Andean Technology Conference
UCL, June 2015
ABSTRACTS
Feeding Empires: Perspectives from the North Coast of Peru and the Atacama Desert
in Chile
Frances Hayashida, César Parcero-Oubiña, Diego Salazar, Andrés Troncoso
Frances Hayashida <[email protected]> University of New Mexico
What happens to people and landscapes when they are pulled into larger political
economies and how do we study these dynamics in the archaeological record? Here we
compare and contrast the consequences of imperial incorporation for agricultural
production in the Lambayeque region of Peru’s North Coast and the high altitude Upper
Loa-Salado region of the Atacama Desert in Chile. In Lambayeque, one of the goals of the
Chimú and Inka conquests was to take control of extensive, existing irrigation systems and
fertile lands in addition to raw material sources and a large, skilled population. In the
hyperarid Atacama, a marginal region for farming, small but complex irrigation networks
were expanded and/or reorganized to increase production in support of Inka controlled
mining operations. Based on the results of our interdisciplinary field projects, we consider
how the organization, diversity and complexity of water management and farming practices
were transformed under imperial rule. We can see in landscapes, just as we can in crafts,
how local practices and knowledge persisted or were lost, while new practices were
introduced or imposed as production was scaled up or redirected towards the state.
---------------------------------------------------Gold technology and the Tiwanaku culture in San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile
(AD 400-1000).
María Teresa Plaza, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Valentina Figueroa-Larre
María Teresa Plaza <[email protected]> UCL, Institute of Archaeology
The Middle Horizon in northern Chile (A.D. 400-1000) is characterised by the influence of
Tiwanaku, a cultural phenomenon developed at the southern shore of the Titicaca Lake.
Within this context, San Pedro de Atacama ("SPA") stands out as a political, economic and
religious centre in the Atacama region, strategically located with respect to trade routes.
Archaeological evidence suggests that SPA represents an alliance between the elites from
Atacama, the Bolivian Altiplano and the Puna, materialised in the recurrent presence of
high-status trade artefacts.
During this period the amount of metal artefacts deposited in SPA cemeteries increased
considerably. Hundreds of copper-based artefacts and gold ornaments have been excavated.
The latter, reaching 180 artefacts, constitutes the most striking assemblage of gold grave
goods recovered in Chile. However, no research has focused on the composition or
metalworking techniques of the gold collection to assess, for example, the current
assumption that these items come from the Altiplano.
This poster presents ongoing research focused on the geological and cultural
characterisation of the gold technology in SPA during the Middle Horizon. Using LA-ICPMS we present the results of the first analyses of gold artefacts from SPA cemeteries.
Manufacturing techniques and geochemical signatures are discussed within a regional
context, to better understand the role of gold production in the social dynamics during the
Middle Horizon in the south-central Andes.
---------------------------------------------------Lexicon and toolkits: comparing pottery and weaving in Southern Cajamarca, Peru
Luis Andrade & Gabriel Ramón
Luis Andrade, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Gabriel Ramón, Leiden University/Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Gabriel Ramon <[email protected]>
Our poster addresses the fifth theme proposed by the organizers: the integration of
ethnography, linguistics and archeology to study vocabulary and craft techniques in
Southern Cajamarca. Currently, this is a primarily Spanish-speaking region, with some
Quechua "enclaves." Several local (non Quechua) languages were spoken here during precolonial and possibly colonial times. After performing a regional ethnography, we showed
that the systems of production and distribution of plain pottery and textiles have very
different overall features (Andrade & Ramón 2014). First, while various pottery
manufacturing techniques can be found in this region, probably with pre-colonial origins,
only one textile manufacturing technique, of potential pre-colonial origin, is currently used.
Second, while the use of Quechua and pre-Quechua vocabulary persists with respect to
textile tools, the presence of Spanish is overwhelming in the case of pottery tools.
Considering these findings, with this poster we examine two questions: 1) From a regional
perspective, how might we explain the contrast between the two craft activities, according
to the different dynamics of their production and distribution? 2) Do these different
dynamics also suggest different linguistic usages?
---------------------------------------------------Bridging the Gap between Elite and Non-elite: Identifying the Artisan in the
Archaeological Record
Trisha M. Biers and Guillermo A. Cock Carrasco
Trisha M. Biers Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Guillermo A. Cock Carrasco ConsultPatCu E.I.R.L. (Consultores en Patrimonio Cultural),
Lima, Perú
Trisha Biers <[email protected]>
This paper presents research that explores the potential for identifying the division of
labour and concepts of artisan identity in a Late Horizon (AD1435-1532) necropolis on the
central coast of Peru. The project takes a multi-disciplinary approach in considering the
economic role of labour enclaves and the importance of mortuary evidence in discussions
about craft and agricultural production.
The identity of artisans is of central importance in studies that focus on power, economic
organization, and on the role of material culture in social relations (Costin 2000: 394). The
archaeological evidence uncovered from the Puruchuco-Huaquerones cemetery contained
individuals that clearly were participating in a robust area of craft production due to large
quantities of tribute products such as textiles, ceramics, khipus, and ornate metal ornaments
found within the burials. Analysing skeletal changes from biomechanical and physiological
stress, as evidence of physical activity, sheds light on the individual and community
contribution to production. At Puruchuco, females over 35 years of age had higher
frequencies of biomechanical stress and ‘specialist’ grave goods than males in any age
group. It is possible that these women were part of a weaving enclave of advanced
craftsmanship that spun textiles for the Inka administrators. This paper highlights artisan
groups in a labour population, rather than just assigning elite versus non-elite status based
on grave goods.
---------------------------------------------------Tinkuqchaka: a suspension bridge over the upper Pampas River
Lidio M. Valdez and Cirilo Vivanco
Lidio M. Valdez: MacEwan University, Canada
Cirilo Vivanco: Universidad de Huamanga, Perú
Lidio Valdez Cardenas <[email protected]>
Andean geography has posed diverse challenges to human activity. High mountains, rugged
terrains, deep canyons, and torrential rivers were significant obstacles that effectively
would have isolated settlements and entire regions. However, the desire to reach out to
adjacent communities and distant lands pushed to the limit the ingenuity and imagination of
past indigenous Andean societies. By the time the Inka Empire flourished, the peoples of
the Andes already had mastered the difficult geography, not only by building agricultural
terraces over rugged terrain, but also by building across the ever challenging landscape a
road system described by the Spaniards as “the longest and grandest in the world.” To
Cieza de León, one of the first Europeans to describe the Inka road, it was “the first and
most impressive of great things.” The road system would have been ineffective without its
most important component, the suspension bridges built over deep canyons and rapid
currents. The suspension bridges, some of them as long as 50 m, made possible the
interaction between distant peoples. Although it remains uncertain when suspension bridges
were built first in the region, there is the probability that they pre-dated the Inka Empire by
several centuries. Suspension bridges, so critical in the past, have largely been abandoned,
except for a few. One such exception is Tinkuqchaka, a suspension bridge that continues to
be renewed over the upper Pampas River, in the Peruvian central highlands. Tinkuqchaka is
built by the inhabitants of Sarhua, one of the few Andean communities to have managed to
keep this ancient technology. We assert that the survival of this technology initially was
due to the marginal location of Sarhua that until just over a decade ago was reachable only
by foot. The Pampas River being a main barrier with the potential to prevent interaction
with neighbouring communities found to the north, establishing a bridge was a necessity.
