{"id":4679,"date":"2018-05-16T13:42:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T17:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/?p=4679"},"modified":"2024-07-23T11:18:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T15:18:44","slug":"west-mexican-ceramics-authenticated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/2018\/05\/west-mexican-ceramics-authenticated\/","title":{"rendered":"West Mexican Ceramics Authenticated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just prior to Wake Forest University commencement, the Museum opened a new exhibit, West Mexican Shaft Tomb Ceramics, <\/i>featuring honors thesis research completed by senior Anthropology major Lindsay\u00a0Gilliland.<\/i>\u00a0 The exhibit will remain on display through August 31, 2018.<\/p>\n

Lindsay\u2019s research focused on artifacts left behind by a mysterious civilization that constructed massive\u00a0cities and stepped pyramids in West Mexico hundreds of years before the Maya or Aztec.\u00a0 Little is known about this ancient culture, except that the people buried their dead in shaft tombs\u2014subsurface burial chambers cut into the ground and accessed by vertical shafts.\u00a0 These burial chambers often contain grave offerings of\u00a0jewelry, weapons, textiles, and figures of people and animals.\u00a0 More numerous, however, are ceramic vessels.\u00a0 All manner of bowls, jars, and other containers were filled with food and drinks for the dead.<\/p>\n

The vessels were created during the Pre-Classic period (2000 BCE- 250 CE) and have long been sought by modern collectors.\u00a0 Because of this interest, the shaft tombs have been extensively looted by grave robbers\u00a0hoping to find valuable artifacts to sell on the international market, though it is illegal to export antiquities out of Mexico.\u00a0 When looters can\u2019t find tombs to rob, they create high quality forgeries.\u00a0 Many of these forgeries are so convincing that they have made their way into museums throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\"West

Details of organic stains on a jar under the light microscope at 3x magnification.<\/p><\/div>\n

In order to study the MOA\u2019s collection of West Mexican Shaft Tomb ceramics, Lindsay replicated a system of authenticating such pieces developed by forensic anthropologist Dr. Robert Pickering and retired chemist Dr. Ephraim Cuevas.\u00a0 By examining ceramics taken by archaeologists from undisturbed contexts,\u00a0they were able to discern two features\u00a0resulting from natural processes within the shaft tomb burials that are easily observable using a magnifying class and a light microscope.\u00a0 One feature is the remains of\u00a0necrophilous insects that entered the tomb at the time of burial.\u00a0 The second is manganese or iron stains from bacteria that use metals as a food source.\u00a0 These processes manifest themselves in dark, lustrous, and blotchy stains on the surface of the ceramics.\u00a0 If a\u00a0ceramic has these telltale stains on its surface, it can be verified as being from a tomb\u00a0context rather than a forgery.\u00a0 Because the objects in the MOA\u2019s collection have been\u00a0extensively cleaned and conserved, it was difficult to discern between the stains from bacteria and the remains of the insects. However, of the\u00a0sample of 75 vessels Lindsay examined, 53 of them demonstrated clear staining and are likely legitimate.<\/p>\n

\"West

Example of staining on the exterior of a bowl in the MOA collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

After completing this extensive research for her honors thesis,\u00a0Lindsay curated the exhibit featuring a small selection of the\u00a0authenticated ceramics as her final course project for ANT 305:\u00a0Museum Anthropology.\u00a0 Lindsay has also been a student employee of the Museum for all four of her years at Wake Forest.\u00a0 She reflected on her journey: \u201cI am so thankful for the many opportunities and experiences that I have been given.\u00a0 I experienced first-hand how the museum and its collection are an amazing teaching resource, not only for the students that work there or the Anthropology department, but also the entire University.\u00a0 How many undergraduate\u00a0students in the United States can say they had the opportunity to help design exhibits, conserve objects,\u00a0interact with museum visitors, and do independent research?\u00a0 I feel that my honors thesis, working with the museum\u2019s collection, and the resulting exhibit is a wonderful culmination of my time working at MOA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just prior to Wake Forest University commencement, the Museum opened a new exhibit, West Mexican Shaft Tomb Ceramics, featuring honors thesis research completed by senior Anthropology major Lindsay\u00a0Gilliland.\u00a0 The exhibit will remain on display through August 31, 2018. Lindsay\u2019s research focused on artifacts left behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"overlay_title":false,"hide_featured_image_post":false,"wfu_hide_page_title":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWest Mexican Ceramics Authenticated - Timothy S. Y. 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