Ancient Territories and Missing Pottery. Qom Ceramics from the Grand Chaco (Argentina)

Abstract

This article relies on some technological and social conditions of a South American indigenous population to reflect on the handicaps to reach a holistic interpretation of the changes in material culture, particularly in past societies. It is thus proposed to follow the opposite direction to traditional etnoarchaeological research: from the technological revision of the pottery vessels produced by a modern ethnic group found in museum collections to the interaction with indigenous potters, their descendants and other qualified people. Hence, vessels made by Qom potters in different periods of the last two centuries are considered from different perspectives: from a material element analysed in terms of technological and aesthetic features, to their documentation as objects, the contextualisation of Qom daily activities and pottery-making -both in the recent past and nowadays- and the significance of the preservation of identity and supramaterial values such as the territory in this change process, elements which surpass the sole corporeal observation of the object.