A material and technical study of Paracas painted ceramics

Kriss, Dawn; Howe, Ellen; Levinson, Judith; Rizzo, Adriana; Carò, Federico; DeLeonardis, Lisa

doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.164

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Since its earliest definition in the 1920s by Tello (2005; Tello and Mejía Xesspe 1979), the Paracas archaeological culture has been conceived of as a coastal phenomenon unfolding in the first millennium BC between the Cañete and Acarí Valleys of southern Peru, although its interaction sphere was wider (Balbuena 2013; Canziani 2013; Cook 1999; DeLeonardis 2005; Dulanto 2013; Dulanto et al 2019; Kriss et al 2018; Peters 1988; Tantaleán et al 2013, 2017; Young 2017). Yet our recent findings in the northern Nasca Drainage demonstrate that Paracas settlement extended continuously across the entire western flank of the Andes up to the puna highlands (Reindel and Isla 2017, 2018; Reindel et al 2015).…”

Section: The Paracas Economy: Archaeological Evidence From the Northe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Directness in the Western Andes: A New Model of Socioeconomic Organization for the Paracas Culture in the First Millennium BC

2022

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Economic directness is a new model of socioeconomic organization for the Paracas culture (800–200 BC) in southern Peru, with wider implications for economic theory of the prehispanic Andean past. Using an archaeoeconomic approach to analyze settlement patterns, obsidian artifacts, malacological material, and camelid skeletal remains, this study reconstructs the Paracas economy by using primary archaeological data from the northern Nasca Drainage. Its results force reconsideration of existing socioeconomic models for the ancient Andes such as verticality, circuit mobility, llama caravan mobility, transhumance, and market concepts. Whereas components typical of these models are often absent in the case of the Paracas economy, our new proposal of economic directness integrates their relevant aspects. Economic directness is defined essentially by direct access to important resources from diverse ecological tiers, direct and down-the-line exchanges, reduced transaction costs, llama caravan transport, unbalanced commodity flows across the western Andes, and forces of supply and demand with major consumption on the coast. These features formed under conditions of population growth, generating a continuous and dense settlement pattern from the Pacific coast to the highland puna zone.

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Section: The Paracas Economy: Archaeological Evidence From the Northe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Directness in the Western Andes: A New Model of Socioeconomic Organization for the Paracas Culture in the First Millennium BC

2022

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“…At last, the Late Paracas ceramics, made while the Nasca culture was emerging, were painted after firing which allowed more freedom in the choice of pigments. Thus, Paracas ceramists used red ocher and copperbased green pigments, as in Nasca wall paintings, but also organic blue and white pigments [46].…”

Section: Sharing Of Pigments and Recipes With Ceramists And Textile Painters?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of materials and techniques in first archaeological findings of Nasca wall paintings

Boucherie¹,

Nowik

Pingaud

2021

Herit Sci

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The pre-Colombian wall paintings in Peru were already known from north and central coast sites, but little information exists on the southern coast corresponding to the Nasca region. The recent excavations on Cahuachi site provided fragments of plaster with paint layers found near Great Pyramid, corresponding to phases III and IV of the construction of the site, and dating back to the Early Intermediate Period (from 200 BC to 350 AD). A series of fragments from three locations from these two respective periods were transferred directly from the excavation to the laboratory and analyzed. A panel of observation and analysis methods was applied in order to describe the stratigraphy and materials used for these paintings, with special attention to the paint layer. The stratigraphy was observed by optical and electron microscopies and X-ray fluorescence, Raman and infrared spectroscopies were employed for elemental and molecular characterization of the plaster and paintings. The obtained results show the large presence in painting layers of iron oxides and copper based pigments, as well as calcium sulfate, siliceous clay materials and graphite. Although most of these pigments could be provided by local deposits, the detection of graphite is probably linked to the use of charcoal. The variety of painting materials between phases III and IV are related to the palette of colours and pigments. The colours for phase III seem limited to the red and yellow ochre pigments, and unidentified black and gypsum white. During phase IV, additional pigments were identified such as: paratacamite, malachite and chrysocolla for greens, hematite for purple, charcoal and siliceous white, which replaced gypsum white. The paintings were sometimes applied in several layers and occasionally separated by a white coating layer. The painting materials and techniques identified on Cahuachi site, and especially the differences between the phases observed, constitute a new insight into the knowledge of wall painting tradition in Southern Peru.

