Central Peten Jato Black-on-Gray: A Look at Gray wares and Black Wares, Monkeys and Mortuaries

Summary

Jato Black-on-Gray is an extremely rare Terminal Classic pottery type in central Petén, typically recovered as mortuary furniture. It is a hybrid, combining typical Petén forms with aspects of color, decoration, and use borrowed from wares and groups such as Chablekal Fine Gray and Achote Black, more common in western and southwestern Petén. In particular, an incised monkey image on a Jato vase from Tayasal ties it to common motifs on Chablekal bowls, which are also from burial contexts but were not imported into the lakes area. This suggests that Terminal Classic residents in the lakes area had broader familiarity with pottery and iconography in the west, and/or that potters from these areas moved into the lakes district, and that, regardless, innovation was alive and well in the pottery “business” in the lakes district.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Nuts and Bolts of the Real "Business" of Ancient Maya Exchange (Part 1)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage