Whiteware Pottery Production in the Valley of Guatemala: Specialization and Resource Utilization

“Whiteware” pottery, ranging in color from white through pale brown, is manufactured today in communities north of the Valley of Guatemala (Guatemala, Central America), and appears in the archaeological ceramic record of the valley as early as 1000 to 500 B.C. These whitewares and localized clay deposits provided the subject matter of a “ ceramic technological-ecological“ investigation into the archaeological indicators of evolving prehistoric craft specialization and the utilization of those clay resources. The sherds from Formative period whitewares provided evidence for increasingly specialized production of particular forms of pottery. This specialization can be regarded as a concomitant of increasing population growth in the Valley of Guatemala and of the centralization evident at Kaminaljuyu, the major site in the valley. Postclassic pottery proves to be identical in many of its properties to contemporary pottery made in Chinautla and to the clay source used by modern-day potters in that village.