Daiana Rivas-Tello

DAIANA RIVAS-TELLO, then a graduate student at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, was awarded funding in October 2021 to aid research on “Craft Production, Community Identity, and Collective Memory in Huancas, Peru,” supervised by Dr. Nathaniel Parker VanValkenburgh. The goal of this project was to trace the long-term history of Indigenous potters in Huancas, Peru, from the Late Horizon (ca. 1470-1535), Spanish Colonial (ca. 1535-1823), and Republican periods (1824-) into the present. Funding supported completion of three major phases of this dissertation research: 1) archaeological excavations and surveys in the District of Huancas; 2) archival research and report writing required by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture; and 3) ceramic analysis and clay sourcing. In total, four archaeological sites (Huanca Urco, Ñuñurco, Atapillo Shundur and Pueblo de Huancas) were excavated and three sites (Mashumachay, Huaytapallana, and Cancharín) were surveyed. A sample of 150 ceramic sherds, 15 carbon samples, and 5 fired clay discs were exported for further analysis. Based on the archaeological fieldwork, archival research, oral histories, and analysis of the material recovered (e.g., ceramic, lithics, and animal bone), this project illustrates the attempts of two imperial powers, the Inka and the Spanish, to restructure social and physical landscapes, and reveals how crafting served as a memory keeping tool for the community of Huancas. This project contributes to broader anthropological questions on persistence, colonialism, and Indigenous remembrance.