The typical ceremonial ceramic ware of Monte Alban, Mexico, is of a fine grey paste and first occurs in the middle PreClassic. Grey ware occurs throughout the site’s occupation and variations in shape and ornamentation, rather than colour, are the best indicators of change over time. A distinctive Zapotec speciality is the funerary urn which dates to the Late Classic and typically is an unpolished cylindrical vessel depicting an elaborately modelled (usually seated) deity.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied