The organization of colonial pottery production in the Southern frontier at the Spanish empire (Mendoza, Republica Argentina)

Abstract

This article proposes a model of technological organization of ceramic production during the colonial period in Mendoza. Historical and archaeological evidence, including unpublished data, are used together to reconstruct the sequence of ceramic production and the agents involved. Data are interpreted in the social and economic context of the process of ceramic production. Evidence supports the conclusion that between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were multiple workshops with at least two organizational levels and different technological traditions. This explains the technical and compositional diversity of ceramics in the archaeological record. In the first organizational model, which began with the initial Spanish settlements in the sixteenth century, ceramic production was a secondary activity of settlements. Beginning in the seventeenth century, this model was present at vineyards, which had access to specialized indigenous and African labor. The second model began in the mid-17th century, when workshops such as Carrascal began large-scale and specialized production, mainly by African potters, to supply the local market.

Keywords
Pottery; Production; Mendoza; Colonial period