Thereafter, roads to Sarhua have been established for motorized vehicles and a permanent
bridge has been built over the Pampas River, next to the suspension bridge. Despite such
innovations, the peoples of Sarhua maintain the desire to continue with process of bridge
renewal. The reasons for such an interest are that Sarhuinos regard bridge renewal as part of
their communal identity and that the process itself is acknowledged not as a burden
imposed on them, but as a gathering that enables the socialization which defines a
Sarhuino. Finally, bridge renewal is regarded as a competitive game between the two
opposing yet complementary groups within the community, regardless of age and sex.
---------------------------------------------------Identifying inter-household cooperation as intertwined chaînes opératoires: The case of
Prehispanic Huayuri, Nasca region
Viviana Siveroni
Viviana Siveroni <[email protected]> UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Technological choices made in the production and use of domestic items are a function of the
subsistence schemes of the household. They are also a function of the webs of cooperation that the
household uses to achieve its social and economic aims: the organization of each task links diverse
chaînes opératoires, both within the household and with other households, to access the labour,
tools and raw materials needed to complete the task.
By comparing the chaînes opératoires of several productive cycles we can explore the links
between diverse activities and enhance our understanding of household cooperation and interdependence. In this poster, I draw on the data from Prehispanic Huayuri, a large compact and dense
settlement in the Nasca area in Late Prehispanic Period (1100 – 1532 AD). By reconstructing the
chain of production of closely related households (which are likely to have interacted in everyday
life), I consider how chains of production were intertwined and evaluate the ways in which
domestic technologies were organized as a function of the agropastoralist economy and social
organization of the community. The production of textiles will be described for three spatially
related residences in order to trace at which point of the chaîne opératoire the textile production
cycle intersects with other productive cycles.
---------------------------------------------------Lessons from the cultural landscape of the Andes
Gerard den Ouden
Gerard den Ouden <[email protected]>
For thousands of years, the widely spread terraces across the range of highlands of the
Andes have followed the contours of the mountainous landscape. The challenges met by
various ethnic groups to dominate their habitat, the fruit of knowledge handed down from
one generation to the next, and the combination of sacred traditions and a delicate social
balance, have created a unique landscape that expresses the harmony between humankind
and the environment.
From a three-dimensional perspective, a slope can be divided into landsurface units that are
characterized by their geomorphic position, pedogeomorphic processes, slope shape and
steepness. These units have been determinant for the anthropogenic shaping into terraces of
different kinds with different functions and utilisation. Limited amounts of available land,
or concerns about loss of agricultural soil or deterioration of land, have led to soil
conservation practices such as terracing. The utilisation of terraces is strongly determined
by soil characteristics and properties, and availability of water. In combination with
ecological zone characteristics, their potential in the cycle of production of carboncontaining compounds within the biosphere stretches from agricultural purposes to Carbon
storage. What can we learn from these practices in our debates of food security and climate
change adaptation in relation to our environmental heritage?
---------------------------------------------------Reviving Traditional Andean Agricultural Technology – The Work of the Cusichaca
Trust
Ann Kendall, David Drew and Sara Lunt
Cusichaca Trust
Ann Kendall <[email protected]>
David Drew <[email protected]>
Sara Lunt <[email protected]>
The Cusichaca Trust was founded in 1977. It was conceived and has been led since its
formation by Dr. Ann Kendall, Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology.
The Trust’s initial archaeological work included study and evaluation of the agricultural
infrastructure of canals and terraces, pre-Inca but predominantly Inca, at the confluence of
the Cusichaca and Urubamba rivers. Out of this came a pioneering experiment in applied
archaeology. In collaboration with the local farming community, an abandoned irrigation
canal was restored and its associated farmland brought back into productive use. The
success of this pilot scheme suggested that the revival of Andean agrarian technologies
could make a contribution to the social needs of modern rural communities, an idea that has
since been taken up by other agencies and the Peruvian government.
This poster offers a review of the Trust’s work, from the very first investigations and
feasibility studies in the Cusichaca area, through a programme of canal and terrace
restoration and associated rural development work in the Patacancha valley above
Ollantaytambo , to more recent involvement with farming communities in the
Apurimac/Ayacucho region.
----------------------------------------------------
'It can't be cut, it's alive!' Textile production in San Pablo de Incahuasi (Lambayeque),
Peru.
Luz Martínez Santamaría
Luz Martínez Santamaría <[email protected]>
Departamento de Antropología de América. Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Social Anthropology and Amerindian Studies, Univesrity of St Andrews
This paper analyses how traditional techniques of waist loom weaving and clothing
manufacture are being impacted by the introduction of new practices to make market
oriented textile crafts in the Kiĉwa-speaking community of San Pablo de Incahuasi
(Lambayeque Region, Northern Peru). In the last few years governmental and NGO’s
initiatives in Incahuasi have tried to improve the population’s income. The majority of
these initiatives have worked with women and focused on traditional weaving techniques to
produce commercial handicrafts. This provides a revealing context to analyse how
traditional notions of production (such as the transference of vital energy and of textiles as
living beings) affect how new ‘foreign’ techniques are appropriated, discarded or reelaborated within the indigenous ontological matrix, as well as how indigenous
cosmological and cultural notions determine the production of ‘traditional’ textiles and
clothing.
