Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households

253 Pages·2000·242.166 MB·English

by  Bill Sillar

Shaping Culture
Making Pots and Constructing Households
An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery
Production, Trade and Use in the Andes
Bill Sillar
BAR International Series 883
2000
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Published in 2019 by
BAR Publishing, Oxford
BAR International Series 883

Shaping Culture
© Bill Sillar and the Publisher 2000
The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced,
stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format
or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of
the Publisher.
ISBN 9781841711515 paperback
ISBN 9781407352244 e-book
DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This book is available at www.barpublishing.com
BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford)
Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish
the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became
part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by John and
Erica Hedges in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd /
Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2000. This present volume
is published by BAR Publishing, 2019.
BAR
PUBLISHING
BAR titles are available from:
BAR Publishing
122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 7BP, UK
EMAIL [email protected]
PHONE [phone]
FAX [phone]
www.barpublishing.com

Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Published in 2019 by
BAR Publishing, Oxford
BAR International Series 883

Shaping Culture
© Bill Sillar and the Publisher 2000
The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced,
stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format
or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of
the Publisher.
ISBN 9781841711515 paperback
ISBN 9781407352244 e-book
DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This book is available at www.barpublishing.com
BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford)
Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish
the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became
part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by John and
Erica Hedges in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd /
Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2000. This present volume
is published by BAR Publishing, 2019.
BAR
PUBLISHING
BAR titles are available from:
BAR Publishing
122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 7BP, UK
EMAIL [email protected]
PHONE [phone]
FAX [phone]
www.barpublishing.com

Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
GENERRIPIENTE EXPRJEfiZAN 5 R 7 A.M. LA
IMAM 5IRVEN 50PRE CONEIOTES DE IINZ Y
RENTES TRRERS HUMBRES EN TRR8RJOG -
EN CHRERR PIUJERES EN 1Uf HAURES EN El
HUGER 105 Mktg .AYLIDF1N SUS PADRES
0811 RTOR10
' [People] generally eat at 5 to 7 a.m. The mother serves the soup with
boiled maize kernels and warmed-up potatoes so that they can devote
themselves to various chores: the men work in the fields, women work
on what needs doing in the house, and the children are obliged to help
their parents.'
Painted in Lima on a wooden board by the artisan cooperative `Associaciön de Artistats Populares
de Sarhua': a group of emigrants from Sarhua, Prov. Victor Fajardo, Dept. Ayacucho, Peru.
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
GENERRIPIENTE EXPRJEfiZAN 5 R 7 A.M. LA
IMAM 5IRVEN 50PRE CONEIOTES DE IINZ Y
RENTES TRRERS HUMBRES EN TRR8RJOG -
EN CHRERR PIUJERES EN 1Uf HAURES EN El
HUGER 105 Mktg .AYLIDF1N SUS PADRES
0811 RTOR10
' [People] generally eat at 5 to 7 a.m. The mother serves the soup with
boiled maize kernels and warmed-up potatoes so that they can devote
themselves to various chores: the men work in the fields, women work
on what needs doing in the house, and the children are obliged to help
their parents.'
Painted in Lima on a wooden board by the artisan cooperative `Associaciön de Artistats Populares
de Sarhua': a group of emigrants from Sarhua, Prov. Victor Fajardo, Dept. Ayacucho, Peru.
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Preface
The things we make and the way in which we use them shapes our experience of the world. When I cook
dinner for my partner, make jewellery to sell in the market, or write a book for the publisher to distribute,
my use of material culture helps to structure my participation in society. Of course, my relationship with
my partner, my customers, or my readers may exist prior to these particular acts, but it is in the act of
producing, exchanging and consuming materials that we are able to express any pre-existing relationships
and through which we may transform those relationships. Without such material practice we can have no
social relations, no family, no friends, no employment, no lovers. It is largely through acts of producing,
distributing and using things that we can express such relationships and structure our world. By deciding
who will undertake a particular task (such as making, trading, or using a cooking pot) where they will do
it, when and with what kind of cooperation from others, we shape the society in which we live.
Many ethnographic and archaeological works set out their theoretical framework and then suggest that the
fieldwork area and the data which they choose to analyse was specifically chosen to address this topic, this
has not been my experience. I worked on the Cusichaca Archaeological project near Cuzco before
starting my first degree, and I used to make my own pottery when I was at secondary school. To a very
large extent it was these interests and experiences that shaped my choice of fieldwork, and the theoretical
approach outlined above is the most coherent framework that I have found within which to organise and
explain my research.
My initial interest was in explaining the exchange mechanisms that affect the distribution of Andean
pottery. My focus changed due to a combination of fieldwork experiences and an awareness of changing
theoretical interests in the discipline. Living in family households in the Andes made me aware of the need
to understand how the culturally defined use of a pot affects the desire for its acquisition, and while
working with households at other activities and participating in family and community festivals I became
interested in understanding the hopes and concerns of the people I was living with. At the same time,
archaeological theory has moved beyond a simple desire to explain distribution patterns and past
economies to include a consideration of individual agency within wider social structures. This coincided
with my own reading of Andean ethnographies and an appreciation of how interrelated economic, social,
and ritual aspects of Andean society are. Many acts which we might see as subsistence activities (such as
building a house, cleaning a canal, or going on a trading trip) have a major effect on people's social
relations and are also rich in cultural meaning and ritual significance.
While I believe that the basic theoretical framework I use could be applied anywhere and should be central
to any archaeologist's understanding of material culture, this study is explicitly a study of Andean society,
and it is only within the cultural context of the Andes today that the pottery production, trade and use I am
going to describe can be understood. In this respect I am not offering a methodology that can be taken
wholesale and used to interpret an assemblage of archaeological ceramics. This book is an exploration of
how pottery is embedded within wider activities and cultural understandings of present-day Andean
society, and how the rhythm of exchange practices with different materials and within different social
groups sets up a framework through which people experience and interpret the world around them. It is
my hope that by pointing out some of these interconnections within my fieldwork other researchers will be
better able to investigate similar types of interconnections within the specifics of their own data.
The organisation of this book is centred on three chapters in which I discuss the production (Chapter 4),
trade (Chapter 5), and use (Chapter 6) of pottery in the Andes. Chapter 1 explains the theoretical
orientation of the study and situates it in relation to wider archaeological research. Chapter 2 discusses
the historical and ethnographic context of the Andean research area and briefly describes each of the
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Preface
The things we make and the way in which we use them shapes our experience of the world. When I cook
dinner for my partner, make jewellery to sell in the market, or write a book for the publisher to distribute,
my use of material culture helps to structure my participation in society. Of course, my relationship with
my partner, my customers, or my readers may exist prior to these particular acts, but it is in the act of
producing, exchanging and consuming materials that we are able to express any pre-existing relationships
and through which we may transform those relationships. Without such material practice we can have no
social relations, no family, no friends, no employment, no lovers. It is largely through acts of producing,
distributing and using things that we can express such relationships and structure our world. By deciding
who will undertake a particular task (such as making, trading, or using a cooking pot) where they will do
it, when and with what kind of cooperation from others, we shape the society in which we live.
Many ethnographic and archaeological works set out their theoretical framework and then suggest that the
fieldwork area and the data which they choose to analyse was specifically chosen to address this topic, this
has not been my experience. I worked on the Cusichaca Archaeological project near Cuzco before
starting my first degree, and I used to make my own pottery when I was at secondary school. To a very
large extent it was these interests and experiences that shaped my choice of fieldwork, and the theoretical
approach outlined above is the most coherent framework that I have found within which to organise and
explain my research.
My initial interest was in explaining the exchange mechanisms that affect the distribution of Andean
pottery. My focus changed due to a combination of fieldwork experiences and an awareness of changing
theoretical interests in the discipline. Living in family households in the Andes made me aware of the need
to understand how the culturally defined use of a pot affects the desire for its acquisition, and while
working with households at other activities and participating in family and community festivals I became
