Although the site of Palenque, Chiapas, has long been one of the most famous of Maya ruins, its pottery has until recently remained virtually unknown. Aided by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and with the cooperation of the Institute of Andean Research, the writers conducted ceramic excavations at Palenque in the summer of 1951. With the assistance of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the senior author in 1956 made additional stratigraphic excavations at Palenque, as well as conducting a brief ceramic survey at nearby sites in Chiapas and Tabasco.