Late Classic Ceramic Production and Communities of Practice at Uxbenka, Belize

Summary

Archaeological approaches to ancient Maya communities often assume that spatially distinct architectural groups are tantamount to social groups, but proximity is likely not the only salient organizing principle. Members of prehistoric communities, like modern ones, defined the community in which they belong based on who they choose to interact with, which often lies at the intersection of kin, status, gender, ethic, economic, and spatial affiliations. Employing a communities of practice theoretical framework, this paper examines the ceramic manufacturing process from resource acquisition to final production decoration using macroscopic and petrographic data. At least three households, located in three spatially distinct neighborhoods, likely participated in ceramic production during the Late Classic Period (AD 600-800). I analyze both low visibility (shared knowledge at the personal level) and high visibility (shared knowledge at a broad scale) on utilitarian ceramic vessels recovered from these households to understand the degree and nature of information exchange through an examination of the spatial distribution of the attributes among households and neighborhoods at Uxbenka. These data are used to evaluate spatial conceptions of intracommunity social boundaries and argues for a more interaction-based approach.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studying Human Social Dynamics: A Case Study from Southern Belize   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15666