Dean E. Arnold

Dean E. Arnold, adjunct curator of anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and professor emeritus of anthropology at Wheaton College, is the author of The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community.

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Maya Potters' Indigenous Knowledge

Cognition, Engagement, and Practice

By Dean E. Arnold

University Press of Colorado

Based on fieldwork and reflection over a period of almost fifty years, Maya Potters’ Indigenous Knowledge utilizes engagement theory to describe the indigenous knowledge of traditional Maya potters in Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico. In this heavily illustrated narrative account, Dean E. Arnold examines craftspeople’s knowledge and skills, their engagement with their natural and social environments, the raw materials they use for their craft, and their process for making pottery.

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The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community

By Dean E. Arnold

University Press of Colorado

In The Evolution of Production Organization in a Maya Community, Dean E. Arnold continues his unique approach to ceramic ethnoarchaeology, tracing the history of potters in Ticul, Yucatán, and their production space over a period of more than four decades. This follow-up to his 2008 work Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution uses narrative to trace the changes in production personnel and their spatial organization through the changes in production organization in Ticul.

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Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution in a Maya Community

By Dean E. Arnold

University Press of Colorado

Dean E. Arnold made ten visits to Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico, witnessing the changes in transportation infrastructure, the use of piped water, and the development of tourist resorts. Even in this context of social change and changes in the demand for pottery, most of the potters in 1997 came from the families that had made pottery in 1965. This book traces changes and continuities in that population of potters, in the demand and distribution of pottery, and in the procurement of clay and temper, paste composition, forming, and firing.

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Ceramics of Ancient America

Multidisciplinary Approaches

Edited by Yumi Park Huntington, Dean E. Arnold, and Johanna Minich

University Press of Florida

This is the first volume to bring together archaeology, anthropology, and art history in the analysis of pre-Columbian pottery. While previous research on ceramic artifacts has been divided by these three disciplines, this volume shows how integrating these approaches provides new understandings of many different aspects of Ancient American societies.

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Maya Blue

Unlocking the Mysteries of an Ancient Pigment

By Dean E. Arnold

University Press of Colorado

One of the great technological achievements of the ancient Maya, Maya Blue is one the world’s most unusual ancient pigments. In Maya Blue, Dean E. Arnold offers a comprehensive history of its study for almost a century, filled with personal anecdotes drawn from his decades of work uncovering the Maya knowledge of its constituents, its ancient sources, and how it was made—including previously unknown methods.

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