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8 Technological Style and Terminal Preclassic Orange Ceramics in the Holmul Region, Guatemala Michael G. Callaghan, Francisco Estrada-Belli, and Nina Neivens de Estrada One of the purposes of this volume is to address ancient Maya ceramic exchange and interaction using concepts of style and the application of multiple analytical methods to ceramic data sets. Style in archaeology is a thorny issue, and many scholars have had great difficulties setting forth a working definition of this term (Conkey and Hastorf 1990; Hegmon 1998; Sackett 1990; Wobst 1977). Where style resides in an archaeological object, what it comprises , and what functions it performs in society can vary greatly within and between artifact classes and prehistoric cultures. In the present chapter, we apply the concept of technological style in combination with multiple ceramic analytical techniques to the study of red versus orange serving vessels in the Holmul region of Guatemala during the close of the Late Preclassic period (A.D. 150–250). Ceramic artifacts used in this study come from seven years of excavation directed by Estrada-Belli in the Holmul region. The Holmul region is located in the northeastern department of Petén near the present-day Belizean border. The site of Holmul was initially investigated in 1911 by Raymond Merwin of Harvard University (Merwin and Vaillant 1932). Holmul garnered attention early in the archaeology of the Maya lowlands for its Building B in Group II, a masonry structure with ten burial chambers containing pottery and remains dating sequentially from the Late Preclassic (350 B.C.–A.D. 350) through Early Classic periods (A.D. 350–550). More recent mapping and excavations have revealed approximately seven major archaeological sites within a seven kilometer radius of Holmul: two large ceremonial and administrative centers (Holmul and Cival), separated by approximately seven kilometers and six minor centers (T’ot, K’o, Hahakab, Hamontun, La Sufricaya, and La Riverona) varying in area and in number of monumental pyramidal structures and plaza groups. Michael G. Callaghan, Francisco Estrada-Belli, Nina Neivens de Estrada 122 While changes in slip color (from red to orange) and surface finish (from “waxy” to “glossy”) of serving vessels dating to the close of the Late Preclassic and beginning of the Early Classic period have been well documented by previous scholars (see Pring 2000 for an excellent synthesis), only recently have researchers begun to study other technologies associated with these surface changes (Brady et al. 1998). One of the goals of the present study was to determine whether orange-slipped serving vessels produced during this time displayed other changes in technology aside from surface characteristics. The study of ceramics from the Holmul region revealed a change in technological style (specifically, aspects of paste recipe) from Late Preclassic red serving vessels to Early Classic orange serving vessels that coincided with the change in surface technologies. The primary importance of this research is that the results show that changes in technological style were not merely “skin deep” but included changes in paste recipes and perhaps even firing processes. These changes in technologies represent different patterns of production and could be representative of larger changes in the ceramic economy of the Holmul region taking place during the close of the Late Preclassic period. While it is difficult to know for certain why these changes occurred, we believe they were inextricably tied to larger changes taking place in the political, economic, and social realms of ancient Maya society during this time, and we offer a brief explanation at the close of this chapter. Technological Style Heather Lechtman (1977, 1993; Lechtman and Steinberg 1979:154–57) was influential in forwarding the concept of technological style in the study of archaeological artifacts with her work on ancient Andean craft production systems. As the term implies, seemingly mundane aspects of production technologies can be considered stylistic themselves. Furthermore, this style is not “passive” in the sense of Sackett’s (1990) isochrestic variation—that is, resulting from heavily ingrained motor habits or arbitrary, yet consistent, technological choices on the part of craftspeople. Lechtman argues that the technologies employed in the production of any artifact do not exist in isolation from social, political, and religious concerns. Production technologies can be informed by worldview, group-specific ideologies, and even social networks. In her work, Lechtman supports this argument with a study of ancient Andean metallurgy. Through experimental archaeology and archaeometry she demonstrates that the time-consuming and complicated technologies that ancient Mochica metallurgists used to create the color of gold or silver...

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