Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-fxdwj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T22:52:52.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interpolity Pottery Exchange in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Wesley D. Stoner
Wesley D. Stoner*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri Research Reactor Center, Archaeometry Laboratory, 1513 Research Park Drive, Columbia, MO 65211 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) of Coarse Orange jars demonstrates economic exchange among the Classic period political capitals of Totocapan, Matacapan, and Teotepec in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Matacapan, in particular, displays evidence of intensive pottery production at large workshops at the southern margin of the site. Comoapan (Area 411) and Area 199 present configurations of kilns, ceramic densities, and assemblage characteristics that suggest production for exchange beyond the site's boundaries. Both of these production facilities specialized in the production of Coarse Orange jars, a well-made and decorated utilitarian ceramic ware. While these products were traded to sites in the Tepango Valley, different paste recipes of the Coarse Orange type were also produced locally. Of broader concern, I examine the articulation of these regional exchange relationships with the interregional interactions previously documented among Tuxtlas groups and others in central Mexico and the Gulf Coast.

El análisis de activación de neutrones (NAA) de ollas del tipo Naranja Burdo demuestra un intercambio entre las capitales políticas de Matacapan, Totocapan, y Teotepec. Las tres se ubican en la Sierra de los Tuxtlas, en el sur de Veracruz, México. Matacapan ha presentado evidencias de una producción alfarera en grandes talleres al límite sur del sitio. Se presentan en el Area 411 (Comoapan) y el Area 199 configuraciones de hornos, densidades de tiestos, y características de artefactos que sugieren un intercambio más allá de los límites del sitio. Ambos complejos de fabricación se especializaban en la producción de ollas Naranja Burdo, un tipo utilitario bien hecho y con decoración. Aunque estos productos fueron comercializados a los sitios del Valle de Tepango, también se identificaron diferentes pastas del tipo Naranja Burdo de producción local. Analizo la coyuntura entre estas relaciones regionales con las interacciones interregionales que se han documentado anteriormente entre los grupos de los Tuxtlas con los del centro de México y la Costa del Golfo.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 262 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Arias Ortiz, Teri E. 2007 El simbolismo del cocodrilo en la mitología maya: análisis comparativo. Unpublished Master's thesis, Estu-dios Mesoamericanos, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Arnold, Dean E., Neff, Hector, and Bishop, Ronald L. 1991 Compositional Analysis and “Sources” of Pottery: An Ethnoarcheological Approach. American Anthropologist 93(1):70–90.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III 1991 Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization : A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III 2012 Teotepec, the Tuxtlas, and Classic Veracruz Rising. Paper presented at the 54th International Congress of Americanists, Vienna.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, and Pool, Christopher A. (editors) 2008 Classic Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, Pool, Christopher A., Kneebone, Ronald R., and Santley, Robert S. 1993 Intensive Ceramic Production and Classic-Period Political Economy in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 4(2):175–191.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, and Santley, Robert S. 2008 Classic Currents in the West-Central Tuxtlas. In Classic Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz, edited by Philip J. Arnold III and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 293–322. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, and VanDerwarker, Amber M. 2008 Informe técnico del proyecto arqueológico Teotepec: la primera temporada (2007) y petitión para la segunda temporada (2008). Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy, and Sabloff, Jeremy A. 2002 Spatial Orders in Maya Civic Plans. Latin American Antiquity 13(2):201–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, Thomas P. 2003 Tuxtlas Obsidian: Organization and Change in a Regional Craft Industry. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Beck, Robin A. J., Bolender, Douglas T., Brown, James A., and Earle, Timothy K. 2007 Eventful Archaeology: The Place of Space in Structural Transformation. Current Anthropology 48(6):833–860.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E., Feinman, Gary M., Kowalewski, Stephen A. and Finsten, Laura M. 1993 Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Borstein, Joshua P. 2001 Tripping over Colossal Heads: Settlement Patterns and Population Development in the Upland Olmec Heartland. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and Hall, Thomas D. 1998 World-Systems in North America: Networks, Rise and Fall and Pulsations of Trade in Stateless Systems. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 22(1):23–72.Google Scholar
