Communities of potters, chefs and eaters: a multi-analytical approach to technology and use of archaeological ceramics from Northwestern Argentina (ca. 200 BC-AD 900)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The development of ceramic technology produced substantial transformations in people’s foodways and cuisine, expanding the répertoire of existent ingredients, culinary techniques, storage capacities, among others. Thus, exploring the dimensions of ceramic technology and use amongst early farming societies holds the heuristic potential to explore social, economic, and cultural attitudes to food. This paper presents a multi-analytical study of ceramic production and consumption among agropastoral groups of Northwestern Argentina (200 BC-AD 900) obtained through a suite of elemental, mineralogical, biomolecular, and archaeological techniques. We combine pXRF, optical petrography, GC-MS, and morphological reconstruction of vessels from three archaeological residential sites (La Ciénega, Santa Cruz and La Bolsa 1 [Tucumán province, Argentina]) to elucidate the raw materials used for manufacture, clay recipes, forming and shaping techniques, firing, and the ingredients consumed, ultimately obtaining an integrated picture of the interrelationship between potting, cooking, and eating practices. In doing so, we investigate how ceramic production and consumption were bundled in daily practices that created enduring communities of practice, creating the basis of relationality within newly formed agropastoral communities in the Argentinian Andes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50492