Майянская керамика: типы, функции и социальное значение.

Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the Pre Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. The vessels used different colors, sizes, and had varied purposes. Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes, while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. Elite pottery, usually in the form of straight sided beakers called "vases", used for drinking, was placed in burials, giving a number of survivals in good condition. Individual examples include the Princeton Vase and the Fenton Vase. Used for a plethora of daily activities, such as the storage of food and beverages, ceramics were also a canvas of commemoration. There were three main types of ceramics used in daily life: bowls, plates, and cylinders. They were often monochrome, meaning that only one type of mineral slip was used. As time progressed, various features were added to ceramics to go beyond the fundamental needs of vessels; For example, pellets were put in larger bowls to not only serve as something to hold food, but would also become instruments used in the same feasts. Surveys of Maya ceramics a major part of the ongoing controversy over the degree of elite political control over aspects the subsistence economy, the extent of economic centralization, and how it reinforces power (a common debate in the archaeology of complex societies).

"Postclassic slipped and decorated pottery at sites in the Petén Lakes region was manufactured of three distinctive paste wares. These indicate minimally three production nodes of Petén Postclassic pottery, at least one for each paste. These paste wares were used to manufacture the three most common red slipped ceramic groups of the Postclassic [P]otters across the Petén Lakes area had a fairly uniform and widely shared set of ideas about what constituted proper pottery decoration regardless of their different clay and temper resources." Vitzil Orange red Ware: coarse red orange carbonate; used to manufacture Augustine ware. Snail Inclusion Paste Ware: silty gray to brown with snail inclusions; used to manufacture Paxcamán ware. Clemencia Cream Paste Ware: marly “white” or cream; used to manufacture Topoxté ware. "Whether painted or incised, decoration appeared in circumferential bands on the interior walls of tripod dishes (Rice 1983, 1985, 1989). The bands are defined above and below by multiple lines and divided into two or four panels by vertical lines or placement of simple motifs, which also may appear inside the panels (see Rice and Cecil 2009). This decorative coherence structures the classificatory coherence of types and varieties in the slipped ceramic groups across the three paste wares: monochrome, black painted, red painted, and incised." "On a significant number of Chocholá pots the decorative information is restricted to hieroglyphics, either the diagonal band described above, or a more elaborate combination of diagonal glyph bands, rim texts, or a single large Calendar Round date." The Primary Standard Sequences are text that occurs usually as a rim text on many ceramic vessels from all parts of the Maya Lowlands. The PSS is a glyphic formula that refers to the dedication of a vessel, its method of adornment, the class of vessel involved, its use and content (cacao drinks and maize gruels), and sometimes the owner or artisan.

A ceramic classification by paste color and texture first defined in is commonly used: gris (gray, abbreviated "G"), crema (cream, abbreviated "C"), café (brown, abbreviated "K"), and amarillo (yellow or orange, abbreviated "A"). "Most ceramic types produced after the founding of Monte Albán are designated by an alphanumeric code indicating their ware and type number (e. g., G.12, C.11, K.17, A.9). In contrast, ceramic types dating to pre Monte Albán phases generally have descriptive names (e. g., Socorro Fine Gray, Atoyac Yellow White). Although Oaxaca archaeologists do not formally assign these types to the four ware categories defined by Caso et al. (1967), similar gray, brown, and buff/cream pastes were used by earlier (Middle Formative) potters, and several pre Monte Albán types clearly were "ancestral" to particular types in the Monte Albán sequence (e. g., Drennan, 1976: 22; also Flannery and Marcus, 2005: 473; 2015: 115–116)."

Designs could be incised or carved post firing. "In the Rosario phase and Early MA I, production loci generally produced both “costly” and utilitarian vessels. By Late MA I, the production of costly vessels was dominated by potters in the Cacaotepec Atzompa locality northwest of Monte Albán, who specialized in the manufacture of elaborate cream ware (crema) vessels, while other communities produced primarily (though not exclusively) utilitarian vessels. We suspect that these patterns reflect the efforts of rulers at Monte Albán to control the production and distribution of elite pottery, particularly crema vessels." "Many other sites in which crema ware ceramics were found were interpreted to have had close ties to Monte Albán, because these ceramics were only produced from clay sources located near the ancient city." The distribution of crema ware in combination with other archaeological evidence suggests "efforts by the leaders of Monte Albán to control, perhaps because of trade, the valleys lying between the Valley of Oaxaca and the coast."

characterized by its waxy and lustrous surface finishing, Late Classic to Early Postciassic in northwestern Yucatán peninsula. one of the most sophisticated ceramic traditions of Northern Yucatán, and encompasses a multitude of elite wares.