Daneels, Annick 2002 El patrón de asentamiento del periodo Clásico en la cuenca baja del Río Cotaxtla, centra de Veracruz. Unpublished Ph .D. dissertation, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Daneels, Annick 2006 La cerámica del Clásico en Veracruz. In La producción alfarera en el México antiguo, vol. II, edited by Beatriz L. Merino Carrión and Angel García Cook, pp. 393–504. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Darwin, Charles 2010 [1859] The Origin of Species. Cricket House Books, Madison.Google Scholar
Dirzo, Rodolfo, and Vogt, Richard C. 1997 Introductión general. In Historia natural de los Tuxtlas, edited by Rodolfo Dirzo and Richard C. Vogt, pp. 1–24. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Domínguez Covarrubias, Elba 2001 La arquitectura monumental del periodo Clásico en el sur de Veracruz: un enfoque regional. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Puebla.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent, and Marcus, Joyce (editors) 2003 The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. Percheron Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frank, Andre G. 1999 Abuses and Uses of World Systems Theory in Archaeology. In World Systems Theory in Practice: Leadership, Production, and Exchange, edited by P. Nick Kardulias, pp. 275–296. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Lanham. Google Scholar
Frank, Andre G., and Gills, Barry K. 1993 The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand. Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Glascock, Michael, D. 1992 Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics at MURR by Neutron Activation Analysis and Multivariate Statistics. In Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, edited by Hector Neff, pp. 11–26. Prehistory Press, Madison. Google Scholar
Hall, Thomas D., and Chase-Dunn, Christopher 1993 World-Systems Perspective and Archaeology: Forward into the Past. Journal of Archaeological Research 1(2):121–143.Google Scholar
Jennings, Justin 2006 Core, Peripheries, and Regional Realities in Middle Horizon Peru. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25(3):346–370.Google Scholar
Killion, Thomas W., and Urcid, Javier 2001 The Olmec Legacy: Cultural Continuity in Mexico's Southern Gulf Coast Lowlands. Journal of Field Archaeology 28(1):3–25.Google Scholar
Martín del Pozo, Ana L. 1997 Geología. In Historia natural de los Tuxtlas, edited by edited by Rodolfo Dirzo and Richard C. Vogt, pp. 25–53. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Moore, Jerry D. 1996 Architecture and Power in the Ancient Andes: The Archaeology of Public Buildings. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector 2000 Neutron Activation Analysis for Provenance Determination in Archaeology. In Modern Analytical Methods in Art and Archaeology, edited by Enrico Ciliberto and Guiseppe Spoto, pp. 81–134. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2002 Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of Ceramics and Clays from the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Vera Cruz, Mexico. Manuscript on file, Missouri University Research Reactor Center.Google Scholar
Ortiz Ceballos, Ponciano 1975 La cerámica de los Tuxtlas. Unpublished Master's thesis. Facultad de Antropología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz.Google Scholar
Ortiz Ceballos, Ponciano, and Santley, Robert S. 1988 La cerámica de Matacapan. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Ortiz Ceballos, Ponciano, and Santley, Robert S. 1998 Matacapan: un ejemplo de enclave teotihuacano en la Costa del Golfo. In Los ritmos de cambio en Teotihuacán: reflexiones y discusiones desu cronologí'a, edited by Rosa Brambila and Rubén Cabrera, pp. 377–460. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1990 Ceramic Production, Resource Procurement, and Exchange at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1992 Strangers in a Strange Land: Ethnicity and Ideology at an Enclave Community in Middle Classic Mesoamerica. In Ancient Images, Ancient Thought: The Archaeology ofIdeology, edited by A. Sean Goldsmith, pp. 41–55. University of Calgary Press, Calgary. Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1997 Proyecto arqueológico Tres Zapotes. In Memoria del coloquio arqueología del centro y sur de Veracruz, edited by Sara Ladrón de Guevara and Sergio Vasquez Zarate, pp. 169–176. Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz. Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2003 Ceramic Production at Terminal Formative and Classic Period Tres Zapotes. In Settlement Archaeology and Political Economy at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico, edited by Christopher A. Pool, pp 56–68. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2006 Current Research on the Gulf Coast of Mexico Journal of Archaeological Research 14(3):189–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2008 Architectural Plans, Factionalism, and the Proto-Classic—Classic Transition at Tres Zapotes. In Classic-Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz, edited by Philip J. Arnold, III and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 121–157. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Britt, Georgia M. 2000 A Ceramic Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 11(2):139–161.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Santley, Robert S. 1992 Middle Classic Pottery Economics in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. In Ceramic Production and Distribution: An Integrated Approach, edited by George J. Bey, III and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 205–234. Westview Press, Boulder. Google Scholar
