Ceramics identified from the Terminal Classic period at Laguna de On identified by Fred Valdez (1993) include Alexander’s Unslipped jars. Tutu Camp Striated (Encanto) jars, Tinaja Red jars. Subin Red bowls and basins, Achote Black bowls and plates, Tunich Red-on-orange plates, Yuhactal Black on Red plates. Daylight Orange: Darknight Variety plates and bowls. Palmar Orange Polychrome plates and cylinders, and Zacatel Cream Polychrome plates and cylinders (Valdez 1993). These types were found in surface occupations of three house mounds situated atop an elevated (1-1.5 meter) platform on the lagoon’s southwest shore (Masson 1997). These types are also found in pottery described above for coastal sites Mock examined.
Basal levels of seventy-centimeter-deep middens along the north shore of Caye Coco also yielded Terminal Classic pottery. Deep midden deposits have been detected along much of the north shore of the island along the waterline and they extend into currently submerged deposits. It is not known whether water levels were lower in the past and these middens represent shoreline activities or dumping, or whether midden trash was dumped into the water during Maya occupations. The water levels rise and recede at least two meters within any given summer, depending on the amount of rain. Midden soil consists of a mixture of clay, decomposed limestone, and lagoon sand. Testing of midden deposits along the shoreline suggests that they accumulated at varying temporal intervals between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. Materials described here are from Suboperation 18, which has Terminal Classic period (ca. a. d. 750-1000) and Late Postclassic period (a. d. 1100-1500) deposits, based on the results of AMS dating.
Of specific relevance to this chapter, faunal bone from Level 6 (fifty centimeters below surface) of these deposits has been AMS-dated to a calibrated range of a. d. 720-990 (1160+/-50 B. P., Stafford Research Lab #SR-5440). This midden lacks a component bridging the eleventh-century temporal gap between
Terminal Classic (eighth to tenth century) and Late Postclassic (twelfth to fifteenth century) occupations. Deposits farther upslope, including Suboperations 29 and 38, have materials that date to between a. d. 860 and 1040 (calibrated date of 1070+/-50 B. P., Stafford Research Lab #SR-5519), based on an AMS date of a carbonized log at the base of a large fire pit (two meters in diameter, one meter deep) in Level 8 of Suboperation 29. This fire pit was full of burned charcoal and logs, ash, Pomacea shell, and Zakpah Orange Red and Tsabak Unslipped sandy paste ceramics. An identical assemblage primarily comprising these types was found in lower levels of a midden at Suboperation 38, which is thus probably contemporary with Suboperation 29. We believe that this assemblage represents an Early Postclassic component in the brief interval falling between a. d. 900 and 1050/1100 when diverse Terminal Classic-period types disappeared from local assemblages and the tradition of calcite-tempered Payil Red and Santa Unslipped Late Postclassic types had not yet emerged.
Unfortunately, these waterlogged Terminal Classic deposits of Suboperation 18 have eroded much of the surface finish off the abundant sherds recovered from this context, inhibiting their typeivariety identifications. Paste and rim characteristics provide some clues to their typology. The eroded slip sherds exhibit a variety of sand-tempered pastes as well as calcite-tempered and possible ash-tempered pastes. These paste characteristics resemble those that have been described for Kik Red, Campbells Red, Achote Black, Savinal Cream, and Metzabok Slate (D. Chase 1982b: 495-512). Rim forms from Suboperation 18 (midden) and Structure 1 (round structure) Terminal Classic deposits include some that match published type descriptions and others that do not, as shown in Figure 17.12. Sandy paste, eroded-slip sherds that resemble descriptions by Chase (1982: 511) and Walker (1990: 70) of Terminal Classic Taak Orange and later Early Postclassic Zakpah Orange Red (Walker 1990: 80) are present as well (Figure 17.12b). Slate ware, cream, or ash-tempered paste sherds are common in the Terminal Classic Levels 5 and 6 of the Suboperation 18 midden (Figure 17.13). Other brown sandy and calcite-tempered paste-eroded slip sherds are also common.
In general. Terminal Classic midden deposits underlying Postclassic levels at Caye Coco are recognized by their great variety of paste characteristics and the presence of numerous, poorly fired sand-tempered sherds in a range of orange, buff, and brown colors. Slips, where preserved, are waxy or glossy and of an olive, buff, or black color, and resemble characteristics described for Savinal Cream or Metzabok Slate (D. Chase 1982b: 502, 506). Chase believes that these types are related to northern Yucatan wares, including Peto Cream ware and Puuc Slate ware, respectively. In some cases, black slipped sherds seem to erode to reveal an olive or buff underslip. These are most likely fragments of the Achote Black type group, which has variable slip characteristics (D. Chase 1982b: 507).
Vessel forms identified for eroded-slip rim sherds in these deposits include ring-based comals, collared neck, rolled rim, and thickened rim small ollas, large and small incurving-rim bowls, inward beveled incurving-rim bowls, incised slate ware body sherds (fine paste, soapy-smooth slip, sherds shown in Figure 17.13a) dishes, folded rim (squared lip) restricted orifice bowls {tecomates), out-flaring wall jars (perhaps Chambel Striated), strap handle vessels, direct rim dishes (perhaps Kik Red), ring-based or flanged shallow bowls or plates (Kik Red and Taak Orange Red), direct rim plates, and an incised, flanged, miniature sag-bottom bowl with a pointed, vented foot (slate ware paste. Figure 17.13b). Incised and gouged sherds are also present among slate or cream ware sherds (perhaps Yantho Incised or Usukum Gouged-Incised cream wares as defined by D. Chase 1982b: 503-504) and buff sandy eroded slip sherds (perhaps Tzibana Gouged Incised as defined by D. Chase 1982b: 499). The presence of numerous slate or cream ware body sherds in these midden levels suggests influence from Yucatan, as at Nohmul (D. Chase 1982b).
