Pottery Offerings and Ritual Gestures in Sutar Conti, a Ceremonial Site on the Processional Pathway of the Licancabur Pampa, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Summary

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

Inter-nodal archaeological studies show how pottery, among other functions, is part of the offerings found in ceremonial contexts associated with journeys through the Atacama Desert. Focusing on ethnohistorically recognized processional pathways, with the Licancabur volcano as a ceremonial node, our investigation centers on Sutar Conti, a site renowned for its material and structural remains. Our research explores the role of pottery documented at this site, which spans from the Early Formative period (ca. 3000 BP) to post-Hispanic times. Notably, two ceramic types exhibit high frequencies: the locally polished black or gray Séquitor (1900-1600 BP) and the foreign Yavi style (1100-500 BP) from Talina, Potosí, indicating connections between the northeastern puna of Jujuy and southern Bolivia. Most sherds can be assigned to individual vessels. Through detailed spatial analysis, we discern distinct patterns of deposition and breakage associated with structures, the pathway, and the landscape. We interpret these differential patterns as distinct ritual gestures, following Nielsen et al. (2017), offering insights into both chronological and identity-related aspects of these journeys.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40132.0