Research Training Program

Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History

PROJECT SUMMARY
1996

Leslie Castellanos
Pomona College
Claremont, California
J. Dan Rogers, Ph.D.
Supervising Curator
Department of Anthropology
"I could not have asked for a better advisor and mentor. The experience has improved and broadened my views and ambitions for future possibilities and endeavors."

Analysis of the Correlation Between Volume and Other Attributes in Aztec Ceramics

ABSTRACT
The household is the basic unit of cultural lifeways. Ceramic vessels are significant as tools for the transport of food, water, and other substances or objects, for processing including cooking or grinding, and for storage. The vessels also serve as indicators of customs of the society according to labor, agriculture, demographic, and social and economic organization, among other aspects of culture. The various attributes of these containers can be analyzed and compiled in order to fully understand their place in the society. The size, thickness, shape, decorative elements, volume, and wear or residue each provide information individually, and more information can be drawn from the understanding of the relations of these attributes to one another. This report holds that due to the requirements of vessels to serve particular functions, ceramic vessels will remain relatively consistent in form. If correlation models of attributes for particular forms are established, the original form of pottery fragments can be deduced by drawing parallels between the fragment and a model. This report creates such models. Several examples of Aztec pottery are examined through measurement of several variables, the key variables being orifice diameter and volume. Orifice diameter is very practical to measure from a fragment and includes a part of the rim. Volume, along with form, is the most important indicator of function. Since the majority of artifacts are fragments, the model will provide a method for the analysis of vessel fragments according to physical attributes. The models created allow for a method of creating better profiles of ceramic assemblages even though the majority of vessels may be incomplete. The better collection of data from archaeological sites will then yield more information about the society of origin through questions dealing with issues from the environment in which past cultures existed to the social and political organization of the group.

This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, Award Number DBI-9531331.

Letter of Gratitude