---------------------------------------------------Andean households as the locus of technological innovation and economic
organisation
Bill Sillar and Christine Hastorf
Bill Sillar <[email protected]> UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Christine Hastorf <[email protected]> Department of Anthropology, University of
California-Berkeley
Studies of technology have tended to focus on innovations in specific crafts and industrial
processes. But, any domestic household is a locus of technological development where
householders bring together an enormous range of materials and techniques in constant
daily practice. They are also the fundamental learning-networks within which the next
generation learn essential technical skills and the fundamental economic structure that
determine the deployment of labour and materials. But, households are never isolated, and
it is the cooperation and complementarity between households that drive social and
economic change. In this paper we consider a few fundamental Andean technologies that
are deployed in millions of households today and have been encountered at many
archaeological sites. These include: the Andean rocker mill (tunawa and maran), cooking
hearth (q'uncha), cooking pot (manka), grain store (pirwa), storage sack (costal) and
footplough (chakitaqlla). Each of these tools is either made or adapted for use by the
householders, they are exceedingly efficient, essential to many economic activities, that
have influenced the development of ‘craft-specialisations’ and ‘state’ level production. We
will highlight the role of domestic technologies and skills in a largely non-industrialised
pre-Hispanic Andean world, and propose that focusing on the role of the household at the
centre of economic and technical activities may help to explain some aspects of Andean
technological development.
---------------------------------------------------The Development of Andean Textile Dying Technology
Hans Barnard, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
Ran Boytner, Institute for Field Research
Ran Boytner <[email protected]>
Hans Barnard <[email protected]>
Textiles have always had great social significance in the Andes. They were used to
expressed identity and power as well as position and function within society. Intensive
investment in textile technologies yielded some of the best such artifacts of the ancient
world. While spinning and weaving produced fine garments, it was colors—achieved
primarily through the use of brilliant organic dyes—that constituted the major visual
qualities of Andean textiles. A limited number of studies exist that investigate Andean dye
technology, its development and the changes that resulted from the domestication of dye
plants and insects, new trade networks and the subsequent exchange of designs and ideas.
We present data from hundreds of textiles to cover a broad temporal and geographical
range. Some of the data summarize published analytical work on Andean dyes, but most
result from our work in the past two decades. We use the entire dataset to explore changes
in dying preferences and technologies, and their relationships to general cultural and
technological traits across the ancient Andes.
---------------------------------------------------The Phenomenon of Early Valdivia Pottery (Ecuador): quest for the ritual and
utilitarian origins of technology
Andrey V. Tabarev, Alexander N. Popov, Jorge G. Marcos and Yoshitaka Kanomata
Andrey V. Tabarev: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Novosibirsk, Russia
Alexander N. Popov: Fareastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia
Jorge G. Marcos: Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Yoshitaka Kanomata: Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Andrey V. Tabarey <[email protected]>
In 2014 joint Ecuadorian-Russian-Japanese team renewed excavations at Real Alto, the
most important site of the Early Formative period in coastal Ecuador. One of the principle
goals of this complex interdisciplinary research (archaeology, satellite mapping,
archaeobotany, geo-radar scanning, faunal analysis, AMS-dating, use-wear analysis) is to
trace the transition from hunter gathering (Archaic) groups to early agricultural (Formative)
societies. The appearance of pottery vessels in Early Valdivia (Phases 1a, b, 5900-5500 cal
BP) is a cultural phenomenon which origin was accentuated by the development of
ceremonial activities (wider range of ritual attributes and paraphernalia) owing less to the
utilitarian need of new types of containers. Recent finds and dates at Real Alto provide new
arguments to the discussion about the region of the invention of pottery making in South
America (Amazonian, Colombian, Ecuadorian). Pacific perspective is another promising
direction of our investigations. Comparisons of Early Valdivia case with the role and
functions of incipient pottery (16000-15500 cal BP) in the societies of riverine and sea
fishers in the Far East (Amur Region, Japanese Islands) will lead to the better
understanding of distinct and common cultural scenarios.
---------------------------------------------------The Khipu as a Technology of Power
Gary Urton
Urton, Gary <[email protected]> Harvard University
This paper considers the relationship between khipus and power from two different but
related perspectives. First, we look at the concept of power as constructed in the knotting of
cords in the decimal place value system used to register quantitative values in khipu
accounting. How did the khipukamayuqs think about the placement and manipulation of
knots to produce displays of different “powers of ten” on their khipus? One issue to be
considered concerns the significance of the absence of value (i.e., zero) in the architecture
of decimal powers distributed over a khipu. Secondly, I consider how khipu record keeping
operated as a basic instrument of the exercise of power by agents of the Inka state,
especially through such tasks as census taking and the recording and monitoring of tribute
labor (i.e., the mit’a). The larger questions considered in the paper will be: a) how are we to
understand and make a meaningful connection between the mathematical and
administrative forms and expressions of “power” in khipu recording technology? And b)
how did the formal, state-level expressions of khipu cord technology articulate with
everyday practices of spinning, plying and weaving threads in the production of textiles and
other cord-based technologies throughout Tawantinsuyu?
---------------------------------------------------An Exploration of the Integration of Stylistic, Mineral and Elemental Approaches in
Ceramic Studies in the Context of Andean Research: A Consideration of Interregional
Interactions in Northern Chile.
Catherine Bland, Amy Roberts, Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, Calogero Santoro and John
Bennett
Catherine Bland: Archaeology Department, Flinders University
Amy Roberts: Archaeology Department, Flinders University
Rachel Popelka-Filcoff: School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Flinders University,
Calogero Santoro Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile
John Bennett: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas
Heights, NSW, Australia
Catherine Bland <[email protected]>
In Andean archaeology stylistic differences between material remains, such as ceramics,
have traditionally been treated as reflecting ethnic/social identity or political affiliation.
This is particularly true for northern Chile as the lack of architectural features has resulted
in a focus on the stylistic variability of ceramics to identify cultural interaction. However,
with the advent of mineral and elemental approaches in ceramic studies, there are now new
avenues available to explore these issues. Furthermore, an integration of traditional stylistic
approaches with mineral and elemental methods provides opportunities to investigate
various data thereby enhancing interpretive possibilities. Given Andean archaeology’s prior
reliance on stylistic data the potential of integrated methods to provide new insights is
therefore significant. In this regard this paper will explore the associated issues as well as
potentialities of integrated methods in the context of northern Chilean ceramic studies and
will present preliminary results about how such integration can contribute to the
understanding of cultural influence and interactions in northern Chile.
---------------------------------------------------Prime Material
Lois Martin
27 Third Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Lois Martin <[email protected]>
My presentation will consider Andean textiles through the lens of a 2,000-year-old
masterpiece, sometimes called the Brooklyn Museum Textile (BMT)*, whose designs and
execution highlight longstanding and heretofore under-recognized formal, material, and
technological textile characteristics prized in ancient Peru.
