Materializing ideas. Preliminary analysis of roof tiles images from the Nuestra Señora de Loreto I and San Ignacio Mini I missions (1610 – 1631)

Summary

In this paper we will be discussing the iconography of the roof tiles found in the primitive missions of Nuestra Senora de Loreto and San Ignacio Mini located in the region of the Guairá. The aim is to analyze the material and symbolic universe that circulated in the primitive Jesuits missions (1610 - 1631). In order to achieve this goal, we will first analyze the technologies of production, the iconographic types and interpret the possible meanings acquired in the representations shown on the roof tiles.

So far the archaeological research prioritizes the urban organization and the materials in the missions but omits the symbolic component that gave sense to the space and to the objects. The reductions were spaces of evangelization where circulated religious messages in two directions: from the evangelists to the Guarani, and also from the Guarani to the Jesuits. To accomplish this, they used different means of communication.

The analysis of the technologies and the images on the roof tiles of both reductions allows us to analyze the technical and symbolic speeches of the material culture. We finally discussed above the discourse on the roof tiles and their symbolic role in the first period of evangelization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17228