Wine, Brandy, and Botijas at the Periphery of the Afro-Atlantic World: Production and Ethnicity on the Jesuit Estates of the Southern Pacific Coast of Peru

Brendan J. M. Weaver

Wine, Brandy, and Botijas at the Periphery of the Afro-Atlantic World: Production and Ethnicity on the Jesuit Estates of the Southern Pacific Coast of Peru

Year: 2015

Summary

The Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project, focusing on slavery on colonial Jesuit wine estates of the Peruvian south coast, was initiated to broaden our understandings of the African diaspora in Peru, which historically existed at the edge of the Afro-Atlantic World, and is presently at the periphery of historical and archaeological scholarship. This paper explores the production and use of botijas – so-called Iberian Olive Jars – in the making of wine and brandy at two Jesuit estates and their annexes in the Nasca region. Previous studies of botijas in the Spanish Americas have examined form and distribution, but seldom have archaeologists explored the production of these commodities in the quotidian experience of their enslaved or coerced manufacturers. This scholarship is enhanced through what has been learned about the use of Sub-Saharan African aesthetic traditions as agentive expressions in slave-made pottery, exploring these vessels in daily hacienda activities and production.

Cite this Record

Wine, Brandy, and Botijas at the Periphery of the Afro-Atlantic World: Production and Ethnicity on the Jesuit Estates of the Southern Pacific Coast of Peru. Brendan J. M. Weaver. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 433989)