A different but complementary picture comes from a recent synthesis of Terminal Classic ceramic continuity and change in the southern lowlands (Forsyth 1997, 1999). Donald Forsyth focused not so much on the elite polychromes that were the hallmark of the collapsing elites, but rather on the ordinary utilitarian pottery that would have been used by common people. In so doing, he identified a set of ceramics that he initially referred to as a “Peten Subcomplex.” However, because the term “subcomplex” already has a different meaning and Forsyth’s intent was integrative, this entity may be more appropriately termed a “supercomplex.” Thus the “Peten supercomplex” consists of three form classes: large bowls/basins, tripod dishes, and tall-necked jars, all usually red slipped and with fairly standardized but minimal decoration. These are found in the same types and sometimes varieties throughout Peten, from the Usumacinta to Rfo Azul, and even peripherally into northern Belize. However, they appear to be much less dominant in central Belize, where Terminal Classic complexes contain only some aspects of the Peten supercomplex (see below), while the northwestern area of the lower Usumacinta, from Piedras Negras northward, lacks it nearly entirely.
Forsyth divided this Peten supercomplex into two groups, a Western group and an Eastern group. The Western group covers the Pasion and middle Usumacinta regions, including the Petexbatun area, Seibal, Altar de Sacrificios, and perhaps as far north as Yaxchilan and southeast into the Mopan River basin. It is characterized by the types Subln Red and Chaquiste Impressed, and by Fine Orange and Fine Gray ceramic wares. The Eastern group of the Peten supercomplex comprises the Eznab sphere, best known from Tikal and Uaxactun and the various types of the Tinaja (red) ceramic group. In the central Peten lakes area, the Western and Eastern groups overlap, with types of the Western group more common at sites in the western lakes (e. g., around Lake Peten Itza), while Eznab sphere types dominate to the east at Yaxha.
Forsyth closed by noting that central Peten is unusual in the widespread homogeneity of its utilitarian wares, in contrast to their heterogeneity in the complexes of both the northwestern and eastern zones. This suggests to us some level of politico-economic integration operating in Peten but absent in surrounding areas; it also indicates a certain stability and continuity in production from Late Classic times into the Terminal Classic.
World History