Rapoport, Amos 1982 The Meaning of the Built Environment: A Non-Verbal Communication Approach. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Amos 1990 Systems of Activities and Systems of Settings. In Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space: An Interdisciplinary Cross-Cultural Study, edited by Susan Kent, pp. 9–20. Cambridge University Press, New York. Google Scholar
Reina, Rubén E., and Hill, Robert M. 1974 The Traditional Pottery of Guatemala. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, Benjamin K. 1991 Volcanology of the Younger Volcanic Sequence and Volcanic Hazards Study of the Tuxtla Volcanic Field, Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Geology, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Renfrew, Colin, and Level, Eric V. 1979 Exploring Dominance: Predicting Polities from Centers. In Transformations: Mathematical Approaches to Culture Change, edited by Colin Renfrew and Kenneth L. Cooke, pp. 145–167. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar
Ríos Macbeth, Fernando 1952 Estudio geológico de la región de los Tuxtlas. Boletín de la Asociación Mexicana de Geólogos Petroleros 4(9–10):324–376.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall D., and Service, Elman R. 1960 Evolution and Culture. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Sánchez Bonilla, Juan 1999 Estela de los Cerros. In Antropología e historia en Veracruz, pp. 11–22. Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1989 Obsidian Working, Long Distance Exchange, and the Teotihuacan Presence on the South Gulf Coast. In Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan AD 700–900, edited by Richard A. Diehl and Janet C. Berlow, pp. 131–151. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1991 Final Field Report: Tuxtlas Region Archaeological Survey, 1991 Field Season. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Submitted to the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1994 The Economy of Ancient Matacapan. Ancient Mesoamerica 5(2):243–266.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 2007 The Prehistory of the Tuxtlas. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Alexander, Rani T. 1996 Teotihuacan and Middle Classic Mesoamerica: A Pre-Columbian World System? In Arqueología mesoamericana: Homenaje a William T. Sanders, edited by Alba Guadalupe Mastache de Escobar, pp. 173–194. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Arnold, Philip J. III 1996 Pre-Hispanic Settlement Patterns in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 23(2):225–249.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Arnold, Philip J. III 2005 The Obsidian Trade to the Tuxtlas Region and Its Implications for the Prehistory of Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 16(2):179–94.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Barrett, Thomas P., Glascock, Michael D., and Neff, Hector 2001 Pre-Hispanic Obsidian Procurement in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 12(1):49–63.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Nelson, Stephen A., Reinhardt, Benjamin K., Pool, Christopher A., and Arnold, Philip J. III 2000 When Day Turned to Night: Volcanism and the Archaeological Record from the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. In Environmental Disaster and the Archaeology of Human Response, edited by Garth Baw-den and Richard M. Reycraft, pp. 143–161. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortiz, Arnold, Philip J. III, Kneebone, Ronald R., Smyth, Michael P., Kerley, Janet M., Berman, Mark, Hall, Barbara A., Kann, Veronica, Pool, Christopher A., Salazar, Zenaido, and Yarborough, Claire 1985 Final Field Report, Matacapan Project: 1984 Season. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Pool, Christopher A., and Arnold, Philip J. III 1989 Ceramics Production System at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16(1):107–132.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Yarborough, Claire, and Hall, Barbara 1987 Enclaves, Ethnicity, and the Archaeological Record at Matacapan. In Ethnicity and Culture, edited by Reginald Auger, Margaret F. Glass, Scott MacEachern and Peter H. McCartney, pp. 85–100. Archaeological Association, University of Calgary, Calgary. Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B., and Skibo, James M. 1997 The Explanation of Artifact Variability. American Antiquity 62(1):27–50.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 2007 Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities: A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning. Journal of Planning History 6(1):3–17.