Ceramic Production in Postclassic West Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the Early/middle postclassic period, the Aztatlán tradition grew to be the most influential culture in Western Mexico, creating expansive trade networks that extended far beyond the region. Though these trade networks are one of the most well-known aspects of the Aztatlán tradition, few studies have utilized archaeometric methods to assess trade and production of Aztatlán goods. Specifically, ceramics have rarely been analyzed beyond stylistic assessments. In this study, NAA was used to consider provenance of over 400 ceramic sherds collected from five different Postclassic West Mexican sites: Peñitas and San Felipe Aztatán, located on the coastal plain; and Huistla, Santiaguito, and Atitlán in the Jalisco highlands. Results suggest that there was little to no ceramic trade between the coastal plain and the highlands, a surprising result given the known trade relationship between the two regions. Further, we find little exchange of ceramics between individual sites on the coast as well. On the other hand, within the Etzatlán Basin, some overlap of compositional recipes exists between sites suggesting either common raw material usage or exchange. Overall, these results provide new and interesting insight into the Aztatlán trade networks, within which ceramics may not have been included.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36113.0