The BMT consists of an airy central cloth with a repeating design of warp-wrapped faces,
surrounded by a dense border showing a fancy dress parade. My primary focus is on the
central cloth: a four-selvage, back-strap loom-woven, cotton plain-weave fabric with warpwrapped designs embedded into its structure, so that they read identically on both sides. A
“two-sided” perfect finish was one of the qualities described for Inka qompi cloth. But
unlike tapestry, this design rests within the transparent, two-dimensional fabric plane. The
cloth’s open weave exposes the cloth’s internal thread matrix, and emphasizes its
membrane-like nature. Its designs reflect across the quadrants of the cloth, presenting a
four-fold, symmetrical alignment with its warp and weft. And its seamless finish erases all
traces of its construction, implying that it was not made, but simply exists; moreover, the
lack of visual interruption accentuates the flow of energy (kamay) circulating endlessly
through its systems, and implying notions of balanced, quartered systems and active
duality.
For an image of the textile, see:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/prehistoric-art/neolithic-art/a/the-paracas-textile
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/48296/Mantle_The_Paracas_Texti
le/right_tab/tags/
---------------------------------------------------Destandardization of Shell Bead Production among the Manteño (A.D. 700- 1532) as a
Social and Economic Process.
Benjamin P. Carter
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Muhlenberg College
Benjamin Carter <[email protected]>
From A.D. 700-1200 the Manteño of coastal Ecuador were one of the primary producers of
tiny beads- known as chaquira- including those made from the socially and ritually
important marine bivalve, Spondylus. Detailed examination of in-process and finished shell
beads and the lithic drills used to perforate them from six Manteño sites, demonstrates that
shell chaquira were regular in size, shape and material and that artisans used a single,
consistent châine opératoire. The final product was standardized even though evidence
suggests they were fashioned by part-time artisans dispersed across a large area. Most shell
chaquira were exported to the complex societies of the Andean coast and highlands. When
demand declined between A.D. 1100-1200, Manteño artisans destandardized bead
production. From A.D. 1200- 1532, shell beads became highly variable in shape, size and
material and a wider variety of châines opératoires were employed. While this transition in
bead production technology is clearly correlated with economic change, this explanation is
incomplete. It must also be considered social. As demand diminished, artisans could have
responded in a variety of economically viable ways. In this paper I argue that, ultimately,
their choices were mediated by the social milieu in which they lived and worked.
---------------------------------------------------Rock Art technology, ontology and political power: a discussion from North Central
Chile
Andrés Troncoso, Felipe Armstrong and Francisco Vergara
Andrés Troncoso: Department of Anthropology, Universidad de Chile
Felipe Armstrong: UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Francisco Vergara: Fondecyt grant 1110125. Email: [email protected]
Andrés Troncoso <[email protected]>
Felipe Armstrong <[email protected]>
Francisco Vergara: <[email protected]>
Ontologies are historical fields of relationship and meanings which are produced and
reproduced through practices and their engagements with places, people and objects
(Pauketat 2013, Harris and Robb 2012). For this reason, the production of objects cannot be
split from their ontological contexts (Descola 2013). Moreover, as Lemmonier (1986) has
pointed out, part of the meanings and social values of an object are attached to its
productive process.
This paper will discuss the ontological aspects of rock art production in north central Chile
during Late Intermediate period (1.000-1.450 A.C.E.) and their relationship with political
power. We will use a multilayer approach to understand rock art, including the spatial
dynamics of rock art production, and more specifically, the visual and technological
characteristics of a face motif that seems to have ben key in the creation and re-creation of
a particular ontology. We propose that rock art production and the engraving of faces were
practices that animated the landscape and built a sense of community through its
engagement with an Andean ontology and the idea of taypi. The location of rock art and
faces motifs in the field of relationship of this ontology was related to the construction of a
political power by specific members in these communities.
References:
Descola, P. 2013. Más allá de la naturaleza y la cultura. Amorrortu Editores, Buenos
Aires.
Harris, O. & J. Robb. 2012. Multiple Ontologies and the problem of the body in History.
American Anthropologist 114 (4): 668-679
Lemmonier, P. 1986. The study of material culture today: Toward an anthropology of
technical systems. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 5: 147-186.
Pauketat, T. 2013. An Archaeology of Cosmos. Routledge, London.
---------------------------------------------------The Scale of Production: Chimú Reduced Scale Textile Tools
Andrew James Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton < [email protected]> Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton
University
Chimú reduced scale (or “miniature”) burial offerings raise a number of issues critical to
understanding technology in the Pre-Columbian Andes. For this paper, I would focus on
two sets of archaeologically unrelated but stylistically identical reduced sale spinning and
weaving tools made of silver alloy in the Harvard Peabody and Larco museums. The
objects are depictions of one kind of technology (weaving tools) made using the tools,
materials, and skill sets of another technology (metal working.) Interestingly, they do not
merely replicate the simple forms of the tools, but rather show the tools engaged in and
performing work, raising questions animism. For instance, the tiny spindle is spinning
“thread” made of wire with an actual spin direction. Because the literal “scale of
production” is only a few centimeters high, so-called miniatures have often been interpreted
as economizations of resources and investment of labor; and yet, because these objects are
made of precious silver rather than insignificant wood, they appear to have been more
highly valued than their referent objects. (I have recently conducted XRF analysis on the
Peabody set.) Furthermore, because these assemblages manifest “complete” sets of fiber
tools, they act almost like a field guide to textile tools and can be used to identify
archaeologically-excavated artifacts heretofore not recognized by scholars as weaving
tools. Finally, the question is why these objects, as investments of resource and labor, were
even created in the first place?
---------------------------------------------------Sicán Alloys: A Holistic Vision
Izumi Shimada and John F. Merkel
Izumi Shimada: Dept. of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University
John F. Merkel: UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Izumi Shimada <[email protected]>
John F. Merkel <[email protected]>
We propose to examine interrelated technological, social and symbolic dimensions of Sicán
alloys and related issues of interest to the conference. Our paper will be based on data and
insights gained from our long-term, cross-contextual and -disciplinary investigation into
Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE) metallurgy. Over the past 35 years of our ongoing holistic
study, we have strived to illuminate the material and human aspects of the entire Sicán
metallurgical production process and system by means of excavating diverse but largely
synchronous production (smelting and metalworking) and use contexts. The latter
encompass regional residential, ceremonial and mortuary contexts, groups of diverse
gender, age and social and ethnic identities as well as producer-patron/consumer
relationships. Detailed archaeometric, experimental and ethnoarchaeological studies
complement the excavations. Analyzed samples include raw materials, production debris
(e.g., rejects and scraps) and finished products of diverse use histories.
Against this broad background knowledge and database, we consider various issues of
interest to this conference such as accounting variability in alloy composition, including
associated colors. While an etic binary concept of utilitarian/base and sumptuary/precious
metals is widely used in archaeometallurgy, we assess its applicability and utility to the
Sicán situation by careful consideration of the diverse lines of evidence that have been
accrued thus far. There is a strong tendency to think of utilitarian or base metal products as
technologically, artistically (or iconographically) simpler and less costly (in terms of
material and human investment) to produce. We will show that the Sicán situation is much
more complex and challenges this widespread implicit vision. Arsenical bronze sheets, for
example, are just as, if not more, difficult to produce as tumbaga or high karat gold sheets.
