The Impact of Ceramic Raw Materials on the Development of Hopewell and Preclassic Maya Pottery

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (ED-XRF), and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) are used to compare the mineralogical and chemical composition of pottery from Colha, a Preclassic Maya site in Belize and the Twin Mounds Village, a Middle Woodland, Hopewell site in southwestern Ohio. These analyses demonstrate the varying roles that clays and temper played in the technological development of pottery in these regions. The Colha clays include volcanogenic smectite, which allowed potters to create a dense, durable, and low porosity pottery. The Twin Mounds clays included illite and chlorite, which resulted in thick, brittle, and highly porous earthenware. The availability of volcanogenic clays allowed Maya potters to greatly exceed the technological development of Hopewell potters.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32076