End of the line: Tikal’s Final Ceramic Phase

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the ruins of Tikal were briefly reoccupied. Refugees fleeing the Caste War of Yucatan cohabited with Lacandon Maya from the surrounding jungles and heavily Hispanized Itza Maya from the lakes of central Petén, Guatemala, to form a small multi-ethnic hamlet amongst the hulking ruins of the ancient Maya city. While the village was largely provisioned with cheap globally produced consumer goods from Great Britain and the United States, the most numerous artifact type discarded or abandoned by the historic villagers was a locally made ceramic ware. These ceramics were likely made in San Jose, on Lake Petén-Itza, where ceramic production continued well into the twentieth century.

Tikal Project ceramicist Patrick Colbert assigned Tikal’s final ceramic phase, the Caban ceramic sequence, to the Early Postclassic (950-1200 AD) but stated that it is “poorly defined”, and it remains poorly understood today. This presentation explores Tikal’s Caban ceramic phase and offers an introduction to the historic ceramics of Tikal, which potentially make up a large portion of the Caban ceramic assemblage. While focusing on Tikal’s ceramics, this study begins a regional analysis of historic nineteenth century ceramic traditions of the Petén and surrounding area.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37834.0