The presence of Achote Black, Kik Red, Taak Orange Red, and a variety of other less common eroded slipped sherds in this assemblage also ties it to other southern lowland sites in the northeast corner of Belize, including Cerros, NRL, and Saktunja. Achote Black and Kik Red in particular share some important similarities in form with other wares in the interior of Belize, referred to as either the same type (Achote Black) or other types (Tinaja Red), as discussed in considerable detail in the previous section of this chapter. If the Suboperation 18 ceramics of the basal levels were more complete or had better-preserved slips, better typological comparisons would be possible.
An abundance of sand-tempered, eroded-slip types is observed in the Terminal Classic assemblage of Caye Coco (Figure 17.12b), which contrasts with most paste types described from Nohmul and Cerros that have predominantly calcite tempers. A type described at Nohmul (D. Chase 1982b: 512) and Cerros (Walker 1990: 70), Taak Orange Red, matches the buff sandy paste characteristics of a major ceramic type in the Terminal Classic levels of Caye Coco in its inclusion of sand grains, eroded slip, slip color, and incompletely fired cores. At Caye Coco, a paste group with the same characteristics continues into the Early Postclassic and is identified in these levels as Zakpah Orange Red, as defined at Cerros (Walker 1990: 80). More types of vessels are made from this paste group in the Early Postclassic than in the Terminal Classic at Caye Coco, but we see a continuity in paste and slip technology between these two types. As at Cerros, Early Postclassic Zakpah Orange Red at Caye Coco is associated with beveled-rim bowls, flanged dishes, and chalices. These forms are associated with Kik Red in the Terminal Classic period at Nohmul (D. Chase 1982b: 496) but appear to be made of different, sandy paste later at Caye Coco.
Unslipped sherds in the Terminal Classic levels of the Suboperation 18 midden exhibit a variety of sand-tempered and fine calcite-tempered pastes. These often have incompletely fired cores. Buff sandy pastes are common, though brown and orange sandy pastes also occur. A red or gray sandy paste type identified as
17.12 Rim profiles from Terminal Classic contexts at Caye Coco, including: a) Campbells Red (from Structure f round structure); b) Taak Orange Red, Zalcpah Orange Red or other buff sandy eroded slipped type (from Suboperation 18, example on the left has a slate-like eroded slip); c) Red slipped sherds, Tinaja Red or Kik Red (from Structure 1, round structure); d and e) possible Chambel and Buyuk Striated.
0 5 cm
17.13 Slate ware sherds from Suboperation 18, Caye Coco, including: a) body sherds (actual size) with gouged-incised decoration or applique (bottom right example), and b) eroded slipped slate ware incised, flanged, vented foot dish.
Tsabak Unslipped (Walker 1990: 91, Figure 2.8a)—a large, thick, outflaring or direct-rim neck olla form—is observed in Terminal Classic levels of Suboperation 18 at Caye Coco (Figure 17.14). Vessels with Tsabak Unslipped-like pastes endure in these middens, in various forms, through the Postclassic period. Their identification in the Terminal Classic at Caye Coco conflicts with evidence from Cerros, where they were associated with the earlier half of the Postclassic period. No types resembling Tsabak Unslipped are described in the Terminal Classic ceramic assemblages from Nohmul (D. Chase 1982b) or Cerros (Walker 1990). However, descriptions of Cerros’ Early Facet Kanan-phase Tsabak Unslipped acutely characterize the Caye Coco sherds, as does the illustration of the out-flaring and direct rims associated with this type (Walker 1990: Figure 2.8a). We submit that at Caye Coco, Tsabak Unslipped originates earlier, in the Terminal Classic period, where it is one of several types of unslipped ollas used at this time. The outflaring or direct-rim Tsabak Unslipped olla continues through the Early Postclassic at Caye Coco (when this type dominates unslipped assemblages), and in the Late Postclassic; sherds with Tsabak-paste characteristics are more commonly associated with censer pedestals.
Forms reflected in unslipped rim sherds from Terminal Classic deposits at Caye Coco include thickened, rolled, everted, outbeveled-grooved, folded rim vessels, direct rim bowls, comals, and the Tsabak ollas. These rim forms are identified with Terminal Classic vessel types at Nohmul and Cerros, including Chambel Striated and Buyuk Striated (Figure 17.12d-e). In both these types, stria-tion is not commonly observed above the juncture of the jar body and neck, and most thickened, rolled, everted, and folded rim sherds that may belong to these types at Caye Coco do not exhibit striations either, as would be expected if they belonged to these types. Numerous thin striated body sherds are also present in these midden levels that probably reflect these types as well. At Progresso shore sites and at Structure 1 of Caye Coco, the most common striated type is quite similar in form to Piste Striated ollas of northern Yucatan (Smith 1971). Comals are not reported in the types described from Nohmul (D. Chase 1982b) and Cerros (Walker 1990), and this may reflect an important difference with Caye Coco, where they are common in Terminal Classic levels. The wide range of paste types observed in the unslipped sherds suggests that numerous forms and types of vessels are represented in these Terminal Classic deposits, perhaps due to the multiplicity of production locales and the widespread exchange in northeastern Belize and beyond referred to in the discussion of coastal sites above.
World History
