Alden

Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas
Identifying the sources of Inka period ceramics from

northern Chile: results of a neutron activation study
John R. Alden a,*, Leah Minc b, Thomas F. Lynch c
a
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, 1215 Lutz Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
b
Oregon State University Radiation Center, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
c
Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, Bryan, TX 77802 and Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Received 28 June 2005; received in revised form 27 September 2005; accepted 29 September 2005
Abstract
To examine regional patterns of ceramic production and distribution during the era of Inka domination in northern Chile, we determined the
elemental compositions of 157 samples of archaeological ceramics and geological clays from the sites of Catarpe and Turi using instrumental
neutron activation analysis. We identified two major and three minor composition groups in the ceramics. The major groups, High Cr and
Low Cr, are linked to clays from two broad geological contexts within the region, while the minor Low Na group is made up of ceramics imported
from northwestern Argentina. The distribution of the composition groups indicates that, in the CatarpeeTuri region, patterns of ceramic production differed for different vessel types: jars were made from clay and temper acquired near the sites where the jars were used, while bowls were
made of material coming from more distant sources. The geographical distribution of the analyzed ceramics indicates that bowls were exchanged
between Catarpe and Turi in a pattern more similar to tribute/extraction than to market exchange, with Catarpe being the dominant site. The compositional analysis also demonstrates that Inka-style ceramics were being locally produced at sites in this region during the era of Inka domination.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Inca; Inka; Ceramics; Chile; Neutron activation
1. Archaeological background
In northern Chile, the Late Intermediate Period (Solor
Phase, A.D. 900e1450) was an era of locally independent sociopolitical units (senoros) centered on oases scattered across
the arid Atacama Desert landscape [21]. According to ethnohistoric sources, this region was incorporated into the Inka Empire during the reign of Topa Inka Yupanki. The advent of the
Inkas, whose presence defines the Late Horizon Tardo Phase
(A.D. 1450e1536), was marked by the establishment of new
settlements incorporating structures built in Inka architectural
styles, the construction of Inka style structures in previously
occupied sites, the introduction of new types of metal objects
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 734 663 8121.

E-mail address: jralden@umich.edu (J.R. Alden).
0305-4403/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.09.015
and ceramics, and the construction of a system of routes and

paths collectively called the Inka Road. These Inka features
did not, however, replace the existing Atacameno settlements,
structures, ceramics, and trailsdthey only supplemented the
corpus of material culture already present in the region [1].
The two most important Inka administrative centers in this
region were at Catarpe and Turi (Fig. 1). At Pukara de Turi,
near the Rio Salado that drains into the upper Rio Loa, a small
settlement was established around A.D. 900. The site, however,
did not expand to its maximum size of about four hectares until around A.D. 1300, and the earliest evidence of an Inka presence at Turi dates to around the end of the 14th century [2]. In
contrast, Catarpe Tambo, an Inka administrative center on the
Rio Grande de San Pedro about 10 km north of modern San
Pedro de Atacama, appears to have been established by the
Inkas or their local surrogates when the region was added to
Inka territory somewhere around A.D. 1450 [19].
J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594
576
Turi
Toconce
lado
Rio Sa
Calama
ila
ma
Rio Salado
Rio Loa
oV
Ri
Rio Grande
Catarpe
Vilama
San Pedro
de Atacama
Salar
de
Atacama
Below 3000 meters

Archaeological Site
0
50
kilometers
contour interval 500 meters
3000 to 4000 meters
Modern Town
4000 to 5000 meters
International Border
Above 5000 meters

Salar (Salt Flat) and Saline Lake
Fig. 1. Map of Calama region, showing locations discussed in text.
Turi is only about 80 km from Catarpe, and the Solor and

Tardo Phase ceramics from these sites are very similar. Archaeologists use a single set of names to describe the pottery
from the two sites, and in most cases it is not possible to distinguish pottery from the Turi and Catarpe regions using visual
examination alone. However, because the two sites lie in different geological regions and different drainage basins, it
seemed likely that ceramics made near Catarpe and San Pedro
de Atacama would have different elemental compositions
from similar-looking ceramics made near Turi.
We initiated a neutron activation study of Tardo Period ceramics and geological clays from Turi, Catarpe, and several
neighboring sites in the San Pedro de Atacama oasis to see

whether the pottery from these settlements could be differentiated into distinctive compositional groups and identified with
different sources of clay and temper. If we were able to define
such groups, we intended to use those data to determine patterns of ceramic production and exchange in this region during
the period of Inka domination using compositional characteristics of the archaeological material rather than stylistic features of the ceramics or assumptions derived from
ethnohistoric records pertaining to other areas of the Inka Empire. Such data would help us to elucidate directly the form
and scale of economic reorganization that occurred in this
region following the advent of the Inkas, and ultimately allow

us to compare the process of Inka colonization and exploitation in this region with the patterns observed in other areas
that were incorporated into the expanding Inka Empire.
2. Neutron activation analysis
Neutron activation analysis is a technique for determining
the elemental composition of rock, clay, and other multi-element materials. A sample of material is bombarded with neutrons from a nuclear reactor, transforming a small fraction of
the atoms in the sample into radioactive isotopes. As these isotopes decay they emit gamma rays with discrete energies that
are uniquely characteristic of the elements undergoing radioactive decay [13,14]. By measuring the energies and intensities of the gamma radiation emitted by an irradiated sample
it is possible to determine the concentrations of 25e35 different elements in the sample being examined.
Over the past 30 years, archeologists have used instrumental
neutron activation analysis (INAA) to study ancient ceramics
and address questions concerning the organization of ceramic
production and patterns of local, regional, and long-distance
exchange [5,7,11,15]. Based on differences in trace element
concentrations, they have identified groups of vessels that
were made using clay and/or temper from a single geological
source, and distinguished sherds of similar appearance that
were produced from raw materials derived from different sources. In some cases the actual sources of raw materials have been
identified, but even in situations where the sources of the potterys component clay and temper remain unknown, compositional analyses have demonstrated that particular groups of
pottery were manufactured from material derived from different geological sources. Such information can be used to reconstruct patterns of ceramic production and exchange both within
local areas and between more distant centers of population.
3. Sample selection and analytical procedures
For this study, a total of 157 ceramic and clay samples were
submitted for INAA at the University of Michigans Ford Nuclear Reactor. The archaeological materials tested included 45
samples from Catarpe Tambo, ten from Beter 3, five from Solor 13, and five from Vilama 2dall Solor Phase and Tardo Period occupations in the San Pedro de Atacama oasisdas well
as 66 ceramics from Turi and three sherds collected from sites
along the Inka Road. Twenty samples of clays from around
San Pedro, as well as two clays and one ethnographic ceramic
sample from Toconce in the Turi region were tested in hopes
of identifying sources for the material used to make the archaeological ceramics.
Ceramic samples were chosen that (1) came from secure archaeological contexts, (2) were identifiable by type and form,
and (3) might be relevant to patterns of chronological, spatial,
or typological variation. Samples were prepared by grinding
away all surfaces of the sherd using a Dremel high-speed drill
and a sintered carbide abrasive bit, removing any slip, paint, or
surface deposit that might contaminate the ceramic paste and
577
temper. A piece of the de-surfaced sherd one to two square

cm in size was broken off and soaked in distilled water for
24 h to dissolve any soluble salts impregnating the ceramic.
The water was changed and the sample soaked another day,
then the process was repeated for a third day. The sample
was then air dried and ground by hand into powder using an
agate mortar and pestle. The washed and powdered sample
was dried for 48 h in a desiccating oven.
Samples of geological clays were either washed or unwashed. The washed samples were mixed with distilled water
and allowed to settle for 24 h. The water was then decanted
and the washing repeated. After the second washing the
sample was air-dried and the clay fraction separated from
any non-target coarse material. Mixtures of clay and temper
were prepared from unwashed samples. As with the samples
from sherds, the samples of clay or clay and temper were
ground into powder and dried.
Approximately 200 mg of powdered, desiccated material
from each sample was encapsulated in high-purity quartz glass
and irradiated for 20 h in a core-face location in the reactor,
subject to an average thermal neutron flux of 4.2 1012 n
cm2 s1. Geological reference standards were irradiated
with each batch of samples to calibrate the readings from
the irradiated materials. Following irradiation, two separate
counts of gamma activity were acquired using a 30e40% efficiency HPGe detector: a 5000-s count (live time) of each
sample after a 1-week decay period, and a 10,000-s count
(live time) after a period of 5 weeks decay. The resulting gamma spectra permitted the quantification of 25 elements with intermediate and long half-life isotopes (As, Ba, La, Lu, K, Na,
Sm, U, Yb, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Nd, Rb, Sc, Sr, Ta, Tb,
Th, Zn, Zr). Element concentrations were determined through
comparison with three replicates of the standard reference material NIST1633A (coal fly ash). All data reductions were
based on current consensus element libraries utilized by the
Missouri University Research Reactor for archaeological materials [14]. Samples of NIST278 (obsidian rock), NIST688
(basalt rock), and New Ohio Red Clay were included as check
standards.
4. Statistical analyses: procedure
We used a series of statistical procedures to identify groups
of samples with similar elemental composition, where each
group is distinctly different from other such groups, and
with each group presumably representing a distinct source of
clay and temper. The ability to define such groups depends
on the geochemical distinctiveness of the raw material sources
being utilized [5], and it can be difficult to identify specific
sources of clay or temper if those materials are derived from
extensive beds of geological material exhibiting a single compositional signature. The analytical process followed now
standard procedures for group identification and verification
[14], including (1) preliminary identification of compositional
groups, (2) group refinement to create statistically homogeneous core groups, and (3) classification of non-core members
into their most likely compositional group.
578
Preliminary group identification utilized a combination of

bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques to distinguish
possible groups within the data set and to identify outliers.
Principal components analysis (PCA) was employed to summarize the primary dimensions of variability within the elemental concentration matrix, and samples that appeared to
hold together across a series of bivariate plots and on PC
scores were identified as potential compositional groups.
The second step was to test and refine the preliminary
groups, using multivariate statistical criteria to assess the homogeneity of each group. For each case, the probability of
group membership was calculated from the Mahalanobis D2
statistic, a measure of the multivariate distance between that
case and a group centroid relative to the dispersion of other
group members. Group refinement and the calculation of the
D2 statistic proceeds iteratively, and at each pass through the
data, cases with low probability of group membership and
cases showing affiliations with more than one group are removed until one or several distinct core groups emerge.
The final step in forming groups involved assigning noncore samples to the composition groups they are most likely
to belong with. Typically, final classification utilizes multiple
approaches, including discriminant function (canonical variates) analysis, the probabilities of group membership calculated
from the Mahalanobis D2 statistic, and the position of a case
relative to the 95% confidence interval ellipses for group
membership defined on the principal components. In this
study, a case was classed as mixed if these criteria revealed
probabilities of greater than 5% for affiliation with more than
one group; a case was classed as an outlier (unclassed) if it
had low probabilities of membership in any group or if it fell
outside the confidence intervals for group membership as plotted in canonical variate space.
Table 1
Principal components analysis of Catarpe/Turi ceramics
1
Principal components
Eigenvalue
Percent of variance explained
Cumulative variance explained
6.01
28.64
28.63
4.51
21.49
50.13
2.26
10.75
60.88
1.61
7.66
68.54
Total structure coefficients

Sm
La
Ce
Eu
Nd
Yb
Lu
Tb
Fe
Cr
Sc
Co
Hf
Th
Ta
U
Cs
Rb
As
Na
Ba
0.9072
0.8220
0.8184
0.8034
0.7733
0.6564
0.5631
0.5104
0.0503
0.1315
0.2075
0.2088
0.1423
0.2337
0.2196
0.2297
0.0099
0.1791
0.2792
0.1777
0.1549
0.1209
0.0642
0.1259
0.4376
0.1389
0.0733
0.0884
0.1216
0.9503
0.9027
0.8944
0.8048
0.6267
0.0435
0.1372
0.2461
0.0411
0.4295
0.0956
0.2280
0.2065
0.1263
0.2943
0.3114
0.1454
0.0628
0.0999
0.0272
0.1994
0.0161
0.1360
0.0052
0.1830
0.2405
0.8680
0.7668
0.6555
0.6815
0.5522
0.4797
0.3801
0.3270
0.2011
0.0414
0.0721
0.0383
0.0903
0.5568
0.6735
0.0544
0.0419
0.1595
0.2191
0.1105
0.3990
0.0521
0.0675
0.3721
0.0037
0.4859
0.0292
0.5823
0.3509
rare earth elements, while the second PC represents variation in

the first series transition metals, including iron, scandium, and
chromium. The third component represents the incompatible
elements, including thorium, tantalum, and uranium, as well
as the alkali metals cesium and rubidium; the fourth represents
further variation in the heavy rare-earth elements (lutetium and
ytterbium) and sodium.
5. Statistical analyses: results

5.2. Core group definition
5.1. Principal components analysis
The dimensional structure of the elemental concentrations
was first assessed and reduced using PCA, a mathematical procedure that transforms a number of (possibly) correlated variables into a smaller number of uncorrelated variables called
principal components. Because the goal of PCA is to reduce
the number of dimensions in the data set, only the most significant PCs are retained. Typically, this means keeping only
those PCs whose eigenvalues are greater than 1, since components with eigenvalues of less than 1 account for less variance
than did the original variable [18].
In this data set, the PCA was based on 21 elements that are
measured more precisely by neutron activation (As, Ba, La,
Lu, Na, Sm, U, Yb, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Nd, Rb, Sc,
Ta, Tb, Th). After apparent outliers in univariate and bivariate
space were removed, we were left with a sample of 130 cases.
Using the Kaiser criteria [18], we identified the first four principal components, jointly accounting for over 68% of the variance in the compositional data, as the most significant (Table 1).
The first component primarily represents variability among the
Only samples from local style sherds were examined in

defining reference composition groups for the Catarpe/Turi region. Obvious imports and copies of imperial-style Inka ceramics were removed from the initial analyses, as were
samples of clay and temper and samples identified as outliers
in the initial PCA analysis, leaving 109 samples to be used in
defining core groups. Preliminary bivariate plots of elements
and principal components suggested two major composition
groups, both consisting of local style sherds and thus presumably of local manufacture. These groups are most clearly
separated by differences in transition metal content, as illustrated by the distribution of samples along the second principal
component (Fig. 2). (Composition groups are defined using
multivariate statistics, and because plots like Fig. 2 are twodimensional representations of a multidimensional data space,
the 95% confidence ellipses sometimes appear to exclude samples that are actually members of a particular group.) Since bivariate plots show the clearest separation between the groups
is evidenced by differences in chromium content, we designate
the two groups as High Cr and Low Cr. The High Cr
Fig. 2. Separation of local ceramic composition groups based on first two principal components. Solid symbols show Core Members of each group, open
symbols show Non-Core Members; ellipses show 95% confidence intervals
for group membership.
group (n 33) has higher values of transition metals overall

and higher Cr:Th ratios, in contrast to the more abundant
Low Cr group (n 52).
Subsequent verification and refinement of the two composition groups utilized the Mahalanobis D2 statistic based on
scores for the first four PCs. As noted by Glascock [14], calculation of Mahalanobis distances requires that group sizes
exceed the number of elements; ideally, group size will be several times that of the number of elements. One way to assure
meeting this desired ratio is to base Mahalanobis distance calculations on PC scores, which encapsulate the most significant
dimensions of variability within the data set. The probabilities
of group membership calculated in this manner confirmed the
preliminary groups and identified samples with a strong probability of group membership based on iterated jack-knifed distance calculations.
In addition to the two main groups, several minor groups
showing extreme values on one or more elements were identified from the sample of local-style sherds (Fig. 3). These extreme-value groups may represent samples of local-style
pottery that are non-local in origin, or they may reflect prehistoric exploitation of unusual clay sources or atypical concentrations of tempering agents. Minor groups include an Extreme Cr
group (n 3), with chromium concentrations of more than
200 ppm, and a High Co group (n 6), of samples with elevated
concentrations of cobalt. The small size of these groups precluded rigorous testing of their internal homogeneity.
5.3. Linking composition groups to local clay sources

Confirmation that ceramics from both the High Cr and Low
Cr groups could have been locally manufactured was gained
579
Fig. 3. Distribution of minor composition groups, based on values of Cr and Co.
by linking those two ceramic composition groups to samples

of local clays and mineral tempering agents (Table 2 and
Fig. 4). For each sample of clay, temper, or mixture of clay
and temper, the probability of membership in either the
High Cr or Low Cr group was assessed from the Mahalanobis
D2 statistic as calculated from scores for the first four PCs. A
number of the clay samples show a significant probability of
membership in either the High Cr or Low Cr group.
Three clay samples from two locations had a high probability of membership in the High Cr group: one washed and two
unwashed samples from locations 3 and 4 in the San Pedro de
Atacama region (Fig. 5). These samples were collected from
alluvial deposits in dried pools in the riverbed of the Rio
Grande de San Pedro, from directly below the site of Quitor
and from beneath the bridge across the Rio Grande on the
San Pedro-Calama road, respectively. A single ethnographic
ceramic sample, made of clay from deposits near Volcan Tatio
and tempering agents from near Toconce, also joined the High
Cr group. Since a sample of clay from the Toconce-1 source
was not similar to either the High Cr or Low Cr groups, it
would appear that the tempering agents in the T-67 sample
are responsible for the High Cr compositional signature of
this sample.
Clay samples from six locations joined with the Low Cr
group. These included samples taken from the bed of the
Rio Vilama, from alluvial deposits in a large arroyo debouching into the Rio Grande just north of Catarpe, and from broad
deposits of Plio-Pleistocene material accumulated along the
flanks of the chain of Andean volcanoes running along the
Chile-Bolivia border. In contrast, samples unaffiliated with either ceramic composition group are largely possible tempering
sands or arbitrary mixtures of clays and temper. Most of these
temper or clay-and-temper samples have substantially lower
element concentrations than were evident in the ceramic or
clay samples, suggesting that these samples contain a higher
580
Table 2
Classification of clay samples to local ceramic composition groups
Sample
Type
Site
Provenience
Group
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
CL-03u
CL-03w
CL-04u
T-67
CL-01u
CL-01w
CL-02u
Clay, unwashed
Clay, washed
Clay, unwashed
Ethnographic ceramic
Clay, unwashed
Clay, washed
Clay, unwashed
Quitor
Quitor
San Pedro
Turi
Vilama
Vilama
Catarpe
High Cr
High Cr
High Cr
High Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
0.467
0.339
0.055
0.190
0.000
0.000
0.042
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.020
0.159
0.175
0.367
CL-02w
Clay, washed
Catarpe
Low Cr (mixed)
0.053
0.534
CL-05
CL-08
CL-11
CL-13
CL-14
CL-04w
CL-06
CL-07
CL-09
CL-10
CL-12
CL-15
CL-16
T-68
T-69
Clay, unwashed
Clay, unwashed
Clay, unwashed
Clay and temper
Clay and temper
Clay, washed
Temper
Clay and temper
Temper
Clay and temper
Temper
Clay and temper
Clay and temper
Clay
Clay
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
Source 3
Source 4
San Pedro
Source 1
Source 1
Source 2
Source 2
Source 3
Source 4
Source 4
Turi
Turi
Rio Grande riverbed

