Exploring Production and Exchange of Post-Tiwanaku Cabuza-Style Ceramics (Southern Peru, Twelfth Century CE) through Visual and LA-ICP-MS Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Twenty Years of Archaeological Science at the Field Museum’s Elemental Analysis Facility" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The dispersal of Tiwanaku-affiliated populations before and after the collapse of the eponymous state took on distinct cultural expressions throughout the western south-central Andean valleys. The proliferation of diverse Tiwanaku-derived ceramic substyles in the region signaled the emergence of local craft traditions and identities. Among these substyles, the Cabuza style represents long-term adherence to Tiwanaku vessel forms and design elements coupled with decline and innovation in production resources and technologies. Yet we know little about the practices and resources that define the Cabuza style, how it compares with contemporaneous Tiwanaku-derived styles, and the implications for the identity of its makers. Here, we present results of compositional and stylistic analyses of Cabuza-style ceramic fragments recovered from Los Batanes, a 12th-century settlement in the Sama valley (Tacna, Peru). Consisting of serving and utilitarian vessels, the Sama-Cabuza assemblage captures a broad range of production practices and choices. By comparing LA-ICP-MS data of an initial sample of Sama-Cabuza with compositional data from clay sources and contemporaneous post-Tiwanaku ceramic assemblages elsewhere in the region, we investigate the ways that compositional and qualitative attributes of Sama-Cabuza ceramics reflect diversified local practices and/or exchange of products and knowledge among post-Tiwanaku communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Twenty Years of Archaeological Science at the Field Museum’s Elemental Analysis Facility   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39098.0