A View from the Hinterlands: Early Colonial Objects in Mortuary Contexts in Northern Highland Ecuador

Summary

In this paper I re-visit a particularly interesting find made in the Pimampiro District of northern highland Ecuador a number of years ago. It consisted of a traditional shaft tomb burial that contained an unusual assemblage of items, which included seemingly obvious Late Period Caranqui and Panzaleo wares together with a set of four Nueva Cadiz beads. How and why did these precious European objects penetrate this seemingly remote region at such an early date to be inserted into such a basic ritual context? What does their presence within an otherwise completely "pre-Columbian looking" context indicate with respect to temporality, materiality, and archaeological assumptions? In this paper, I analyze this mortuary assemblage with respect to regional, historical, and social context, as well as in light of networks of meaning, the notion of value and material agency.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Status and Identity in the Imperial Andes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14845