Rio Grande riverbed
Rio Grande riverbed
Toconce-1, near Tatio
Rio Vilama riverbed
Rio Vilama riverbed
Arroyo north
of site
Arroyo north
of site
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
Source 3
Source 4
Rio Grande riverbed
Source 1
Source 1
Source 2
Source 2
Source 3
Source 4
Source 4
Toconce-1, near Tatio
Toconce-2
Low Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.016
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.000
0.490
0.068
0.350
0.100
0.168
0.036
0.000
0.001
0.000
0.011
0.002
0.017
0.032
0.000
0.000
fraction of quartz-rich sand than was typical for materials used

by prehistoric potters.
The association of these clay samples with the primary
composition groups of local style ceramics offers strong support for the argument that the ceramics from Catarpe and
Turi were locally produced from locally available clays and
tempering agents.
One possible problem with this analysis is that our clay

samples were not fired. Unfired clays contain small quantities
of adsorbed water and organic material that will increase sample weights and thus reduce element concentrations on
a weight ratio basis. When Cogswell et al. fired oven-dried
clay samples to 800e1000 C, they reported a weight loss
of 4e5% [8], suggesting that a small but possibly significant
increase in element concentrations would occur after raw
clay samples are fired. To simulate this effect, we increased
the element concentrations observed in our dry clay samples
by 2% and 4% and recalculated PC scores and probabilities
of group membership using the simulated concentrations.
This simulation had only minor effects on the probabilities
of group membership, although it did raise the probabilities
that Cl-02u was associated with the High Cr group and Cl16 associated with the Low Cr group at above the 5% threshold (Appendix A). Although neither of those changes would
alter the conclusions we came to using the raw clay element
concentration data to calculate probabilities of group membership, they indicate that it would be preferable to use fired clay
samples in any further INAA studies on material from this
region.
5.4. Classification of non-core group samples
Fig. 4. Distribution of clay samples relative to primary composition groups.

Solid stars show samples identified with either the High Cr or Low Cr composition groups.
Ceramic samples initially excluded from the definition of

local core groups (i.e., obvious imports and copies of imperialstyle Inka ceramics) were tested for group membership in
the High Cr or Low Cr groups, again using the Mahalanobis
D2 statistic based on PC scores. This process identified a number of samples (including some that had been identified on
581
30
00
m
35
00m
a
lam
Vi
o
i
Source 1
R
Source 4
Catarpe
Vilama
San Pedro
Source 2
ed
nP
Rio S
a
de Atacama
00
25
3000
ro
26
00
Quitor
Source 3
2500
m
Archaeological Site
0
kilometers
10
Clay Sample Location
Contour Interval 100 meters
Fig. 5. Site and clay sample locations in the area of San Pedro de Atacama.
stylistic criteria as presumed imports) that had a high probability of membership in either the High Cr or Low Cr group.
These samples are designated as Non-Core in the Status
column of Appendix B. This procedure also identified six samples with compositions intermediate between the High Cr and
Low Cr groups (labeled as mixed in the Composition
Group column of Appendix B), and twelve samples with
no significant probability (P < 0.05) of belonging to either
of the two main Catarpe/Turi composition groups.
One additional cluster, a group of nine samples distinguished by their low sodium content (Low Na), was isolated
from the set of samples that could not be classified as either
High Cr or Low Cr (Fig. 6). These Low Na samples were
all from sherds that were classified as exotic based on their
paste and surface treatment. Three members of this group
(CT-07, CT-18, and T-60) also had distinctly low iron to scandium (Fe:Sc) ratios, indicating that the Low Na group might
be further divisible along that axis of variation.
The final classification of ceramic samples into compositional groups is presented in Appendix B, along with data
on the source and characteristics of each sample.
6. Discussion
6.1. Ceramic production, geology, and clay source areas
We know of no direct evidence of ceramic productiondkilns,
pottery-making tools, wasters, or ceramic slagdfrom any sites in
the Turi/San Pedro de Atacama region, and hence will not attempt to address questions about the organization of local or
582
Fig. 6. Distribution of minor composition groups, based on values of Na and Cr.
regional ceramic production. However, because this region has

been relatively well surveyed, we assume that the majority of
the pottery used at Catarpe and Turi was manufactured at or in
the immediate vicinity of the known settlements and not at
some undiscovered special production centers. It is also clear
that finished pottery may have been moved from site to site
within the region, through casual transport, market exchange,
immigration, or state-controlled redistribution, and evidence
for such movement will be discussed later.
Ethnographic data from a worldwide sample of societies
suggest that most ancient potters would probably travel not
more than 1 km to obtain their clays and tempers while few
would travel more than 7 km. [4]. In Toconce, however, a village about 20 km east of Turi, traditional potters make a round
trip of 2 days on foot to reach one favorite clay source, and
they routinely gather tempering material from locations at
least 5 km from the town where they live [22]. Favored locations for finding temper include sources of micaceous material
a moderate walk from Toconce, as well as a source at the foot
of Cerro Copacoya about a day and a half on foot from Toconce. Nevertheless, in societies without mechanized transport
potters surely preferred to exploit nearby sources of clay
and temper [3], and we assume that the potters of Catarpe
and Turi used local sources of clay and temper whenever
possible.
Many of the clay samples tested had compositions consistent with membership in either the High Cr or Low Cr ceramic
composition groups (Table 2 and Fig. 4). Clays associated with
the Low Cr group came from six sources in the vicinity of
modern San Pedro (Fig. 5). The distribution of these sources
relative to the principal geological regimes in the Turi/San Pedro region (Fig. 7) suggests that Low Cr clays from Sources 1,
2, 3, and the Rio Vilama derive from the Plio-Pleistocene
Chaxas ignimbrite (a deposit of dacitic tuff, pumice, and small
lava bombs), while the Low Cr clays from Source 4 and the
arroyo north of Catarpe derive from the Oligocene-Miocene

San Pedro Formation (sandstone, mudstone, and clay, with
limited intercalations of conglomerates and tuff) [20]. Together,
these two formations are the primary sources for the alluvial
deposits associated with prehistoric occupations in the vicinity
of San Pedro de Atacama. Clays from these deposits are compositionally similar to our Low Cr group of sherds, and the
great majority of the ceramics we sampled from this region
fell into the Low Cr composition group.
Turi is located in an area of alluvial gravel, sand, and clay
derived from Pleistocene-Holocene volcanic deposits northeast of the site. Unfortunately, we were not able to collect
clay samples from these deposits, and no amount of discussion
of the regional geology can truly mitigate the lack of actual
samples. However, while the deposits around Turi and those
around San Pedro differ in age and in details of petrological
character, they all derive from the extended episode of volcanism responsible for creating the central spine of the Andean
cordillera. Therefore, we suggest that the Low Cr clays used in
the production of Tardo Period ceramics at Turi, in a situation
analogous to what we were able to demonstrate at Catarpe/San
Pedro de Atacama, originated from the erosion of volcanic deposits, of different ages but broadly similar elemental composition, coming from the range of high volcanoes to the east of
the Turi/San Pedro region (Fig. 7). Such erosional deposits are
readily available in the immediate vicinity of Turi.
Clays associated with the High Cr composition group came
from three locations: two places in the bed of the Rio Grande
near San Pedro de Atacama, and an ethnographic sherd, sample T-67, made of clay from the Toconce-1 source and temper
from an unspecified source of micaceous material near the village of Toconce. The Toconce-1 source (Fig. 7) is some 35 km
ESE of the village of Toconce, and a sample of clay from that
source (sample T-68) does not have a composition similar to
either the High Cr or Low Cr groups. We conclude that the
tempering agents in sample T-67 are responsible for making
the composition of this piece of modern pottery similar to
the composition of the High Cr sherds in our sample of prehistoric pottery.
Our preliminary clay survey did not unambiguously identify
the geological sources of the High Cr composition group.
However, the distribution of the three High Cr clay samples
and the concentration of High Cr ceramics at Turi (see Table 3)
coincide in a suggestive way with the distribution of the
Cretaceous era Purilactis and Lomas Negras Formations
(Figs. 5 and 7). Turi is less than 10 km north of a large exposure of Purilactis sedimentary rock that is being eroded by the
Rio Salado tributary of the Rio Loa, while the Rio Hojalar and
Rio Toconce, the northernmost tributaries of the Rio Salado/
Loa, both collect outwash from the Lomas Negras Formation
east of Toconce [20]. Finally, along its upper reaches, the Rio
Salado that flows southward into the Rio Grande de San Pedro
runs near a stretch of Purilactis Formation deposits several
kilometers in length. This tributary contributes a significant
part of the sediment carried by the Rio Grande, and it is possible that the High Cr clays found in the bed of the Rio Grande
derive from those Cretaceous era Purilactis deposits. However,
583
Loa
Turi
Rio
Toconce
do
Ri
Rio Grande
oV
Catarpe
ila
ma
Rio Salado
la
Rio Sa
Vilama
San Pedro
de Atacama
kilometers
50
contour interval 500 meters
Clay Sample Location

