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Xicalli Plain

Xicalli Plain is characterized by an undecorated tan to light reddish-brown surface color, and in several vessel forms by a coarse surface finish that may appear rough and cracked. It usually appears in serving wares, but is also found in utilitarian and ceremonial wares.

Paste and Firing Effects

The paste is medium grain with occasional inclusions. It exhibits medium hardness, and often breaks irregularly (i.e., with jagged edges). Paste color is usually tan to light reddish-brown that can occasionally be a light orange similar to the orange color of Cocoyotla Black on Natural. Dark gray firing cores and fire clouds occasionally occur.

Surface Treatment

Surface treatment varies from rough to medium burnished. Some vessel forms (e.g., outleaned wall dishes) have a coarse interior surface that is rough and cracked as if allowed to dry without any finishing treatment. Other forms, such as comales (exterior bases) and the interior of lantern censer lids have even coarser surfaces. The most common vessel form, subhemispherical bowls, is usually lightly burnished, and can resemble Tepontla Burnished in color and in the presence of burnishing marks.

Decoration

Xicalli Plain is generally undecorated, even lacking a slip. Traces of a white wash and black paint are rarely found on outleaned wall dishes. More common is mold-impressed decoration ("fondo sellado") on the interior base of subhemispherical bowls (Figs. 1-2), with the stamped ridges therefore creating an abrasive surface probably used for grinding chiles. Common motifs on stamped bottoms are concentric geometric panels, but floral and zoomorphic motifs are also found (Figs. 3).

Figure 1: Xicalli Plain stamp bottom bowl

 

Figure 2: Xicalli Plain stamp bottom bowl fragments from the Patio of the Carved Skulls

 

         

Figure 3a-c: Xicalli Plain stamp bottom bowl designs

 

Vessel Forms

The most common Xicalli Plain vessel forms include subhemispherical bowls, outleaned wall dishes, and comales (Figure .

Figure 4: Xicalli Plain vessel forms

 

Subhemispherical bowls measure between 16 to 20 cm in diameter, and from 3 to 5 cm in height. Direct rims are characteristically thick and blunt. In addition to frequently having a stamped bottom, subhemispherical bowls often have stubby tripod supports. The distinction between subhemispherical bowls and conical bowls was often difficult to identify, and was not made in the analysis of the UA-1 Trash Midden.

Outleaned wall dishes measure between 12 to 16 cm in diameter and only 1.5 to 3 cm in height. Two rim forms occur: a horizontally flared rim, and a direct rim with a flat or angled lip that appears to have been trimmed, perhaps with a blade, and never smoothed. The interior surface of both varieties of outleaned wall dishes is rough and cracked, although the flared rim itself is wiped down to about 1 cm from the rim. Short tripod supports are common with this vessel form.

Comales have thick walls and rims, with a rim diameter of between 35 to 60 cm. The interior base is wiped smooth, leaving ridged streaks. The exterior is very rough, characteristic of comales, but the rim is wiped smooth. In general, the form is similar to San Andrés Red comales, lacking only the red slip.

One minor vessel form deserves further discussion. Lantern censers consist of a domed lid, supported above a smaller (ca. 15 cm diameter) ceramic disk by three ceramic supports measuring about 10 cm in length. On top of the censer lid is a loop handle that was probably used to suspend the censer. A complete censer is illustrated in Müller (1978:129, fig. 2), and another was recovered at UA-79 (Fig. 33). A nearly complete censer lid with reconstructable supports (UA-1 #10761) was found in the UA-1 trash midden (Fig. 5). Censer lids resemble comales in form, with similar surface treatment on both the interior and exterior surfaces. Lantern censers are smaller, however, measuring 25 to 34 cm in diameter, and instead of a flat base they are domed in the center. Some examples are decorated with incised cross-hatching on the exterior rim. Another distinction is that the underside of lantern censer lids are usually blackened, possibly from burning incense.

Discussion

Xicalli Plain is an important undecorated serving ware, particularly for the Middle and Late Tlachihualtepetl periods. Despite its relative significance in the UA-1 assemblage, the type has not been well-defined in previous studies.

A type corresponding to Xicalli Plain was identified by Noguera (1954:78) simply as ceramica lisa ("plain ceramic"), that included subhemispherical bowls and outleaned wall dishes. Vessels with stamped bottom decoration, however, were classified separately (Noguera 1954:116-117), even though these commonly occur in Xicalli Plain (McCafferty and Suárez C. 2001). Müller (1978:113) identified stamp-bottom molcajetes, and also identified the lantern censer as a "brasero lid" (Müller 1978:93). She illustrated one inside of a stucco-covered brasero (Müller 1978:128-129, fig. 4, 1-2), but it is unclear if the two objects were originally found together or were simply assembled as a unit after excavation. Since the loop handle on top of the lantern censer suggests that it was suspended, Müller's reconstruction seems unlikely.

In previous UDLA ceramic analyses, "Xicalli Plain" ("Perez Plain" in Mountjoy and Peterson [1973]) was distinguished from "Fondo Sellado" bases (Peterson 1972), implying that a rim and the associated stamp-impressed base could belong to different types. Combining these two categories, Xicalli Plain would have constituted about 9% (n=340) of the Faculty Housing midden deposit (Peterson 1972: 200-201, Table 18).

"Xicalli Plain" plates and cajetes were recognized in the UA-79 ceramic assemblage, where they made up about 6% (n=241) of the F-10 midden deposit (Barrientos 1980). Utilitarian forms, however, were classified as "San Pedro Plain," while lantern censers were included among "San Andrés Red."

At UA-1, Xicalli Plain was the most abundant type found, making up 22.6% of the total assemblage (Table 8). It was particularly plentiful in the Trash Midden and Well 3 assemblages, constituting 29% and 18%, respectively. It was present in low frequencies in Wells 1 and 2, suggesting that it could be a useful temporal diagnostic.

Xicalli Plain was present as only a trace in the Classic period R-106 assemblage (McCafferty 1996a). It was more common at the Patio of the Carved Skulls, where it accounted for 6% of the Early Tlachihualtepetl assemblage.

Characteristics of surface treatment and paste color, and the morphology of the subhemispherical and conical bowls, are quite similar between Xicalli Plain and Cocoyotla Black on Natural. At times the only way of distinguishing the two types was on the basis of the diagnostic black painted decoration associated with Cocoyotla. This similarity suggests a close association between the two types. On the basis of the burnished surface treatment, this type can also resemble Tepontla Burnished, although the vessel forms are distinctive. Xicalli Plain is a diagnostic type of the Middle and Late Tlachihualtepetl phases, though it continued into the Late Postclassic in low frequency in particular vessel forms, especially braseros.

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