I am an anthropological archaeologist passionate about the Ancient Americas, museum curation, and cultural education.

Hello!

I am an anthropological archaeologist working on my doctorate at Yale University. My doctoral dissertation is focused on better understanding the social role of Usulutan style pottery in the Late Formative (300 BCE – 200 CE) period in the Southern Maya Region. The Usulutan Pottery Project integrates stylistic analysis with compositional analysis of paste (INAA) and surface treatment (PXRF). This project is supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation, a subsidy from the Missouri University Research Reactor, an International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Yale MacMillan Center, and an Albers Traveling Research Fellowship from the Department of Anthropology.

I am also passionate about museum curation and education. Museums are vital community spaces where all should be welcome, and I appreciate the opportunity to break down barriers to museum access in my own curatorial and pedagogical approach.

“What is uncertain is not the world, but the knowledge we have about it.”

— Alfred Gell, The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology

Download my Curriculum Vitae

Papers

Davis, C.R. 2022. Metaphorical Diphrasis in the Murals of Tulum. Journal of Manuscript and Text Culture 1.

Davis, C. R. and D. R. McCormick Alcorta 2022 Formative obsidian procurement and production in Salinas La Blanca, Guatemala. International Association of Obsidian Studies Bulletin 67:15- 26.

Interior of the Temple of the Diving God, Tulum. Drawing by C.R. Davis 2021 after F. Davalos 1982.

Conference Papers

Davis, C.R., 2021. Formative Ceramic and Obsidian Transitions at Salinas La Blanca. Paper presented at Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting 2021.

Davis, C.R., 2017. Flower & Song: Exploring Literacy in PostClassic Mesoamerica. Poster presented at Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada.

Davis, C.R., 2015. Ritualized Discourse in the Mesoamerican Codices. Poster presented at ARCHON Research School of Archaeology Conference, Amersfoort, Netherlands.

Davis, C.R., 2015. Applying a Central Mexican Approach to a Maya Codex. Paper presented at the Symposium Onderzoek Jonge Archeologen, Leiden, Netherlands.

Davis, C.R., 2015. Miscarriage and Fetal Personhood: Attitudes Towards the Unborn in Precolumbian Mesoamerica. Poster presented at the Archaeology, Identity, and Personhood Conference, Leiden, Netherlands.

DISSERTATION: USULUTAN: RESIST CERAMICS AND INTERACTION IN THE TERMINAL FORMATIVE SOUTHERN MAYA REGION

Usulutan decorated effigy vessel in the collection of the Mint Museum. Photo: Mint Museum.

Rio Santiago Usulutan sherd from Bilbao, Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, excavated by L.A. Parsons in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

This doctoral dissertation project explores the role of material objects in supporting social networks through an investigation of a distinctive style of resist-decorated pottery produced and exchanged along the coast of Guatemala and El Salvador within the Late Formative period (300 BC – AD 200). This decorative technique, known as Usulutan, has been found in diverse contexts suggesting a social role related to elite exchange, religious practice, and collective feasting.

Archaeological ceramics are uniquely positioned to offer insight on ancient peoples, reflecting both intentional and unintentional aesthetic, technical, and social choices. Building on a long-standing anthropological focus on prestige goods and exchange networks, a distinctive style of resist-decorated pottery produced and exchanged along the Pacific Coast of Guatemala and El Salvador is investigated. Integrating archaeological, art historical, and compositional data on this little understood social valuable, analysis of the production of these vessels and their movement through the landscape will demonstrate how material objects play a crucial role in the development of social relationships. In addition to contributing to gaps in existing compositional databases and assisting in the evaluation of methods for the chemical characterization of archaeological ceramics, the project will also provide students with the opportunity to gain laboratory skills related to archaeological science.

Emphasizing the material basis for social networks, this project evaluates hypotheses of open and restricted access to a technically complex ceramic decorative style. Was this style available to the general population or restricted to elite communities? Which potting communities had access to the technical artistry required to produce these vessels, and did every community produce them using the same technique? And who exchanged ceramics with whom? Answering these questions furthers understandings of how social networks are supported and maintained by economically and symbolically significant social valuables. This project will use bulk compositional data acquired using instrumental neutron activation analysis, surface compositional data acquired using portable x-ray fluorescence, microscopic analysis of surface treatment, and data on style and form to trace interaction between archaeological sites. Examining the production of and access to these socially significant objects will illuminate systems of pottery production on a regional scale and the ways in which human relationships are negotiated and constructed through material means on a broader level.

Ceramic sherd before drilling for INAA samples. From Bilbao, Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, excavated by L.A. Parsons in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Ceramic sherd after drilling for INAA samples. From Bilbao, Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, excavated by L.A. Parsons in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Follow the Usulutan Pottery Project Instagram!

Usulutan is a type of pottery decoration that originates in El Salvador. This first picture shows a jar from Guatemala with Usulutan decoration in the @metmuseum collection. The next pictures show pottery fragments from Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, in the @milwaukeepublicmuseum collection. While these are only fragments, we can note the similarities to the MET jar - including the similar supports and the Usulutan decoration. Follow for more artifacts with Usulutan decoration, as well as other artifacts from the coast and highlands of Guatemala and El Salvador! Photo posted with the permission of the Milwaukee Public Museum. -- Usulután es un tipo de decoración de ceramica que se origina en El Salvador. Esta primera imagen muestra un jarra de Guatemala con decoración de Usulután en la colección @metmuseum. Las siguientes imágenes muestran fragmentos de cerámica de Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, en la colección @milwaukeepublicmuseum. Si bien estos son solo fragmentos, podemos notar las similitudes con la jarra MET, incluidos los soportes similares y la decoración de Usulután. ¡Siga para obtener más artefactos con decoración de Usulután, así como otros artefactos de la costa y las tierras altas de Guatemala y El Salvador! Foto publicada con permiso del Museo Público de Milwaukee. #Usulutan #Usulutanpottery #archaeology #archaeologicalceramics