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 1990 Gulf Coast and the Central Highlands of Mexico: Alternative Models for Interaction. In Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 12, edited by Barry L. Isaac, pp. 243–285, vol. 12. JAI Press, Greenwich.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 1998 Estilos de volutas en el periodo Clásico. In Rutas de intercambio en Mesoamérica, edited by Evelyn C. Rattray, pp. 215–238. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City. Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 1999 Formal Architectural Complexes in South-Central Veracruz, Mexico: A Capital Zone? Journal of Field Archaeology 26(2):197–225.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 2001 Classic Period Mixtequilla, Veracruz, Mexico: Diachronic Inferences from Residential Investigations. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, The University at Albany, State University of New York, New York.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 2007 Pottery Production and Distribution in the Gulf Lowlands of Mesoamerica. In Pottery Economics in Mesoamerica, edited by Christopher A. Pool and George J. Bey III, pp. 147–183. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L., and Garraty, Christopher P. 2004 Evaluation of Systematic Surface Evidence for Pottery Production in Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 15(2):123–143.Google Scholar
Steward, Julian H. 1955 Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution. University of Illinois Press, Champaign.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D. 2003 Coarse Orange Pottery Exchange in Southern Veracruz: A Compositional Perspective on Centralized Craft Production and Exchange in the Classic Period. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D. 2011 Disjuncture among Classic Period Cultural Landscapes in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D. 2012a Modeling and Testing Polity Boundaries in the Classic Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 31(3): 381–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D. 2012b The Cipactli Cult of Totocapan: Strategies of Politico-Ritual Control in the Classic Period Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Poster presented at the 75th Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Memphis, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D., and Glascock, Michael D. 2012 The Forest or the Trees? Behavioral and Methodological Considerations for Geochemical Characterization of Heavily-Tempered Ceramic Pastes Using NAA and LA-ICP-MS. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(8):2668–2683.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D., Pool, Christopher A., Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2008 Exchange of Coarse Orange Pottery in the Middle Classic Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(5):1412–1426.Google Scholar
Trigger, Bruce G. 1990 Monumental Architecture: AThermodynamic Explanation of Symbolic Behaviour. World Archaeology 22(2):119–132.Google Scholar
Urcid, Javier, and Killion, Thomas W. 2008 Social Landscapes and Political Dynamics in the Southern Gulf Coast Lowlands (500–1000 CE). In Classic Veracruz: Cultural Currents in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands, edited by Philip J. Arnold III and Christopher A. Pool, pp. 259–291. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Juan. H. 1945a Las exploraciones efectuadas en Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México. Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía. Anales 5:83–107.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Juan. H. 1945b La segunda temporada de exploraciones en la región de Los Tuxtlas, estado de Veracruz, México. Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografia. Anales 29:81–94.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1974 The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Weigand, Phil C., Harbottle, Garman, and Sayre, Edward V. 1977 Turquoise Sources and Source Analysis: Mesoamerica and the Southwestern U.S.A. In Exchange Systems in Prehistory, edited by Timothy K. Earle and Jonathon E. Erickson, pp. 15–34. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar
Whalen, Douglas H. 2010 Beyond Essentialist Thinking. Submitted to the National Science Foundation, Division of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. Electronic document, http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_2020/2020_pdfs/Whalen_Douglas_64.pdf, accessed June 9, 2013.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Stoner Supplementary Material

Figure S1

Download Stoner Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 205.5 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Stoner Supplementary Material

Figure S2

Download Stoner Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 135.4 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Stoner Supplementary Material

Figure S3

Download Stoner Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 142.5 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Stoner Supplementary Material

Figure S4

Download Stoner Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 139.5 KB