Just a Matter of Time: Preliminary Ceramic Chronology Building in Central Nicaragua

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeology of central Nicaragua offers a challenging arena for the deconstruction of traditional ceramic chronology discourses in Southern Central America. The ‘anthropology of techniques’ approach and ethnoarchaeological research have determined that the most stable steps in ceramic manufacture are connected to socially learnt bodily gestures materialized in the shaping of vessels. In contrast, other stages of the production process are more susceptible to synchronic and diachronic changes. Hence, the temporal and societal implications of ceramic decoration variability as the proxy for chronology building requires re-evaluation. In this paper, I present the results of my doctoral research at Leiden University. The project included a systematic surface survey and stratigraphic excavations in the Mayales river subbasin. Ceramic analysis was outlined through a technological approach to manufacturing practices, comprising of macro-fabric, macro-traces, compositional analysis, and formal examinations. Using this methodology, alternative choices in the operational sequence of ceramic production were identified in their specific spatial and temporal context. These choices are interpreted as representing the intersection and interweaving of various processes that may interrelate to other practices, such as foodways and dwelling, with differential temporal rhythms that operated in dissimilar times spans and with different frequencies and amplitude in variability.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25680