Comparative Petrology of “Aguada Portezuelo” Ceramic Style (ca. 650-900 A.D.): a Technological Approach for its Study at the Catamarca Valley (Catamarca Valley, Province of Catamarca, Northwestern Argentine)

1) DE LA FUENTE, G. A., N. KRISTCAUTZKY AND G. TOSELLI.

Proceedings of 34th. International Symposium on Archaeometry, 3-7 May, Zaragoza, Spain

Instituciòn Fernando El Católico

Lugar: Zaragoza, España; Año: 2004

Abstract The “Aguada Portezuelo” ceramic style (ca. 650-900 A.D.) from Northwestern Argentine region presents a great variation and complexity in the manufacture techniques employed by the ancient potters concerning the surface treatments and the decoration applied to the ceramic vessels (cf. Kush 1991, 1996-1997, González 1998). The main aspects related to the manufacture processes involved in the shaping and decoration of these vessels have not been fully investigated at the present. The macroscopic and microscopic (binocular microscope, 20X-40X) observations done until now allow to preliminary establish that these ceramic sherds present a very fine-grained and compact ceramic paste, mainly characterised by the presence of rounded quartz sands, biotite and muscovite as the principal mineralogical constituents (González 1998). In this paper, we present the first results of a comparative ceramic petrology study carried out in a set of ceramic sherds assigned to “Aguada Portezuelo” style coming from several archaeological sites geographically located in the Catamarca valley (Kriscautzky y Togo 1996), with the main aim to discuss the technological characteristics and the manufacture process of this ceramic type and its modalities into the Catamarca valley. Qualitative variables such as type of matrix, porosity, roundness and microfactures, as well as quantitative variables –type of temper identified- are presented and discussed. Additionally, we discuss the utility of  ceramic petrology to the study of the specific mineralogy of some kind of slips applied to surfaces of the ceramic vessels.