Archaeological Site
Ignimbrites and redeposited volcanics, Miocene & Oligocene

Ignimbrites, Plio-Pleistocene
Volcanic andesites and scorias, Plio-Pleistocene & Quaternary
Modern Town
Purilactis and Lomas Negras Formations, Cretaceous
International Border
Granitic intrusions, Cretaceous
Fig. 7. Geology of the Turi/Catarpe area, Region II, Chile.
at least one hard rock mine is operating in intrusive granitic

deposits adjacent to the Rio Salado/Rio Grande, and that
mine is dumping tailings directly into the canyon of the river.
Thus, it is possible that the elevated levels of chromium and
other transition metal elements evident in the clay samples
from the Rio Grande alluvium are a result of modern mining
activity and not characteristic of the prehispanic riverine clays.
At this time we consider this to be the most likely explanation
for the presence of High Cr clays in the Rio Grande alluvium,
although further testing will be needed to prove or disprove
this hypothesis.
6.2. Distribution of composition groups by site
Because the ceramic samples tested here were not randomly
selected, any apparent patterning must be interpreted with
caution. Still, a cursory examination of the data in Table 3 reveals several potentially meaningful differences between the
material from Turi and that from Catarpe. Most notably, while
the assemblage of ceramics from Turi contains approximately
equal numbers of High Cr and Low Cr sherds, the Catarpe
sample has more than twice as many ceramics from the Low
Table 3
Distribution of ceramic composition groups at sampled sites
Site
High
Cr
Low
Cr
Extreme
Cr
High
Co
Low
Na
Mixed
Uncl.
Total
Catarpe
Turi
Beter-3
Vilama
Solor-13
Road Survey
11
25
1
0
1
2
23
21
8
5
1
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
6
0
0
0
0
7
2
0
0
0
0
1
2
1
0
1
1
1
10
0
0
1
0
45
66
10
5
5
3
584
Cr group than from the High Cr group. When the Catarpe

sherds are combined with the ceramics from Beter-3, Vilama,
and Solor-13 (three other sites in the environs of modern San
Pedro de Atacama), the combined sample has almost three
Low Cr sherds for every High Cr sherd.
Despite the scarcity of High Cr sherds at the sites around
modern San Pedro, all three of the Extreme Cr samples
come from sites in the San Pedro region. Conversely, all six
of the High Co sherds and ten of the twelve unclassified sherds
come from Turi. It is also worth noting that, as shown in Appendix B, five of the six High Co sherds have significant probabilities of membership in the High Cr composition group.
The limited distribution of the minor ceramic composition
groups in particular regions implies that the clay and temper
used to manufacture those vessels came from geological deposits in the neighborhood of the sites where each of these
groups is found. (Although most of the Low Na sherds come
from Catarpe, that distribution reflects a sampling biasdthe
Low Na sherds are primarily Yavi-style ceramics imported
from the eastern side of the Andes, and more Yavi-style sherds
were selected for testing from Catarpe than from Turi. A similar sampling bias is evident in the Unclassified group, which
includes four mica-tempered (pasta con mica) sherds from
Turi. A small number of mica-tempered sherds were excavated
at Catarpe, but none of those sherds were selected for neutron
activation.)
The predominance of Low Cr sherds in Catarpe and the San
Pedro area sites and the presence of Low Cr clay sources
throughout that area indicate that the primary clay sources
used by prehistoric potters in the environs of San Pedro de
Atacama were Low Cr geological deposits from north and
east of the modern town, or alluvial clays derived from those
geological deposits. If the High Cr ceramics found in the San
Pedro area sites were locally manufactured rather than imported, then the prehistoric potters in that region were apparently using alluvial clays from the bed of the Rio Grande to
manufacture those ceramics. The prehistoric potters of the
San Pedro region, however, certainly used High Cr clays
much less commonly than clays from Low Cr sources. This
is true even for Catarpe, where alluvial deposits from the
Rio Grande, which is within 100 m of the site, would have
been an extremely convenient source for clay and temper.
The pottery used by the inhabitants of Turi was made using
clays of a wider variety of compositions: High Cr, Low Cr,
High Co, and several unclassified clays. This pattern may reflect sampling strategies, since the Turi samples were selected
to examine the entire range of paste types found in the ceramics from the site. More probably, however, it is a result
of Turis geological situation, in an area where clays derived
from a variety of bedrock regimes are readily available.
6.3. Distribution of composition groups within ceramic
types and vessel forms
A significant proportion of the sherds analyzed in this
study, particularly among the samples from Turi, are not rim
sherds, so vessel forms for those samples are not directly
determinable. However, each of the Tardio phase ceramic

groups is by definition closely associated with a small set of
vessel forms [23]. As a result, ceramic group categories can
be used as a surrogate indicator of vessel form. The primary
form associated with each ceramic group is listed in Table 4,
and rim profiles of sampled sherds are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
As Table 4 shows, no sherds classified as Ceramic Groups
1, 2, 7, or 40 fall into the High Cr compositional groupdthey
are either Low Cr (21 examples) or from one of the outlier
compositional groups (eight examples). These four groups (respectively, Rojo Alisado, Rojo Burdo, Turi Gris Alisado, and
Rojo Alisado doble cuerpo jars) are associated with medium,
large, and very large jars or occasionally, deep basins, and
they are relatively poorly made, with rough to lightly
smoothed exterior surfaces and relatively coarse paste. Because such vessels are rough and cumbersome, it is expected
that they were seldom transported far from the places where
they were made.
The pattern of elemental compositions found in Group 38
(red slipped and smoothed exterior; red smoothed interior)
vessels is like that of the large jars of Groups 1, 2, 7, and
40. Except for one example in the High Cr group, all sherds
from Group 38 are Low Cr, from one of the minor groups,
or unassigned. Groups 30 and 51, which are ceramic types
found only at Turi and are also primarily jars [23], show the
same compositional pattern.
In summation, of the medium to large sized jars in the Turi/
San Pedro de Atacama region (typological Groups 1, 2, 7, 30,
38, 40, and 51), 36 of 52 were made from Low Cr clays and
tempering agents either demonstrably (in the San Pedro
area) or presumably (for Turi) available in the immediate
neighborhood of the sites where the vessels were used. Fifteen
of the sherds from these typological groups fell into the minor,
mixed, or unclassified composition groups. Only one sherd
from the typological groups typical of jars fell into the High
Cr composition group.
Table 4
Distribution of composition groups by local ware types
Ceramic type
and primary
vessel form
Ceramic composition group

High Low
Cr
Cr
Extreme High
Cr
Co
Mixed
Unclassed
Total
Gr. 1dJars
Gr. 1?dJars
Gr. 2dJars
Gr. 7dJars
Gr. 9dBowls
Gr. 9AdBowls
Gr. 9BdBowls
Gr. 30dJars
Gr. 32dBowls
Gr. 36?dBowls
Gr. 37dBowls
Gr. 38dJars
Gr. 40dJars
Gr. 51dJars
Not defined
0
0
0
0
12
2
1
0
11
1
7
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
1
0
9
1
13
2
20
6
4
3
17
1
8
16
4
4
2
3
1
11
2
6
4
2
1
4
0
1
11
4
3
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
CT-56
Gr. 2, Low Cr
CT-57
Gr. 2, Low Cr
CT-54
Gr. 2, Extreme Cr
CT-53
Gr. 2, Extreme Cr
CT-58
Gr. 2, Low Cr
585
Flaring Rim Jars
CT-14
Gr. 31B, Low Na
CT-55
Gr. 2, Low Cr
CT-59
Gr. 2, Low Cr
CT-23
Gr. 36, Low Cr
CT-25
Gr. ?, Low Cr
CT-20
Gr. 38, Low Cr
Aribaloid
Jars
CT-24
Gr. 1?, Low Cr
T-36
Gr. 1, High Co
T-42
Gr. 30, High Co
CT-21
Gr. 1, Unclassed
CT-19
Gr. 38, Low Cr
CT-22
Gr. 1, Low Cr
T-25
Pasta con mica
Unclassed
T-35
Gr. 1, High Co
T-34
Gr. 1, Low Cr
Other Jar and Vessel Forms
CT-36
Gr. 31?, Low Cr
CT-43
Gr. 38, Low Cr
CT-42
Gr. 38, Low Cr
CT-39
Gr. 38, Low Cr
CT-16
Gr. 31B, Low Na
centimeters
10
Fig. 8. Rim profiles of analyzed ceramicsdJars and other forms.
The compositional group distribution observed for the typological groups dominated by bowlsdGroups 9, 32, 36, and
37dis quite different from the distribution observed for groups
where the predominant forms are jars. The bowls in these four
typological groups are very similar in size and shape (Fig. 9),
and because they may have been functionally equivalent, any
patterning evident in the distribution of bowls belonging to
the various composition groups is particularly interesting. (It
is possible, however, that the groove around the rim of the
grooved rim bowls served to facilitate tying a cover over the
top of this particular type of bowl. If this was the case, then
the grooved rim bowls might have been more suited for transporting dry materials than other bowl types.)
Group 9 (Ayquina) vessels, which are primarily mediumsized bowls with simple round rims (SRR bowls) or interior
flattened rims, are ubiquitous in Solor and Tardo Phase occupations in the Calama region. Ayquina vessels come in two
color variants (9A and 9B, reddish brown and grayish brown),
and Group 9 is the only typological group (15 High Cr; 12
Low Cr) with roughly equal numbers of sherds in the High
Cr and Low Cr composition groups.
Group 32 (Dupont) ceramics are also ubiquitous in Solor
and Tardo Phase occupations in the Calama area. Dupont ceramics may be somewhat earlier than Ayquina, but they appear
in the same range of forms and show the same geographical
distribution. The only notable difference between the two
types is their color: Dupont vessels are dark gray to black,
while Ayquina ceramics range from reddish to grayish brown.
Because such variation in color may reflect nothing more than
unintentional variations in firing conditions, archaeologists
586
CT-44
Gr. 32, High Cr
CT-45
Gr. 32, High Cr
CT-50
Gr. 9A, Low Cr
CT-49
Gr. 9A, High Cr
RS-01
Gr. 9B, High Cr
CT-52
Gr. 9A, Low Cr
CT-51
Gr. ?, High Cr
RS-03
Gr. 9A, High Cr
T-18
Gr. 37, High Cr
CT-33
CT-32
Gr. 9B, Low Cr
Gr. 32, High Cr
T-09
Gr. 9, High Cr
CT-34
Gr. 9B, Low Cr
CT-35
Gr. 32, High Cr
T-02
Gr. 9, High Cr
Interior
Flattened Lip
Bowls
T-10
Gr. 9, High Cr
CT-31
Gr. 9A, Low Cr
T-48
Gr. 32, Unclassed
T-46
Gr. 32, High Cr
CT-26
Gr. 9B, Mixed
CT-47
Gr. 32, High Cr
RS-02
Gr. 1, Mixed
Simple Round Rim Bowls
T-30
Gr. 37, High Cr
CT-30
Gr. 37, High Cr
CT-48
Gr. 9A, Low Cr
CT-46
Gr. 32, Low Cr
T-20
Gr. 36, Mixed
T-31
Gr. 32, High Cr
CT-28
CT-27
Gr. 36?, High Cr Gr. 37, High Cr
T-08
Gr. 9, High Cr
T-03
Gr. 9, High Cr
T-45
Gr. 9, High Cr
T-07
T-17
Gr. 37, High Cr Gr. 9, High Cr
Grooved Rim Bowls
CT-29
Gr. 37, High Cr
T-05
Gr. 9, High Cr
T-39
Gr. 36, Low Cr
CT-11
Gr. 31, Low Na
Other Bowl Forms

