39 Was There a Santa Maria Culture? A Discussion of a Commonly Used Concept in Argentine Archaeology

Per Cornell k Nils Johansson

In this article the Santa Maria culture, a commonly used concept in Argentine archaeology, is discussed. Historically, this concept has been given varying definitions, which all have to be evaluated. As far as we understand, only aspects of the variabil ity in artifacts, etc., have been used to define cultural units. A more fruitful and perhaps more empirical approach estimates the general variabil ity without a priori assuming one single explanation or interpretation for this variability.

Per Cornell, Departtnent ofA rchaeology, Göteborg University, Box 200, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. Nils Johansson, Central Board ofNational Anti qui ti es, SE-434 23 Kungsbacka, Sweden.

INTRODUCTION archaeologists often called it the Calchaqui or Through 1989—94 excavations were under- the culture. taken at the site of El Pichao in north-western Major contributions to this discussion . They were undertaken as a joint were made at the end of the 19th century and venture between Swedish and Argentine the beginning of the 20th by scholars like Juan archaeologists. As a result, a general chronology B Ambrosetti, Eric Boman, Carlos Bruch, of the site was developed, covering the time Samuel A Lafone Quevedo, Erland Norden- period AD 1000-1700 (Cornell & Johansson skiöld, Adan Quiroga, Eric von Rosen, ten 1993).Intensive work on one single site was Kate and Max Uhle. Only a few of them quite fruitful. However, this specific site must organised more systematic excavations, and be put into a regional context. As a continua- their efforts remained often quite "impres- tion of the project, we now intend to study sionistic". Still, they created a sort of data settlement variability over a larger area. In base, or points of reference, which was an order to do so, some cultural concepts com- important pioneer work. This generation of monly used in NW Argentine archaeology must be evaluated.

BACKGROUND The Santa Maria culture is a common concept in north-west Argentine archaeology. This culture is often represented by a funeral vessel A Santa Maria for children, named the Santa Maria urn. His- Fi g. I. urn, the type artifact this culture has been given many torically, representing the Santa different extensions and many different Maria culture. Drawing names. During the first part of our century bv Anders Andersson.

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Fig. 2. Sites in the Santa Maria valley, one of' tlte valleys where the Santa Maria urn is eneountered. Drawing by Anders Andersson.

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rated with repetitive patterns, and they often contained the skeletal remains of babies or young children. In some works Ambrosetti linked the Calchaqui people to the Pueblo societies in southern USA, and discussed them in terms of the only remains of an otherwise extinct race. Eric Boman, originally from the province of Dalarna, Sweden, but later a naturalised Argentinian, criticized Ambrosetti. Though Boman accepted the general idea of the pre- historic existence of a Dinguitn people, he considered them part of a general Andean phenomenon, part of what he called the Ando- Peruvian race. In his large study on the antiq- uities from NW Argentina, published in French in 1908, he constructed an "ethnic map" of the prehistory of the area. The Din- guitas inhabited a large area extending from Navados de Acay and the Valle de Lerma, to the far south, and to the province of Mendoza. Other units, marked on the map and defi ned as "Peoples" (without any more detailed discus- sion), include the Tonocotés of the plains east of the mountains, the Araucans of present-day Fig. 3. The extension of' the Diaguita culture Chile, the Atacamas of the highland puna in according to Boman (Redrawn from Boman 1908 the area of the desert ofAtacama, the Uros (or Anders Andersson). by Changos) in the area further north, and others. Within each of these there were, according to scholars also created an interpretative frame- Boman, different "tribes". Within the Dinguitns work which to some extent is still applied in there were, for example, Tolombons, Taris, etc. the archaeology of the area (cf. Nunez Regueiro Boman also defined the relative position ofthese 1974; Arenas 1991—92; Cornell 1996, for peoples on a scal e of ci vili zati on. The Di agui tas general discussion). were the most civilized, while the Tonocotés, the Araucans, and the Uros were more or less DEFINING THE CULTURAL UNIT: savages. The Atacamas were not savages, but

