Ceramic production in the Tiwanaku sphere: LA-ICP-MS in the Moquegua, Titicaca, and Cochabamba regions

Abstract

Between 600 and 1100 CE, the Tiwanaku site emerged as the principal center of an impactful cultural phenomenon in the Andean altiplano. Its influence stretched from the Pacific coast to the Amazonian valleys and south into the Atacama Desert. We examine the results of a series of research projects utilizing LA-ICP-MS on ceramics and clays from a cross-section of Tiwanaku settlements in three of the principal regions of influence: the Cochabamba region of Bolivia, the Bolivian altiplano including the Tiwanaku site, and the Moquegua valley of southern Peru. Our research seeks to synthesize the nature of Tiwanaku ceramic production in its heartland and in the distinctive Tiwanaku settlements on both sides of the Andean continental divide. We use the geochemical data to elucidate the extent of ceramic exchange between regions as well as the diversity of ceramic production within local areas to assess the ways in which ceramic production was enacted in different places. This contribution is part of a special issue synthesizing the results of geochemical analysis of Andean ceramics through time and across space and makes reference to those other comparative studies in the volume.