Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T04:41:02.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Standardization, Labor Investment, Skill, and the Organization of Ceramic Production in Late Prehispanic Highland Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Cathy L. Costin  and
Melissa B. Hagstrum
Cathy L. Costin
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge CA 91330
Melissa B. Hagstrum
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Specialization encompasses many ways to organize craft production, ranging from small, household-based work units to large workshops. Distinctive types of specialization develop in response to various social, economic, and environmental factors, including the demand for crafts, the social relations of producers, and the support base for artisans. These factors in turn influence manufacturing technology. Thus, different types of specialization can be characterized by a “technological profile,” which reflects relative labor investment, skill, and standardization. An analysis of Prehispanic ceramic technology in the central sierra of Peru demonstrates how these technological profiles can be used to identify the ways ceramic production was organized to provision consumers with utilitarian and luxury pottery. As we demonstrate in our analysis of pottery recovered in the Yanamarca Valley, utilitarian Wanka-style cookwares and storage jars were produced by independent household-based artisans, while imperial Inka-style jars were produced by locally recruited corvee labor working for the state.

Resumen

Resumen

La especialización económica incluye múltiples estrategias para organizar la producción de bienes. Estas estrategias abarcan desde pequeñas unidades domésticas, hasta talleres de producción. Diferentes y bien definidas formas de especialización se desarrollan en respuesta a factores sociales, económicos y ambientales cómo la demanda por los bienes producidos, las relaciones sociales establecidas entre los productores y las bases socioeconómicas de soporte de los artesanos. Estos factores, a su vez, influencian la tecnología de producción. Diferentes tipos de especialización económica pueden estar caraterizados por "perfiles tecnológicos " que reflejan la inversión relativa de trabajo, la habilidad de los productores, y la regularización de los productos. El análisis del aspecto tecnológico de una serie de alfares prehispánicos tardios de la sierra central del Perú demuestra como los “perfiles tecnológicos” pueden ser usados para identificar las formas en que la producción de cerámica estuvo organizada para proveer cerámica utilitaria y suntuaria a los consumidores. El caso que se analiza en detalle es el de los Wanka de la sierra central del Perú. En esta sociedad, ollas y otras formas utilítarias, así como grandes jarras de almacenamiento, fueron producidas en el estilo local Wanka por artesanos independientes cuyo nivel de producción no sobrepasó la unidad domestica de producción. Por otro lado, la producción de “aríbalos” en el estilo Inka imperial estuvo a cargo de trabajadores tributarios reclutados localmente pero que trabajaron directamente para el estado Inka.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , October 1995 , pp. 619 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Arnold, D. 1975 Ceramic Ecology of the Ayacucho Basin, Peru : Implications for Prehistory. Current Anthropology 16 : 183–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, D., and Nieves, A. 1992 Factors Affecting Ceramic Standardization. In Ceramic Production and Distribution, edited by Bey, G. and Pool, C., pp. 93–113. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Arnold, J., and Nieves, A. 1987 Craft Specialization in the Prehistoric Channel Islands, California. University of California Publications in Anthropology Volume 18. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Arnold, P. 1991 Dimensional Standardization and Production Scale in Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 2 : 363–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, G. 1987 The Role of the Be in the Formation of the Yamato State. In Specialization, Exchange, and Complex Societies, edited by Brumfiel, E. and Earle, T., pp. 86–101. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Benco, N. 1986 Morphological Standardization : An Approach to the Study of Craft Production. In A Pot for all Reasons : Ceramic Ecology Revisited, edited by Kolb, C. C. and Lackey, L. M., pp. 57–71. Laboratory of Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Benco, N. 1987 The Early Medieval Pottery Industry at al-Basra, Morocco. BAR International Series 341. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benco, N. 1989 Diversity in Ceramic Production : A Case Study from Medieval North Africa. In Medieval Archaeology : Papers of the Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, edited by Redman, C. L., pp. 97–118. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies Volume 60. State University of New York at Binghamton.Google Scholar
Braun, D. 1980 Experimental Interpretation of Ceramic Vessel Use on the Basis of Rim and Neck Formal Attributes. In The Navajo Project : Archaeological Investigations, Page to Phoenix 500 KV Southern Transmission Line, edited by Fiero, D. et al. Museum of Northern Arizona Research Paper No. 11. Flagstaff, Arizona.Google Scholar
Brumfiel, E., and Earle, T. 1987 Specialization, Exchange, and Complex Societies : An Introduction. In Specialization, Exchange, and Complex Societies, edited by Brumfiel, E. and Earle, T., pp. 1–9. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Clark, J. E., and Bryant, D. D. 1986 An Experimental Analysis of a Prismatic Blade Workshop from Ojo de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico. Manuscript in possession of the author.Google Scholar
Clark, J. E., and Parry, W. 1990 Craft Specialization and Cultural Complexity. Research in Economic Anthropology 12 : 289–346.Google Scholar
