Romita pottery revisited: a reassessment of the provenance of ceramics from Colonial Mexico by LA-MC-ICP-MS

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Abstract

The origin of Romita pottery has been a controversial topic during the last three decades of Colonial Mexico archaeological studies. Lead isotopic analyses of glaze coatings of Spanish and Mexican pottery, and Romita ceramics unearthed from the archaeological site of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City provide evidence that support a Mexican origin.

Introduction

Romita pottery1, also known as Indígena ware (Lister and Lister, 1982) or Loza Indígena (Fournier et al., 2007), is found in greatest abundance in Colonial period contexts in Mexico City (Lister and Lister, 1982). Romita pottery is earthenware covered with a white slip and a transparent Pb glaze, which results in a white and shiny appearance that is visually similar to tin-glazed Spanish majolica. Romita pottery occurs in many typological forms, such as porringers with leaf-shaped handles, compound-silhouette plates, bowls, and other forms similar to the forms of Spanish, Italian, and Mexican majolica serving vessels. The pottery has interested scholars for decades (e.g., Fournier et al., 2007, Lister and Lister, 1982, Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002a, Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002b, Rodríguez-Alegría et al., 2003) because it distinct from, yet similar to, traditional Spanish majolica and other contemporary European glazed ceramics. Although similar in many ways to Spanish majolica, Romita pottery has been considered by some researchers to be an indigenous imitation of Spanish tin-glazed ceramics (e.g., Lister and Lister, 1982, Fournier et al., 2007). Conversely, others consider Romita pottery as a European import or produced by European potters and imported to Mexico from Spain or other Spanish colonies outside of Mexico (e.g., Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002a, Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002b, Rodríguez-Alegría et al., 2003). Because this ceramic is commonly believed to be an indigenous imitation of European tableware, it is considered important in the study of technological change in colonial transculturation processes, the adoption of European aesthetics among indigenous people, and competition between colonizers and indigenous people in the colonial market. The determination of whether Romita pottery is an indigenous version of European wares, or whether it was simply an imported ware that had little or nothing to do with indigenous adoptions of European technologies is a key step in better understanding technological change, transculturation, socio-political, and economic issues in Spanish Colonial Mexico.

The proposed origin of this pottery includes Italy (Lister and Lister, 1976), Mexico (Lister and Lister, 1982, Lister and Lister, 1987, Maggetti et al., 1984) and Spain (Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002a, Rodríguez-Alegría, 2002b, Rodríguez-Alegría et al., 2003). It was initially argued that Romita pottery was an Italian ceramic, with two main variants named after Rome: Romita Plain for the undecorated variant, and Romita Sgrafitto for the decorated variant (Lister and Lister, 1976). Following their attribution of Romita pottery to Italy, Lister and Lister reconsidered and argued that it was actually an indigenous imitation of European tableware made in Mexico, based on manufacturing techniques, vessel morphology, and decorative attributes of late Aztec period along with possible European influenced motifs (Lister and Lister, 1982). These authors also reasoned that the white slip was added before glazing to achieve the desired white surface color because indigenous potters lacked the technology necessary to render the Pb glaze opaque by the addition of tin. In addition, Romita Sgrafitto has decoration outlined by carving through the white slip to expose the red color of the paste and then filling the areas of the glaze with green and orange pigments, giving the ware its characteristic bright colors. Decorative motifs exhibited on Romita sgraffito vessels include characteristic decorative elements that may derive from prehispanic indigenous traditions, such as corn or eagles. However, the composition and layout of these designs are more similar to the European renaissance style, including wavy valances, spirals, and circular motifs (Fig. 1).

According to Lister and Lister (1982), among the types of Romita ceramics the plain variant was the most represented in the Mexico City archaeological excavations, with the sgraffito variant showing a wider distribution throughout central and northern Mexico and the southern United States. Thus, this latter type is archaeologically documented in multiple sites, not only in Mexico City, but also in the Valle del Mezquital (Hidalgo), in several historic settlements in Michoacán (Pátzcuaro and Cuitzeo basins), in Balsas (Guerrero), in Sinaloa, and in several sites near the Texan and Chihuahan border, as well as in New Mexico (see Fournier et al., 2007, and references therein). Archaeological and historical evidence suggests a lengthy period of production and consumption for Romita pottery that would have begun in the 16th century, and continued until mid or even the end of the 17th century (Fournier et al., 2007).

Section snippets

Previous Archaeometric Research

Maggetti et al. (1984) provided the first insight into the chemical and petrographical composition of Romita pottery pastes. Petrographic studies of five Romita sherds unearthed from beneath the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City provided evidence that the source materials for these samples was volcanic in origin, likely from Mexico—in contrast to the more common sedimentary sources for tempers seen in Spanish majolica. Additionally, Maggetti et al. (1984) proposed that Romita sgraffito was

The samples

In addition to the Romita ceramics, this study also incorporates majolica and non tin-lead glazed ceramics from 16th and 17th centuries Spanish and Mexican production centers in order to put the Romita Pb isotopic data into an interpretable context that allow us to assess the use of Mexican or Spanish Pb for Romita glazes. The provenance and archaeological reliability of the ceramic paste reference groups have been established and published elsewhere (Olin and Myers, 1992, Blackman et al., 2006

Analytical Methodology

Lead has four isotopes, 208Pb, 207Pb, 206Pb, and 204Pb; 204Pb is invariant in nature, whereas 208Pb, 207Pb, 206Pb are daughter products of the decay of 232Th, 235U, and 238U, respectively. Therefore, variation in the Pb isotopic compositions of materials is a function of its initial U, Th and Pb concentrations, the starting Pb isotopic composition, and the time-integrated growth of radiogenic Pb. Due to dissimilarity in the chemical behavior of U, Th, and Pb, the Pb isotopic compositions of

Results and discussion

The Pb isotopic compositions for the reference groups discussed above and the Romita pottery are illustrated in Fig. 3. Accordingly, Mexican Pb isotopic compositions are distinct from that of European produced Spanish majolica—an obvious consequence of the different geological sources of Spanish and Mexican materials. As expected, Mexican ceramics analyzed by Joel et al. (1988) show close affinity with Mexican ceramics from Puebla studied in this paper. Furthermore, Romita glazes have similar

Conclusions

The present study provides direct chemical data from Pb isotopic analyses of the Pb glazes that demonstrates a New World origin for Romita pottery ceramics. Additionally, these data lend support to the Fournier et al. (2007) hypothesis that the production of Romita ceramics was conducted by Purépecha craftsmen, who inhabited the Pátzcuaro area. The fact that Purépecha artisans successfully combined different ceramic traditions, such as the use of Pb glazing, in an effort to reproduce similar

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships program, endorsed by the European Commission (“ARCHSYMB”, PIOF-GA-2008-223319). Lead isotope analyses were carried out at the Plasma Laboratory of the University of Maryland. Non-Romita ceramics from Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico City were provided by Dra. Patricia Fournier, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México; Spanish majolica ceramics from Sevilla and Talavera were provided by A. Sánchez Cabezudo, and

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