Potting Traditions & Cultural Continuity in Pacific Nicaragua, AD 800--1350

Analysis of archaeological ceramic material from Pacific Nicaragua (northern Greater Nicoya) supports the argument that most of the pottery previously believed to have been produced by "Mexican" potters affiliated with separate Chorotega and Nicarao populations who arrived during the Sapoa (AD 800--1350) and Ometepe (AD 1350--1550) periods was more likely produced by potters working within a common potting tradition during a more restricted time span limited to the Sapoa Period. Drawing upon a database of ceramic material collected from two archaeological sites in Pacific Nicaragua---especially Ni-Ri-44, the Santa Isabel site---as well as complete vessels in museum and private collections, this analysis uses a practice theory-based approach to examine aspects of intended (or consciously produced) formal and decorative variation as well as aspects of unintended (or unconsciously produced) formal and decorative variation. Aspects of formal variation examined include vessel and appendage forms, rim morphology, orifice radius, and wall thickness and height. Aspects of decorative variation studied include intentionally produced decorative content modes (i.e., rim motifs, motif sets, and appendage decorative modes) as well as unconsciously produced design structures underlying these modes. While the analysis finds evidence of temporal change in aspects of formal and decorative variation, as well as evidence of clear differences between previously identified ceramic types, it also finds substantial evidence for temporal continuity as well as connections between types previously attributed to different cultural groups. Collectively, this evidence argues for continuity in potting (and cultural) traditions in Pacific Nicaragua during the Sapoa Period rather than for the complete replacement of one tradition by another. While the origins of the potting tradition remain unclear and may ultimately be linked to migrants who displaced indigenous populations at the beginning of the period (the traditional assumption), a new hypothesis suggested by ethnohistoric evidence is that the potting tradition is of indigenous Central American origin and might alternatively be linked to Chibchan or Macro-Chibchan groups who preceded Mesoamericans in Central America and who might have continued to contribute to Greater Nicoya's Sapoa and Ometepe period culture, assimilating with the Mesoamerican newcomers rather than being completely displaced by them.