The archaeological study of craft production investigates the role of household activities in broader social and political networks. In the Maya area, the production and distribution of ceramics, especially prestige ceramics including polychrome and fine ware pottery, relate to broader transformations in Maya society from the Classic to Terminal Classic periods. However, direct evidence for ceramic production in the form of kilns, workshops, or associated detritus can be elusive. We report the identification, excavation, and preliminary analysis of a large deposit of fine paste ceramics, including sherds representative of the Fine Orange and Fine Gray wares in the type-variety system of Maya ceramics, from a household group at the archaeological site of Benemérito de las Américas Primera Sección, located near the confluence of the Lacantún and Usumacinta Rivers. Discarded ceramics from this context exhibit several signs of overfiring consistent with pottery production. This deposit challenges notions of functional versus symbolic activity, as the members of this household used this deposit to dedicate a group of three burials accompanied by offerings including a figurine ensemble. We discuss the implications for this deposit in the context of economic shifts taking place across the Maya Lowlands during this period.

The role of micro- and mesopores of archaeological ceramics in preserving ancient biomolecules is not well established. To understand the formation of these nano-sized pores in ceramics, reference pottery briquettes were made using two different clay types (illitic and kaolinitic clays), two different tempers (sand and chalk), and two different firing temperatures (600 and 800°C). The mineral content of the briquettes was determined by quantitative X-ray diffraction, and the micro- and mesopores were characterized with the N2 adsorption method. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, the adsorbed volume near liquefaction, and application of non-local density functional theory (NLDFT) were used on the N2 adsorption data to determine specific surface areas, specific pore volumes, and pore-size distributions. Values of the micro- and mesoporosity parameters of most of the briquettes were approximately proportional to the initial clay content and unrelated to temper; the proportionality factors were much larger for illitic clay than for kaolinitic clay. When chalk-tempered briquettes were fired at the higher firing temperature of 800°C, the parameters were no longer proportional to the initial clay content; they decreased in most briquettes formed of illitic clay due to reaction of the clay with lime, and they increased in briquettes formed of kaolinitic clay due mostly to the porosity of unreacted lime. Micropore volumes in briquettes formed mostly of illitic clay were substantial: of the order of 5 mm3 g−1. The work presented here forms a basis for future studies to establish a plausible mechanism of organic residue absorption and preservation in ancient ceramics.

A partir de los conceptos de modo y sistema cerámico, analizamos el rango de variación estilística en las cerámicas de El Tintal, Guatemala, como indicadores de conexiones sociales, económicas y políticas a nivel regional. Nuestro estudio muestra que la población de El Tintal participó en sistemas cerámicos con una distribución geográfica extensa durante los períodos preclásico medio y tardío, clásico temprano y clásico tardío. Durante los períodos preclásico terminal y clásico terminal, sin embargo, El Tintal participó en sistemas de afiliación con cobertura espacial limitada, aunque entre estos circulan conjuntos de cerámicas particulares a larga distancia. Con base en los resultados del estudio proponemos aquí algunas explicaciones a estos patrones en términos de dinámicas de interacción sociocultural y económicas.

Stylistic shifts in ceramics are often linked with sociopolitical changes, yet adopting new ceramic designs may indicate anything from shared aesthetic appeal to emulation. Focusing on multiple ceramic technologies is critical for understanding ceramic changes as they relate to wider social fluctuations. The relationships between clay and ceramic recipes, and communities of practice, have not been studied at the urban landscape of Angamuco, Michoacán in western Mexico. Petrographic and geochemical analyses of tempers and fabrics indicate that ceramics, including imperial Purépecha (a.d. 1350–1530) vessels, were created from local and regional materials, and that these materials remained relatively stable for over 1,000 years. Ceramic archaeometry in western Mexico has been relatively limited compared to other parts of Mesoamerica, and this study may be compared to future studies in the region.