0
centimeters
CT-15
T-49
Gr. 31A?, Low Na
Gr. 38, Low Cr
10
CT-40
Gr. 37, Low Cr
Fig. 9. Rim profiles of analyzed ceramicsdBowls.
working in the region have hesitated to assign too much significance to the distinction between the two ceramic types. However, the sample of sherds tested here indicates that Dupont
vesselsd11 High Cr: 4 Low Crdare noticeably more likely
to have been made from High Cr clays than are Ayquina vessels, hinting that the distinction between Ayquina and Dupont
may be more meaningful than archaeologists have heretofore
been able to demonstrate.
Seven out of eight of the Group 37 ceramics (bowls with
red slipped and polished interior, smoothed light brown exterior) fall into the High Cr composition group. Group 37 pottery is readily distinguished from other Tardo Phase pottery,
and because at least half of the sherds that were tested from
this group have the very distinctive grooved rims, it seems possible that Group 37 ceramics, and particularly the Group 37
grooved-rim bowls, were being made at a single locus of production in the Turi/San Pedro region.
For sherds with rims, which allow vessel form to be unambiguously defined, the distribution of bowl and jar forms within
composition groups and between sites clarifies the patterns of
distribution indicated by the data on ceramic typological
groups. At Catarpe bowls with all three types of rim form occur in both High Cr and Low Cr variants (Table 5). At Turi,
however, only High Cr bowls are found. At Beter, Vilama,
and Solordthe sites in the environs of San Pedrodthere is
a clear predominance of Low Cr composition bowls, while
only High Cr bowls occur in the small number of bowl rims
sampled from sites located during the road survey. All the unambiguous jar forms from both Catarpe and Turi fall within
the Low Cr composition group.

Table 5
Composition groups of principal vessel forms, by site
Site
Source
group
Grooved Int. flat

SRR Total Jars
rim
lip bowls bowls bowl Aribaloid Other
bowls
rims
Catarpe
High Cr 4
Low Cr 1
Turi
High Cr 2
Low Cr
Beter
High Cr
Low Cr
Solor
High Cr
Low Cr
Vilama
High Cr
Low Cr
Road survey High Cr
Low Cr
2
2
7
5
4
4
11
7
13
6
1
1
4
1
4
2
6.4. Reconstructing economic patterns from the ceramic

composition data
Hayashida has observed that no single model of pottery
production and distribution applies to all regions of the
Inka Empire [16]. The discussion that follows attempts to elucidate several features of the ceramic economy of one particular Inka provincial domaindthe Catarpe/Turi regiondand
thereby add new detail to the picture of how the Inka administered and exploited different regions in their vast empire.
None of the samples chosen for neutron activation were randomly selected. However, the set of bowl rims that were analyzed do represent a blind sample of the bowls found at each
of the sites. That is, there is no bias toward any particular composition group inherent in the procedures used to pick sherds
for analysis. Thus, the chi2 statistic can appropriately be used
to test the statistical significance of the distribution of bowls
in the two main composition groups between various sites.
Table 6 shows the distribution of High Cr and Low Cr
bowls in the Catarpe/Turi region. If bowl composition types
are independent of the sites where the bowls were found,
then the distribution observed here differs from the expected
distribution at the 0.005 level of significance. In short, if the
sample of bowls selected for analysis is indeed unbiased, it
is extremely unlikely that the observed distributiond100%
High Cr bowls at Turi, 61% High Cr bowls at Catarpe, and
20% High Cr bowls at sites in the San Pedro de Atacama
oasisdis accidental. We therefore reject the null hypothesis
that bowl composition types and geographical locations vary
independently.
Table 6
Contingency table, distribution of common composition groups in bowls
Catarpe
Turi
Beter/Solor/Vilama
High Cr Bowls
Low Cr Bowls
Total
11
13
2
26
7
0
8
15
18
13
10
41
Chi-squared 15.67; d.f. 2; P < 0.005.
587
The observed distribution of High Cr bowls and Low Cr

jars at Turi indicates that the potters at that site habitually utilized two separate sources of raw materialda High Cr source
to make their bowls, and a Low Cr source to make their jars.
We have argued, using geological data, that the Low Cr material was collected from the area immediately around the site,
and that the High Cr material came from Cretaceous era deposits found 8e10 km south of Turi, where they are being
eroded by the Rio Salado. It is also significant that the compositional data from neutron activation analysis supports the distinction observed visually by Varela et al., [23] between the
aplastic inclusions typical of the Turi Standard 1 pastes found
in Groups 1, 2, 38, and 51 (the Turi jars) and the inclusions
typical of the Turi Standard 2 pastes associated with the Group
9, 32, 36, and 37 Turi bowls. (A similar relationship between
ceramic wares and tempering agents is evident in Inka-era pottery from the Cusichaca Valley, near Cuzco [17].) Standard 1
temper is angular and larger than the Standard 2 temper typical
of bowls, which has smaller and more rounded particles in
a wider variety of colors. Because it seems likely that the
rounded particles in Standard 2 temper came from riverwashed sands, the observations made visually by Varela
et al., support the suggestion that the potters of Turi collected
High Cr material from the bed of the Rio Salado, and that they
used this material exclusively for manufacturing bowls.
The pattern of vessel composition is less clear at Catarpe
and in the neighboring sites in the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama. At Catarpe, all the jars are made from Low Cr material,
but bowls are found with both High Cr and Low Cr compositions in roughly equal proportions. In the neighboring sites
bowls of both compositions are also present, although Low
Cr bowls are noticeably more common than High Cr bowls.
This pattern could be explained in two ways. Tardo period
potters at Catarpe and in the San Pedro region might have
made bowls from both High Cr and Low Cr raw materials,
or they might have only used Low Cr clays for making pottery,
and imported vessels of the High Cr compositional group. But
the only source for High Cr clays identified in the San Pedro
region is the alluvium of the Rio Grande, a river that flows
within 100 m of Catarpe. Since the Rio Grande alluvium
was the most easily available source of clay for the potters
of Catarpe, we expect that they would have used that clay
for making large jars and basins as well as for making bowls.
Because no jars from Catarpe fell into the High Cr composition group, we believe that during prehispanic times the Rio
Grande alluvium was not a source of High Cr clay or temper.
We instead favor the second possibility, that potters at Catarpe
and in the San Pedro region made all their pottery using Low
Cr material and that the High Cr composition bowls found at
Catarpe and in the San Pedro region were acquired through
some form of exchange with Turi. Petrographic analyses of
the bowl sherds, it should be noted, might allow us to test these
alternate hypotheses.
If this reconstruction of ceramic production and distribution
is valid, then the exchange between Turi and Catarpe was notably one-sideddHigh Cr bowls are coming to Catarpe from
Turi, but Low Cr bowls are not going to Turi from Catarpe.
588
Furthermore, sites in the San Pedro oasis are getting a noticeably lower proportion of bowls from Turi than Catarpe is getting. This pattern is suggestive of a regional ceramic economy
based on state-controlled extraction rather than state-managed
production, and state-controlled redistribution rather than distribution through casual transport or market exchange. This reconstruction of Inka period economic organization in the
CatarpeeTuri region accords closely with the suggestion
made by DAltroy et al. [12] that the Inkas may have directly
requisitioned ceramics in some regions, particularly during
the early stages of imperial occupation, acquiring ceramics
from existing pottery production specialists rather than imposing direct control over local ceramic production or resettling
foreign potters (mitmaqkuna) into the region. The observed
distribution of High Cr and Low Cr bowls also implies that
in the Inka administrative system, Catarpe was the regionally
dominant center during the era of Inka control in northern
Chile, with Turi being a subservient site.
6.5. Compositions of non-local style ceramics
Small numbers of exotic ceramics (sherds with pastes, surface treatments, or painted decoration that appear non-local in
style) are found at both Turi and Catarpe. A series of these
sherds were sampled to determine their compositions. If those
compositions were similar to the local style ceramics it would
indicate that the sampled sherds were locally produced copies
of foreign-style ceramics, while if the compositions were different it would indicate that they had been produced elsewhere
and imported into the site where they were found.
Five types of pottery were considered as potentially exotic.
Group Pasta con mica sherds, sampled only at Turi, exhibit
a distinctive paste containing large quantities of micaceous
temper. Group 36 or 36-Inka sherds are red slipped and burnished on both faces, and the sherds labeled as 36-Inka are
similar to the shallow plates with modeled duck or animal
heads and tails on their rims that are a common component
of the imperial Inka ceramic assemblage [6,10]. Group 31 includes three varieties of Altiplano pottery: fine red paste
(Group 31), Hedionda black on tan (Group 31A), and Yavi
(Group 31B) [23]. Twenty-four sherds from these groups
were sampled to determine their elemental compositions.
As Table 7 shows, four of the five Pasta con mica sherds
from Turi do not fit into any of the composition groups defined
in this study. Although the presence of mica may be sufficient
to alter the compositional profile of these sherds, the principal
components procedure is robust enough that we suspect the
micaceous pottery from Turi was made using clay or temper
from a geologically distinct source with a distinctive composition. Further testing will be needed to define a compositional
group for this class of ceramics.
Nine out of the ten Group 31A, Group 36, and Group 36Inka sherds have compositions that fall into the High Cr, Low
Cr, or Mixed groups. These sherds thus appear to be locally
made copies of foreign-style ceramics. Aribaloid jars, which
were not considered as potentially exotic because their pastes
and surface treatments were visually indistinguishable from
Table 7
True exotics versus local copies
Ceramic
type
Ceramic composition group
Gr. Pasta
con mica
Gr. 31A,
Hedionda
Gr. 31?
Gr. 31,
Altiplano
Gr. 31B, Yavi
Gr. 36
Gr. 36dInka
1
0
0
0
1
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
High Low Extreme High Low Mixed Unclassed Total

