María Cecilia Páez

Experimentation with ceramic pastes containing high amounts of pyroclastic materials: their relation to the manufacture of Inka vessels

Pyroclastic inclusions constitute an important component of the ceramic pastes associated with the Inka period in the Argentine northwest. The study presented here attempted to reproduce experimentally the pre-Hispanic techniques used to manufacture ceramics with these components. A set of briquettes was created with similar percentages of pyroclastic and sand inclusions, as well as a set with no added inclusions. The results obtained indicated a reduction in vessel weight with high levels of pumice inclusions, which would confer a functional advantage regarding the efficiency of medium- and long-distance transportation of products.

PRESENCIA DE INCLUSIONES PIROCLÁSTICAS EN LA CERÁMICA DE LOS SIGLOS XV A XVII EN EL CENTRO OESTE Y NOROESTE ARGENTINO

In recent decades, technological analyses performed on ceramic materials have revealed the importance of pyroclastic components in the pastes compositions of...

PRODUCCIÓN LOCAL DE OBJETOS CERÁMICOS DURANTE LOS PERÍODOS TARDÍO E INCA EN EL VALLE DE TAFÍ (TUCUMÁN, ARGENTINA)

A central issue in analyzing the dynamics of pre-Hispanic societies is their ability to produce the goods they consume, in this case, the pottery they used i...

Changes in pottery production under Inca rule in a frontier site in the Tafí Valley, Argentina: a mineralogical analysis

Abstract In pre-Hispanic Andean societies, archaeologists have argued that the dynamic methods involved in ceramic production, in part, reflect, prevailing social and political conditions in a given time. According to this, the aim of this work is to evaluate the changes and continuities in the ceramic manufacturing pattern occurred after the Inca presence in northwest Argentina, as indicated through a comparative analysis of the ceramic pastes from four archaeological sites within Tafí valley (Tucumán province), two from the Regional Developments Period and (ca. AD 900–1480) and the Inca Period/Late Horizon (AD 1480–1530). The results indicate the persistence in the use of some local traditional techniques, while new pyroclastic components were incorporated as a separate and distinctive feature of the Inca period with a wide regional dispersion.