Technical Choices, Social Categories and Meaning Among the Andean Potters of Las Animas

Abstract

Las Animas is a northern Andean community where potters have been making copies of archaeological artefacts for the last 30 years. Dual organiz ation characterizes this village. Here, potters live on one side of the com munity, comerciantes (distributors) on the other. Ethnotechnological studies show that two distinct production sequences are used for this pottery. Men in the high-status upper barrio use one, women and men in the lower-status barrio use the other. This new craft offers a vivid example of the dynamic role of technologies in shaping social forms and categories and the ways in which those forms and categories shape technological choices: here, gender and status distinctions are manifest through technical practices. Animeños link their work to that of the Antiguos, their prehistoric predecessors. These beliefs may partly explain why pottery production has become a powerful vehicle for social expression.