Late pottery paste composition studies from various Hualfín Valley sites (Belén, Catamarca)

Abstract

Compositional analysis results of a 44 pottery sherd assemblage, most of them classified as Belén and some as Santa María, are presented. Sherds come from 11 archaeological sites located in Hualfín Valley (Belén, Catamarca). Results are compared with previous studies from Loma de los Antiguos (Azampay) and Cerro Colorado (La Ciénaga), in the same valley. Petrographic analysis technique is used, examining thin sections. La Ciénaga sherds studies are complemented by granulometric and compositional analysis on local sand samples. The results show the inclusions in Belén pastes present a homogeneous mineralogical composition, varying only in the principal components predominance and conserving a compositional recurrence in their associations. Instead, Santa María sherds stand out for the presence of grog (crushed sherds), only aisloted in Belén materials, and the marked absent of piroclastic materials, a recurrent feature in the last pottery. Pastes compositional correspondence with regional geology suggests that raw materials used in their confection come from local geologic formations. The recurrence of piroclasts leads us to inquire some technological considerations maybe linked with their inclusion.