Angela Huster
I just finished up six months in the lab in Toluca. For the past four and a half of those (every since the end of the summer lab season, which I was also here for), I was collecting data for my dissertation project. Most of what I was doing was a more detailed recording of a sample of the ceramics from each of our domestic contexts (each chronological phase for each house or midden). I was recording number of more detailed attributes than our general ceramic classification covers, for an average of eight data points for each of five thousand sherds. These included details of vessel and rim form, rim diameter and percentage, slipping, particular decorative motifs, molcajete (grinding bowl) patterns, and paste type. At the same time, I was selecting a random sample from each context to export for INAA analysis.
I will be using the combination of the project’s basic ceramic classification, my attribute analysis, and the INAA results to investigate a number of changes resulting from the Aztec conquest of Calixtlahuaca. These include changes in the food preparation and serving vessel forms present in household assemblages (such as the comals discussed in an earlier post), changes in items used in household ritual, such as incense burners, and changes in the types and sources of imported ceramics. Stay posted for further updates as I start the number-crunching stage of analysis…