"A distinctive incised and graphite painted red ware pottery known only from Bajos de Chila and four other sites on Oaxaca’s central coast." Their great abundance and variety in Bajos de Chila and the Guatemala highlands have suggested a possible greater extent of Maya trade and influence, but Oaxaca coast excavations have been limited.

Spouted vessels of the Middle Preclassic (1000–400 B. C.) and Late Preclassic (400 B. C. A. D. 250) Maya are traditionally called "chocolate pots", but lacked direct evidence that they had use in association with cacao until recently.

Stamped or mould made pottery are generally rare among Maya ceramics.

The utilitarians ware of the common people usually had simple decoration that reflected its use. Vessels in the palace were more elaborately decorated by carved forms or highly skilled polychrome paintings with hieroglyphs which named their function, the patron and rarely, the artist signature. For example, cylindrical bowls used for cacao drinks often had the plant species Q. guatemalteca depicted on them because that flower was used to enhance the flavor of the cacao drink. Designs often included rituals, supernatural figures or common day practices. Black backgrounds often indicate supernatural forces featured in the plate's scene or the depiction of the underworld because of the dark color used. The Maize God was incredibly important to Maya culture because the god not only symbolized the Maya's main resource but rebirth as well. In the Popol Vuh, the Maize God is represented in a cyclical nature in order for the Maya to understand the human life cycle. By placing an important figure in Maya culture onto pieces of pottery, it provides a higher importance of the pottery itself and its purpose. The Holmul Dancer, although similar to the Tikal Dancer in positioning, features a male dancing with a small dwarf or hunchback figure off to one side and has been seen on forty five compiled vessels. Although the decoration had a higher importance, structure was still taken in to account. Specific pieces often featured other characteristics such as rattle feet, hollow cylinders located on the bottom of the plate that hold a ball on the inside. The rattle feet were often used for ritual purposes in the form of music because when shaken, the plate rattles.

Maya ceramics are made from two main types of materials that relate to their social structure, limestone and volcanic ash. Most of the land around the Mayans was limestone, which is where calcite comes from. These were mainly made as gifts and given to make local alliances, and these vessels are found in a more localized area. Whereas the ones made from volcanic ash are more widespread because they were thought to be given as gifts from the upper class to make very large alliances, through the Maya trade systems. Although the Maya are well known for creating a multitude of art, they are perhaps most well known for their pottery. The Maya used these potteries to perform their sacrifice rituals with melodic tones. Because these rituals were a way of praying for rain, the blood spilled by the sacrificial victim (frequently a prisoner of war) was a form of asking their gods for rain and bounty in agriculture. Since these two components are connected, with rain, the Maya would have grown along with their agriculture. Ceramics played a big role in society during the Maya Classic Period, when the Maya elite used ceramics not only to give gifts to foreign dignitaries, but they were also used in feasts during the Classic Period. Specialized pottery was made for the graves of nobles. Not anyone could make this pottery as it was very important they knew about the Maya history, mythology, and more. On these ceramics, intricate scenes were depicted which showed the palace life of the elite. The decorative scenes needed to feature the elite because they were the primary customers and wanted to have artwork that featured themselves. On each ceramic piece near the rim, its contents would be listed out, a type of beverage for a vase or food for a plate, then who it belonged to was written next. The rim also may feature Saurian head labels which may indicate a specific location where the piece was made or where the scene on the piece took place. Specialists mainly pay attention to the writing, drawings, and hieroglyphs, since they were different for the different people and cultures they were made by. As for the everyday use more simple ware was made, generally of only one color, and would be produced in large quantities for the general public use. Maya pottery only weakly correlates to socio economic levels of Maya society because of the value the culture emphasized ceramics. Rituals were where the Maya registered status rather than in pottery.

There is evidence in Postclassic Oaxaca that there was significant local production and trade of ceramics independent of the markets at the region imperial capital of Tututepec.