Communities of practice in pre-Hispanic Middle and Lower Paraná (Northeastern Argentina). Ceramic petrography contributions

PÍCCOLI, CAROLINA; POLITIS, GUSTAVO; SILVA, CAROLINA; BONOMO, MARIANO; DI PRADO, VIOLETA; MOROSI, MARTÍN; BARBOZA, CAROLINA

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Elsevier

Lugar: Ámsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 34 p. 102 - 563

2352-409X

During the present decade, our knowledge on the practices of raw material selectionand preparation from pre-Hispanic Middle and Lower Paraná pottery manufacturinghas substantially increased due application of thin section microscopy. However, thepoint-counting methodology has not been applied in most of the studies, whichprovides paste component quantitative data, and allows us to make adjustedcomparisons across different pottery manufacturing traditions. In this paper, weperform modal analysis by point-counting of ceramic pastes retrieved from Middle andLower Paraná archaeological sites (ca. 1800 to 360 BP), which are attributed to theGoya-Malabrigo archaeological entity. Paste petrography allowed us to identifystructural similarities in ca. 70% of the pastes, and a shared clay processing recipe,which included adding grog. Usage of this temper has already been observed amongcommunities of potters from Middle and Lower Paraná, even in those not attributed tothe Goya-Malabrigo entity (e.g., Guaraní). In this paper, we also verify the differencesfound in the added amount of grog temper between the two Paraná River sectionsunder consideration. Although most frequently grog comprises 2% of the inclusionsfound, its variability range is wider in Lower Paraná where, in general, it was added ingreater amounts. This practice could mean, in turn, indicative of shared identities and asocial differentiation marker, and evidence that clay manipulation played a prominentrole during the identity negotiation processes.