Reconsidering the Age and Typological Character of "Pox Pottery" from Guerrero, Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID4921028
AuthorsD J Kennett (0000-0001-6144-7365), Barbara Voorhies (0000-0001-8380-6218), Josue Gomez
Year2021
Volume32
Issue3
Pages503-516
Publication date2021-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-6635 • E-ISSN: 2325-5080
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/laq.2021.14
OpenAlexW3157147255
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

We revisit the age and typological character of "Pox Pottery" that was reported in the 1960s by Charles Brush who considered it to be uniquely early (~2440 BC). Investigating the same two sites in coastal Guerrero where Brush excavated, we recovered Early Formative ceramics, some with the "pox" attribute. Here, we report potsherd frequencies for these deposits at both sites according to regional ceramic typologies, as well as AMS 14C dates used to establish a Bayesian stratigraphic chronology for each site to better constrain the age of these Early Formative period deposits. We argue that "Pox Pottery" is not a ceramic type per se and that the "pox" attribute occurs in multiple Early Formative period ceramic types. The earliest pottery is similar to other Red-on-Buff ceramic traditions from the Central Mexican Highlands and west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Our chronological work demonstrates that these ceramics date between 1820 and 1400 cal BC, consistent with other recent studies indicating an early age of Red-on-Buff ceramics and suggesting shared cultural traditions distinct from the contemporary Locona interaction sphere that emerged in parallel

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Character (mathematics · Chronology · Formative assessment · Geography · Geometry · Period (music · Pottery · Sociology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · History

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