Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

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Leslie G. Cecil
Ixlú and Ch’ich’. This division may suggest two zones of Trapeche Pink manufacture or slip
recipes: one at Zacpetén and another at Ch’ich’ or Ixlú.
When the Fulano (black slipped) and the Paxcamán (red slipped) exterior slips are plotted
with the Trapeche pink slip compositional groups, many of samples plot within the Group 1
and Group 2 ellipses, but their membership is not statistically significant. I suggest that the
earlier Trapeche ceramic group technology evolved into the slips and pastes of the Paxcamán
ceramic group (a red slip without the creamy overslip). Additionally, the Fulano black slips
are very similar to the Paxcamán slips, but because they were fired in a reducing
environment, the slips are black (Cecil 2001:169). Therefore, it is not unusual that the later
ceramic group slips (Paxcamán and Fulano) plot within the earlier Trapeche ceramic group
slips.
The remaining samples that do not form a statistically significant chemical composition
group and represent all of the exterior slips from Tipuj (black and red, no Trapeche ceramic
group sherds were excavated at Tipuj) as well as a number of samples excavated from
Zacpetén and Chi’ch’. Upon a visual examination of these slips, they are thicker and glossy
which may suggest that potters at Tipuj (or Zacpetén or Ch’ich’) are creating higher quality
slips than potters at other archaeological sites in central Petén.
Figure 11. Plot of chromium and vanadium base-10 logged concentrations of Vitzil Orange-Red
exterior slips showing the difference between western archaeological sites (Ch’ich’ and Ixlú) and other
red slips. Samples were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS. Ellipses represent 90% confidence intervals for
group membership.