POTTERY KILNS OF ANCIENT EJUTLA, OAXACA, MEXICO

In contemporary Mesoamerica, traditional methods of ceramic production are highly variable. Tracing this diversity to its prehispanic antece dents has been limited by a major empirical difficulty: the identifica tion of production sites, especially kilns and other firing features, in archaeological contexts. As a consequence, Mesoamerican archaeologi sts have rarely recognized technological variation in firing methods, thereby limiting their capacity to discern spatio-temporal variation i n ceramic production. The discovery and excavation of relatively ephem eral ceramic firing features at the Ejutla site in Oaxaca, Mexico, off ers an archaeological perspective into the variability of pottery prod uction techniques that were employed in ancient Mesoamerica. The excav ated firing features and associated indicators of ceramic production a t Ejutla are described and compared to similar features at other sites . An experimental study was conducted to understand how these firing f eatures worked and the nature of the remains that they would have left . Our research suggests that impermanent methods of ceramic firing wer e more common in ancient Mesoamerica than previously supposed. The eph emeral nature of these firing procedures may contribute to the overall scarcity of excavated firing features to date. Consideration of ceram ic firing technologies is argued to be a significant research concern since variation in firing methods may indicate prehispanic differences in the intensity of ceramic production.