Cr
Cr
Cr
Co
Na
0
1
2
6
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
6
3
2
the pastes and surface treatments of other Tardo pottery, are

also a vessel form that is part of the standard Inka assemblage.
The six aribaloid jar rims from Catarpe fell into the Low Cr
composition group (Table 5), indicating that they were also locally made. It should also be noted that the scarcity of Inka style
pottery in the Catarpe/Turi region contrasts markedly with the
situation in the Upper Mantaro Valley of Peru, where Inka style
pottery, including Inka polychrome, is very common [10].
Costin, working with ceramics from the Upper Mantaro
Valley of Peru, concluded that the advent of Inka rule in that
region resulted in no quantitative change in the organization
of local production of ceramics, but adds that the Inka did
establish a new production system to procure politically and
socially symbolic vessels of the Inka style [9]. Because the
forms and fabrics of the Inka period Tardio ceramics are virtually identical to the forms and fabrics characteristic of the
pre-Inka Solor Phase material, we believe that when the
Inka incorporated the Catarpe/Turi region into their expanding
empire, they did nothing to alter the technology or organization of local ceramic production. They did, however, obtain
a small number of locally made copies of Inka style vessels.
In contrast to the locally produced Inka style pottery, all the
Group 31 (Altiplano) and 31B (Yavi) ceramics that were tested
fell into the Low Na composition groupda composition not
found in any of the core group of local style sherds from
Turi and Catarpe. Thus, Group 31 and 31B ceramics appear
to be genuine exoticsdproduced in some other region and imported into the Turi/San Pedro area through some form of
long-distance exchange. The source area for Yavi pottery is
in the Jujuy region of northwestern Argentina, and the similar
compositions of the Yavi and Altiplano sherds indicate that the
Group 31 sherds tested in our study also came from the east or
northeast of the Turi/San Pedro region.
7. Conclusions
Most of the Tardo style ceramics tested in this study fell
into two major composition groups, divided most clearly on
the basis of their chromium content. The High Cr group appears to be associated with clays and/or tempering agents deriving from Cretaceous era deposits of the Purilactis or Lomas
Negras formations, while the Low Cr group appears to be associated with deposits deriving from Plio-Pleistocene and Holocene era volcanism. Because the High Cr and Low Cr
geological source formations are both widely distributed
across the region and potential source deposits have not
been extensively sampled, it is not yet possible to equate either
of the two main composition groups with a single geological
locus or specific archaeological production locations.
Prehispanic potters in the area around San Pedro de Atacama occasionally used a source of raw material that yielded
pottery with notably high concentrations of chromium (the Extreme Cr group). Similarly, potters working in Turi occasionally used a source of clay or temper with high concentrations
of cobalt (the High Co group). Geological sources have not
been identified for either of these compositional groups.
Yavi-style pottery, distinguished by a notably low sodium
concentration (the Low Na group), was imported into Turi
and Catarpe from the Jujuy region of northern Argentina. It
seems likely that the Altiplano style sherds in the Low Na
group were also produced somewhere east of the crest of the
Andes. In contrast, Inka style vessel forms found at Turi and
Catarpe, particularly aribaloid jars and shallow plates, fall
into the High Cr and Low Cr composition groups, and we conclude that they were locally produced.
Medium to large-sized jars in typological Groups 1, 2, 7,
and 40 all fall into the Low Cr or one of the minor local composition groups; of 29 samples in these typological groups,
none had a High Cr composition. A similar pattern is evident
in the Group 38 sherds, where only one of the 16 sherds tested
was in the High Cr group. We argue that the very large, large,
and medium sized jars typical of these typological groups
were made in or near to the settlements where they were
found, using sources of clay and temper available in the immediate neighborhood of the site.
Medium sized bowls, in typological Groups 9, 32, and 37,
were made with clay and temper from both High Cr and Low
Cr sources. Because no Low Cr bowls in these typological
groups were found at Turi, we conclude that the potters at
Turi deliberately utilized a special source of High Cr clay
and temper to manufacture their bowls. This source, we suggest, was somewhere downstream of the area where the Rio
589
Salado cuts through the Purilactis Formation south of Turi.

In contrast, Group 9, 32, and 37 bowls at Catarpe exhibit
both High Cr and Low Cr compositions.
Potters at Catarpe may have had access to both High Cr and
Low Cr clay sources, and we cannot dismiss the possibility that
both High Cr and Low Cr bowls could have been made at
Catarpe. We think it more likely, however, that potters working
at Catarpe and in the area of San Pedro de Atacama were only
using Low Cr raw materials and that the High Cr bowls found
in these sites were imported from Turi. If this is the case, the
exchange of vessels between Turi and Catarpe was distinctly
one-sided; a pattern suggesting state-controlled extraction rather
than state-managed production, and state-controlled redistribution rather than distribution through casual transport or
market exchange. In addition, the observed distribution suggests
that Catarpe was the regionally dominant center during the era of
Inka occupation in northern Chile, and that, in the Inka provincial administrative system, Turi was subservient to Catarpe.
Acknowledgments
The Beter 3, Solor 13, and Vilama 2 samples were selected
by Agustin Llagostera; samples from Catarpe Tambo and the
Inka Road sites were selected by John Alden and Tom Lynch;
and samples from Turi, which were collected during a project
funded by Fondecyt (#1011006), were selected by Carlos Aldunate, Victoria Castro, Mauricio Uribe, and Varinia Varela.
Geological clay samples were collected by Alden (the San Pedro de Atacama region) and Varela (the samples from Toconce). The authors would like to thank these scholars for
providing materials for our study. We would also like to thank
the staff of the Museo LePaige in San Pedro de Atacama for
their assistance with our ceramic analyses and for their unstinting hospitality, and we are grateful to Chiles Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales for giving permission to export samples
of archaeological material for neutron activation analysis.
Frances Hayashida and Jeff Parsons offered many useful suggestions about the content and organization of this paper, and
two anonymous reviewers offered criticisms and observations
that helped us improve our presentation in material ways; we
thank them all for their contributions.
Appendix A. Simulation of firing on clay sample element concentration data

INAID
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
Treatment
Location
Group
CL-01u
CL-01u
CL-01u
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.159
0.154
0.144
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Below Vilama
Low Cr
CL-01w
CL-01w
CL-01w
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.175
0.171
0.162
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Below Vilama
Low Cr
CL-02u
CL-02u
CL-02u
0.042
0.064
0.095
0.367
0.343
0.309
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Next to Catarpe
Low Cr
CL-02w
0.053
0.533
Clay 0%
Next to Catarpe
Low Cr
(continued on next page)
590
Appendix A (continued)
INAID
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
Treatment
CL-02w
CL-02w
0.075
0.102
0.586
0.461
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
CL-03u
CL-03u
CL-03u
0.467
0.468
0.443
0.000
0.000
0.000
CL-03w
CL-03w
CL-03w
0.339
0.301
0.250
CL-04u
CL-04u
CL-04u
Location
Group
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Below Quitor
High Cr
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Below Quitor
High Cr
0.055
0.071
0.087
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
SPeCalama bridge
High Cr
CL-04w
CL-04w
CL-04w
0.016
0.026
0.041
0.036
0.033
0.029
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
SPeCalama bridge
Unclassed
CL-05
CL-05
CL-05
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.490
0.405
0.519
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-1
Low Cr
CL-06
CL-06
CL-06
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-1
Unclassed
CL-07
CL-07
CL-07
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.001
0.001
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-1
Unclassed
CL-08
CL-08
CL-08
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.068
0.078
0.088
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-2
Low Cr
CL-09
CL-09
CL-09
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-2
Unclassed
CL-10
CL-10
CL-10
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.011
0.016
0.023
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-2
Unclassed
CL-11
CL-11
CL-11
0.000
0.001
0.001
0.350
0.423
0.494
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-3
Low Cr
CL-12
CL-12
CL-12
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.002
0.003
0.003
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-3
Unclassed
CL-13
CL-13
CL-13
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.100
0.129
0.161
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-3
Low Cr
CL-14
CL-14
CL-14
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.168
0.221
0.281
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-4
Low Cr
CL-15
CL-15
CL-15
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.024
0.033
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Source 93-4
Unclassed
CL-16
0.000
0.032
Clay 0%
Source 93-4
Unclassed
591
Appendix A (continued)
INAID
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
Treatment
CL-16
CL-16
0.000
0.000
0.046
0.063
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
T-67
T-67
T-67
0.190
0.155
0.117
0.020
0.010
0.005
T-68
T-68
T-68
0.001
0.001
0.001
T-69
T-69
T-69
0.000
0.000
0.000
Location
Group
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Toconce
Low Cr
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Toconce
Unclassed
0.000
0.000
0.000
Clay 0%
Clay 2%
Clay 4%
Toconce
Unclassed
0% raw, dried; not fired (actually irradiated and analyzed); 2% assume 2% weight loss with firing; 4% assume 4% weight loss with firing (cf. Cogswell
et al., 1996). Note on procedures: Water in dry clay can dilute element concentrations. To simulate element concentrations in fired clays, values were enriched
by multiplying by 2e4% prior to calculating PC scores. Simulation suggests that firing clays would have a minimal effect on results.
Appendix B. Ceramic sample data and compositional group assignments

