Negative Painted Ceramics in Mesoamerica: Functional Equivalency and Multiple Solutions.

Summary

Negative or resist-painted ceramics are present in diverse Mesoamerican ceramic traditions and at different time scales and a millenary functional continuity may be postulated thereof. At the lacustrine region of Michoacán, for example, they were first recorded at the Preclassic El Opeño site (1500 BCE) and manufacturing processes reached a level of technological complexity within the Postclassic Tarascan state. Recent archaeometric studies through SEM/EDX and Raman spectroscopy techniques on sherds of diverse sites in West Mexico revealed technological aspects which have been heretofore poorly understood. Results indicate that potters used several techniques of negative decoration in order to produce highly ritual vessels. Specific questions regarding processes of manufacture, craft specialization and the use of these vessels are addressed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage