A Ceramic Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Veracruz, Mexico

For any particular historical circumstance, explanations of ceramic evolution should consider the performance characteristics of pottery vessels in their behavioral contexts, as well as the varying effects of evolutionary processes operating at different social, spatial, and temporal scales. The replacement of tempered black and differentially fired serving vessels by fine-paste wares during the Formative to Classic transition in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico illustrates these points. New radiocarbon assays from the Bezuapan site document the rapidity of this transition. Evaluation of visual performance characteristics and contextual associations suggest that the Tuxtlas fine-paste tradition began as a Late Formative prestige technology. Adoption of updraft kilns in the Terminal Formative period lowered the risk of firing losses and allowed savings in paste preparation and resource procurement costs to be realized. As a result, the fine-paste tradition spread to wider segments of society, ultimately replacing earlier traditions. A volcanic eruption at the close of the Formative period and subsequent immigration of Central Mexican settlers constituted evolutionary sorting mechanisms, which perturbed general trends in ceramic evolution within a restricted area of the central Tuxtlas.