Abstract
This article presents a high-resolution chronology of Wairajirca pottery in the Huánuco basin, which has been identified as a frontier region between the Andean highlands and the Amazonian rain forests: its pottery is known for having mixed features from both areas. However, the lack of fine-grained pottery and radiocarbon datasets has handicapped comparative studies’ attempts to track in detail its early development process. Our new high-resolution chronology of Wairajirca pottery is based on stratigraphic excavation data, a detailed ceramic typology, and a Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon date from the Jancao site. The five-staged ceramic sequence from the late eighteenth to late twelfth century cal BC displays specific features of this development, including radical changes in vessel type over several centuries and connections with other pottery traditions. The earliest phase shows close relation with highlands traditions, whereas the influence of tropical rain forest patterns intensified in later phases alongside the continuation of local pottery traditions. This indicates that frontier dynamics based on fluid interactions across different ecological zones and regional sociopolitical movements played a crucial role in this long-term social process.
Highlights
Este artículo presenta una cronología de alta resolución de la cerámica Wairajirca en la cuenca de Huánuco, que ha sido considerada una región fronteriza entre la sierra andina y selva amazónica y su cerámica es conocida por tener características mixtas de ambas áreas
The Huánuco region, located in the eastern slopes of the Andes and comprising a narrow valley formed by the upper Huallaga River, is one of the frontier regions situated between the Andean highlands and the Amazonian rain forests
We present a high-resolution chronology of the Jancao site in the Huánuco region based on fine-grained pottery datasets anchored by a Bayesian radiocarbon analysis
Summary
Este artículo presenta una cronología de alta resolución de la cerámica Wairajirca en la cuenca de Huánuco, que ha sido considerada una región fronteriza entre la sierra andina y selva amazónica y su cerámica es conocida por tener características mixtas de ambas áreas. Pottery in the Amazonian rain forests included a wide variety of vessel forms with elaborate decorations, such as wide-mouthed jars, carinated bowls, and bottles with bridged handles (Lathrap 1970). The Huánuco region pottery assemblage combined characteristics from pottery in the highlands and the tropical rain forests; there were various vessel forms in this region, including neckless jars, wide-mouthed jars, boat-shaped or triangleshaped bowls, double-spout bottles with bridged handles, and decorations such as complicated geometric motifs with postfired pigment (Onuki 1972).
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