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Research on San Pedro's local wares (Late Formative and Middle periods) has tended to favor stylistic analysis of pottery from mortuary contexts to construct chronological sequences. Little is known about systems of production of domestic wares, or about their social implications. This study uses complementary macroscopic, petrographic, and elemental data to contribute to the understanding of the production and technological patterns of ceramics in the domestic context of Coyo Aldea (San Pedro de Atacama, Chile) through the study of polished vessels. The results show highly homogeneous pastes, contrasting with the variability of surface colors of three wares. In addition, the results indicate that all types of polished wares were locally manufactured following a shared ceramic technological style, reflected in paste homogeneity. This study contributes to a better understanding of the means of production as we provide new data on raw material uses and technological styles as part of the operational sequence of production.

Objectives To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. Materials and Methods We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from cranial modification practices, violent injury, and the mortuary assemblage are used to explore culturally constructed elements of status and identity, radiogenic strontium isotope analyses provide us with a perspective on the geographic origins of these individuals, and stable carbon and nitrogen analyses allow discussion of paleodiet and access to resources. Results Radiogenic strontium isotope values show the presence of multiple first generation migrants at Larache. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data reveal significant differences among individuals. The mortuary context reveals a standard pattern for the oases but also includes a series of unusual burials with abundant gold and few other objects. Interestingly, both local and nonlocal individuals with different head shapes had access to the differentiated burial context; however nonlocal individuals appear to be the only ones with a heavily maize-based diet. Conclusions Our evidence shows that Larache served as a burial place for a diverse, yet culturally integrated and potentially elite segment of the Atacameno population, but not a foreign enclave as had been postulated. Am J Phys Anthropol 158:592–606, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Este artículo presenta un catastro de las pipas cerámicas provenientes de sitios arqueológicos del Salar de Atacama (SA) y describe sus atributos morfológicos, la composición química elemental de las pastas y la composición química de sus residuos de combustión. Las pipas presentan una forma distintiva del SA: la boquilla con labio evertido y el hornillo con motivos zoo-antropomorfos abstractos. Las pastas presentan atributos de origen local y sus residuos ausencia de triptaminas y nicotina en niveles traza, sumado a una variedad de compuestos genéricos de origen vegetal y animal. Estos atributos sugieren una finalidad distinta del consumo de compuestos psicotrópicos y permite hipotetizar que las pipas del SA fueron utilizadas para sahumar. Los resultados se comparan exploratoriamente con aquellos publicados sobre pipas del Noroeste de Argentina. This article provides a survey of ceramic pipes from archaeological sites near the Salar de Atacama and describes their morphological attributes, paste elemental composition and combustion residue composition. Pipes exhibit a shape distinctive of the SA: pipe stems with everted lips and bowls with abstract zoo- or anthropomorphic motifs. The pastes present attributes of local origin and the residues lack of tryptamines and traces of nicotine and a variety of generic compounds of plant and animal origin. These results suggest that consumption of hallucinogens was not the primary use of the pipes; this allows hypothesizing that they may have been used as incense burners. An exploratory comparison of the results with those of pipes from Northwestern Argentina is presented.

Archaeology in San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile) contributes significantly to our understanding of the Middle Horizon Tiwanaku polity, its iconography, regional interaction spheres, and other pivotal themes in Andean Studies. New AMS C14 dates, however, allow us to revisit San Pedro chronological phases and the associated ceramics that often define them. This paper extends previous important contributions to ceramic analysis in the area by presenting the ceramic material found in newly dated tombs and the temporal relationship of red, black, and grey polished vessels. The results suggest that these key San Pedro ceramic styles may be more contemporary in time than previously thought. Color variation may therefore be the result of different symbolic and contextual uses rather than temporal production developments. This leads to a reevaluation of the accepted phase structure as a linear sequence of key ceramic types and of the current understanding of cultural fluorescence during the late Formative and Middle Period (ca. AD 100-900).

My experience attending two NSF Short Courses on Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology prompted me to use free list and pile sorting activities as teaching exercises with interesting and informative results that could be useful for others grappling with teaching research methods to undergraduates. My immediate goal in attending the course was inform my teaching of anthropological research methods. However, I also gained a new pedagogical tool that I have implemented in a wide range of classes to help students experience and understand the various qualitative and quantitative methods undertaken in social science research, while also redirecting their role as passive students to active scholars. The following paper outlines the implementation of this Museum Studies' free list and pile sorting exercises, considers the resultant data and impact on students in their own words, and provides some caveats for future implementation.

This article presents a characterization of polished thinwares found at the site of Coyo Aldea contextualized by recent scholarly advances in the transition between the Formative and Middle Periods (ca. AD 100-700) in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, and the Andes. In particular, we explore polished household thinwares by juxtaposing them against similar polished vessels common in local graves. Clarifying variation within residential types and between these and burial types allows us to better understand household ceramic consumption at this time and the potential ritual role burial ceramics played in defining new social complexity. This work prompts us to look again at how local material culture functioned in the negotiation of power in the mortuary context while reinforcing the persistent need for more systematic excavation of household contexts.

Dada la homogeneidad de las prácticas funerarias de los habitantes prehispánicos de San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, los entierros de carácter excepcional han sido interpretados como producto de la presencia de individuos foráneos en la zona. El presente trabajo retoma los casos y objetos típicamente asociados a la colonización tiwanaku (entre 500 y 1000 d.C.), y poniendo énfasis sobre todo en los contextos con oro y plata, hace una comparación detallada entre los patrones funerarios sanpedrinos y tiwanaku. Los datos presentados coinciden para rechazar el modelo colonizador y apoyan al modelo indirecto de presencia tiwanaku de "clientelaje" (Berenguer 1998). Se establece que, dada la escasez de información sobre prácticas funerarias estatales, la importancia de la cerámica en los entierros altiplánicos recuperados cuando los ejemplos sanpedrinos carecen de la misma, la incorporación casi exclusiva del material cultural tiwanaku en contextos de carácter local y la posibilidad de que los objetos de oro puedan proceder de otros lugares no basta para confirmar una identidad tiwanaku a estos entierros excepcionales.