Mayan Ceramics Techniques

The mesoamerican ballgame was an important aspect of elite maya culture and ballplayers were often depicted on painted ceramics.

Mayan ceramics techniques.

The intense artistic mosaics that grace the walls of the ancient masterpieces reveal stories of rulers the underworld xibalba maya creation and even the particular function of the vessel. 3 the present day indigenous maya who currently live in guatemala belize and southern mexico still create wonderful ceramicsfacts. The vessels used different colors sizes and had varied purposes. Through the years the vessels took on different shapes colors sizes and purposes.

1 the maya had specific techniques to create inscribe paint and design potteryfacts. Clay was easily collected in riverbeds of the highland valleys and was strengthened with ash sand or bits of rocks. The pieces were then fired in kilns built expressly for the setting of pottery. 2 to begin creating a ceramic vessel the maya had to locate the proper resources for clay andtemperfacts.

The maya created pots by winding long coils of clay into the desired shape and then smoothing the edges. Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the pre columbian maya culture of mesoamerica. Elite pottery usually in the form of straight sided beakers called vases used for drinking was placed in burials giving a number of survivals in good condition. One lidded vessel with the body in the shape of a yoke part of the ballgame apparel has an incised scene of ballplayers on its neck 1970 138a b.

Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. This latter position was because of the fact that mayans deployed different techniques to paint their ceramics that depicted gods animals and other scenes on them. Mayan ceramics although ceramics were used for more practical purposes in the mayan society as wares for cooking and eating they also served a more important function as being pieces of art.