Keywords

Maya, Guatemala, Ethnoarchaeology, Ceramics, Traditional, Communities of Practice

Abstract

This research aims to identify pottery technological traits and attributes that suggest the presence of communities of pottery practice in archaeological contexts. Through the combination of ethnoarchaeological approach and archaeological ceramic analysis of vessels produced in present communities, we can identify communities of pottery practice in the past. The data obtained using diverse ethnographic methods and multiple archaeological analyses are relevant to archaeologists, as they allow the study of the organization of production in the absence of manufacturing contexts within the archaeological record. At the same time, as contemporary pottery-making practice is becoming scarcer in Guatemala it is relevant to know how traditional technology relates to pre-Hispanic pottery manufacture and production. Therefore, the identification of technological signatures of pottery practice in a contemporary assemblage is helpful for the analysis of pottery recovered in ancestral Maya sites.

The ethnographic component of this research takes me to different communities of the Central and Eastern highlands of Guatemala, to observe and interact with different contemporary potters, artists, and knowledgeable participants, who willingly shared their perspectives. It also allowed me the possibility to combine the classification systems of type: variety and ware to pursue the archaeological analysis of the contemporary assemblage collected. An assemblage was also analyzed to understand pottery standardization and specialization and the elemental composition of paste and sherds. In the end, this most interesting research journey infers that through learning and practice knowledge is shared and this interaction serves as a source of potter identity and belonging. Through the pot, every potter and artist acquire cultural and historic value in a society in which modernization is seizing ancestral traditions.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Fall

Committee Chair

Callaghan, Michael

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Anthropology

Degree Program

Integrative Anthropological Sciences

Format

PDF

Identifier

DP0028975

Language

English

Release Date

12-15-2024

Access Status

Dissertation

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

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