Compilation of plants involved in the use of south American pipes: a contribution to archaeobotanical contrast

ANDREONI, D. Y CAPPARELLI, A

Krakow

Simposio; 14th Symposium of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany; 2007

International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, W. Slafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences

Pipes are common in American archaeological record. The knowledge of plants consumed in pipes may contribute to establish their prehistoric significance and functionality, which are still poorly defined. Identification process of plant charred material from each pipe is time consuming because of the nature of the material and because of there are commonly a complex of several species involved. This paper proposes to generate a data base of those plants that were traditionally and archaeologically involved in the use of pipes and “incensarios” (cencers)-a kind of artefacts where certain substances were burnt for ritual purposes- in South America. Data comes from documentary and from the very scarce archaeological direct evidence. It is thought that these data will facilitate a exponential development of direct evidence identification in the future. Not only taxa, but also plant part and mode of use were registered. More than thirty taxa from approximately ten families were recorded including Nicotiana, Anadenanthera, Berberis, Latua pubiflora, Eugenia pitra, Aristotelia maqui, Dortenia brasiliensis, Trichocline, Polygonaceae, Ulmaceae, Solanaceae, Schinus, Tessaria dodoneaefolia, Sapium haematospermun, Ilex, Erythroxilum coca, Aloysia citriodora?, among others. It is concluded that the spectrum of taxa involved in the use of pipes and “incensarios” in South America is wider than that commonly thought by investigators-that with alkaloid presence such as Nicotiana, Trichocline or Anadenanthera-. Much other species are used complementary as flavouring, filtering, lightening and substitutes, depending of the study area and cultural perceptions. Microscopic features of these taxa must be kept in mind at the time to analyse direct evidence from this artefacts.   Key words: archeological pipes, ethnographic pipes, written record, archaeobotany,