Sicán Sociopolitical Organization in Lambayeque, Peru: Ceramic Compositional and Distributional Perspective

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We report the results of a recent chemical compositional analysis (INAA) of ceramic samples from multiple Middle Sicán (ca. 1000 CE) sites in the Lambayeque region on the north coast of Peru that offer important insights on the Middle Sicán sociopolitical and territorial organization. The analysis is an integral part of our cross-disciplinary testing of the multi-lineage collective governance model. The model postulates that the polity was composed of six elite lineages that shared the same religion but each had its own distinct territory as well as workshops and other production setups that supplied its valued craft goods including fine ceramic and precious metal items. Analyzed samples of mostly fine, black ritual vessels were derived from two distant, excavated ceramic workshops of Huaca La Pava and Sialupe as well as two contemporaneous temple mound complexes of Huaca Loro and Huaca Lercanlech within the Sicán capital. INAA results indicate that both temples acquired their fine ceramics from both workshops albeit in somewhat different proportions. Additionally, a considerable compositional overlap between samples from the two workshops suggests that they may have shared the same paste recipe or paste itself. Implications of these finds will be discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32496