Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Latin American Antiquity
Volume
34
Issue
1
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication Date
8-26-2022
First Page
21
Last Page
39
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
A core region is the first place for expected shifts in archaeological materials before, during, and after political changes like state emergence and imperial consolidation. Yet, studies of ceramic production have shown that there are sometimes limited or more subtle changes in the ceramic economy throughout such political fluctuations. This article synthesizes recent efforts to address political economic changes via geochemical characterization (neutron activation analysis; NAA) in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin in western Mexico. This region was home to the Purépecha state and then empire (Tarascan; ca. AD 1350-1530), one of the most powerful kingdoms in the Americas before European arrival. The combined ceramic dataset from four sites in the region result in eight geochemical groups. Our analysis indicates that the region experienced long-term and relatively stable ceramic production that was not substantially altered by the emergence of the state and empire. In addition, we find evidence for (1) dispersed, localized production; (2) long-lived compositional ceramic recipes; and (3) a complex ceramic economy with differential community participation. We discuss why documenting local ceramic production and craft production more generally is important for the study of past political economies.
Recommended Citation
Cohen, A., Hirshman, A., Pierce, D., & Ferguson, J. (2023). Local Production and Developing Core Regions: Ceramic Characterization in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Western Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, 34(1), 21-39. doi:10.1017/laq.2022.65