Replicating Writing: Moulding and Stamping Hieroglyphs on Classic Maya Ceramics

Abstract

A fundamental distinction is made in craft production between custom or bespoke creation and mechanical reproduction that generates multiple iterations of the same form. In Mesoamerica, technologies of reproduction are attested by around the sixth century bc in the form of moulding and stamping, and they become increasingly common in ceramic production in the Maya and neighbouring regions in the third or fourth century. Beginning in the Late Classic period (c. 600–830 ad), Maya artisans applied them to the hieroglyphic script as well, generating a corpus of texts that are at once fundamentally distinct from and intimately linked to the broader scribal tradition dominated by hand-written texts. This article examines Classic Maya texts moulded and stamped on ceramics in the context of scribal practice and the social and cultural role of the script. I argue that these artefacts manifest changes not only in hieroglyphic production, but also in writing's role in user communities. Consequentially, they invite reconsideration of scribal practice's relationship to other crafting traditions, as well as the diversity of modes of engaging in Classic Maya scribal tradition.