Material culture as a vehicle of social - political organization: Chimú pottery

The Chimu culture developed on the North Pacific coast of today's Peru in the so-called Late Intermediate Period, i.e. approximately AD 1000 - 1476, after which it was dominated by the Inca. Brief characterization of the Chimu culture, supported by ethnohistorical and archaeological sources, is followed by description of its crafts, especially ceramic technology, morphology and iconography. Artifacts, i.e. object used, modified or made by people, may serve apart from practical also social and symbolic roles. Based on the theoretical background of evolution of power and society, different approaches to the study of artifacts' function, specialization, exchange and social complexity are outlined and tested on the Chimu pottery assemblage from the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the 1832 available ceramic vessels, lacking the contextual find information, had to focus solely on the formal aspects of the specimens. Interpretation of the obtained results disproves primary position of pottery as means of social - political organization in the Chimu and Chimu-Inca societies (occupied by fine textiles and metal items), but still points out certain non-utilitarian aspects of both Chimu and Chimu - Inca styled pottery which probably represented a secondary socio -..