Social interaction and communities of practice in Formative period NW Argentina: A multi-analytical study of ceramics

PEREYRA DOMINGORENA, LUCAS; SCATTOLIN, MARIA CRISTINA; LAZZARI, MARISA; GLASCOCK, MICHAEL; STONER, WESLEY

Orlando

Congreso; 61st Society for American Archaeology meeting; 2016

Society for American Archaeology

South-centralAndean scholarship has extensively discussed a variety of circulation andexchange practices, with particular emphasis on llama caravan long-distancetrade. In NW Argentina, traditional approaches proposed that regionalinteraction was an increasingly centralized process, based on typologicalsimilarities observed in a variety of materials across the region.  While material culture styles and traits wereundoubtedly shared, the unexamined focus on similarities leaves the mechanisms,direction, and intensity of interaction to speculation.   Provenance analyses can shed new light on these ancient relationships, yetfocusing on single analytical techniques obscures the nuances of earlyinteraction.  To further contribute to the detection of theintricate relationships supporting ancient networks, we implemented amulti-analytical approach to different classes of artefacts. We focus here onthe results of the analysis of 542 pottery sherds from first millennium ADsites, as well as clay samples, obtained through petrography, NAA, and targetedLA-ICP-MS. The results provide aplatform to examine close intercommunity links rooted on common craft practicesrather than solely on stylistic reconstructions, and to explore the ancientcirculation of goods, skills, and people without assuming the capacity of earlyelites to manipulate and capitalize on such networks.