{

Ancient Maya: Classic Period Pottery

Evey Zambrona

Period 2

December 1, 2016

{ CLIMATE: Volcanic Mountains to swampy rainforest, to savannas, bajo

NORTH: hot, rainy season,

SOUTH: Rainforest, savannas, permanent lakes and rivers, by Usamaic Inta River

MesoAmerica

{ Domesticated animals: Dogs, turkeys and donkeys.

Crops/Main Food Sources: Squash, Corn, Peppers, Beans, Tomatoes

Region: Near present-day Guatemala (Mayan), the Valley of Mexico (Aztec), and the coastline of Western South America (Inca)

MesoAmerica

{

Two categories:

Prestige: Jade, gold, copper, highly decorated pottery, and ritual items

Subsistence: Food, cloth, tools, basic pottery, salt, ect.

Trade

Cuisine

Corn

Beans

Squash

Cacao beans

Slash-and-burn agriculture

Religion

Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn. At the top of Maya society were the kings, or “kuhul ajaw” (holy lords), who claimed to be related to gods and followed a hereditary succession. They were thought to serve as mediators between the gods and people on earth, and performed the elaborate religious ceremonies and rituals so important to the Maya culture.

Blood sacrifices

Descriptions were placed in symbols, walls, and architecture

Traditions & Daily Life Much of their daily life was surrounded by their religion, identifying rituals on a daily basis, and understanding the stars and education was a significant part of their lives.

Process of Making Pottery

Clay riverbeds, they dipped the clay in water.

Maya potters used clay coils to build their pots, which was a slow process. After building the coils up as high as they wanted, they smoothed the coils together with their fingers.

Ceramics were equally important to the Maya. They used a crude device that rotated between the potters feet called a kabal

Process of Making Pottery

Called Tzakol and Tepeu. They are characterized by a variety of jar, bowl, plate, and vase styles

During this period the Mayans mastered a variety of decorative techniques including polychrome painting.

Process of Making Pottery

Polychrome pottery is created when 3 or more mineral colors slips are used to decorate a hand built ceramic. The base color of the pot sometimes is thought of as the third color. The slip may be. (1) painted directly on the pottery surface

{

• The Maya blue pigment is a composite of organic and inorganic constituents, primarily indigo dyes derived from the leaves of añil (Indigofera suffruticosa or Indigofera guatemalensis) plants combined with palygorskite (Sepiolite), a natural clay, cooked at 100 oC, that makes it turn from blackish to its exquisite tone. Smaller trace amounts of other mineral additives have also been identified.

Pigments

{

• Due to its attractive turquoise color and light fastness, Maya blue was widely used in mural paintings, sculptures, ceramics and codices.

• The Tzakol and Tepeu ceramics are considered to be the most beautiful pottery made in ancient Mesoamerica.

•

Pigments

{

They were primarily decorated in animal deities, grotesque monsters, nobles and priests, and scenes of human sacrifice, in the colors of orange, yellow, and red.

Pigments

{ Wood and grass was used to fire the vessels

sand was used for tempering can also be obtained in the riverbanks, which are covered with savannah grasses and few scattered trees and bushes.

Trees grow thick by the river

They were then fired in kilns special for pottery

Firing

{ Cooking, food, religious rituals, to identify status

pottery became a ceramic canvas for the Maya to tell stories, venerate the gods, and to commemorate the deceased

Usage

Discovery

Excavations of Maya sites have unearthed plazas, palaces, temples and pyramids, as well just politically significant to Maya culture.

Serious exploration of Classic Maya sites began in the 1830s. By the early to mid-20th century, a small portion of their system of hieroglyph writing had been deciphered, and more about their history and culture became known. Most of what historians know about the Maya comes from what remains of their architecture and art, including stone carvings and inscriptions on their buildings and monuments. The Maya also made paper from tree bark and wrote in books made from this paper, known as codices; four of these codices are known to have survived.

Discovery

{

This magnificent high-gloss blackware bowl is decorated with carved and incised feathered serpents. Profile human figures are seated in front of their bearded jaws. The bodies of the serpents undulate with regularity around the circumference of the vessel.

Sacrificial Ceremonies

{

The figures are perhaps emerging from the underworld as the bearded, feathered serpent is thought to be a personification of that fearsome place. A bowl carved with serpents and human forms; likely a scene of the underworld” Inscribed with dots signifying 539 AD. ( Image & description via The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York)

Sacrificial Ceremonies

{

Mayan polychrome ceramic vessel. “A palace court scene is depicted on the exterior of this cylindrical vessel. An elegant young lord, seated on a throne, wears a grand feathered headdress and a large collar of beads and pendants. Two seated male figures of lesser rank face him, and between them is a vessel shaped much like the one on which they are depicted.

Polychrome

{ It is filled with a foaming liquid probably made of honey or cacao. The depiction of the luxurious life of a wealthy and powerful young man is overlaid with references to death. The vessel is undoubtedly a mortuary offering.”

Image and description via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Polychrome

Closing Thoughts

My closing thoughts about Mayan pottery, is that it highly reflects their religious rituals and practices.

Their talents and art is incredible,but deeply surrounds their gods and their appreciation and desire for blood sacrifice.

It is pretty scary and I would not have liked to live in their society.

http://agriculture-vs-foraging.weebly.com/mesoamerica-vs-mesopotamia.html

http://www.haciendapetac.com/blog/culture/mayan-pottery-101

http://www.authenticmaya.com/maya_art.htm

https://tabler202.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/pdf-wood-fired-kiln-plans-plans-diy-free-free-woodworking-craft-

http://www.history.com/topics/maya

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacul_vase.jpg

http://www.marc.ucsb.edu/research/maya/ancient-maya-civilization/classic-period

http://www.haciendapetac.com/blog/culture/mayan-pottery-101

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/humanorigins/religion.html#maya

http://www.marc.ucsb.edu/resources

http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Maya/p/Ancient-Maya-Economy-And-Trade.htm

http://www.incamayanaztec.com/ancient-mayan-climate-weather.html

Citations