Thematic and Compositional Variation In Palenque-Region Incensarios

Ceramic incensarios were an important component of ritual paraphernalia in the Palenque region. Tubular flanged cylinders—stands or supports for receptacles in which the incense was actually burned—were highly embellished. Our primary concern is with these inconographically rich objects, focusing on variations in thematic presentation and in paste composition. The latter, mineralogical and chemical composition, has significance in that it enables us to differentiate among centers of production, leading to a better understanding of where clay resources were pro-cured and, inferentially, where the incensarios were manufactured. Put simply, our attempt is to determine if incensarios of Palenque style were manufactured at a single or at multiple sites, if Palenque itself was a production center, and what can be inferred about trading or distributional patterns of these specialized objects. By extension we are probing at the socioeconomic and cer-emonial structure of the ancient Maya. The specimens being considered belong to a general incensario tradition present among Lowland and Highland Maya, with affiliations elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Aspects of form and decoration help to delimit a regional style. Our data base is also shaped by Rands’survey of the Palenque region, which extends to the west as far as the site of Tortuguero, 60 kilometers fro