Preface

SCARO, A; OTERO, C.; CREMONTE, M. B.

Pre-inca and inca pottery. Quebrada de Humahuaca, Argentina

The Latin American Studies Book Series, Springer

Lugar: Cham, Switzerland; Año: 2017; p. 5 - 10

Pottery production, as one of the most widespread productive activities in the past,allows us to approach different aspects of people?s lives. Therefore, the analysis of archaeological settlement pottery provides information about human behavior and social practices linked to its production, distribution, and consumption, both in everyday and ritual activities.In the province of Jujuy (the northernmost sector of Argentina) Quebrada deHumahuaca is one of the most widely recognized archaeological zones and oneof the most widely studied. An important reason for this is undoubtedly the particular topography of the Quebrada, a semi-arid valley stretching between 1800 and 2800 masl (Fig. 1). This topography has facilitated its functioning as a natural corridor linking nearby desert-like, high-altitude regions in the west (Puna) to lower altitude, humid valleys located to the east (Yungas) in what is today the Province of Jujuy.Similarly to what has been found for other Andean regions, permanent settlementsoccurred over time and those settlements were transformed into highly complex productive societies since the thirteenth century, corresponding to the Regional Developments Period (RDP; Late Intermediate Period in the Andes). During that period, the development of pottery styles reflected the materiality of theOmaguaca groups identity. During the fifteenth century Quebrada de Humahuacawas incorporated into the Tawantinsuyu (the Inca Empire). The Inca Empireextended over 5000 km in western South America, from Ecuador to Chile, incorporating different environments and ethnicities with varying levels of political complexity. A range of direct or indirect strategies of domination were performed in the provinces as revealed by Spanish chronicles and the study of archaeological records. Relations between the state and subject groups had to be tailored to the existing organizations, capabilities, and interests of both the central powers and the provinces, with different existing scales of control in productive activities, such as pottery production. On the other hand, within the frame of the state political and economic strategies, some foreign pottery styles may be partly attributable to the Inca practice of mitmaqkuna, the displacement and relocation of entire subject populations.The richness and abundance of ceramic material evidence in the landscape of theQuebrada awoke the interests of archaeologists very early on, promoting extensive excavations of the most conspicuous settlements. The results of these interventions have served not only to characterize these pre-Hispanic agricultural societies and trans-Andean population dynamics.Since 2003 Quebrada de Humahuaca was made a UNESCO World HeritageSite. Numerous tracks, roads, and settlements testify its history from pre-ceramic to colonial times. Due to its strategic position, Quebrada de Humahuaca has been colonized by both the Inca and the Spaniards. It also has been a stage for many battles during the Argentine War of Independence.A selection of articles that reflect part of the results obtained within the Project of the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCYT) PICT 01538 Cerámicas arqueológicas de Jujuy (Quebrada de Humahuaca, yungas yvalles templados). Prácticas sociales y arqueología aplicada are included in this book. Through these articles, different perspectives for archaeological pottery studies are presented, regarding the understanding of pre-Hispanic social practices. Moreover, applied archaeology tasks carried out provided experiences linked to contemporary perceptions of local communities about archaeological cultural heritage.As study cases, pottery contexts of different archaeological settlementsresearched at Quebrada de Humahuaca in northern, central, and the central southsectors are analyzed. Also within the Appendix is included a selected ceramicsample from the site Esquina de Huajra. The aim of this book is to contribute toQuebrada de Humahuaca?s archaeological knowledge and promote its inclusion incurrent discussions about Andean and worldwide past pottery production.Lucas Pereyra Domingorena and María Beatriz Cremonte analyze the SanFrancisco pottery tradition, one of the most important and widely distributedFormative cultural expressions in northwestern Argentina. This chapter contributes to the characterization of this pottery tradition by reviewing the information and interpretations reached to date and providing new evidence from two sectors of northwestern Argentina: the San Francisco River Basin and the central south sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy Province). Pottery materials recovered from these areas were analyzed through the application of petrographic techniques and statistical analysis of the quantitative variables. The main goal was to answer two questions: Is the identity of San Francisco, reflected in the forms and iconography of their vessels, also expressed in their pastes as a distinct manufacturing tradition? Can technical and textural characteristics of the pastes set trends that reflect a local production of San Francisco vessels in the central south sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca? These studies corroborate the existence of the four groups of pastes previously defined and propose that vessels of the same ceramic type have different types of fabrics. The same type of fabrics are present both in the San FranciscoBasin sites as well as in the central south sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca?s sites, therefore we cannot state differences in the manufacturing patterns of these two areas. Nevertheless, a slight tendency towards pastes with a common presence of slate and phyllites was registered in the central south sector of Quebrada de Humahuaca?s sites. Finally, the adding of grog, present in most of the San Francisco pastes, is undoubtedly the hallmark of this pottery tradition. This trait is shared by other cultural traditions from the eastern slopes of the Andes and it is also an idiosyncratic feature of the pottery assemblages of the Chaco area, establishing anotable difference with other pottery traditions from the Formative Period of northwestern Argentina.María Clara Rivolta, Clarisa Otero, and Catriel Greco propose to include newevidence, such as unpublished radiocarbon dating and the analysis of materialcontext elements from sites located in the central sector of Quebrada deHumahuaca, considered in classical proposals as part of the Middle Period (600?900 AD). As a result of these studies radiocarbon datings were obtained, repositioning Isla manifestations in the interval between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.This implies the proposal for interpretive schemes about the interrelation of small conglomerates such as La Isla de Tilcara with villages in domestic terraces,given that they were contemporaries according to this new evidence. In this sense,the strong contrast between landscape elements and materiality?mainly ceramics ?leads to the formulation of hypotheses concerning the possibility that, after the fall of Tiwanaku and during later times, there was a shift of small groups coming from the Altiplano towards Quebrada de Humahuaca, a region that did not have a significant population density at that time.Paola Ramundo presents the spatial distribution of pottery in Quebrada de LaCueva (Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina) as a useful hint to understand consumptionrelations. In this study, consumption is mainly viewed on a stylistic level, both at an intra- and inter-site scale in the area. Furthermore, the evaluation of this practice through time could contribute to the study of past social practices in the area.Considering this region as part of the northern Quebrada de Humahuaca, it is suggested that the place suffered similar change processes at different levels. The starting point is thus defined by the general Hypothesis that consumption of pottery in Quebrada de La Cueva varied through time. From this, a number of minor hypotheses may be derived: (a) during the Late Formative Period, consumption of pottery in the area had a more foreign nature; and (b) during the Regional Developments Period II (RDPII) and Inca Periods, its consumption was more locally based than during previous and probably later occupational events. Hence,this chapter considers pottery at a stylistic level, using the concept of goods consumption being understood as a kind of symbolic action. In order to analyze the consumption of pottery on a style level, a number of analyses are performed:(1) decorative analysis of complete vessels and sherds recovered from past and recent excavations; (2) study of space and time variability in styles at inter- and intra-site scales in the area; and (3) preliminary outline of some of the ways potterywas consumed in Quebrada de La Cueva.In order to contribute to the knowledge of the RDP of Quebrada de Humahuaca (Período de Desarrollos Regionales), Agustina Scaro and Lautaro López Geronazzoaddress the study of El Pobladito?s Enclosure 2 through pottery and zooarchaeological analyses. El Pobladito was the only site exclusively occupied during that period in the central south section of Quebrada de Humahuaca. Thus, studying the materiality of this settlement provides an opportunity to understand social dynamic processes prior to Inca domination. The contextual analysis of Enclosure 2 allows recognizing diverse activities as well as understanding its role within settlement functionality. Based on these analyses, the authors consider that different activitieswere carried out at Enclosure 2, such as the preparation of food, the storage of food and other goods, and resting. Considering the presence of a high concentration of zooarchaeological remains and fragmented pottery vessels in such a small enclosure (22 m2), and that of ?special? elements, rarely recovered in other contexts in Quebrada de Humahuaca, such as a bird skull, a bone trumpet, a group of camelid phalanges, and a probable mollusc ornament, suggests a non-domestic space. It is stated that Enclosure 2 was linked to communal activities developed at the communityparticipation space or ?plaza? where it is located.Clarisa Otero?s chapter aims to present a synthesis of the wide variety of stylistic manifestations registered in the ceramic assemblage of Pucara of Tilcara, established as the capital of a wamani on the previous settlement. The pottery of this site allows characterizing styles from other regions of the Andes that circulated during the last late pre-Hispanic period, as well as recognizing morphological and decorative transformations in ceramics manufactured locally. The author mainly focuses on changes resulting from the Inca conquest that led to consideration being given to the fact that the pottery of this region?defined for decades as abstract or geometric ?was an important visual resource to express identity messages and to impose new narratives by the State. In this context Otero highlights the use of two rhetoric figures: metaphor and metonymy, also detected in other non-ceramic supports, reflecting the existence of religious beliefs related to the supernatural and to fertilitycults.Agustina Scaro discusses the Humahuaca-Inca site of Esquina de Huajra regarding the morphological and decorative protocols of its pottery, based on a stylistic perspective. This, in order to understand regularities in shape?decorationidentified for each style present in the site repertory. However, the protocol also accounts for Esquina de Huajra?s morphological and decorative pottery variability.This variability, as well as the high incidence of foreign vessels, is significantly higher than that observed at the nearby and contemporary settlement of Pucara de Volcán. This situation suggests that Esquina de Huajra would have played a significant role within the new landscape created by the Inca administration, related to the status of its inhabitants and to their participation in interaction networks thatextended well beyond northwestern Argentina.Catriel Greco presents a compilation and review of radiocarbon dates fromdifferent archaeological sites in the central south of Quebrada de Humahuaca. These include those made by Beatriz Cremonte and her team in recent years, as well as those previously available for the region. After reviewing each radiocarbon dating and its context, conventional statistics and Bayesian modeling techniques are used to evaluate temporal trends. Temporal lapses determined by Greco allow adjusting pottery styles trajectories during pre-Inca and Inca times.In their chapter, Mónica Montenegro, Elisa Aparicio, and Nicolás Lambertishare experiences developed in Quebrada de Humahuaca about the use ofarchaeological ceramic as a device for social memory. In the field of publicarchaeology the authors provide an extensive and thorough discussion about therole of archaeology in the construction of counter-hegemonic discourses about local past, and the necessity to ponder the pedagogic dimension in relation to thetransference of scientific knowledge in the paths of inter-cultural collaboration. This research, as a link between past and present, encourages the planning of new intervention strategies in contexts of tension and reflexivity where inter-ethnic and inter-cultural relationships are constantly being reconfigured.Finally, Valeria López and Agustina Scaro made up an Appendix formed by theillustration and brief description of 14 fragmented vessels and 30 selected potsherds from Esquina de Huajra. Almost 7000 potsherds were excavated at this site, a settlement only occupied during Inca times in Tumbaya. As Humahuaca-Incapottery and related types are little known in the region we decided to show the most conspicuous decorative and morphological attributes present in the ceramic contexts, which are described in the chapter written by Scaro in this book.