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES neither were they as civilized as the Ding ui tas. According to Juan BAmbrosetti, an Argentine Boman's "ethnic map" was largely based archaeologist, the Calchaqui people were a on two written sources: a description written unique cultural unit, a people of a special race. by Pedro Sotelo Narvaez in 1583, and a letter He associated it with ceramic vessels found to the Jesuit base from P Alonso de Barzana, particularly in the Santa Maria Valley, but written in 1594.These sources are not simple gave it a wide distribution. The extension was and straightforward to interpret, and the use of never defined in detail, but it was said to have terms is not defined or explained. Careful included the area from the Boli vian highland reading of detailed administrative reports con- in the north down to the San Juan and even the cerning other areas indicate that the meaning Cordoba province of Argentina (Ambrosetti of general terms used in the colonial discourse 1903).These vessels were often richly deco- is very complex.

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THE PEOPLE OF THE DIAGUITA containing adults (probably primary burial), In order to substantiate the argument, Boman are interpreted as remains from a Guarani used archaeological material. Comparing the expansion into this area, while vessels with Atacamas and the , Boman tried to some decoration and the remains of small define these groups. The Ding ui tas had devel- children are interpreted as vestiges of a oped advanced ceramic technology, stone Diaguita expansion into this area (Boman sculpture technology, and metallurgy, but all 1905, 1908:852). these ski lls were lacking, according to Boman, Nordenskiöld discussed the material from among the Atacamas. The Atacamas only Jujuy in similar terms. He actually returned to mastered a highly developed tradition in working this material in various studies. In a preliminary textiles and bones (Boman 1908:767—778). report from 1903, he discussed the cultural The archaeological remains of the Humahuaca identity of the material but could not arrive at Valley were defined as CalchaeJui by Ambro- any more definite conclusion. He tended to setti (i.e. linking them to cultures further believe that the material was more linked to south), while Boman defined them as Atacamas. the cultures of the Chaco area than to the Comparing the Diaguiras and the "Peruvian "Calchaqui people". In later, more general culture", Boman stressed similarities (1908: studies he discussed the "positive" influence 187—212): both built houses of stone; used of the "mountain culture" on the people living terracing for cultivation; made ceramics, stone east of the mountains (Nordenskiöld 1919: sculptures, and mattocks of similar types and 235—251, 1920:203).In one of his last publi- used similar techniques in metallurgy. Boman cations, Nordenskiöld once again discussed believed that burying children in urns was not the relation between the Diaguita and the common in Peru, and thus was a specific trait cultures east of the Andes. He defines the of the Diagui tas. Diaguita as a largely Andean culture, but with Boman also notes that some artifact types a strong "Amazonian" influence in ceramics, vary within his "People" units. He mentions the particularly on the type of funerary vessel lithic technology, which varies within the area often found in the Santa Maria Valley defined as belonging to the Atacamas (Boman (1930:32,cf. Rydén 1956 for a discussion). 1908:571,773).In some areas he even reports the absence of lithic technology (1908:357). CHRONOLOGY AND CULTURAL UNITS In an extensive footnote added to the text, Max Uhle was a German archaeologist living Boman discussed the findings of Ambrosetti and working for several years in different at the La Paya site high up in the Calchaqui South American countries. He did not excavate, river valley. Boman concludes that these but he collected items in Argentina, generally remains must be ascribed to the Atacamas through purchase, in the beginning of the group. There are some burial urns for children 1890s (Uhle 1904). In 1912 he published a with a decoration similar to that found in the path-breaking study on the chronology of NW Santa Maria Valley at La Paya, but Boman Argentina. Uhle tried to transfer an earlier explains them as imported items (note, Boman developed Peruvian chronology to Argentina. 1908:778).These observations thus changed He based his chronology on studies of pottery, the northern border of the Diagui ta phenom- and made a division into three different enon in relation to Bomans ethnic map. periods. Boman generally does not discuss chrono- logical questions. In relation to some findings 1. The period of decorated vases with dragon in Jujuy, excavated by Boman and the well- motifs (the Aguada style in modern termi- known Swedish ethnographer Erland Norden- nology) skiöld, he discussed a series of successive 2. A pre-Incaic period with early Santa Maria cultural migrations. Large funerary vessels, ceramics.

