Toolkits and Cultural Lexicon: An Ethnographic Comparison of Pottery and Weaving in the Northern Peruvian Andes

Abstract

The findings of an ethnographic comparison of pottery and weaving in the Northern Andes of Peru are presented. The project was carried out in villages of the six southern provinces of the department of Cajamarca. The comparison was performed taking into account two parameters: technical uniformity or diversity in ‘plain’ pottery and weaving, and presence or absence of lexical items of indigenous origin – both Quechua and pre-Quechua – in the vocabulary of both handicraft activities. Pottery and weaving differ in the two observed domains. On the one hand, pottery shows more technical diversity than weaving: two different manufacturing techniques, with variants, were identified in pottery. Weaving with the backstrap loom (telar de cintura) is the only manufacturing technique of probable precolonial origin in the area, and demonstrates remarkable uniformity in Southern Cajamarca, considering the toolkit and the basic sequence of ‘plain’ weaving. On the other hand, weaving nomenclature clearly retains more Quechua and pre-Quechua terms than pottery vocabulary, and also shows more lexical diversity, in spite of the aforementioned technical uniformity. In order to explain these differences, the distinct distribution and dynamics of pottery and weaving production must be taken into account: while pottery is concentrated in some specific and specialized villages, weaving is disseminated as a household activity throughout the region, especially in rural areas.