Archaeopottery

working in Belize

Wrestling with Belize clay at the R.E.W. Adams Research Facility near Orange Walk, Belize, at the invitation of Dr. Fred Valdez, Spring field season 2016. Hot, buggy, but always fascinating. Photo by Bruce Templeman.

‘Maya’ Cache Vessel

‘Maya’ cache vessel. ( conjectural) using Maya iconography. Found clay, mineral pigments

‘Maya’ Homul Dancer vase

‘Maya’ Homul Dancer Vase. ( conjectural ). hand built using found clay, mineral pigments. Post fire

Coati Chocolate pot

‘Maya’ Pottery replication. This was fabricated from a photo listed on the old U.S. State Dept. artifact trafficking site. The word ‘Maya’ is in quotes as the original has a provenience from El Salvidor, which is considered outside the Maya realm by a majority of Archaeologists. These spouted pots are surmised to be ‘chocolate pots’ for drinking a beverage made from cacao. It has also been conjectured that the spout was actually a function to blow air into the liquid mixture producing the highly prized foam.  handbuilt using found clay, mineral pigments- post fire.

Horned Toad Pot

Post fire ‘Horned Toad’ pot. Hand built from ‘wild’ clay. Organic and mineral pigments

Lizard Pot

 Conceptual, hand built pottery using ‘wild clay, organic paint ( bee plant).

Puebloan Olla

 Anasazi Olla replication, shown in the pre-fire and post fire state.

Tikal Incensario

  Handbuilt Maya Pottery Replication. ‘Wild’ clay, mineral pigments. Shown in a pre-fire state.

Jaguar UM

Jaguar UM

First successful firing of Black mineral paint. Maya replica. Utah Clays. 13.5″ X 8″

More correctly said, this is an example of a reduced iron paint.  By subjecting the iron derived paint to  introduced carbon- monoxide ( at sufficient temperatures ) , the iron, ( red) ferric oxide, is reduced to (black) ferrous oxide. This process alone in an ‘open’ firing can be problematic. It is a mistake to refer to these early cultures or their pottery as ‘primitive’.