Metropolitan Cathedral

Lister and Lister (2) further refined the majolica typology for the 16th-century varieties. Their interpretation was based on the study of majolica ceramics found below a floor sealed in 1573 at the Metropolitan Cathedral excavation site along with other ceramics from less well-defined stratigraphic contexts at the Sagrario excavations in Mexico City. On the basis of this... 

The production of majolica ceramics in Mexico during the 16th century is believed to have taken place in both Mexico City and in Puebla. Much of the evidence for Mexico City production consists of the ceramics from excavations at the Metropolitan Cathedral site. 

Historical documents do, however, record dates for the construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral, the floor of which was laid in 1573, sealing underneath deposits of the first 50 years of colonial occupation and the earlier Pre-Colombian period. During the installation of support pylons at the cathedral in 1975 and 1976, 182 pits were sunk through the floor, allowing excavation and sampling of the early colonial deposits. Majolica ceramics from these excavations assigned to non-Spanish types are assumed to be from a Mexico City production. Despite the lack of more detailed information, the claim is made (2) that, as Mexico City was the most important city of New Spain for the entire 16th century, the earliest demands of the market for better dishes must have been met by local craftsmen. 

The 16th-century majolica samples came from excavations at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City and can be assigned to a date before 1573. Other ceramics from excavations in Mexico City at the Sagrario and the Metro can not be so closely dated. The types of ceramics include Mexico City White, Fig Springs/ San Juan Polychrome, Sevilla White, and Columbia Gun Metal. 

The data discussed in this chapter include the results of instrumental neutron activation analysis conducted at two different laboratories. The analyses of the Santa Catalina de Guale Mission samples, most of the Metropolitan Cathedral samples, and the modern Puebla samples were conducted at the National Bureau of Standards reactor by using procedures described by Blackman (16) and in Table I. The remainder of the samples were analyzed at Brookhaven National Laboratories (BNL), and reported in Olin et al. (3). Because different comparator standards were used in the two laboratories, all the BNL data were normalized to the Smithsonian Institution standard according to the procedure described by Blackman (17). The conversion factors are presented in Table I. 

The data for all of the samples are presented in appendixes to this chapter. Appendix A includes samples from excavations in Mexico City at the Metropolitan Cathedral (SC 16, SC 20, SC 22, SC 29, SC 31, SC 37, and SC 38) the Sagrario (all other samples designated SC) and from the Metro excavations (designated SA). Appendix B includes all the samples from Santa Catalina de Guale (designated SCI). Appendix C contains the data for the modern majolica samples from Puebla (designated SD). 

Two samples, SC 37 and SC 38, assigned to the proposed Puebla production group, in fact come from the sealed context at the Metropolitan Cathedral. The significance of these two sherds is that they provide evidence of Puebla production of majolica ceramics before 1573. Two of the Fig Springs/San Juan Polychrome sherds, SC 46 and SC 52, excavated at the Sagrario, have the proposed Mexico City composition. On this basis, we propose that there may be two varieties of Fig Springs/San Juan Polychrome, one from Puebla and one from Mexico City. 

Puebla production appears to have begun sometime before 1573, as evidenced by the presence of sherds of this chemical type beneath the floor of the Metropolitan Cathedral. 

We acknowledge the continued interest and participation of Florence and Robert Lister (University of Arizona) who provided the sherds from the excavations at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City that have been so important to our study. They developed the typology and selected the sherds that we have analyzed. 

On the basis of the compositions obtained by neutron activation analysis two distinctive groups of pottery have been identified from the majolica sherds excavated from Spanish sites in the New World. The principal sites yielding majolica sherds analyzed in this project include Isabela, La Vega Vieja, Juandolio, and Convento de San Francisco in the Dominican Republic Nueva Cadiz in Venezuela and excavations in Mexico City at the Metropolitan Cathedral and for the Mexico City Metro transportation system. Concentrations of NazO, KzO, BaO, MnO, FezOs, RbzO, CszO, LazOs,... 

The sites in the New World from which these sherds have been excavated are among the earliest to be inhabited by the Spanish. In the Dominican Republic there are four Isabela, which was the first substantial settlement in the New World La Vega Vieja, which appears to have been founded as early as 1495 the Convento de San Francisco, the first of several religious houses to be constructed in the city of Santa Domingo (for which the church was completed in 1555 and the monastery in 1556) and Juandolio, which was an early 16th century site. In Venezuela the site of Nueva Cadiz was the earliest Spanish settlement. It was founded about 1515 and was abruptly destroyed by an earthquake in 1545 and subsequently deserted. The sherds from Mexico come from excavations within Mexico City. These include archaeological excavations at the Metropolitan Cathedral and commercial excavation for the Metro... 

Figure 5. Columbia Plain (left to right) (top) SCll, SCJ2, and SC14 (bottom) SC 15, SC 18, SC20, and SC21 from excavations from the Metropolitan Cathedral...

The data in Table IV are for sherds from the excavations of the Metro and the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City. Approximately... 

More recently, d.c. plasma-optical emission spectrography (DCP-OES) has been used to analyze the remaining sherds from the Metropolitan Cathedral excavations. This analytical method has been in use in the Conservation Analytical Laboratory for a number of years but we did not begin to do quantitative analysis of ceramic samples until October 1980. 

Sevilla White (14) excavated beneath the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City. 

Fig Springs Polychrome (10) San Juan Polychrome (14) excavated from subway and Metropolitan Cathedral, Mexico City. 

Note Aztec sherds from the Metropolitan Cathedral excavations in Mexico City were studied. They are sample numbers SC 98 and 99. 

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