The analysis of ancient Maya ceramic material is of primary significance for many archaeological investigations because of the ability of the material to reveal information about the two most important and fundamental aspects of the local culture, which are under study - chronology and social level. Because different styles and types of ceramic material were manufactured at different times in the Maya history in different regional locations, the pottery is very useful for interpretations.
Although whole vessels are excellent indicators of social, behavioral, and wealth differences, they are relatively rare in the archaeological record. The most common form of ceramic material encountered in archaeological excavations is what archaeologists call "sherds". Sherds are broken pieces of whole vessels and are found in virtually every type of archaeological context. "Diagnostic" sherds or pieces with certain recognizable attributes of form or decoration of a vessel can be used to analyse and identify patterns in behavior, production, distribution, and exchange of ceramic material.
The site of Cancuen, located in the Upper Pasión region of the Maya area, was a strategic river port "gateway" between the highlands and lowlands at the head of navigation of the Pasión River. This point was the most important avenue of exchange and communication in the ancient Maya world.
Lowland ceramics
The incorporation of widespread lowland ceramic conventions into local ceramic production in the Upper Pasión can be seen most clearly in particular components of the local assemblage. These include orange-based polychrome vessels of various forms, the most common in Cancuen consist of large tripod plates with basal flanges, which are decorated in the interior with red- and black-painted designs. The vessels sit atop three hollow feet with small ceramic balls inside to create a rattling sound when moved. These polychrome ceramics were used by the ancient Maya as serving vessels.
Lowland polychrome ceramic vessle
Highland style ceramics
More direct links to the northern Guatemalan highlands are seen in the importation of a major component of the Late Classic ceramic assemblage in Cancuen - a relatively large number of cream-slipped vessels that have been recovered from various contexts at the site. The exterior of the surfaces of all vessels in this category are slipped cream and polished. This cream-slipped pottery was decorated using a variety of different techniques, including fine-line incising on vessel exteriors. Often found is a band of design elements below the rim, including geometric elements, such as chevrons or stepfrets, as well as repeating pairs of hieroglyphs or pseudoglyphs.
A second common mode of decoration consists of negative-painting on vessel exteriors. Design elements, which also included flowers, circles, dots, and lines, typically appear in cream against a smudged black or brown base.
Ceramic vessle from the highlands with negative painting
Ceramic vessle with step-fret design
Chablekal - fine Mexican imports
Chablekal Fine Gray vessels were created of a extremely fine, compact light gray paste. Chemical compositional analyses indicate a production locale in an area around the site of Palenque, Mexico in the lower and middle regions of the Usumacinta River far to the north. Although the nature of the relationship between Cancuen and the important Mexican Late Classic ceremonial and commercial center of Palenque is currently unknown, the time of this exchange has been well placed in the later part of the Late Classic Period (750-830 AD). Common motifs indicated on the pottery include angular geometric elements (such as step-frets), footprints and especially monkeys rendered in medium-to-coarse incisions that are sometimes crudely executed.
Chablekal-ceramic vessle with monkey face imported from Mexico
Local Ceramic Traditions at Cancuen
The most distinctive local technological styles at Cancuen are represented in the most common utilitarian pottery at the site, which consists of large orange-slipped vessels that are decorated with a row of finger or fingernail punctations. These large vessels served as storage pots for grains and liquids during and after food preparation.
