Long-Term Use of Local Clays in Potting Traditions during Early Urbanization in the Nochixtlán Valley of the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico, 500–100 BCE

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Step by Step: Tracing World Potting Traditions through Ceramic Petrography" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Mixteca Alta Ceramic Study (MACS) in the Nochixtlán Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, aims to understand how early urbanization in the valley impacted potters’ crafting techniques over time and space. Early urbanization in the valley spanned the Yucuita and Early Ramos ceramic phases (500–100 BCE) of the Middle to Late Formative periods. Stylistic differences between Yucuita and Early Ramos pottery from two urban centers in the valley, Yucuita and Etlatongo, indicate that potters adapted their crafting techniques in surface finishes, vessel forms, and designs during this 400-year period of urbanization. For this study, petrography was performed on raw clay samples from the Nochixtlán Valley and on pottery samples from Yucuita and Etlatongo to gain more insight into potters’ technological choices in the earlier production stages of clay procurement and paste preparation. The petrographic data coupled with geochemical data obtained from neutron activation analysis (NAA) show that potters procured the same local clays to craft different pottery styles and paste recipes throughout the Yucuita and Early Ramos ceramic phases. Potters’ long-term use of local clays during this period shows that their technological choices in clay procurement and paste preparation persisted through time despite significant sociopolitical change and urbanization in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Step by Step: Tracing World Potting Traditions through Ceramic Petrography   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36916.0