EAA 2018: Abstract

The research project Tecnolonial -Technological impact in the colonial New World. Cultural change in pottery archaeology and archaeometry (HAR2016-75312-P) is focused on the contact among different societies in a colonial context after the expansion of the Crown of Castile after 1492. Among the different case studies in the Americas, the southernmost case is that of Valdivia (Chile) in the Viceroyalty of Peru, a town of a discontinuous life. The town was founded ca. 1552 and it was destroyed in 1599. Later on, from 1602 to 1647, it was recovered by the mapuche-huilliche indigenous population, but with a short period of Dutch occupation in 1643. Finally, the town was refounded by the Crown of Castile in 1647. To present, an archaeological project (Fondecyt num. 1130730) has identified several prehispanic and colonial evidences and it has also gathered the documentary sources from the 16th century onwards. All this efforts are now placed in the frame of the Tecnolonial project to further investigate the European pottery, but also the indigenous and colonial ceramics and their relation with the European and indigenous traditions.
In a first phase, 23 majolica and 7 glazed coarse ware individuals have been chemically characterized by means of x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and mineralogically by means of x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). According to the results, a subsample has been further investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) in order to assess their sintering state and microstructure. All individuals were recovered at the Plaza de la República, within the foundation area of Valdivia. In the present paper, we will present the first results of this case study in relation with the whole Tecnolonial project.

Archaeometry; Valdivia; majolica; glazed coarse ware; colony

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Jaume Buxeda i Garrigós¹

Mireia Pinto Monte¹
Marisol Madrid i Fernández¹
Simón Urbina A.²