Costin, C. L. 1986 From Chiefdom to Empire State : Ceramic Economy Among the Prehispanic Wanka of Highland Peru. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Costin, C. L. 1991 Craft Specialization : Issues in Defining, Documenting, and Explaining the Organization of Production. In Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 1–56. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Costin, C. L. 1996 Ceramic Production and Distribution. In Empire and Domestic Economy : Transformation in Household Economics of Xauxa Society Under the Inkas, edited by Altroy, T. D. and Hastorf, C.. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Costin, C. L., and Earle, T. 1989 Status Distinction and Legitimation of Power as Reflected in Changing Patterns of Consumption in Late Prehispanic Peru. American Antiquity 54 : 691–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crown, P. L. 1991 The Production of the Salado Polychrome in the American Southwest. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. New Orleans.Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T. 1981 Empire Growth and Consolidation : The Xauxa Region of Peru under the Incas. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
D' Altroy, T, and Bishop, R. 1990 The Provincial Organization of Inka Ceramic Production. American Antiquity 55 : 120–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D' Altroy, T, and Earle, T. 1985 Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy. Current Anthropology 26 : 187–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, N. 1972 On the Lifespan of Pottery, Type Frequencies, and Archaeological Inference. American Antiquity 37 : 141–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. L., and Lewis, H. 1985 Mechanization of Pottery Production : A Case Study from the Cycladic Islands. In Prehistoric Production and Exchange : the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Knapp, A. B. and Stech, T., pp. 79–92. Monograph XXV Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
DeBoer, W. 1974 Ceramic Longevity and Archaeological Interpretation : An Example from the Upper Ucayali, Peru. American Antiquity 39 : 335–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeBoer, W, and Moore, J. A. 1982 The Measurement and Meaning of Stylistic Diversity. Nawpa Pacha 20 : 147–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earle, T. 1981 Comment on P. Rice, Evolution of Specialized Pottery Production : A Trial Model. Current Anthropology 22 : 230–231.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1982 The Ecology and Politics of Primitive Valuables. In Culture and Ecology : Eclectic perspectives, edited by Kennedy, J. and Edgerton, R., pp. 65–83. Special Publication of the American Anthropological Association 15. Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Earle, X, Altroy, X D., Hastorf, C., LeBlanc, C., Costin, C., Russell, G., and Sandefur, E. 1987 Archaeological Field Research in the Upper Mantaro Peru, 1982-1983 : Investigations of Inka Expansion and Exchange. Monograph XXVII. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Feinman, G., Kowalewski, S., and Blanton, R. 1984 Modelling Ceramic Production and Organizational Change in the Pre-Hispanic Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. In The Many Dimensions of Pottery : Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology, edited by van der Leeuw, S. E. and Pritchard, A., pp. 295–338. Cingvla VII. Albert Egges can Giffen Instituut Voor Prae-en Protohistorie. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Feinman, G., Upham, S., and Lightfoot, K. 1981 Xhe Production Step Measure : An Ordinal Index of Labor Input in Ceramic Manufacture. American Antiquity 46 : 871–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernandez Baca C, J. 1971 Motivos de ornamentacion de la cerdmica Inca-Cuzco, Tomo 1. Libreria Studium, S. A., Lima.Google Scholar
Gero, J. 1983 Material Culture and the Reproduction of Social Complexity : A Lithic Example from the Peruvian Formative. Ph. D. dissertation. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1985 Measuring Prehistoric Ceramic Craft Specialization : A Test Case in the American Southwest. Journal of Field Archaeology 12 : 65–76.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1986 The Technology of Ceramic Production of Wanka and Inka Wares from the Yanamarca Valley, Peru. In Ceramic Notes, edited by Rice, P., pp. 1–29. Occasional Publications of the Ceramic Technology Laboratory, No. 3. Florida State Museum, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1988 Ceramic Production in the Central Andes, Peru : An Archaeological and Ethnographic Comparison. In A Pot for all Reasons : Ceramic Ecology Revisited, edited by Colb, C. C. and Lackey, L. M., pp. 127–145. Laboratory of Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1989 Technological Continuity and Change : Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology in the Peruvian Andes. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1990 The Two-Curvature Method for Reconstructing Ceramic Morphology. American Antiquity 55 : 388–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1996 Household Autonomy in Peasant Craft Specialization. In Empire and Domestic Economy : Transformation in Household Economics of Xauxa Society Under the Inkas, edited by Altroy, X D. and Hastorf, C.. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington,Google Scholar
Hagstrum, D. C. M., and Hildebrand Hegmon, J., Hurst, W. M., and Allison, J. Google Scholar
