely distributed polychrome serving vessels, while studies of utilitarian ceramics have tended to assume more localized production-consumption systems. In this chapter I concentrate on the information available from utilitarian ceramics, those used primarily in everyday household activities. I examine the evidence for specialized production and exchange in two regions—south-central Quintana Roo and northern Belize. In addition, I discuss the role of emulation in restructuring of both serving and utilitarian vessel production and distribution. In this chapter I examine the similarities in assemblages among lowland Maya sites within a region. Most studies that try to establish affinities have concentrated either on shared presence of popular types and/or varieties, or on broad overall similarities without reference to the type-variety system. I show how patterns of resemblance of major shape categories of pottery that differ in demand structure and portability can give us useful insights into patterns of regional political and economic affiliation, as well as placement of sites in a regional site hierarchy. Ceramic Production and Exchange Systems in the Maya Lowlands There has been ongoing disagreement among lowland Maya ceramicists about the degree of specialization and scale of production of lowland Maya ceramics during the Classic period (Rice 1987a; Sharer 2005; Bill 1997; West 2002). Very few specialist workshops have been found (Becker 1973, 2003; Coggins 1975; Smyth et al. 1995). Instead, the presence of nonlocal materials in pastes, Changing Utilitarian Pottery Traditions in the Maya Lowlands 75 stylistic patterns, and unique configurations of lip and shape characteristics has been used to discriminate the products of localized workshops. It is now widely accepted that there was full occupational specialization for polychrome serving vessels, especially fine colloidal-slip polychrome vases and bowls (Ball 1993). Since Rands’s pioneering work on Palenque-region ceramics (Rands 1967; Rands and Bishop 1980), we have known that there was some regional specialization in utilitarian ceramics, although the degree of specialization and scale of production have been controversial. Most utilitarian ceramics were consumed within regional systems (Hammond 1975; Hammond and Harbottle 1976; West 2002). However, even large coarse ware utilitarian jars, which might be expected to be very locally distributed through supply zone behavior (Renfrew 1975), can be shown to have been transported significant distances. Examples of the northern Belizean type Dumbcane Striated have been documented up to 100 kilometers from their production locations, possibly because water transport was available (Fry 1989). Pottery production-distribution systems were on a large scale during the Classic period. Maya populations were consistently high (Culbert and Rice 1990), and there was heavy consumption of pottery in both elite and nonelite households in both the Late and Terminal Classic periods. In addition to regular household consumption and feasting events, it has become clear that major demand was also generated by massive pottery offerings in caves (Pendergast, 1969, 1971; Brady et al. 1997) and termination rituals and other renewal ceremonies at ritual structures and shrines (Fry 1969; Wille 2007). There is strong evidence from fall-off curves (Renfrew 1975) that locally produced wares were distributed through local and regional markets and major markets at central places (Fry and Cox 1974; Fry 1979, 1980; Bill 1997; Foias and Bishop 1997). Though some insist that redistributive systems are adequate to explain the patterning of the distribution of products of local workshops (for example, Rice 1987a, 1987c; Ball 1993), the scale of the system and the patterning of distribution (West 2002) argue against this position. Nevertheless, clay and temper resources were so widely available throughout the Maya lowlands that industrial-scale production and specialization was probably unnecessary. The central Tikal market redistributed pottery from sources 8–12 kilometers from the market to places more than 20 kilometers distant. Though by Mesoamerican highland standards this does not seem a great distance, keep in mind that the population in the market area of Tikal in the Late Classic is estimated at slightly over 60,000 people (Culbert et al. 1990)—larger than estimated for the whole Valley of Oaxaca for much of its archaeological sequence until the Monte Alban III A phase (Blanton et al. 1982; Feinman et al. 1985; Kowaleski et al. 1989). [3...

Share