The Spanish colonization dramatically interrupted the autonomous development of ancient Mesoamerican culture. Nevertheless, indigenous societies learnt to live with the conquest. It was not only a time of crisis, but also an extraordinarily creative time period in which material culture reflected indigenous peoplesâ varied responses and adaptations to the changing circumstances. This work presents insights into the process of cultural continuity and change in the indigenous world by focusing on pottery technology in the Nahua (Aztec) region of Central Mexico. The late pre-colonial, early colonial and present-day characteristics of this industry are explored in order to come to a renewed understanding of its long-term development.
Introduction
Cultural continuity
A note on some terms used
Organization of this work
Chapter 1. Archeology of Colonialism
Post-colonial thinking
Colonies, colonization and colonialism
Hybridity and hybridization
Archeology of colonialism
The archeology of colonialism in Mesoamerica
Chapter 2. The Study of Material Culture
The study of material culture
Change in material culture
A method to study change in material culture
Conservatism of potters
Change and continuity in pottery-making
Summary
Chapter 3. Ceramic-Making before the Conquest
Sources to study late pre-colonial ceramics
Organization of ceramic production
(a) Clay preparation
(b) Vessel forming
(c) Vessel surface finishing
(d) Firing
(e) Decoration
(f) Assembling vessel shapes
The impact of the Aztec empire on ceramic-making
Ceramics as ritual objects and media of literacy
Summary
Chapter 4. Ceramic-Making in Early Colonial Times
Sources to study early colonial ceramics
Organization of ceramic production
(a) Clay preparation
(b) Vessel forming
(c) Vessel surface finishing
(d) Firing
(e) Decoration
(f) Assembling a repertoire of vessel shapes
The impact of the Spanish ceramic technology
Ceramics as indices of cultural affiliation in early colonial central Mexico
Early colonial ceramics in central Mexico
Chapter 5. Ceramic-Making at the Present
Sources to study present-day ceramics
Organization of ceramic production
(a) Clay preparation
(b) Vessel forming
(c) Vessel surface finishing
(d) Firing
(e) Decoration
(f) Assembling a repertoire of vessel shapes
The environmental impact of ceramic-making
Impact of institutional programmes topromote ceramic-making
Present-day ceramics in central Mexico
Chapter 6. Ceramics, Cultural Continuity and Social Change
The development of ceramic-making during early colonial times
The development of ceramic-making at the present
Ceramics and cultural continuity
The role of material culture in the process of colonization
Reactions of Mesoamerican potters to the colonization
The perspectives of ceramic-making
Map 1. Map from central Mexico showing the places mentioned in the text.
Map 2. Map from the valley of Mexico showing the places mentioned in the text.
List of Tables
Table 1. Indigenous vesselsâ nomenclature in Nahuatl, English and Spanish registered in the tenth book of the Florentine codex (Sahagún 1961, X:83).
All those interested in sixteenth century colonialism, the colonial period in Middle America, material culture, ancient and present-day ceramics, as well as in cultural continuity and change.