interested in understanding the hopes and concerns of the people I was living with. At the same time,
archaeological theory has moved beyond a simple desire to explain distribution patterns and past
economies to include a consideration of individual agency within wider social structures. This coincided
with my own reading of Andean ethnographies and an appreciation of how interrelated economic, social,
and ritual aspects of Andean society are. Many acts which we might see as subsistence activities (such as
building a house, cleaning a canal, or going on a trading trip) have a major effect on people's social
relations and are also rich in cultural meaning and ritual significance.
While I believe that the basic theoretical framework I use could be applied anywhere and should be central
to any archaeologist's understanding of material culture, this study is explicitly a study of Andean society,
and it is only within the cultural context of the Andes today that the pottery production, trade and use I am
going to describe can be understood. In this respect I am not offering a methodology that can be taken
wholesale and used to interpret an assemblage of archaeological ceramics. This book is an exploration of
how pottery is embedded within wider activities and cultural understandings of present-day Andean
society, and how the rhythm of exchange practices with different materials and within different social
groups sets up a framework through which people experience and interpret the world around them. It is
my hope that by pointing out some of these interconnections within my fieldwork other researchers will be
better able to investigate similar types of interconnections within the specifics of their own data.
The organisation of this book is centred on three chapters in which I discuss the production (Chapter 4),
trade (Chapter 5), and use (Chapter 6) of pottery in the Andes. Chapter 1 explains the theoretical
orientation of the study and situates it in relation to wider archaeological research. Chapter 2 discusses
the historical and ethnographic context of the Andean research area and briefly describes each of the
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Bill Sillar — Shaping Culture
communities I have worked in. Chapter 3 discusses the development of family groups and house
structures in relation to community organisation, regional exchange practices and the wider Andean
economy. An understanding of household organisation is central to this study because households are
responsible for the production, trade and use of the pottery. Thus the first three chapters provide the
theoretical and ethnographic context that allow me to situate the pottery study more fully both within
archaeological concerns and within the wider concerns of Andean research.
This book is substantially the same as the Ph.D. thesis I wrote at the Department of Archaeology and
submitted to the University of Cambridge in 1994. The content and structure of the original thesis has
been retained, although I have taken the opportunity to correct a few minor errors and clarify a number of
points. The only chapter that has been substantially re-written is the conclusion (Chapter 7). My main aim
in re-writing this chapter has been to summarise some of the major conclusions of the book and highlight
their relevance to archaeology, with particular reference to Andean prehistory.
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
11
Andes.
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
Downloaded on behalf of Stanford University
Acknowledgements
Many individuals and institutions contributed to the research and the writing of this book, it is a pleasure
to be able to thank them.
By far my largest debt goes to the communities in Peru and Bolivia who permitted me to come and live
amongst them, who fed me, taught me, and answered thousands of questions that betrayed my ignorance.
Having worked in many different communities and talked to many potters and other informants in their
houses and their fields, at festivals and fairs, or while travelling it impossible to thank them all, but here I
would like to single out a few people to whom my debt is greatest. In Raqchi: Gomerzindo Amaru, Juan
Amaru, Honorata Rodriguez, and Eochino Sankka. In Seq'ueracay: Balatine Quilla, and Emillano
Colque. In Araypallpa: Maxi and Antonia. In Charamoray: Maximo Huamani, Lorenso Cuzco, Pablo
Hurtado, Roberto, Antonio, and Benjamin. In Machaca: Pascal Soluase, Irene Quispe, Camillio Quispe,
and Estevan. In Surumi Rancho: Sacarines Rojas. In Huayculi: Mermojines Hnojosa, Angelica Ortuga,
Sacarines Paviagua, Julian Surita, Jubinal Hnojosa, Porcino Partucino, Estevan Alvares, Floretino Flores,
Simon, and Maximo. In Paracay: Pedro Maldonado, Ernan Garcia, Hugo, and Eloy. From Ticatica:
Luciano Lopez. In Totorani: Felix Padilla. In Pumpuri: Juan Cabeces, Octavio Cabeces, Paulino Cabeces,
Andres Ramer°, Placido Ramero, Juan Cabeces, and Agata. In Lyncha: Juliana, Wilma, Pancho, Tomas,
Eva, Agripina, and Pedro. But most of all to my friends and compadres in Raqchi: Maximo and Damiana.
I have also benefited from the generosity, support and knowledge of many people whom I met and
discussed Andean archaeology and ethnography with during my fieldwork particularly Willy Pantoja,
Marcos Michel, Sonia Alconini, John Janusek, Claudia Rivera, Alan Kolata, Evan Franke, Lynn Sikkink,
Andy Orta, Ingrid Mellief, Wolfgang Schüler, Silvia Sarwe, Emily Dean, Amelia Perez, Percy Paz, and
Brian Bauer. I first went to South America in 1982 to work on the Cusichaca Archaeological Project
directed by Ann Kendall, and over the years I have frequently returned to work, and discuss ideas with
Ann: the introduction to the Andes that Ann and other project members have given me has been
enormously influential on my life.
During my B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the Institute of Archaeology, London, Richard Reece and Warwick Bray
both provided support and challenging approaches to their subjects; they remain friends and influences. In
Cambridge Sander van der Leeuw supervised the research and writing up of my thesis, Sander provided
academic guidance and moral support when it was needed. Ian Hodder, Todd Whitelaw and the M.Phil.
class of 1989-90 allowed me to join them in a seminar series that opened my eyes to new and exciting
areas of archaeological debate that I was previously ignorant of. In 1989 I attended a course on Andean
Sociology taught by Sarah Radcliffe at the centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University, and in
1990 I joined a course on Quechua language and culture taught by Rosaleen Howard-Malverde at Kings
College London (for which the A. J. Pressland Fund, Cambridge University, provided funding). Both of
these courses were invaluable to me.
This research would not have been possible without financial support from the following: Fitzwilliam Trust
Research Fund, Cambridge University [1990, 1991]; The Anthony Wilkin Fund, Cambridge University
[1991]; Crowther-Beynon Fund, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University
[1990, 1991]; The Museum of Mankind, British Museum, London[l 991]. Some of the Peruvian material
reported in this thesis comes from field-work I conducted in 1987 as a part of my M.Sc. research, I am
glad to be able to re-acknowledge The Gordon Childe Fund, Institute of Archaeology, London [1987],
and the Dunsheath Award, University of London [1987] which supported that research.
I received permission to carry out my research, essential letters of introduction and support from the
following institutions and individuals: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima (Fernando Silva Santisteban and
Sillar, Bill. Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households. An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Pottery Production, Trade and Use In the
Andes. 111
E-book, Oxford, UK: BAR Publishing, 2000, https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711515.
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