Chemical analysis of Late Classic Maya polychrome pottery paints and pastes from Central Petén, Guatemala

• Chemical analyses of polychrome vessel paints and pastes indicate that Motul de San José, Tayasal, and Flores had access to their own production communities.
• Exchange of raw materials or finished polychrome vessels reveals interactions among western Petén Lakes political centers, as well as between these centers and Tikal.
• The Ik’ polity likely included not only Motul de San José, but other political centers along the western side of Lake Petén Itzá, such as Tayasal and Flores.

This paper examines political-economic relationships among Late Classic (ca. 600–900 CE) political centers in the Petén Lakes region, Guatemala, through the chemical analysis of red paints and pastes of polychrome vessels. Chemical analysis of red paints was conducted using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and chemical analysis of vessel pastes was conducted using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). These analyses indicate that a number of political centers along the western shore of Lake Petén Itzá, namely Motul de San José, Tayasal, and Flores, had access to different polychrome pottery production communities. Nonetheless, inhabitants of these Petén Lakes sites moved between, gifted, or exchanged polychrome pottery with each other, indicating that western Petén Lakes region centers closely interacted with each other. We suggest that these sites may have been part of or allied with the epigraphically known Ik’ polity. As such, we find that one of the strengths of ‘second-tier’ polities, such as the Ik’ polity, did not depend on an individual site's size or monumental expression, but on the relationships they forged with other centers.