Examining Variability and Provenance through Ceramic Petrography at Chavín de Huántar, Perú
Keywords:  Department of Anthropology
Stanford University
Stanford University Department of Anthropology
Stanford Archaeology Center
archaeology
Andes
ceramic analysis
Thesis

This paper relates the methodology and results of recent research using the analysis technique of ceramic petrography on pottery from the site of Chavín de Huántar, a Middle and Late Formative Period site in the Peruvian Andes that was constructed and utilized as a ceremonial center during the first two millennia BCE. The goal of the project was to analyze composition and determine provenance, in terms of raw materials sourcing, of ceramic materials from various contexts within the site to examine intra-site variability of pottery between contexts as well as possible evidence of interactions with other areas. This research encompassed the process of selecting fragments for thin-sectioning from a larger sample of sherds analyzed at the macroscopic level as well as the subsequent petrographic analysis of these samples. Different fabrics were defined primarily based on type, size, frequency, maturity, alteration, and other characteristics of the inclusions present to reflect significant differences in materials and processing used in the production of this pottery.
Study of the composition of these fabrics allowed for claims to be made about their general provenance and differences in processing of materials. Furthermore, it elucidated patterning in variability in fabrics when compared with contextual, morphological, and decorative data from the sherds. One of the major trends observed is that there is a greater variety in pastes found at the monumental core of the site as opposed to the residential area across the river, and that most of the La Banda fabrics could have been produced in the immediate vicinity of the site, in the river valley. Meanwhile, much of the pottery from the ceremonial center would have required at least some transport of raw materials or finished products, likely from the surrounding higher elevations. Also, the fragments from later stratigraphic layers at the ceremonial center generally have a very distinctive crushed-rock-temper fabric, possibly corresponding to deposits from post-Chavín occupations.
Overall, the data seem to support current theories about Chavín as a ceremonial center, with artifacts being brought in from different places and by different people, although there is no definitive evidence for very long-distance travel or trade found in this dataset. There does seem to be a distinct compositional and stylistic divide between pottery from the residential and monumental areas, which could correspond to the use of the monumental core as a center for ritual which attracted diverse contributions while the residential area probably produced its own ceramics for more domestic use from materials local to the valley. This could suggest that control over and participation in ceremonial activities at the site was not the domain of the general local population, but was rather under the authority of a different entity, or multiple entities, with the ability to appeal to a wider audience.