Social interaction and communities of practice in Formative period NW Argentina: A multi-analytical study of ceramics

Summary

South-central Andean scholarship has extensively discussed a variety of circulation and exchange practices, with particular emphasis on llama caravan long-distance trade. In NW Argentina, traditional approaches proposed that regional interaction was an increasingly centralized process, based on typological similarities observed in a variety of materials across the region. While material culture styles and traits were undoubtedly shared, the unexamined focus on similarities leaves the mechanisms, direction, and intensity of interaction to speculation. Provenance analyses can shed new light on these ancient relationships, yet focusing on single analytical techniques obscures the nuances of early interaction.

To further contribute to the detection of the intricate relationships supporting ancient networks, we implemented a multi-analytical approach to different classes of artefacts. We focus here on the results of the analysis of 542 pottery sherds from first millennium AD sites, as well as clay samples, obtained through petrography, NAA, and targeted LA-ICP-MS.

The results provide a platform to examine close intercommunity links rooted on common craft practices rather than solely on stylistic reconstructions, and to explore the ancient circulation of goods, skills, and people without assuming the capacity of early elites to manipulate and capitalize on such networks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Ceramics of the Indigenous Peoples of South America: Studies of Production and Exchange using INAA

Keywords

Spatial Coverage