Looking for a beginner’s guide to different types and styles of Mesoamerican ceramics. The field looks a little complicated and daunting just diving in with zero context.
To be honest, there is so much ceramic variability in Mesoamerica, not only regionally but also temporally, that it is hard to pinpoint a good introductory book(s) that covers all of the basis. Not just that, but also different regions conduct ceramic analysis either using different nomenclatures, or different variations of the type-variety system, which obfuscate regional comparisons. In addition, given the theoretical shifts in archaeology, the publication of reference collections in the style of the cultural historical approach has greatly diminished. This means that more often than not, in order to learn about the ceramics from a particular region, you need to go to excavation reports (or what we called gray literature) rather than through scientific or popular publications. That being said, I highly recommend the series of “La Producción Alfarera en el México Antiguo” edited by Merion Carrión and García Cook. It consists of a series of five sizable books that divide ceramic production in Mesoamerica in temporal times with Volume I covering the Formative period; Volume II covering the Classic Period; Volume III covering the late Classic period; Volume IV covering the late Classic to Postclassic transition; and Volume V covering the late Postclassic period. You can download the volumes as pdfs through INAH’s mediateca, which I have put the links for them if you want to check them out. If you do not mind me asking, is there any specific topics/region/time period that you are interested? The reason I ask is because with more specificity I may be able to point you towards more specialized literature.