With the rise of post-colonialism during the latter part of the twentieth century, more focus has been given to non-western perspectives (the so-called nativist turn). In the case of Indian Ocean trade during the early first millennium CE, the view that ‘Roman’ merchants and sailors were the near-exclusive movers of goods, who were also (indirectly) responsible for commercial developments within South Asia, has largely fallen into abeyance. Rightly, the agency of those in South Asia has been acknowledged. The present article goes beyond this basic premise and considers how we can assess evidence demonstrating the role played by sailors and merchants from South Asia. In particular, it is suggested these merchants and sailors played an important role in connecting the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal regions.

This paper discusses a rare Late Ming blue and white porcelain bowl with five cartouches depicting scenes of sexual intercourse, which was found during archaeological excavations in the Santana convent, a former Franciscan nunnery located in Lisbon founded in 1562. The paper begins with a description of the bowl, the context of its recovery and its significance, highlighting its extreme rarity among Chinese export porcelains. The second section discusses Chinese sexuality and the production of erotica during the Late Ming period, namely porcelains with erotic and sexual imagery, a subject that has been overlooked by mainstream scholarship. The last section proposes an explanation for the presence of this bowl in the Santana nunnery, emphasising the gap between the ideals of Iberian Catholic monastic life and the worldly practices conducted by the members of these religious orders in the Baroque era.

Palaeoenvironmental data indicate that the climate of south-western Madagascar has changed repeatedly over the past millennium. Combined with socio-political challenges such as warfare and slave raiding, communities continually had to mitigate against risk. Here, the authors apply social network analysis to pottery assemblages from sites on the Velondriake coast to identify intercommunity connectivity and changes over time. The results indicate both continuity of densely connected networks and change in their spatial extent and structure. These network shifts coincided with periods of socio-political and environmental perturbation attested in palaeoclimate data and oral histories. Communities responded to socio-political and environmental risk by reconfiguring social connections and migrating to areas of greater resource availability or political security.

The distribution and hybridization of ceramic vessels provide insights into how local elites and imperial officials navigated imperial expansion. This article presents data on ceramic sherds from the sites of La Centinela and Las Huacas in the Chincha Valley that date to the period of Inca occupation (AD 1400–1532). In Chincha, the Inca established a style of joint rule in which Inca and local authority were closely aligned. The ceramic data demonstrate that Inca imperial designs and diagnostic shapes were most numerous in contexts associated with direct Inca presence and that the types of vessels and designs that elites used to develop their authority differed among the contexts: hybrid material culture thus varied throughout the Chincha Valley. These different hybrid material cultures include state-sponsored hybrid wares (Inca vessels, on which the Inca intentionally integrated Chincha designs) and local vessel shapes on which elites used Inca symbols and vessel shapes to assert their status to a mostly local audience.

Archaeological research on palaces and architectural spaces related to power factions allow a better understanding of the social dynamics of political economies. Several types of palaces appear in Mesoamerica according to distinct forms of sociopolitical organization. For Tlaxcallan, a Late Postclassic (A.D. 1250/1300–1519) geopolitical state-level polity with a highly collective government, the existence of palaces has been questioned. We reconsider the existence of palaces in Tlaxcallan through the contextual analysis of an architectural complex (CA-2) of Tepeticpac, one of the sectors of the conurbated area. We evaluate the functionality of CA-2 as a palace by examining the processes of occupation and abandonment of the building in relation to its architectural and stratigraphic sequence and the type of associated artifacts. The comparison between archaeological and historical data indicate that Tlaxcallans probably had palaces, but they were less ostentatious compared to others found in societies with more centralized governments.

This article investigates the rise of social complexity of Cahokia's multiethnic city through a robust stylistic grammar analysis of early Caddo fine ware vessels at Cahokia's East St. Louis Precinct. We explore ceramic production and distribution to shed light on whether Caddo-like fine wares were produced by Caddo potters who lived and crafted at Cahokia, were produced by local Cahokia potters who copied Caddo motifs, or were imported to Cahokia from the southern Caddo area. This investigation helps us better understand the nature of Caddo connections at the beginning of Cahokia's development and provides a means of identifying and interpreting new levels of social interactions between the Caddo world and Cahokia. The stylistic grammar results show that the majority of the Caddo-like vessels at Cahokia have identical stylistic grammar as vessels from the Caddo world. This strongly suggests that Caddo craft specialists migrated to, lived, and crafted their homeland vessels at Cahokia and thus were key social actors in its development.

