Microscopic Rocks and Expansive Empires: Investigating Inca Ceramics from Cuzco, Peru

Abstract

High quality polychrome ceramics are an iconic aspect of Inca material culture. This ‘Cuzco Inca’ pottery appears suddenly in the archaeological record: but it draws upon technological and stylistic aspects of earlier local pottery and we discuss the specifics of how these pre-Inca traits were combined to form the distinctive new state ceramics. Using ceramic petrography, the dominant fabric of Cuzco Inca pottery is compared with those of two pre-Inca wares, Killke and Lucre. Andesite temper, identified in the Lucre and Cuzco Inca fabrics, is compared with samples of andesite from local geological outcrops. This suggests that Lucre pottery was made using similar materials to Cuzco Inca and was a technological precursor. Because these materials and technological knowledge would only have become available to the Inca after their conquest of the Lucre cultural area, this ceramic evidence has important implications for our understanding of Imperial expansion and state intervention in craft-production.

Three Gold-Bearing Prehispanic Ceramic Fragments from the Supía-Marmato Mining District, Rio Medio Cauca, Colombia

“…Porosity, color, compositional or chemical analysis, and hand-sample characteristics are standard tools in the description of ceramic material and petrographic examination of ceramics is an established tool in archaeology (Orton et al, 1993;Meeks, 2000;Ixer et al, 2014). Chemical analysis, commonly atomic absorption spectrophototometry, neutron activation analysis, or X-ray fluorescence, has been shown to be useful in establishing provenance or source of the ceramic material (Orton et al, 1993).…”

Instrumental neutron activation analysis of Inka and local pottery from northern Chile's Atacama Desert

“…Three stylistic clusters are known for the LIP: Arica, Serrano, and Black on Red. It is important to note that these styles are no exclusively of the LIP because, as seen in many parts of the Andes, local pre-Inka style continued during the LP (Ixer, et al, 2014;Santoro, 2016;Sillar and Dean, 2002;Williams, 2004 (Fig. 2), which evolved from the previous local pottery tradition (Romero, 2002;Romero, 2005;Santoro, et al, 2001;Uribe, 1999).…”

Imperial-Style Ceramic Production on a Royal Estate in the Inka Heartland (Cuzco, Peru)

“…Imperial pottery produced and consumed in Cuzco—including Cheqoq—was crafted from a recognizable fabric characterized by a clean orange- to salmon-colored body with nonplastic inclusions of consistent sizes (~0.4 mm), shapes, and densities, including basalt-andesite, mica, and granitic types (Ixer et al 2014). Vessel forms include consistently proportionate jars, pots, cups, and plates (Bray 2008; Rowe 1944:48).…”