The same range of joining techniques and even iconographic details are found in both.
While much has been said of color (goldness) symbolism and the material essence, the
reality is that there is an impressive array of colors and chemical compositions -/the reality
is a gradation rather than discrete colors and compositions. In fact, nearly all forms of
"precious" metal alloys the Sicán produced contain copper or arsenical bronze. What, then,
is the symbolic significance of copper or arsenical bronze? Were there well-defined,
discrete ethnocategories of metals? How were differentiated metals used and what did they
signify? More broadly, we examine how and why technological, social and symbolic
dimensions of Sicán alloys related or shaped each other.
---------------------------------------------------Metal Production, Power and Religiosity in the Southern Andean Highlands (Bolivia
XV to XVI centuries)
Pablo José Cruz
CONICET/ Instituto Interdisciplinario Tilcara (FFyL-UBA)
Pablo Cruz <[email protected]>
While pre-Hispanic mining in the Andes can generally be understood to have been limited
to the exploitation of superficial veins, pre-Hispanic metallurgy achieved a high degree of
technological development permitting both the fabrication of alloys and of sophisticated
objects charged with symbolic meaning. The most fertile mines and the specialists in metal
work were concentrated in the highlands that formed part of Qollasuyu. Based on data
obtained from different mining and metallurgical sites located in the Bolivian highlands
(Potosí, Porco, San Antonio de Lípez, Chocaya, Berenguela, etc.), and the articulation of
these with information found in historical sources, in this work we outline aspects of the
production of metals in the Southern Andes during the Inca Period, and during the period of
contact (XV and XVI centuries). Among these, we focus on technological aspects of
Andean metallurgy and the strong connections seen between the production of metals, cults
of worship associated with mineral-filled mountains, and the formation of territorial
jurisdictions linked to the pre-Hispanic divinity of lightning.
---------------------------------------------------Metallurgy in the Andes and in sub-Saharan Africa: a comparison
David Killick
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona
David Killick <[email protected]>
Comparison of preindustrial metallurgical technologies in these two regions is probably
more fruitful than comparison of either region to prehistoric Europe, China or India, where
population densities were much higher, urbanisation and market economies were well
developed, and where writing helped to spread technological innovations rapidly. Like the
Andes, sub-Saharan Africa lacked the wheeled vehicles, ploughs, water-powered
machinery, canals or capital markets seen in other regions
The metallurgical technologies of sub-Saharan Africa appear at first glance to be
completely different to those of the Andes. Iron and steel were produced everywhere in
Africa. Conversely, copper alloys were much more developed in the Andes than in Africa,
and gold and silver were simply not valued in sub-Saharan Africa before extracontinental
trade routes were established. Yet there are some similarities, notably in the patchwork of
regional technological traditions. I suggest that these reflect underlying demographic
patterning in both regions. The exceptions – technological innovations that spread widely
– are of particular interest. These include the distribution of tumbaga alloys in South
America, and the spread of natural-draft iron smelting furnaces in sub-Saharan Africa.
----------------------------------------------------
Technology, resilience and ritual symbolism in Ventarrón: multiple perspectives to
understand the emergence of social complexity
Marcia Arcuri, Ignácio Alva Meneses, Fabíola Andrea Silva and Rui Sérgio Sereni
Murrieta
Marcia Arcuri (Laboratório de Estudos Interdisciplinares sobre Tecnologia e Território MAE/USP, Departamento de Museologia – EDTM/UFOP)
Ignácio Alva Meneses (Proyecto Arqueologico Ventarrón Collud – Unidad Ejecutora 105
Naylamp-Lambayeque)
Fabíola Andrea Silva (Laboratório de Estudos Interdisciplinares sobre Tecnologia e
Território - MAE/USP)
Rui Sérgio Sereni Murrieta (Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos – IB/USP)
Marcia Arcuri <[email protected]>
The Ventarrón-Collud archaeological complex (Lambayeque valley) is located in a
favourable zone for human adaptation. It is situated in an area of relatively distinct
landscape when compared to other archaeological sites of Northern Peruvian Coast, in
contexts of geographical circumscription. Ventarrón-Collud’s structures form one of the
largest stratigraphic sequences known in the archaeology of the Central Andes (c. 4.300500 A.P). There is strong evidence of local cotton domestication and its relation to the
development of major irrigation systems, both factors converging to the remarked
significance given to textile production in ritual life and symbolism. Perhaps a long-term
development that achieved its largest scale at Túcume, four thousand years later. Moreover,
the well-known Moche ritual iconography of deer hunting (with a cotton net), as well as the
“red and white” symbolism and the “spider creator net”, seem to have their first appearance
in the Ventarrón and Collud’s polychrome murals, a power ideology and monumentality
that began to flourished in the Formative Period. Although the Ventarrón territory was
attractive for human adaptation and economic development, it was also susceptible to
repeated el niños; so can their cultural resilience be explained by early technological
developments? Did the ontological narratives and ritual economy observed in the
ceremonial contexts of Ventarrón and Collud provide resilience during times of climatic
stress? Can we correlate the technological developments and symbolic resources of the
Ventarrón-Collud archaeological complex to the development of the political structures of
the subsequent Moche and Lambayeque elites in the Intermediate and Late Periods,
particularly the rituals and ceremonies these elites used to ‘reassure’ the populace of social
and economic stability?
---------------------------------------------------The organization of copper mining production before and after the Inkas in the
Atacama Desert
Diego Salazar
Diego Salazar <[email protected]> Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Chile
The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth. Life is virtually limited to a few
rivers and dependable water sources. This scarcity of resources contrasts with the
abundance of mineral deposits, especially copper ores. Since these ores are usually located
away from reliable water sources and human occupation, mining technology had to be
integrated into more complex social and economic systems that mobilized the people and
resources required for the organization and finance of copper production. In this
presentation I discuss the transformation in the organization of preinka mining production
after the incorporation of the Atacama into the Tawantinsuyu. Results of our ongoing
archaeological project show that traditional local technologies and mining know-how did
not undergo significant transformations under imperial rule. However, the Inkas achieved a
significant expansion of copper production through economic and social transformations in
the mining centers and the Atacama region as a whole. This case study clearly shows how
environmental, technological, economic, social and even political and ritual variables
operating simultaneously at specific historical contexts have to be considered and
integrated to adequately understand ancient mining production in the Andes.