Sample no.
Site
Provenience
Ceramic group
Ceramic form
Composition group
Status
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
B-06
CT-27
CT-28
CT-29
CT-30
CT-32
Beter 3
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Nivel 17
CT 818:2
CT 844:5
CT 860:1
CT 869:2
CT 815:2
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
High
High
High
High
High
High
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.558
0.743
0.880
0.936
0.548
0.550
0.017
0.004
0.003
0.000
0.007
0.007
CT-35
Catarpe
CT 864:1
Gr. 32, Dupont
High Cr
Core
0.977
0.000
CT-44
CT-45
CT-47
CT-49
RS-01
RS-03
T-01
T-02
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Road Survey
Road Survey
Turi
Turi
CT 812:5
CT 818:5
CT 883:1
CT 849:6
PN 67:1
SP 13:1
R141 c2
R141 c2
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
High
High
High
High
High
High
High
High
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.233
0.255
0.660
0.467
0.313
0.535
0.592
0.513
0.000
0.001
0.001
0.012
0.000
0.001
0.002
0.004
T-03
Turi
R141 c2
Gr. 9, Ayquina
High Cr
Core
0.429
0.000
T-04
T-05
T-07
T-08
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
R87 c2a p. ocupacional

R87 c2b p. ocupacional
R183 c. superficial
R393 c. superficial
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
High
High
High
High
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.346
0.713
0.829
0.416
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
T-09
Turi
R174 c. superficial
Gr. 9, Ayquina
High Cr
Core
0.146
0.001
T-10
Turi
R87 c1, superficial
Gr. 9, Ayquina
High Cr
Core
0.576
0.001
T-17
T-18
T-19
T-30
T-31
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
R183
R141
R141
R393
R393
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
High
High
High
High
High
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.615
0.602
0.471
0.396
0.502
0.000
0.000
0.009
0.000
0.000
T-32
T-44
T-45
Turi
Turi
Turi
R393 c. superficial
R523 c. superficial
R87 c. superficial
Gr. 32, Dupont

Gr. 32, Dupont
Gr. 9, Ayquina
High Cr
High Cr
High Cr
Core
Core
Core
0.681
0.325
0.177
0.000
0.000
0.000
T-46
T-47
Turi
Turi

Gr. 32, Dupont

Gr. 32, Dupont
Bowl rim
Grooved rim bowl
Grooved rim bowl
Grooved rim bowl
Grooved rim bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Small SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Body
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Body
Thick SRR bowl
Grooved rim bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Grooved rim bowl
SRR bowl
Body
Small SRR bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Body
Body
Interior flattened
lip bowl
SRR bowl
Body
High Cr
High Cr
Core
Core
0.482
0.499
0.000
0.000
c. superficial
c1 basural
c1 basural
c. superficial
c. superficial
32, Dupont
36?
37
37
37
32, Dupont
32, Dupont
32, Dupont
32, Dupont
9A, Ayquina
9B, Ayquina
9A, Ayquina
9, Ayquina
9, Ayquina
9,
9,
9,
9,
Ayquina
Ayquina
Ayquina
Ayquina
37
37
37
37
32, Dupont
(continued on next page)
592
Appendix B (continued)
Sample no.
Site
Provenience
Ceramic group
Ceramic form
Composition group
Status
P (High Cr)
P (Low Cr)
T-50
CT-51
S-04
Turi
Catarpe
Solor 13

CT 879:4
Cuadricula 2
Gr. 38
not defined
Gr. 9, Ayquina
High Cr
High Cr
High Cr
Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
0.457
0.506
0.522
0.000
0.001
0.001
T-06
T-58
T-59
T-62
T-65
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
R87 c2b p. ocupacional

R141 c1 basural
R141 c1 basural
R273 c1b basural
R273 c2a basural
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Exotic, Hedionda
Exotic, Hedionda
Gr. 36, Inka
Gr. Pasta
con mica
Body
Small SRR bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Body
Body
Body
Escudilla (?)
Body
High
High
High
High
High
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Non-Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
0.094
0.240
0.342
0.466
0.295
0.001
0.001
0.009
0.000
0.000
B-02
B-03
B-04
B-07
B-08
B-09
B-10
CT-19
CT-20
CT-22
CT-24
CT-31
CT-33
Beter 3
Beter 3
Beter 3
Beter 3
Beter 3
Beter 3
Beter 3
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Nivel 12
Nivel 17
Nivel 3
Nivel 10
Nivel 12
Nivel 14
Nivel 17
CT 742:8
CT 751:6
CT 852:1
CT 876:8
CT 898:2
CT 849:3
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.027
0.000
0.001
0.003
0.000
0.000
0.002
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.000
0.363
0.943
0.486
0.359
0.766
0.977
0.972
0.437
0.129
0.962
0.106
0.519
0.541
CT-34
Catarpe
CT 861:2
Gr. 9B, Ayquina
Low Cr
Core
0.000
0.083
CT-36
Catarpe
CT 750:8
Gr. 31?
Low Cr
Core
0.001
0.122
CT-39
CT-40
CT-42
CT-43
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
CT
CT
CT
CT
847:11
850:1
895:1
surface:1
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
38
37
38
38
Low
Low
Low
Low
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.010
0.012
0.000
0.009
0.581
0.459
0.674
0.432
CT-46
CT-48
CT-50
CT-52
CT-56
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
CT
CT
CT
CT
CT
878:9
765:4
876:3
885:5
862:4
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
32, Dupont
9A, Ayquina
9A, Ayquina
9A, Ayquina
2
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.002
0.006
0.001
0.005
0.000
0.693
0.506
0.448
0.529
0.487
CT-57
Catarpe
CT 866:3
Gr. 2
Low Cr
Core
0.000
0.415
CT-58
Catarpe
CT 871:11
Gr. 2
Low Cr
Core
0.000
0.325
CT-59
Catarpe
CT 890:5
Gr. 2
Low Cr
Core
0.000
0.617
S-03
T-11
T-15
T-16
T-21
T-22
T-23
T-27
T-28
T-34
Solor 13
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Cuadricula 2 Nivel 12
R183 c. superficial
R141 c1 basural
R141 c1 basural
R183 c. superficial
R141 c1 basural
R141 c1 basural
R141 c2 basural
R393 c. superficial
R393 c. superficial
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
9, Ayquina
51
38
38
2
2
2
7
38
1
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.002
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.478
0.521
0.510
0.920
0.572
0.738
0.405
0.775
0.550
0.979
T-38
T-41
T-49
T-52
T-53
T-54
T-55
T-56
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
R273 c. superficial
R141 c2 basural
R500 c2 p. ocupacional
R332 p. de chullpa
R332 p. de chullpa
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
Gr.
2
30
38
1
2
2
51
51
Bowl rim
Bowl rim
Bowl rim
Doble cuerpo jar
Doble cuerpo jar
Doble cuerpo jar
Doble cuerpo jar
Aribaloid jar
Aribaloid jar
Aribaloid jar
Aribaloid jar
Grooved rim bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Interior flattened
lip bowl
Curving flared
rim jar
Sinuous-neck jar
Large other bowl
Doble cuerpo jar?
Tall flaring
rim cup
Small SRR bowl
Small SRR bowl
Med SRR bowl
Small SRR bowl
Med flaring
rim jar
Med flaring
rim jar
Med flaring
rim jar
Med flaring
rim jar
Body
Body
Body
Body
Body
Body
Plastered jar body
Body
Body
Large club
rim bowl/basin
Body
Body
Ledge rim bowl
Body
Body
Body
Body
Body
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.003
0.001
0.405
0.682
0.064
0.878
0.471
0.542
0.514
0.878
9, Ayquina
9, Ayquina
32, Dupont
40
40
40
40
38
38
1
1?
9A, Ayquina
9B, Ayquina
593
Appendix B (continued)
Sample no. Site
Provenience
Ceramic group
Ceramic form
Composition group Status
P (High Cr) P (Low Cr)
T-63
V-01
V-02
V-03
V-04
V-06
B-01
CT-23
CT-25
CT-55
Turi
Vilama
Vilama
Vilama
Vilama
Vilama
Beter 3
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
R273 c1b basural

N12/W16 surface
N4/E0 surface
Cuadricula 2, Nivel 2
N4/W24 surface
Recinto 20
Nivel 3
CT 870:1
CT 880:3
CT 774:6
Gr. 38
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Gr. 32, Dupont
Gr. 32, Dupont
Gr. 38
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Gr. 36
not defined
Gr. 2
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
0.001
0.001
0.001
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.000
0.000
0.012
0.512
0.456
0.596
0.156
0.415
0.462
0.345
0.249
0.989
0.121
T-26
T-39
T-61
Turi
Turi
Turi
R393 c. superficial
R273 c. superficial
R273 c2a basural
Gr. 7
Gr. 36
Gr. 36, Inka
Body
Bowl rim
Bowl rim
Bowl rim
Bowl rim
Body
Bowl rim
Aribaloid jar
Aribaloid jar
Med flaring
rim jar
Body
Everted rim bowl
Body
Low Cr
Low Cr
Low Cr
Non-Core 0.000
Non-Core 0.016
Non-Core 0.000
0.237
0.310
0.526
CT-53
Catarpe
CT 735:6
Gr. 2
Extreme Cr
Assigned
0.000
0.000
CT-54
Catarpe
CT 751:12
Gr. 2
Extreme Cr
Assigned
0.000
0.000
S-05
Solor 13
Cuadricula 2
Gr. 38
Med flaring
rim jar
Med flaring
rim jar
Aribaloid jar (?)
Extreme Cr
Assigned
0.000
0.000
T-29
T-33
T-35
Turi
Turi
Turi
R393 c. superficial
R393 c. superficial
R141 c1 basural
Gr. 38
Gr. 1
Gr. 1
High Co
High Co
High Co
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.179
0.059
0.018
0.000
0.001
0.019
T-36
Turi
R141 c1 basural
Gr. 1
High Co
Assigned
0.380
0.000
T-40
T-42
Turi
Turi
R141 c2 basural
R141 c2 basural
Gr. 30
Gr. 30
High Co
High Co
Assigned
Assigned
0.151
0.319
0.000
0.003
CT-07
CT-08
CT-11
CT-14
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
CT
CT
CT
CT
Exotic,
Exotic,
Exotic,
Exotic,
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.000
0.000
0.006
0.026
0.001
0.000
0.001
0.000
CT-15
CT-16
CT-18
T-43
T-60
Catarpe
Catarpe
Catarpe
Turi
Turi
CT 849:2
CT 850:2
CT 895
R56 c. superficial
R87 c. superficial
Body
Low Na
Body
Low Na
Sm bowl w/ red painted lip Low Na
Black-on-red flaring
Low Na
rim jar
Exotic, Altiplano Bent-wall bowl
Low Na
Exotic, Yavi
Black-on-red painted
Low Na
Exotic, Yavi
Body
Low Na
Exotic, Yavi
Body
Low Na
Exotic, Hedionda Body
Low Na
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Non-Core
0.001
0.005
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.026
0.000
0.270
B-05
CT-26
RS-02
S-01
T-20
T-37
Beter 3
Catarpe
Road Survey
Solor 13
Turi
Turi
Nivel 12
CT 762:1
PN 155:1
R183 c. superficial
R141 c1 basural
Gr. 32, Dupont

