A Microscopic Analysis of Inclusion Size in Middle Horizon 1 Ceramics from Huari

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Seeing Wari through the Lens of the Everyday: Results from the Patipampa Sector of Huari" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Huari, the capital of an Andean conquest state during the Middle Horizon, contains ceramics of a multitude of local and foreign styles. While these styles have generally been defined by their outer appearances, it is still unclear whether they can also be distinguished according to their pastes. A group of 132 ceramics of five Middle Horizon styles- Huarpa, Nasca, Chakipampa, Ocros, and Nievería- were collected as part of the 2017 Prehistoria Urbana de Huari excavations for analysis. This research, building upon previous work by Andean archaeologist Luz Antonio, analyzes the pastes of these ceramics using a digital microscope and categorizes them based on inclusion size. It was determined that there are statistically significant differences in the distribution of inclusion sizes between Huarpa, Nasca, and Nievería (listed in order of descending size), while Ocros and Chakipampa could not be distinguished according to inclusion size. The overlap between the Huarpa and Nasca distributions, however, eliminates this characteristic as a predictive tool.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Seeing Wari through the Lens of the Everyday: Results from the Patipampa Sector of Huari   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24494