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“…Red was an important color both to European and pre-invasion indigenous cultures [68], and, in the region of Pasto, several mineral and botanical sources could yield an intense red hue. Among the red pigments historically available in South America, cinnabar had been used extensively as face and body paint by the Inkas, for ceramics, as well as in Inka qeros [24,26,69]. Similar shades of red could be also produced from certain indigenous dyes, such as cochineal, obtained from female insects of the Dactylopius coccus Costa species, and achiote, extracted from the seeds of the Bixa orellana plant [70].…”

Section: Pigments and Colorantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite an undeniably growing interest and fascination with South American art, recently resulting in an increasing number of technical studies on this topic [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], scientific investigations of barniz de Pasto are still limited, while more information can be found on related decorative techniques. An article published in 1992 by Portell [29] reports two Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of blue and green glazes from a polychrome wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception created in Quito using barniz chinesco, a technique in which gold and silver leaf were extensively applied together with transparent glaze layers to walls and ceilings of churches as well as free-standing figures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of Humboldt’s colors: materials and techniques of a 17th-century lacquered gourd from Colombia

Pozzi

Basso

Katz³

2020

Herit Sci

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In 2014 the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, acquired a viceregal Spanish American lacquered gourd, dating to 17th-century Colombia, which was decorated using an indigenous technique known as barniz de Pasto. This technique employs local, raw materials, including natural dyes and a plant resin commonly known as mopa mopa, harvested from Elaeagia pastoensis Mora trees that grow in the Andean rainforest. An in-depth scientific study of the gourd aimed at determining its materials and manufacturing techniques, and at comparing the results with the description of local botanical species reported by Alexander von Humboldt, the German naturalist and explorer, in the account of his travels through the region in 1801. The use of several non-invasive techniques was followed by micro-sampling. Initially, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis was performed to evaluate the possible presence of inorganic pigments, while fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and multiband imaging provided preliminary data concerning the colorants. Dyes and pigments were fully characterized using Raman spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA); a detailed description of the resin was obtained with HPLC-PDA and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS); the metallic elements and overall decoration were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Radiocarbon dating completed the technical information on the object. This work confirmed the identity of the resin as Elaeagia pastoensis Mora, supporting an unequivocal classification of the gourd as a barniz de Pasto object; the color palette was found to include some of the pigments listed by Humboldt, but also comprised other materials, such as calomel, a rare white pigment based on mercury(I) chloride; examination of the decoration’s intricate stratigraphy provided insight into the complexity of the barniz de Pasto technique, in which silver leaf is typically applied on top of a sheet of untinted resin and covered with a variable number of dyed resin layers; finally, a pre-1650 date was firmly established for the gourd, which is in line with stylistic observations that had tentatively placed this object in the early barniz de Pasto period. In addition to providing conservators with the proper tools to preserve similar lacquered objects, the wealth of knowledge gleaned from this study has revealed fascinating details about the technique employed, demonstrating the extraordinary skill and craftsmanship of the artisans involved in the lacquer arts.

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A material and technical study of Paracas painted ceramics

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

Economic Directness in the Western Andes: A New Model of Socioeconomic Organization for the Paracas Culture in the First Millennium BC

Economic Directness in the Western Andes: A New Model of Socioeconomic Organization for the Paracas Culture in the First Millennium BC

Characterisation of materials and techniques in first archaeological findings of Nasca wall paintings

In search of Humboldt’s colors: materials and techniques of a 17th-century lacquered gourd from Colombia

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