This research seeks to elucidate the role of relatively large-scale ceramic productionindustries located at the Classic period center of Matacapan in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, SouthernVeracruz, Mexico. Arnold et al. (1993) have suggested that the specialized production atComoapan, the largest production locality at Matacapan, was oriented toward supplying theregion with ceramics. This production locality overwhelmingly specialized in manufacturingone standardized ware, Coarse Orange, into necked and neckless jars, which are found in manyparts of the region.The compositional techniques of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) andpetrography were employed to investigate the distribution of this ware. Control groups weresampled from known production loci at Matacapan. The data does reveal strong evidence thatCoarse Orange was traded from Matacapan to other sites in the Tuxtlas. Comoapan was themost likely producer for this trade. Equally as important, this research yielded several differentcompositional groups, which indicates sites that either did not interact with Matacapan to procurethis ware, or who produced their own varieties of Coarse Orange. While Matacapan seems tohave had economic influence over parts of the Tuxtlas, the distribution of non-Matacapancompositional groups is useful to delineate areas of the Tuxtlas who display minimal economicinteraction with this regional center.

Yes / In the present paper, the author offers new absolute and contextual dating evidence for Scottish archaeological pitchstone. Much archaeological pitchstone from the Scottish mainland is recovered from unsealed contexts of multi-period or palimpsest sites, and pitchstone artefacts from radiocarbon-dated pits therefore provide important dating evidence for this material group and its associated exchange network. In Scotland, all archaeological pitchstone derives from outcrops on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, and on the source island pitchstone-bearing assemblages include diagnostic types from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age period. Off Arran, pitchstone-bearing assemblages never include Mesolithic types, such as microliths, suggesting a post Mesolithic date. This suggestion is supported by worked pitchstone from radiocarbon-dated pits, where all presently available dates indicate that, on the Scottish mainland, Arran pitchstone was traded and used after the Mesolithic period, and in particular during the Early Neolithic period.