Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

Postclassic Maya Ceramic Advances 27
likely Zacpetén (Pugh 2001a), and produced cream paste pottery with at least three different
paste recipes. The pottery with higher calcite is decorated with red-on-paste decoration and
pottery with higher biotite and chert inclusions is decorated with red-and-black or black-only
decoration. All of this cream-colored paste pottery used in this analysis was excavated from
the archaeological sites of Zacpetén and Tipuj. While there does not seem to be a pattern as to
which site had more pottery from the different paste groups, the quality of the pottery
excavated from the sites is interesting. In general, the pottery excavated from Zacpetén is of a
higher quality—fewer fireclouds, higher fired, and better execution of design. Additionally,
two different slips are being used for the three different paste groups. The slips on pottery
excavated from Tipuj are thinner and have a higher frequency of fireclouds as opposed to
those excavated from Zacpetén which are thicker and not fireclouded. As a result of patterns
present in the cream paste pottery, I was able to define the “hallmark” signatures of how the
Kowoj displayed their sociopolitical identity through their pottery: red-on-paste and red-andblack
motifs on cream-colored pottery (Clemencia Cream Paste ware).
Unlike the cream-colored pottery produced at Topoxté Island, the gray paste pottery was
most likely manufactured from any number of lake clays in the region. Three paste chemical
groups occur that demonstrate differences in decorative mode and cultural affiliation. Group 1
represents pottery high in cryptocrystalline calcite and quartz from Zacpetén and is decorated
with red-and-black decoration as well as black decorated pottery from Ixlú and Tipuj. Their
slips cluster in one group suggesting one place of manufacture. Pastes of Group 2 have lower
frequencies of cryptocrystalline calcite and higher amounts of iron and primarily consist of
undecorated sherds from Ch’ich’ and incised sherds from Ixlú, Tipuj, and Ch’ich’. This group
demonstrates the largest variability in slips suggesting a variety of slip recipes and possible
locations of production. Finally, Group 3 sherd pastes have abundant small-sized
cryptocrystalline calcite and smaller quantities of quartz and iron and contains pottery from
Zacpetén that is decorated with red-and-black or red only motifs as well as smaller quantities
of undecorated pottery from Ixlú and Ch’ich’. All of these slips group together. Potters at
Zacpetén may have produced two different clay recipes used for the different decorative
programs. Tipuj may have manufactured the incised pottery (all with the ilhuitl motif) and
traded it to Ixlú as is suggested by the differences in pastes and slips. Additionally, two paste
and slip recipes also exist that correspond to the association of the communities of Ch’ich’
and Ixlú.
While much of the Snail-Inclusion Paste pottery could have come from any of the lake
shores in the central Petén lakes region, some of the pottery can be attributed to the Kowoj.
Some of the Kowoj traditions/customs that began at Topoxté Island continued at Zacpetén
throughout the Postclassic period. The Kowoj at Zacpetén recreated and/or imported gray
paste pottery with the red decoration, rather than cream-colored paste, to reinforce their
sociopolitical identity (Cecil 2007). The Snail-Inclusion Paste ware with red-on-paste
decoration (Macanché Red-on-paste) is found almost exclusively at Zacpetén. This
manifestation represents a very Late Postclassic and Contact period type and as such may
reflect the practice of expressing Kowoj ethnicity with red-on-paste decoration as they moved
westward and used different clays (Jones 2007). The same pattern repeats with the red-andblack
decorated pottery (Cecil 2001, 2007; Cecil and Neff 2006).
A chemical analysis of the red and black pigments used to decorate the slipped
Postclassic pottery further suggests that the Kowoj used different resources for pottery
manufacture. The red pigments used to decorate red-on-paste pottery (Chompoxté Red-on-