Indigenous labor and the circulation of majolica in the colonial Andes

Abstract

This study examines compositional data from Laser-Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of eighty-four samples of tin enameled ware (majolica) recovered from Spanish colonial period contexts of two regions (north coast and south-central highlands) in the Peruvian Andes. We identify four compositional groups and discuss their distribution as evidence of the circulation of majolica in the Colonial Andes, with particular attention to the roles that Indigenous people played in their transport and use. While most of these materials appear to have been produced at Panama la Vieja, the presence of three additional groups of likely Peruvian origin suggests a more complex network of production and exchange that points to the diverse ways in which Indigenous labor structured colonial economic networks.