The Carchi-Nariño’s mollusks shells aerophones of the Royal Museums of Art and History of Brussels. Analysis by CT scan.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeological collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels gathers more than 377 pre-Columbian objects from Ecuador. Among these are twenty wind musical instruments (flutes and ocarinas) in ceramic from the Carchi-Nariño culture. These objects, which joined the collections in the 1990s, had remained dormant in the museum’s storage area, erroneously attributed and unstudied.

These objects are exceptional on several levels. First of all, they belong to a little-known cultural group from Ecuador. Their uniqueness lies in the imitation of marine mollusks shells in ceramic, while at the same time being aerophones. Their iconography and decorative techniques are also very interesting.

The purpose of this study was to highlight this set of objects. In addition to the formal, stylistic and iconographic analyzes, archaeometric analysis via CT scan were carried out to evaluate whether these ceramics imitate mollusks shells from the outside or, perhaps, also from the inside. These analyzes also aimed to study the whistling system and the technological manufacturing processes. these objects are true technical prowess indeed. The shape of these mollusks shells, which roll up on themselves, involves material superimpositions and therefore complications for their shaping and firing.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38595.0