Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community

3. Ceramics and Chronology at Chan

3 Ceramics and Chronology at Chan Laura J. Kosakowsky Ancient Maya ceramics historically have been the basis for developing chronological frameworks because of their relative abundance and durable preservation in archaeological sites. To this end, the ceramics excavated from Chan (Kosakowsky 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) were analyzed to identify site-specific ceramic complexes utilizing standard type: variety-mode designations for Maya pottery (Gifford 1976). The identification of ceramic types, varieties, and modes not only has the advantage of informing on the temporal placement of the occupation and construction history at the site but also allows us to view Chan in a regional and interregional perspective. The ceramics from Chan present a unique opportunity to describe a long sequence from an agrarian community and to examine the interactions with and the role of larger centers, both near and far, in the development of the community. Using an approach that combines type-variety and modal analyses as a primary step in the categorization of the Chan ceramics can elucidate these temporal patterns, as well as patterns in production, consumption , and exchange; assess the relative social status and economic wealth of the inhabitants of Chan; and place Chan within a geopolitical landscape. Methodology The ceramic analysis began with the relatively small collection of whole and partial vessels (see chapter 15) but was principally focused on the rim and diagnostic body sherds totaling 39,042 from the entire sample of approximately 321,000 (see table 3.3, located at the end of this chapter). The remaining sherds include numerous slip-eroded sherds that were identifiable only to time period based on vessel form but not classified by type Ceramics and Chronology at Chan · 43 and variety, as well as any unslipped and eroded body sherds. Analyses were conducted by stratigraphic sequences for all excavation operations, beginning with the lowest levels of each excavation and moving upward.1 All lots, with the exception of surface and looted material, were analyzed to the ceramic varietal level by presorting into ceramic groups with identifiable surface finish and decoration. Sherds that were identifiable to ceramic complex on the basis of vessel form were counted but not included in the totals in table 3.3. The slip-eroded and unslipped body sherds that were not identifiable were counted and rebagged, in order to get some measure of what percentage of each lot was identifiable. The complete analysis proceeded using all rim sherds and body sherds with identifiable surface finish, decoration, or formal characteristics; body sherds recognized on the basis of paste characteristics (such as Mars Orange or Holmul Orange Wares, British Honduras Volcanic Ash Wares, and Vinaceous Tawny Wares, all of which are easily identifiable in the absence of preserved surfaces) were also included in the analysis. While the classification of Maya pottery using type: variety-mode as a framework has received much critical debate (Adams 2008; Culbert and Rands 2007), it has proven useful as a common language of communication among archaeologists and allows one to describe large samples with relative ease. Furthermore, the identification of ceramic types and varieties facilitates both chronological assessments and spatial associations through comparisons of similar units across time and space. Thus, type: varietymode classifications are successful tools for dating deposits, structures, and sites, but they also permit broader goals of understanding relationships within and between communities that relate to social and economic activities (as described in chapter 15). Historically, Maya pottery analysis in the Belize Valley has been structured largely on Gifford’s seminal work (1976) on the Barton Ramie ceramic sequence. While it is a foundation for looking at pottery from other sites in the Belize Valley and beyond, researchers are sometimes too prone to assume a one-to-one correlation between the ceramics at their site and Barton Ramie (see the discussion of what has been described as “the Barton Ramie paradigm” by Ball and Taschek [2003]). As a result, archaeologists often overlook the importance of interregional geopolitical associations and connections to sites outside the Belize Valley. In this chapter, I first summarize the ceramic sequence through time at Chan and then relate the Chan pottery, throughout its 2,000-year history, to ceramics found at other sites throughout the Maya lowlands. 44 · Laura J. Kosakowsky The Chan Ceramic Complexes Chan was occupied (table 3.1) from the Early Middle Preclassic (ca. 800 BC) until the Early Postclassic (ca. AD 1200), although the major occupation falls between the...