---------------------------------------------------Mining communities and domestic metallurgy in the highlands of Arica and
Parinacota
Daniella Jofré, Valentina Figueroa, and Thibault Saintenoy
Daniella Jofré : Anthropology Department and Latin American Studies, University of
Toronto, Canada
Valentina Figueroa: Antropología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
Thibault Saintenoy: Centro de Investigaciones del Hombre en el Desierto, Arica, Chile, and
UMR8096 Archéologie des Amériques (CNRS, U. Paris 1), Paris, Francia.
Daniella Jofré <[email protected]>
Valentina Figueroa <[email protected]>
Thibault Saintenoy <[email protected]>
Lowland and highland interactions have a long trajectory in the Andes of Arica and
Parinacota at the borderlands of Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Archaeological interpretations in
the area suggest an early exchange of technological resources such as raw materials and
minerals, which established mining routes that were reshaped by European contact. As a
result, vast amounts of metal continue to be produced in the area today. Colonial literature
has shed light on the nature of these pre-Hispanic interactions; however, little research has
been developed archaeologically for understanding mining communities and their
movements around mineral sources and mining centers. Recent archaeological analyses and
ethnographic research in the neighboring localities of lowland Belén and highland
Guallatire show that domestic metallurgy has been understudied. Our work therefore
contributes towards new understandings on how local communities fluctuate around the
metal commodity and interact across different ecologies in the Chilean Andes.
----------------------------------------------------
Small-Scale Metallurgical Technology and the Value of Silver at Porco, Bolivia
Mary Van Buren
Colorado State University
Van Buren,Mary <[email protected]>
The archaeological record at Porco, a mining center in south-central Bolivia, provides a
long-term perspective on indigenous silver production that began under the Inka and
continued into the 20th century. The historical trajectory of these metallurgical practices
indicates that the technology used for small-scale production under the Inkas continued to
be employed in recent times by impoverished households operating in the shadow of
multinational corporations. While the historical context, organization of production, and
associated meanings have changed, the form, operation, and scale of the technology have
not. The latter, in particular, is likely due to the economic marginalization of twentieth
century indigenous metallurgists who attempted to meet the needs of their households,
rather than maximize output. This suggests that the small-scale of indigenous metallurgical
technology at Porco has been shaped over the last 500 years by the symbolic or economic
value of silver to state and household producers, rather than abstract measures of efficiency
or economies of scale that are dictated by market forces.
---------------------------------------------------The Cotton Revolution in Andean Prehistory: Revisiting the Maritime Foundations of
Andean Archaeology: new investigations at La Yerba, Peru.
David Beresford-Jones1, Alexander Pullen1, Maria Angélica Garcia1, Oliver Whaley2,
Susana Arce5, Carmela Alarcon3, Oliver Huaman3 George Chauca4, Lauren
Cadwallader1, Kevin Lane1 and Charles French1.
1. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK.
2. Royal Botanical Gardens Kew.
3. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima.
4. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima.
5. Museo Regional de Ica, Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Ica, Peru.
David Beresford-Jones <[email protected]>
This paper presents our investigations of spun, plied fibre yarns from recent excavations at
La Yerba, at the mouth of the Río Ica, south coast Peru: vestiges of the increasingly
sophisticated maritime adaptations practiced by complex hunter gathers who lived here
during the Middle Preceramic (c. 7,500 – 5,800 Cal BP). The identification of these plant
fibres and the fishing technologies they represent is important because they enabled the
intensification of marine resource exploitation, sedentism and perhaps even complex
society itself along this coast.
We investigate what plants might have been used to prepare the various fibres used to spin
yarns and make cordage at La Yerba. In the light of that evidence we also review the
obscure origins of improved domesticated forms of Gossipium barbadense (long staple
cotton), and for how its adoption so completely transformed fishing technologies: thereby
laying the foundations for Andean civilization, just as Moseley (1975) originally proposed.
---------------------------------------------------The ideology and technology invested in the extraction, processing and consumption
of spondylus princeps
Colin McEwan
Colin McEwan <[email protected]> Dumbarton Oaks
The values and meanings invested in selected raw materials in the Pre-Columbian world
often result in technological practices being informed, if not driven, by ideological
concerns. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the red-rimmed marine bi-valve
spondylus princeps commonly known as the ‘thorny oyster’. This paper undertakes a wideranging survey addressing the extraction, manufacture and consumption of the shell in the
Andean world.The contrasting perspectives of ‘producers’, ‘traders’ and ‘consumers’ are
considered together with the way each has impinged upon the choices involved in the
procurement and primary processing of the shell, through to the manufacture of ‘elite’
objects and their by-products.
The earliest documented stages in the exploitation of spondylus princeps are found among
the late Formative Valdivia (3000-1800 BC) societies of coastal Ecuador where those
involved in the extraction and working of the shell were close neighbours of the principal
consumers. Spondylus was soon being traded far beyond its source areas to other distant
emergent complex societies in the Andes and became incorporated as a key signifier in
their iconographic repertoire. In due course the shell was deployed as an indispensable
element in the religion and rituals of the Inca (AD 1400 - 1530) state. This progression is
accompanied by pronounced shifts in the range of forms and functions of artifacts being
fashioned in this shell, as well as corresponding innovations in the means of procurement
and transport that are the consequence of a spiraling circle of supply and demand.
---------------------------------------------------The ‘material essence’ of Muisca metalwork (Colombia)
María Alicia Uribe-Villegas and Marcos Martinón-Torres
Uribe Villegas María Alicia <[email protected]> Gold Museum, Bogota
Martinon-Torres, Marcos <[email protected]> UCL, Institute of Archaeology
It is widely accepted that the production and use of goldwork in Pre-hispanic Colombia
were strongly embedded in symbolic codes, and that metals acted as mediators in social and
political interaction. The symbolism of gold and copper is often interpreted based on
dualistic systems, and also frequent are references to the ‘material essence’ of the gold that
had to be displayed on the surface of gold-copper alloys, leading to the widespread use of
depletion gilding on tumbagas. While these general ideas have inspired a plethora of
culturally-grounded studies of Andean technologies, high-resolution contextual studies are
increasingly showing distinct technical traditions that do not fit those models so easily.
As a case in point, this paper presents our work on the votive goldwork produced by the
Muisca of Colombia. While it is likely that cultural rules dictated the composition of the
metal employed in each offering, the variety of alloys recorded eludes simple etic
categorisations. Furthermore, metal objects were not gilded – not even finished or cleaned
after casting –, which indicates idiosyncratic aesthetic and material values. We will argue
that it is not possible to understand Muisca votive goldwork without reference to the wax
necessary to make the models for casting, to the other materials associated to goldwork in
each offering, and to the contexts of deposition.
