Neutron Activation Analysis on Olmec Pottery: A View From La Venta

Methods

In June of 1997, a raw materials survey of La Venta and its immediate periphery was conducted. The survey was extended to a 7-km distance from the La Venta site core and emphasizing the Early Formative levee sites located along the Río Bari (Figure 3). Estimates offered by Arnold (1985) for distances a potter is willing to travel for necessary resources do not exceed the 7-km distance.  62 clays and 11 sands were sampled and then assigned to geographic space using GPS. These 73 samples were used to characterize the elemental variability of ceramic raw material resources available to Olmec potters in ancient times.  174 pottery fragments were randomly sampled from three previously excavated collections. The first was from Robert J. Squier’s 1964 excavation of Test pit C in complex B.  The second was from William F. Rust III’s 1986 excavation of operation 28, Test Pit 2 in Complex E.  The third was from Raab et al.’s 1994-95 excavations of the levee site Bari #2 also called Isla Alor. Pottery from all proveniences was sampled where radiometric dates of charcoal confirm the material to be of Early Formative age and essentially coeval with the San Lorenzo phase.

From July 1997 - May 1998, a total of 247 samples were prepared, irradiated, and chemically characterized at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). This investigator preformed all sample preparations. In so doing, sample costs were reduced and allowed for increased sample size from the originally proposed 150 to a final 247 samples.

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