Ceramic production during the Middle Horizon: Wari and Tiwanaku clay procurement in the Moquegua Valley, Peru

Abstract

As the only place simultaneously occupied by the Middle Horizon (A.D. 600–1000) Andean states, the Tiwanaku and the Wari, the Moquegua Valley in southern Peru is of critical importance to understanding relations between the two states. Visual studies of Tiwanaku and Wari ceramics in the valley have elucidated differences in form and decoration. The procurement of raw clays was central to the production of these ceramics, and understanding where people procured their clay may provide insight into the social and economic interactions between these two states. Survey of the Moquegua Valley indicates the extensive availability of raw clays. Results of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) analyses of clays indicate that there is heterogeneity in the chemical signature of the valley's clays and that at least five different clay groups can be distinguished. Comparison of these clays with LA‐ICP‐MS analysis of ceramics from a Tiwanaku site and a Wari site demonstrates that although Tiwanaku and Wari colonists in Moquegua used locally available clays during the Middle Horizon, the clay sources exploited by potters from each state were different and derived from areas located within their respective middle and upper valley territories. This information provides a basis for future chemical analysis of ceramics from the Moquegua Valley and improved understanding of past social and economic interactions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pottery production, regional exchange, and state collapse during the Middle Horizon (A.D.500–1000): LA-ICP-MS analyses of Tiwanaku pottery in the Moquegua Valley, Peru

“…Sherds were subjected to LA-ICP-MS at the Elemental Analysis Facility (EAF) at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the same facility used to analyze clays from the Moquegua Valley (Sharratt et al 2009). Protocols established for the Field Museum's facility were used for the LA-ICP-MS analysis (Dussubieux et al 2007;Golitko and Terrell 2012;Niziolek 2013;Vaughn et al 2011).…”

“…Using the ''Criterion of Abundance'' those ceramics that are chemically distinct from the majority are assumed to be imports (Bishop et al 1982: 300-301). However, several studies have sought to empirically connect finished ceramic vessels with the area in which they were produced by attempting to locate clays and compare their chemical signatures with those of archaeological ceramics (Adan-Bayewitz and Perlman 1985; Bartlett et al 2000;Dorais et al 2004;Hein et al 2004;Neff et al 1992;Phillips and Morgenstein 2002;Sharratt et al 2009;Sherriff et al 2002;Strazicich 1998;Vaughn and Neff 2004). Such comparisons are not straightforward.…”

“…One of the principal advantages of undertaking a study of ceramic production and importation among Tiwanaku assemblages in the Moquegua Valley was that a geochemical study of clays in the Moquegua Valley had already been carried out (Sharratt et al 2009). In this study, clays were collected throughout the Moquegua Valley and five chemically distinguishable clay groups were identified using LA-ICP-MS (FIG.…”

“…This necessitated using the same methodology, LA-ICP-MS, as that utilized in the earlier clay study (Sharratt et al 2009), and therefore required exporting ceramic sherds to the U.S.A. Other analytical methodologies, particularly portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF), have the advantage that they can be conducted at the location of curation, meaning that large samples, including entire vessels which would be impossible to export from Peru, can be analyzed. P-XRF analyses were undertaken of Tiwanaku pottery in Moquegua from the sites of Chen Chen and Tumilaca la Chimba (Schur 2011;Sharratt 2011a).…”

Proceedings of the International Conference LACONA XI

“…While much research has focused on copper alloys [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and gilt surfaces [6,[14][15][16][17], equally significant work has sought to characterize the cleaning of iron alloys by lasers [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”