The Dead and the Drying

Techniques for Transforming People and Things in the Andes

Bibliographic Data

ID2391326
AuthorsBill Sillar (0000-0002-9232-3995, University of Wales, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume1
Issue3
Pages259-289
Publication date1996-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/135918359600100301
OpenAlexW2051958905
LanguageEN
Citations received43
References cited31

Many aspects of a culture's technology, such as techniques, tools or raw materials, are elaborated as metaphors or areas of meaning within the culture's ideology. The choice of raw materials and the techniques used to process them depend on the representation of these materials and tech niques within society. Such 'technical representations' play an important role in the trajectory of social and technological change. Examples drawn from present-day pottery making in the South-Central Andes are compared to other subsistence activities in the area to show how techniques may be used in a wide range of different social contexts. This has imbued the tech niques with culturally specific meanings, which affects the choice of con texts within which they are considered appropriate. It is suggested that the storage systems developed by the Inka were a reworking of the techniques used in the burial tradition that emerged in the preceding Late Intermediate Period. The previous context of death gave a meaning to the technique, a meaning that was utilized within the technique's new application for state storage

Representation · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Latin American history and culture

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