---------------------------------------------------Inca Technology and Ideology in the offerings dedicated on top of the highest Andean
mountains
Constanza Ceruti
Constanza Ceruti <[email protected]> National Council of Scientific Research
(CONICET), Argentina, Institute of High Mountain Research, Catholic University of Salta
The highest mountains of the Andes were climbed by Inca ritual experts in the context of
the ceremonies of capacocha, which oftentimes included the sacrifice and subsequent
burial young women and children. Material items transported to elevations above 6000
meters and buried as associated offerings included gold and silver figurines, shell
necklaces, high quality textiles and pottery ware. The technology to manufacture many of
these offerings involved skilled handwork provided by full time artisans, as well as
sumptuous materials coming from remote corners of the empire. Inca offerings and
sacrifices fulfilled an important ideological role when dedicated on the most inaccessible
summits, for the good fortune of a recently crowned Inca emperor and/or to propitiate the
fertility of the crops and llamas.
In this presentation I will refer to diverse offerings found on mountaintop sites, including
the assemblages associated to the three frozen mummies discovered during the
archaeological research that I conducted with Johan Reinhard on the summit of Mount
Llullaillaco, in northwestern Argentina. By cross checking the archaeological evidence with
the historical sources, interpretations will be presented regarding the entanglement of Inca
technology and ideology in the material items transported to the top of the highest Andean
peaks.
---------------------------------------------------Why Fibers? The use of fibers as engineering materials
Heather Lechtman
Heather Lechtman <[email protected]> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stone, especially as the Inka managed it in monumental constructions, is the engineering
material that has most captured the attention of archaeologists as central to Andean
prehistoric technologies. The use of fibers as engineering materials was ubiquitous among
Andean societies: for fishnets, reed boats, aggressive and defensive tools of battle,
suspension bridges, quipus, balsa wood rafts, roof thatching, cloth. What are the properties
of natural fibers that enabled their use across a wide range of engineering designs. How
were fiber-based technologies central to movement along a north-south trajectory
dominated by a relentlessly vertical landscape and an endless seascape?
---------------------------------------------------Inca-Diaguita Ceramics Design: Cognitive Technologies and Social Change
Paola González Carvajal
Paola González <[email protected]> Universidad de Chile
The paper focuses on the study of Diaguita-Inca ceramic designs (1470-1536 AD), from the
perspective of Andean notation systems, based on the interaction between Incas and
Diaguitas through visual art. The Inca art was expressed through diverse media (ceramic
designs, tocapu, rock art) and may be conceived as a semasiographic writing (Sampson,
1985; Gelb, 1963), in which meaning-without words or sounds-are suggested by signs.
These semasiographic systems are particularly effective in communicate relationships and
structures to societies which do not share a common language. Decorative patterns of
Cuzqueño origin and Mixed Inca-Diaguita origin employ cognitive techniques, such as
symmetry, orientation, number, chromatic opposition and concentricity (Frame 2007),
generating graphic codes of “naturalized” binary schemes or four parts schemes” (Salomon
2006:56).
Decorative patterns of Diaguita origin present a different visual logic, characterized by the
use of complex symmetries, illusory optical vibration, of endless variability stemming from
simple geometric forms, horror vacui, gradual structural complication, among others.
The described features and the association of this visual art to an animal alter ego (jaguar),
as well as evidence of hallucinogen use, suggest a cultural link with specific ethnographic
(Shipibo Conibo) and archaeological (Mojo Coya) visual art. In this case, we are not
dealing with a notation system but visual “technologies of enchantment” (sensu Gell 1998)
that provide decorative patterns with social agency that produce captivation by visual
artifice, the non-mimetic appearance of animation. In ethnographic contexts similar
decorative patterns play an important role in shamanic healing strategies.
This cultural encounter between Incas and Diaguitas in graphic terms, allows to observe the
cultural interaction and social change in a nonverbal dimension.
---------------------------------------------------Ceramic in the Pampa: Early Pottery Technology in the Atacama Desert (TarapacáChile)
Mauricio Uribe and Estefanía Vidal
Mauricio Uribe, Department of Anthropology, University of Chile
Estefanía Vidal, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
Mauricio Uribe <[email protected]>
The Tarapacá region, in the middle of Atacama Desert (Northern Chile), presents an early
and notable development of complex settlement systems, and evidence of technological
innovations that suggest profound social transformations that become visible in the
archaeological record around the first millennium B.C.E. Through the study of pottery
production and its associated socioeconomic practices, we hope to contribute to the
understanding of a process that we envision as being intrinsically heterogeneous and
culturally diverse, offering alternative modes of thinking about the sociopolitical
development of these groups, while transcending the traditional ecological models based on
Murra’s vertical archipelagos in the South Central Andes. In our work (FONDECYT
1130249), we incorporate the results of chronological and compositional analyses –
thermoluminiscence petrographic and chemical studies- in order to deepen our
understanding of the development of pottery in this region. Combining technological and
typological arguments, we expect to contribute to a different interpretation of this
phenomenon, specifically focusing on the importance of traditional knowledge and the
sociopolitical context in which it emerged. In this presentation, we offer a synthetic view of
pottery production, closely related to the emergence of village life and public architecture
in the Pampa del Tamarugal (2500 B.P.).
---------------------------------------------------Ceramic technology on the Peruvian North Coast: stability and change over the long
durée and its socio-political implications.
Cathy Lynne Costin
Cathy Costin <[email protected]> Department of Anthropology and the Center for
the Study of Mexico and Latin America, California State University, Northridge
Although some have suggested that North Coast ceramics are characterized by a stable
technological style over thousands of years, evidence indicates that what is now called the
“Transitional Period” – the last centuries of the first millennium C.E. – was marked by a
significant technological and aesthetic change. Specifically, decorated ceramics shifted
from predominantly oxidized, painted wares to predominantly reduction-fired, modeled
wares. In this paper, I consider the broader environmental, political, social, and ideological
implications of this technological and representational change. Overall, I argue, ceramics
were produced and viewed differently before and after the transformation. This paper seeks
to tease out cause and effect in technological change in light of the role these objects played
in social, political, and ritual life.