Hagstrum, M. 1991 Production for Local Consumption and Exchange : Comparisons of Early Red and White Ware Ceramics in the San Juan Region. Revised paper presented at the 56th Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Hicks, F. 1987 First Steps Xowards a Market-Integrated Economy in Aztec Mexico. In Early State Dynamics, edited by Claessen, H. J. M., pp. 91–107. E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, J. N. 1979 Individual Variability in Ceramics and the Study of Prehistoric Social Organization. In The Individual in Prehistory, edited by Hill, J. N. and Gunn, J., p. 55-108. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Julien, C. 1982 Inca Decimal Administration in the Lake Titicaca Region. In The Inca and Aztec States 1400-1800 : Anthropology and History, edited by Collier, G. A., Rosaldo, R. I., and Wirth, J. D., pp. 119–152. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, C. 1981 Late Prehispanic Huanca Settlement Patterns in the Yanamarca Valley, Peru. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
LeVine, T. 1987 Inka Labor Service at the Regional Level : The Functional Reality. Ethnohistory 34 : 14–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longacre, W 1985 Pottery Use-life among the Kalinga, Northern Luzon, the Philippines. In Decoding Prehistoric Ceramics, edited by Nelson, B., pp. 334–346. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois.Google Scholar
Longacre, W, Kvamme, K. L., and Kobayashi, M. 1988 Southwestern Pottery Standardization : An Ethnoarchaeological View from the Philippines. The Kiva 53 : 101–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, A. 1975 Algunos Problemas en la Clasificacion del Estilo Incaico. Pumapunku 8 : 7–25. La Paz.Google Scholar
Miller, D. 1985 Artefacts as Categories : A Study of Ceramic Variability in Central India. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Moore, S. F. 1958 Power and Property in Inca Peru. Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, C. 1978 The Archaeological Study of Andean Exchange Systems. In Social Archaeology : Beyond Subsistence and Dating, edited by Redman, C., Berman, M., Curtin, E., Langhorne, W., Versaggi, N., and Wagner, J., pp. 315–327. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Morris, C. 1982 The Infrastructure of Inka Control in the Peruvian Central Highlands. In The Inka and Aztec States, 1400-1800 : Anthropology and History, edited by Collier, G., Rosaldo, R, and Wirth, J., pp. 153–171. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Morris, C, and Thompson, D. 1985 Hudnuco Pampa. Thames and Hudson, New York Google Scholar
Munsell, Color 1975 Munsell Soil Color Charts, 1975 edition. Munsell Color, Mac Beth Division of Kollmorgen Corporation, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Murra, J. V 1980 [1965] The Economic Organization of the Inca State. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1966a The Measurement of Diversity in Different Types of Biological Collection. Journal of Theoretical Biology 13 : 131–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1966b Species-Diversity and Pattern-Diversity in the Study of Ecological Succession. Journal of Theoretical Biology 10 : 370–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollock, S. 1983 The Symbolism of Prestige. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Reina, R. E., and Hill, R. M. 1978 The Traditional Pottery of Guatemala. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1981 Evolution of Specialized Pottery Production : A Trial Model. Current Anthropology 22 : 219–240. Costin and Hagstrum] Ceramic Production In Late Prehispanic Highland Peru 639 Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1987 Pottery Analysis : A Sourcebook. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1989 Ceramic Diversity, Production, and Use. In Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology, edited by Leonard, R. D. and Jones, G. T., pp. 109–117. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1991 Specialization, Standardization, and Diversity : A Retrospective. In The Ceramic Legacy of Anna O. Shepard, edited by Bishop, R. and Lange, F. W., pp. 257–279. University of Colorado Press, Niwot.Google Scholar
Riley, J. 1980 Industrial Standardization in Cyrenaica during the Second and Third Centuries A. D. : The Evidence from Locally Manufactured Pottery. The Society for Libyan Studies 11th Annual Report. Google Scholar
Russell, G. 1988 The Impact of lnka Policy on the Domestic Economy of the Wanka, Peru : Stone Tool Production and Use. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Rye, O. 1981 Pottery Technology : Principles and Reconstruction. Manuals on Archaeology 4. Taraxacum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sackett, J. 1977 The Meaning of Style in Archaeology : A General Model. American Antiquity 42 : 369–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C, and Weaver, W. 1963 The Mathematical Theory of Communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, C. 1988 The Organization of Craft Production at Vijayanagara, South India. American Anthropologist 90 : 580–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, B. 1991 Problems in Analysis of Standardization and Specialization in Pottery. Manuscript in possession of author, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1976 Figuring Anthropology : First Principles of Probability and Statistics. Holt, Rinehart, Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. H. 1958 Modern Yucatecan Maya Pottery Making. Memoir No. 15. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Torrence, R. 1986 Production and Exchange of Stone Tools : Prehistoric Obsidian in the Aegean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
van der Leeuw, S. E. 1976 Studies in the Technology of Ancient Pottery. Ph. D. dissertation, 2 vols. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Wattenmaker, P. 1991 Specialization, Standardization, and the Symbolic Role of Goods. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Wobst, M. 1977 Stylistic Behavior and Information Exchange. In For the Director, Research Essays in Honor of J. B. Griffin, edited by Cleland, C., pp. 317–342. Anthropological Papers 61. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar