Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures

In 2016, archaeological investigations were carried out in Guadalupe, an extended prehispanic settlement near Trujillo, on the Northeast Coast of Honduras. The site was inhabited during the Postclassic period (Cocal) and might have functioned as a coastal trading center. This is indicated by its strategic location near the coast and next to an ancient river bed connecting the coast to the hinterland, especially to the Valle de Aguán, a culturally and economically important, but hitherto poorly investigated region. A surprisingly high amount of finely worked obsidian blades point to commercial relations with Ixtepeque, Guatemala. Another evidence for long distance trade is the presence of copper bells and conches, which were important trading items during the Postclassic in Mesoamerica. The latter surely were produced in Guadalupe. Further investigations in that poorly studied region of northeast Honduras can surely help to expand our understanding of trading relations during the Postclassic.

"Abstract: In 2006, investigations at Katuwana Fort provided an assemblage of foreign porcelain and local earthenware. The porcelain might have reached the fort around 1735, matching at best to ceramics from the shipwreck cargo of Ca Mau. It was disposed in a period between 1761 and 1766 together with the
local earthenware. At that time major repairs were reportedly undertaken after 1761. Nevertheless, the fort was abandoned in 1766 and the Dutch Period ended. 1797, the fort was re-used for a short period by British forces, but finally given up already in 1805. This provides a limited range of time for the dating of
the pottery assemblage with a glimpse into the variety of ceramics available in a fort related to the Indian Ocean trade of that time.
Besides fine Chinese export porcelain also favoured in Europe, they used durable crockery made in Southern Chinese kilns and in Japan. This coarse and thick-walled porcelain was mainly distributed in Asia but also bought by the VOC as office equipment. In opposite thereto, it is suggested that local earthenware consists of more recent forms and being representatives for the period around 1761 to 1766. Most of them are of domestic day-to-day function with easy availability in the neighbourhood and therefore more up-to-date. A few sherds among the porcelain fi nds are of uncertain context but according to comparisons, they could have reached the Fort only during the short British period."

The project comprises the final publication of the Tissamaharama pottery
sequence, which represents the regional development of pottery manufactured
from the 5th century BCE to 12th/13th century CE in Sri Lanka. As the
results yielded a scope that outreaches the island’s boundaries and provide
new perspectives on pottery that came from the Roman Empire, Mesopotamia,
northern India, south-east Asia and China, it distinctly illustrates
cross-continental relations in the Indian Ocean region of Early Historic Period.
Stratified graffiti in early Indian Brahmi script add to the research on
south Asia’s history and religious formation.

Tissamaharama pottery sequence represents the regional development of pottery manufactured from 5th century B.C.E. to 12th/13thcentury C.E. in Sri Lanka. The results reach beyond the island and include new perspectives on pottery that came from the Roman Empire, Mesopotamia, Northern India, Southeast Asia and China and distinctly illustrates cross-continental relations in the Indian Ocean region of Early Historic Period. A short overview is given here, but main focus is the Pre-Periplus maritime connection based on the evaluation of “Fine Grey Pottery from Northern India” at Tissamaharama. Their find spots trace Indian Ocean maritime routes as physical evidence in Pre-Roman times, which cover Southeast Asia differently to the picture drawn by the later Periplus.
Earliest finds of this pottery group confirm connections along the East Coast of India already in the 5th/4th century B.C. Trans-continental routing across the Indian Ocean is then evidenced by finds like the well-known “Rouletted Ware” in the 2nd century B.C. It is suggested that they were transported from ports in the South of the Subcontinent. There, an emporium had formed in the course of time because favourable sailing conditions allow direct contacts of Western and Eastern Indian Ocean. The finds of “Fine Grey Pottery”in Southeast Asia evidence an earlier formation of the Eastern maritime network. To facilitate further research and to prevent the further use of misleading denominations, a draft of chronology and a new typology of “Fine Grey Pottery from Northern India” are here proposed. The southern made “imitation” of the dish with beaked rim (often mistaken for true “Rouletted Ware”) will be once more described and proposed as an important key type to prove the actual ports of embarkation.

Zeitschrift für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen 6 (2014) : 95–117