---------------------------------------------------Techné and logos in the study of Andean hydraulic technologies
Alexander Herrera Wassilowsky
Alexander Herrera <[email protected]> Commission for Archaeology of nonEuropean Cultures (KAAK), Gerda Henkel Foundation
Embedded in mercantile regimes of value, hegemonic discourse about indigenous
technologies from the Andes has tended to describe and understand the utilitarian aspects of
ancient technologies, seeking to reproduce, and deploy ancient techné – often framed as
“lost” or “forgotten” knowledge- for economic development. In order to contribute to a
balancing of debates about the impact of technological choices, this paper traces histories of
knowledge and trajectories of practice from a perspective centred on the logos of Andean
hydraulic technologies. Their relational, “animistic” ethos is showcased in the vertical, icecapped landscapes of the Cordillera Blanca where the situated performance of waylla kepa
shell trumpets is charted over three millennia. Changes in symbolic practices associated
with water management, inferred from organological developments and the landscape
orientation of performance loci, are drawn upon to deepen our understanding of the
challenging aspects of water management that the knowledges and practices structuring
Andean technology were designed to address. The flexibility of the relational framework
underlying the logos of Andean technologies provided an effective mechanism to address
the challenges of equitable distribution in the face of shifting water availability.
---------------------------------------------------Technologies of popular sovereignty: new data from the Curacal archive of Macha
(Aransaya).
Tristan Platt <[email protected]> University of St Andrews
The idea that writing is a technology of power contradicts ideas of writing as means of
democracy (Lévi-Strauss/Goody/Derrida). This paper examines technologies of community
and ayllu governance in which ideologies and practices of grassroots sovereignty and
service are articulated with vertical structures of authority and power imposed by the
Bolivian State. A recently accessed Curacal archive from Macha (Aransaya) reveals how
this balancing act was maintained by means of a sophisticated peasant organization with
partial control of writing during several decades in the 20th century. The basis for local
direct democracy was the harnessing of the Curaca's non-coactive authority (generally
dependent on scribal writing) to the sovereignty of the local Cabildo.
The study shows how this practise was (re-)established in the early 20th century, following
the negative experience of creole-mestizo local governance in the 19th century, absorbing
the challenges raised by local levels of national government until being sidelined by the
sindicatos, first those of the MNR from 1953, and later the MBL before and after the
application of the Law of Popular Participation (1994). The research raises questions
relevant to the study of ayllu-State articulation in several historical periods each with
different technologies, from the Inca quipos and the Aymara chinos, through the Hispanic
and créole-dominated periods of alphabetic writing, until today. The issue now concerns the
technologies of governance available for reconciling popular sovereignty and direct
democracy with the indirect democracy and party government of a (neo)liberal State
apparatus.
---------------------------------------------------Colcas, Colcas Everywhere: Storage, Resources and Power in the Inca Expansion
Larry Coben
Larry Coben <[email protected]> <[email protected]>
In our recent survey of the lower and middle Canete Valley, Peru, we noted more than one
hundred sites dedicated to exclusively to storage, representing over 1000 storage
facilities. Indeed, the south side of the Middle Valley could fairly be said to be lined with
colcas. All of these structures are on the sides of hills, rectangular, and arranged in
multiple horizontal rows. By contrast, storage sites in the Pocona and adjacent Bolivian
valleys are far fewer, though each such site has 50-100 round colcas, again on hill sides. In
this paper, I discuss and compare the Incas choice of storage placement, type and quantity,
using my data from these two locales as well as other published materials. Included in my
analysis are environmental considerations (fertility of region, altitude, growable crops,
rainfall etc), practical considerations (ease of construction, accessibility, storage quantity
needed etc), resource control (from where and whom does the material being stored come,
and how does it arrive there)and political and ideological considerations (stability of the
region, war, material expression of power, supply of ritual and political centers), though
obviously these categories are not strict and Inca choices likely incorporated elements of all
of them
---------------------------------------------------Building techniques for the ancestors: an analysis of the choice of techniques used in
the architecture of chullpas, between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries in the
Puna de Jujuy (Argentina)
María Carolina Rivet
Carolina Rivet <[email protected]> CONICET Instituto Interdisciplinario Tilcara,
Universidad de Buenos Aires
This presentation aims to analyze the results of archaeological investigations at a number of
sites with late pre-hispanic and colonial occupation in the area of Coranzulí (Puna de Jujuy,
northwestern Argentina). These sites are characterized by the presence of more than one
hundred chullpas, positioned in relation to residential areas and agricultural infrastructure.
The research conducted involved an architectural analysis, especially focusing on the study
of the building techniques, to investigate the logics and associated sensory engagement that
may have been associated with these structures. The study considers topics such as the
disposition of building materials and the technical gestures used in construction to identify
the actions and presence of different builders.
The association between chullpas and ancestors means that the techniques selected in terms
of morphology, materials and finishings, were producing and reinforcing the concepts that
defined these ancestors and the type of relationships that their descendants continued to
engage in. This requires us to take as a basis the fact that the technical choices are culturally
defined and, therefore, cannot be dissociated from the frames of meaning in which they
were inserted.
----------------------------------------------------
Pink, not yellow: depletion gilding and colour in Nahuange metalwork (Sierra Nevada
de Santa Marta, Colombia)
Juanita Sáenz Samper and Marcos Martinón-Torres
Juanita Saénz Samper <[email protected]> Gold Museum, Bogota
Marcos Martinón-Torres <[email protected]> UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is a 5750 metre high, isolated peak of the northern Andes in
Colombia. Under a deep rain forest it preserves stone foundations of more than 250 PreHispanic settlements. Based on their distinctive material culture and ways of manipulating
their environment, their cultural history is divided in two broad periods: Nahuange (ca. AD
100–1000) and Tairona (AD 1000–1600).
Recent examination of the goldwork including optical and electron microscopy and
microanalysis has allowed us to characterise disctinctive traits of the technical styles
associated to each period. This has allowed an unusual insight into diachronic changes, as
well as revealing material and aesthetic choices that challenge long-held generalisations
about Pre-Columbian metallurgy and Andean value systems.
Nahuange metalsmiths used tumbaga to manufacture both cast and hammered personal
adornments, although the latter predominate. Cast pieces generally show the reddish hue of
the alloy, with only a few examples with slightly gilded surfaces. In most of the hammered
objects, repeated hammering and annealing inevitably led to depletion gilding of the
surfaces. However, the artisans meticulously burnished and polished the front surfaces of
these objects to remove the golden layer and exhibit the orange colour of the copper-rich
alloy. Copper, and not gold, was the main metal that had to be seen. During the later
Tairona Period, in contrast, there was a deliberate and prominent choice of gilded artefacts
made out of more or less the same kinds of copper-rich alloys.
---------------------------------------------------Chairs
Cathy Costin <[email protected]>
Heather Lechtman <[email protected]>
Bill Sillar <[email protected]>
Viviana Siveroni <[email protected]>
Miguel Fuentes <[email protected]>
Discussants
Pierre Lemonnier <[email protected]>
Freestone, Ian <[email protected]>
British Museum
Jago Cooper <[email protected]>