[Aztlan] Ancient Clay Samples

[Mary Hopkins]

Hi, Bradley.

A couple of questions:

Are you sure that these were once part of larger vessels? Basal molds are 
known from some places, and can resemble pot bases. Check the color 
profiles in the wall.

It is also the case that pot bases can be used as basal molds & any number 
of other things. These are not necessarily firing failures; they can be 
just plain old broken pots. (Nor are firiing failures necessarily obvious 
from every sherd from the pot ...)

Have a look at Jim Sheehy's dissertation & mine ("Teotihuacan cooking pots 
..." 1995 or 6) for more info. on opportunistic tools, firing failures, 
and basal molding.

As to chem. alteration of the clay during burial, I'd expect it to be 
relatively slight given the degree of enclosure that you describe. But 
that's an off-the-cuff opinion, I'm not an expert there.

Sounds like a neat find, looking forward to hearing more about it.

MH

On Fri, 4 Sep 2009, Bradley Russell wrote:

>
> Dear Listeros,
>
>
>
> This summer while excavating a structure we believe was associated with 
> ceramic production near the center of the Postclassic city of Mayapan, I 
> encountered three very interesting offerings.  All three consisted of 
> stacked olla bases with the bulk of the vessel removed, leaving 
> essentially large ceramic platters.  Between each vessel in the stacks 
> were layers of what appears to be raw clay.  The most interesting thing 
> about the clay was that different vessels in the stacks had clay of 
> different types (red, brown, buff, etc. as each susbequent vessel was 
> removed).
>
>
>
> The first one we found was along the centerline of the structure, a 
> second was associated with an infant burial (about 1 1/2 years old) and 
> the third was sealed below the floor of the sub-structure covered by the 
> structure I was there to investigate.  All three appear to be associated 
> with the sub-structure occupation.  The initial find contained 17 
> vessel/clay layers. The others two had six and five layers respectively.
>
>
>
> My initial interpretation of these offerings is that they are ollas that 
> failed in firing and were recycled as clay storage or mixing vessels at 
> the production site.
>
>
>
> If correct, that would mean that the clays found inside of the vessels 
> were original, ancient clays actually dug for production by inhabitants 
> of the site.  I find that a fascinating prospect as it would make for 
> very interesting sourcing work.
>
>
>
> My question is, does anyone know of any similar finds of stacked ceramic 
> and clay offerings or other finds of original clays in their 
> archaeological context in Mesoamerica or elsewhere?
>
>
>
> Another question I have is, to what degree is it likely that the 
> chemical signatures of these clays would be altered from their years 
> surrounded by the fill covering them?
>
>
> Thanks in advance for any leads,
>
>
>
> Brad Russell
>
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