Gr. 9B, Ayquina
Gr. 1
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Gr. 36
Exotic, Hedionda
CT-21
S-02
T-12
Catarpe
Solor 13
Turi
CT 774:3
R183 c. superficial
T-13
T-14
T-24
Turi
Turi
Turi
T-25
Turi
T-48
T-51
T-57
T-64
Turi
Turi
Turi
Turi
T-66
Turi
751
761
818:14
841:3
Body
Body
Large club
rim bowl/basin
Large flaring
rim jar
Body
Flaring rim jar
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Cr
Yavi
Yavi
Altiplano
Yavi
Gr. 1
Gr. 9, Ayquina
Gr. Pasta
con mica
R183 c. superficial
Gr. 38
R183 c. superficial
Gr. 38
R183 c. superficial
Gr. Pasta
con mica
R141 c1 basural
Gr. Pasta
con mica
R87 c3a p. ocupacional Gr. 32, Dupont
R500 c2 p. ocupacional Gr. 1
R26 ex. de chullpa
Exotic, Hedionda
R273 c1b basural
Gr. Pasta
con mica
R273 c1b basural
Gr. 51
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
Non-Core
Bowl rim
Grooved rim bowl
Med SRR bowl
Body
SRR bowl w/ nubbin
Body
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Mixed
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.050
0.447
0.114
0.175
0.140
0.061
0.236
0.058
0.437
0.245
0.062
0.092
Aribaloid jar
Body
Body
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.000
0.000
0.001
0.045
0.019
0.001
Body
Body
Body
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.004
0.000
0.000
0.008
0.022
0.000
Flaring rim jar
Unclassed
Assigned
0.000
0.000
SRR bowl
Body
Body
Body
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Unclassed
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
Assigned
0.008
0.000
0.004
0.002
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.001
Body
Unclassed
Assigned
0.039
0.000
594
References
[1] C. Aldunate, The Inka in Tarapaca and Atacama, in: C. Aldunate,
L.E. Cornejo (Eds.), In the Footsteps of the Inka in Chile, Museo Chileno
de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, 2001, pp. 18e33.
[2] C. Aldunate, Tawantinsuyu dominion over Turi, in: C. Aldunate,
L.E. Cornejo (Eds.), In the Footsteps of the Inka in Chile, Museo Chileno
de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, 2001, pp. 39e43.
[3] D. Arnold, Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1985.
[4] D. Arnold, Andean ceramic technology: an ethnoarchaeological perspective, in: I. Shimada (Ed.), Andean Ceramics: Technology, Organization,
and Approaches, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology,
Supplement to Vol. 15, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 1998, pp. 353e367.
[5] R. Bishop, M.J. Blackman, Instrumental neutron activation analysis of
archaeological ceramics: scale and interpretation, Accounts of Chemical
Research 35 (2002) 603e610.
[6] T.L. Bray, Inca pottery as culinary equipment: food, feasting, and gender
in imperial state design, Latin American Antiquity 14 (2003) 1e22.
[7] T.L. Bray, L.D. Minc, M.C. Ceruti, J.A. Chavez, R. Perea, J. Reinhard, A
compositional analysis of pottery vessels associated with the Inca ritual
of Capacocha, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24 (2005) 82e
100.
[8] J.W. Cogswell, H. Neff, M.D. Glascock, The effect of firing temperature
on the elemental characterization of pottery, Journal of Archaeological
Science 23 (1996) 283e287.
[9] C.L. Costin, Production and exchange of ceramics, in: T.N. DAltroy,
C.A. Hastorf (Eds.), Empire and Domestic Economy, Kluwer Academic/
Plenum, New York, 2001, pp. 203e242.
[10] T.N. DAltroy, State goods in the domestic economy: the Inka ceramic
assemblage, in: T.N. DAltroy, C.A. Hastorf (Eds.), Empire and Domestic Economy, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York, 2001, pp. 243e264.
[11] T.N. DAltroy, R.L. Bishop, The provincial organization of Inka ceramic
production, American Antiquity 55 (1) (1990) 120e138.
[12] T.N. DAltroy, A.M. Lorandi, V. Williams, Ceramic production and use
in the Inka political economy, in: I. Shimada (Ed.), Andean Ceramics:
[13]
[14]
[15]
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[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
Technology, Organization, and Approaches, MASCA Research Papers

in Science and Archaeology, Supplement to Vol. 15, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 1998,
pp. 283e312.
M.D. Glascock, Tables for Neutron Activation Analysis, University of
Missouri, Columbia, 1991.
M.D. Glascock, Characterization of archaeological ceramics at MURR
by neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics, in: H. Neff
(Ed.), Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology,
Monographs in World Archaeology No. 7, Prehistory Press, Madison,
WI, 1992, pp. 11e26.
M.D. Glascock, H. Neff, Neutron activation analysis and provenance research in archaeology, Measurement Science and Technology 14 (2003)
1516e1526.
F. Hayashida, New insights into Inka pottery production, in: I. Shimada
(Ed.), Andean Ceramics: Technology, Organization, and Approaches,
MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, Supplement to
Vol. 15, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 1998, pp. 313e335.
R. Ixer, S. Lunt, Petrography of certain pre-Spanish pottery of Peru, in:
A. Middleton, I. Freestone (Eds.), Recent Developments in Ceramic
Petrology, 81, British Museum Occasional Papers, 1991, pp. 137e164.
H.F. Kaiser, The application of electronic computers to factor analysis,
Educational and Psychological Measurement 20 (1960) 141e151.
T.F. Lynch, L. Nunez, Nuevas evidencias inkas entre Kollahuasi y Ro
Fro (I y II Regiones de Chile), Estudios Atacamenos 11 (1994) 145e
164.
N. Marinovic, A. Lahsen, Hoja Calama, Carta Geologica de Chile No.
58, Servicio Nacional de Geologa y Minera, Santiago, 1984.
L. Nunez, Cultura y conflicto en los oasis de San Pedro de Atacama, Editorial Universitaria, Santiago, 1992.
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la ceramica, Chungara 34 (2) (2002) 225e252.
V. Varela, M. Uribe, L. Adan, La ceramica arqueologica del sitio "Pukara" de Turi: 02-TU-001, Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueologa Chilena, Boletn No. 4 del Museo Regional de la Araucania, Tomo
II, Temuco, Chile, 1993, pp. 107e121.

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Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Identifying the sources of Inka period ceramics from

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 734 663 8121.

and ceramics, and the construction of a system of routes and

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Below 3000 meters

3000 to 4000 meters

4000 to 5000 meters

Above 5000 meters

Fig. 1. Map of Calama region, showing locations discussed in text.

Turi is only about 80 km from Catarpe, and the Solor and

neighboring sites in the San Pedro de Atacama oasis to see

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

region following the advent of the Inkas, and ultimately allow

temper. A piece of the de-surfaced sherd one to two square

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Preliminary group identification utilized a combination of

Total structure coefficients

rare earth elements, while the second PC represents variation in

5. Statistical analyses: results

Only samples from local style sherds were examined in

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

group (n 33) has higher values of transition metals overall

5.3. Linking composition groups to local clay sources

Fig. 3. Distribution of minor composition groups, based on values of Cr and Co.

by linking those two ceramic composition groups to samples

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Rio Grande riverbed

fraction of quartz-rich sand than was typical for materials used

One possible problem with this analysis is that our clay

Fig. 4. Distribution of clay samples relative to primary composition groups.

Ceramic samples initially excluded from the definition of

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Clay Sample Location

Contour Interval 100 meters

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Fig. 6. Distribution of minor composition groups, based on values of Na and Cr.

regional ceramic production. However, because this region has

arroyo north of Catarpe derive from the Oligocene-Miocene

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

contour interval 500 meters

Clay Sample Location

Ignimbrites and redeposited volcanics, Miocene & Oligocene

Purilactis and Lomas Negras Formations, Cretaceous

Granitic intrusions, Cretaceous

Fig. 7. Geology of the Turi/Catarpe area, Region II, Chile.

at least one hard rock mine is operating in intrusive granitic

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Cr group than from the High Cr group. When the Catarpe

determinable. However, each of the Tardio phase ceramic

Ceramic composition group

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Flaring Rim Jars

Other Jar and Vessel Forms

Fig. 8. Rim profiles of analyzed ceramicsdJars and other forms.

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Simple Round Rim Bowls

Grooved Rim Bowls

Other Bowl Forms

Fig. 9. Rim profiles of analyzed ceramicsdBowls.

J.R. Alden et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 33 (2006) 575e594

Grooved Int. flat

6.4. Reconstructing economic patterns from the ceramic

Chi-squared 15.67; d.f. 2; P < 0.005.