POLYCHROME CERAMICS FROM NAKUM
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-11

Nakum is an important Maya site located in north-eastern Guatemala, in the area of the Triangle Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park. Recent research carried out at this centre by the Jagiellonian University project (The Nakum Archaeological Project or NAP) brought about the discovery of a large collection of ceramic artefacts from many different archaeological periods (from the Middle Preclassic till the Terminal Classic [1000 BC - AD 950]. This substantial assemblage includes fragments of polychrome vessels that are decorated with elaborate iconographic scenes and painted hieroglyphic texts. Most of them date to the Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 600–800), which represents the peak of pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Fragmentary vessels and sherds with hieroglyphic texts provide us with significant historical information, both in terms of local rulers (some of them were identified for the first time during the NAP research) but also with regards to links—via both trade and socio-political alliances— that the Nakum elites maintained with neighbouring Maya centres and polities. This paper presents the collection of Nakum hieroglyphic ceramics in a wider cultural and geographic context focusing on their epigraphic content and meaning as well as their stylistic affiliation. Our study contributes to the subject of the production of polychrome ceramics as well as the geopolitical organisation and trade relations between different Maya sites located in this part of Maya lowlands.


Author(s): Zralka, Jaroslaw (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Krako) - Helmke, Christophe (Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen) - Hermes, Bernard (The Nakum Archaeological Project)