Materialized Cosmology among Ancient Maya Commoners.

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156 Journal of Social Archaeology 10(1)containing a partial bowl with incising, as well as a jar rim. Nearby, we recoveredan inverted whole black-slipped miniature jar.On the north platform terrace we found a dense concentration of artifactsdating to c.AD 800–900 (stratum 128), including a Vaca Fall Red jarrim and neck with a molded face design (see Figure 3). The Maya hadplaced this sherd upright with the face against the terrace step (stratum 131)near a burned plaster floor. Even with the high artifact density, we werestill able to distinguish several clusters, mostly jars and bowls dating toc.AD 250–400.Finally, even though a multi-colored shaped and polished flake found onthe south platform edge comes from a deposit dating to after AD 1150, Iinclude it because of its colors – blue, white, orangish-red, and brownstriations. Further, its smooth polished surface indicates much handling –perhaps a result of it having been passed down through the generations.SC-3, a temple ballcourt-platformSC-3 is a temple the Maya built on top of a stepped platform aligned 10°west of north (Lucero, 2006: 79), which later also served as the eastern halfof a Late Classic ball court (Jeakle, 2002). The temple surface is comprisedof a plastered shaped stone façade with clay fill; an additional 10 stratawere exposed. The platform trench revealed steep, tiered walls, andplastered steps. Due to time constraints, we were not able to reach sterilesoil or bedrock. Excavated material, however, dates from at least c.300 BCto AD 1500, though ceramics dating as early as 600 BC were found in filldeposits.In a consistent series of events at the foot of the temple along the centralaxis, the Maya burned items and left inverted, broken, and largely rimlessvessels (Table 4). Immediately underneath the topsoil on the final platformsurface (stratum 103), for example, we came upon an inverted Belize Reddish with only part of its rim (c.AD 800–900). While this surface did nothave many artifacts, the fill (stratum 104) underneath did, including RosarioIncised sherds and one of the few black-slipped vessels (eight BalanzaBlack vase sherds with cacao bean impressions). At another AD 800–900event at the central base of the temple below stratum 103, the Maya placedan inverted quartered Vaca Falls Red rimless bowl on a burned surface(stratum 110).While ritual events are consistent at the foot of the temple, the Mayaalso conducted ceremonies on the temple summit at a circular altar (c.1 min diameter) nearby (e.g. burning a layer of corozo palm nuts, depositingceramic balls, quartz, monkey finger bones, mica, ceramic clusters, notchedobsidian blade fragments), and in the ball court alley (e.g. burning oforganics in the center of the alley, ceramic clusters, feasting, playing ballgames).Downloaded from http://jsa.sagepub.com at UNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANA on March 28, 2010
LuceroMaterialized cosmology157Table 4 Temple ballcourt (SC-3) clustersStratum Location Position Vessel clusters Vessel features Predominant Date Featuressurface color103, 104 Center Foot of Inverted, largely Belize Red dish Black, red, orange, AD 800–900 Underlying fill (104): blackaxis temple rimless vessel Fill: 13 types brown slipped vessels, chert flakesFill: 88% body (9.8 sherds per type) and cores, marine shell,sherds bone, and notched obsidian(n = 112 ) blade fragment110 Center Foot of Inverted rimless Quartered Vaca Red AD 800–900 Burned surfaceaxis temple bowl, all body Falls Red bowlbeneath the sherds Associated: 4 typesabove (n = 17) (2 sherds per type)128 Center Foot of Several clusters 74 types (11.4 Orange-red, AD 700–800; Burned surface; chert flakes, aaxis temple 2 clusters all body sherds per type) brown, black AD 650–750, chunk, and one utilized flakebeneath the sherds (n = 93) AD 700–900Macal Orange Redabove 1 cluster 94%bowl, Humes Bankbody sherdsUnslipped jar(n = 80)Downloaded from http://jsa.sagepub.com at UNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANA on March 28, 2010
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