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates (n = 78) from human bone collagen were analyzed in the largest high-resolution chronology study to date at the ancient city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico (ca. AD 1–550). Samples originate from the residential neighborhood of La Ventilla, located in the heart of this major urban center. Here, a trapezoidal model using Bayesian statistics is built from 14C dates combined with data derived from the stylistic analysis of ceramics from burial contexts. Based on this model, we suggest possible refinements to Teotihuacan’s ceramic chronology, at least within the La Ventilla neighborhood. We also explore the abandonment and reoccupation of La Ventilla after the political collapse of Teotihuacan in the Metepec and Coyotlatelco phases. Findings suggest that these ceramic phases began earlier than is currently projected and that the well-documented abandonment period of La Ventilla may have occurred more abruptly than originally estimated.

This article presents an example of ceramic circulation and exchange networks in the southern Andean region during the first centuries AD, derived from the study of the production, circulation, and consumption of the pottery assemblages found in the villages of Cardonal and Bordo Marcial, located in the Cajón Valley in Catamarca, Argentina. Our analysis of the technical, morphological, and design aspects of the ceramics suggested six morphological groups using three representation techniques and 16 paste recipes; we also found that locally manufactured vessels were used together with ceramics of nonlocal origin in similar domestic contexts. In addition, the foreign ceramic materials suggest that there were networks of interaction between Cardonal and Bordo Marcial and other regions, such as the southern Puna, the Hualfín Valley, the Rosario-Lerma Basin, and the San Francisco Valley in northwestern Argentina.

In ad 872–3 a large Viking Army overwintered at Torksey, on the River Trent in Lincolnshire. We have previously published the archaeological evidence for its camp, but in this paper we explore what happened after the Army moved on. We integrate the findings of previous excavations with the outcomes of our fieldwork, including magnetometer and metal-detector surveys, fieldwalking and targeted excavation of a kiln and cemetery enclosure ditch. We provide new evidence for the growth of the important Anglo-Saxon town at Torksey and the development of its pottery industry, and report on the discovery of the first glazed Torksey ware, in an area which has a higher density of Late Saxon kilns than anywhere else in England. Our study of the pottery industry indicates its continental antecedents, while stable isotope analysis of human remains from the associated cemetery indicates that it included non-locals, and we demonstrate artefactual links between the nascent town and the Vikings in the winter camp. We conclude that the Viking Great Army was a catalyst for urban and industrial development in Torksey and suggest the need to reconsider our models for Late Saxon urbanism.

Brzezie in the Pleszew region was first mentioned in archaeological literature, as the location where a treasure of gold artifacts dating back to the 3rd period of the Bronze Age was discovered in 1876. Archaeological research has been conducted there almost continuously since 1985. The result of many years of fieldwork is the discovery of 363 late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age graves, as well as 50 burials of the Przeworsk culture from the era of Roman influence. In the last few years, further research has been conducted by archeologist Grzegorz Szczurek. After comprehensive geophysical prospecting, the extent of the necropolis was established, and more graves were excavated. For the first time, materials for radiocarbon and luminescence dating were also collected to determine the absolute chronology for this archaeological site. Four samples were dated in the Poznań radiocarbon laboratory, and five luminescence tests were conducted in the Gliwice luminescence laboratory. Due to the complete thermo-destruction of collagen in human bones, age determination was based on carbonate fractionation. In one case, a piece of charcoal was selected for dating purposes. Considering uncertainties and the fact that both methods date different events, the results reveal concurrence, giving a 1000–500 BC range.