Vestir la cabeza: tocados y adornos cefálicos en figuras antropomorfas de urnas Santamarianas de Fase IV

Abstract

We inquired about the practices of "dressing the head" during the Late-Inka period in Northwest Argentina. We ask ourselves: what social categories does this field of representation relate to, what other socio-cultural practices were related to this art and how does it relate to the social reality of the time? We analyzed headdresses and cephalic ornaments represented on anthropomorphic figures from Santamarian urns of Phase IV and compared them with archaeological, ethnohistorical and ethnographic case studies from the central and southern Andean area, with emphasis on northwestern Argentina and the Amazonian and Chaco slopes. As a result, we identify eleven varieties of Santamarian cephalic ornaments, which are associated with NOA metal pieces, Aguada ceramic iconography and plumary art techniques from the Amazon and Gran Chaco. We propose that these ornaments are linked to the male gender and to hierarchical social roles, probably military, religious and/or political. Finally, we propose a set of interpretative hypotheses that allude to local strategies of social legitimization between social organizations of the NOA and the Inca state.