Palenque and Selected Survey Sites in Chiapas and Tabasco: The Preclassic

Zapatillo (Nueva Esperanza)

Excavations were limited, most of the pottery being collected from a newly opened road, portions of three mounds having been bulldozed for fill. The possibility of multicomponent mixing is obvious.

On a modal level, heavy rim bolstering in Figure 7a recalls Greater Isthmian, including materials of Early and Middle Preclassic date, and Xe. Blacks, some of which are white rimmed, (7m), are well represented but form and slip characteristics differ from Trinidad. Also shown in Figure 7, folded rims (f, l) and circle-impression (j, k) are common, the latter sharing attributes of shape with white-slipped ceramics (h, j, k, m), the punctate fields being reminiscent of Middle Preclassic at Mirador (Agrinier, 2000:Fig. 62). The jar form (i) occurs at Trinidad (Figure 5c) and widely throughout the survey region, usually with volcanic ash or pumice temper. More elaborate, the shape of the black jar in e is almost duplicated in Figure 8c, also from Zapatillo. Figure 7d strongly resembles a cache vessel from Chiapa de Corzo, dated as Jiquipilas (Mason, 1960:Fig. 9b) and stylistically similar materials from, for example, Tres Zapotes (Weiant, 1943:Fig. 22). In general, connections of the Figure 7 ceramics seem to be primarily to the west, rather than with the Maya Lowlands.

Lowland Maya affiliations are stronger in the waxy, red-slipped pottery of Figure 8, some examples relating to the Late Preclassic. Thus, d can be equated with Laguna Verde Incised and the medial-flange sherd in e  with Sierra Red. The red jar (c), referred to above (Figure 7e), has localized characteristics, including shape and precisely executed fluting.

Fairly late in the Middle Preclassic–at least as seen from a Southeastern Mesoamerican perspective–sherds in Figure 9 extend the ceramic repertoire at Zapatillo. Cloudy resist, flared-wall dishes (a-c) and elaborations of everted rims, including groove-incising and rim tabs (d, e) are common. Slips are waxy, a  corresponding to the double-slipped Tierra Mojada Group, as described for Escoba Mamom at Seibal (Sabloff, 1975) and to Chiapa III materials, the double-line break, generally ascribable to Xe rather than Mamom in the Maya Lowlands, being present (cf. Adams, 1971:Figs. 1gg, hh, 7i). Variations of the cloudy resist technique occur: b  is a smudged orange resist with blobs and trickles, and c  has a mainly red surface with orange showing through. In a strong pattern as observed for Zapatillo, orange is largely restricted to cloudy resist, most of the waxy slips being red. For the widespread occurrence of cloudy resist, (see e.g., Lowe, 1977:223-224; Demarest and Sharer, 1982; Demarest, 1986; Andrews V, 1986:33; Brady et al., 1998:20, Fig. 2).

The presence of specular hematite red slip, which sparkles when turned to the light, is of special interest (Figure 10a-g). Its Preclassic associations are mostly early—a broad Ocos horizon, concentrated on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas and Guatemala, with extensions as far as Oaxaca and the Tehuacan Valley. Closer to Zapatillo, specular red occurs not only in the Mal Paso region but at La Venta and Tres Zapotes. At La Venta it is recorded only in passing by Drucker (1952:96) but is considered at greater length on reexamination by Will Andrews (Andrews V, 1990:34, 43, Fig. 11g, h). According to Andrews, the La Venta-Tres Zapotes specular reds differ in slip and rim forms from Early Preclassic examples at Ocos, being "more appropriate" for the Middle Preclassic.

Absence of "gadrooned" lips and general simplification of rims set the Zapatillo specular reds apart from the Ocos horizon (contrast Figure 10a-g  with, for example, Coe, 1961:Fig. 19; Ekholm, 1969:Fig. 25; Ceja Tenorio, 1985:Fig. 39q-aaa). Although fragmentary, a and d are possible cuspidors. Incising and groove-incising, mostly horizontal, characterize the rather small sample. Almost all sherds have a hard, dark over-all red exterior slip, the interior combining red below the rim with white or light buff. This pattern is present on non-specular red (h). Somewhat divergent, the specular red is weaker in g, the incurved wall has a lightly bolstered rim, and vertical rather than horizontal groove-incising is present.

In summary, as sampled, Zapatillo includes sparse ceramics dating back to a Chiuaan-like horizon with linkages outside the Maya Lowlands, undergoes apparent intensification and "Mayanization" later in the Middle Preclassic, and continues into the Late Preclassic. To suggest ceramic complex names for these developments would be unwarranted at the present time, however, in view of sample size and lack of stratigraphic control.

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