Slips and paintings in araucanía: compositional analysis of decorated vessels from el vergel complex (southern Chile, ad 1000-1550)

Abstract

For the Southern Chile El Vergel Cultural Complex (1000-1550 AD), painted/slipped pottery is one of its most emblematic elements. Although its variability has been addressed from typological, decorative and technological aspects, it was necessary to integrate more information regarding the different choices in its manufacture to observe the distribution of the “ways of making” (modos de hacer). With this goal, we proceeded to analyze the paintings and slips of decorated sherds from five domestic sites of different geographical areas. They were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS, identifying the different “recipes” used in their manufacture. Based in this, different compositional groups were identified in slips and paintings, being some of them shared in certain geographic axes. This may be due to a circulation of knowledge, raw materials and/or vessels between different El Vergel groups.