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Functional Variation of Maya Spiked Vessels: A Practical Guide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael Deal*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, CanadaV5A 1S6

Abstract

Ethnoarchaeological research has made valuable contributions towards our understanding of the functional variation of specific artifacts and features. The use of spiked vessel-forms among modern Maya groups, as well as the depictions of spiked vessels in the surviving Maya codices, suggest that spiked vessels have served a relatively wider range of functions (although invariably in a ritual context) than most Mesoamericanists have suspected. A critical review of the spiked vessel phenomenon, using the codices, the archaeological literature, and recent ethnographic data is presented as a guide for future archaeological interpretation.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1982

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References

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