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3. The period of Incaic influence with late "culture core". From this surged a very special Santa Maria ceramics. type of archaeology. Gonzalez used the term "cultural context". He defined this as a series Uhle considered that the prehistoric cultures of traits (artifacts and other material remains) of the Santa Maria valley were neither totally occurring together in a specific area, defining indigenous nor introduced by the Incas. Some a particular culture. This definition is congruent things such as metallurgy and the Quechua with Kulturkreislehre, but also with Gordon language were, however, introduced by the Childe's famous definition of (archaeological) Incas. Uhle's scheme is generally accepted culture as a set of artifacts occurring together today. repetitively. Immediately after its publication in 1912, Gonzalez developed his major studies on Uhle's chronological scheme was, however, archaeological remains in the Hualfin Valley, questioned by archaeologists such as Eric where he developed a master sequence Boman and Juan B Ambrosetti, who both (partially working on collections) still applied considered that the observed differences in in NW Argentina (Gonzalez 1975). He urn styles were of a synchronic rather than a combined pottery encountered in cultural diachronic character. According to Boman, layers, grave associations and 'C datings to the "draconian" ceramics and the Santa Maria produce a chronological framework. In this urn were contemporaneous. Carbon-14 datings scheme, the Santa Maria culture and its type support Uhle's argument, but some of artifact, the Santa Maria urn, are placed within Boman's critical points constitute, even today, the "Late Period", AD 850—1480. Discussing a serious challenge. Boman pointed to the lack the Santa Maria Valley, he defined a Santa of correspondence between the distribution of Maria Culture (Gonzalez 1980:319—341). the "draconian" ceramics and that of the Santa This culture extended over the Caj6n valley Maria ceramics. Only further fieldwork in the and the Santa Maria Valley and up the Cal- Santa Maria Valley and adjacent areas may chaqui Valley, into the south of Salta and to the shed light on this problem. province of Tucuman in the east. It is mainly defined by large funerary vessels with decora- THE SANTA MARIA CULTURE tion in two or three colours, often used for Up to the end of the 1940s the Diag&uita was burying children. Gonzalez also mentions generally understood as a homogeneous culture, stone-walled houses, agricultural terraces, and a "People". A study by Fernando Marquez elaborate ceramic styles, including the funerary Miranda from 1946 constitutes, perhaps, the vessels of different types (called e.g. La Paya, most extreme example of this position. A Pampa Grande, El Rincon and Las Mojarras) study by some US-American archaeologists, and other types of ceramics, notably the working on collections, initiated a trend of Yocavil type and the Famabalasto type. The greater sensitivity to chronology (Bennett, Santa Maria Culture also had an elaborate Bleiler &Sommer 1948).The outline ofmodern metallurgical tradition. They kept camelids, NW Argentine chronology was, however, hunted nandu and other ani mal s, and cultivated developed by Alberto Rex Gonzalez in the maize and beans. Around the Santa Maria early 1960s. He and his pupils carried out culture there were other cultures of similar major work on chronology. Gonzalez was types but with slight differences in material trained by, and received influence from, culture, for example the Belen culture. scholars ofdifferent traditions: Oswald Meng- hin, Julian Steward, James Ford and others. DISCUSSION Thus, Gonzalez knew a lot about the Kul- In the discussion of cultural units in the region turkreislehre favoured by Menghin, but was in question, we can see how there are several, also aware of Steward's discussion on the not totally overlapping, concepts in operation.

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For example, the Diaguita and the Calchaqui not support such a hypothesis. Another type of people are similar, but not identical concepts. argument links the political organisation to The La Paya material is crucial here. While just one large, very special, site, for example this material was included in the Calchuqui the lnca administrative site at Huanuco Pampa. people category (and later in the Santa Maria There is no such unusually large and very Culture concept), it was excluded in the special site in the Santa Maria Valley proper. Diaguita category. When these concepts are Other types of argument use particular used: and they still occur frequently in the inscriptions, as in the Maya case. There is no literature: the definition in terms of archaeo- such evidence in the Santa Maria Valley. Thus, logical remains is vague and very general. The at present the hypothesis of a pre-Hispanic concept of the Santa Maria Culture was linked chiefdom in the Santa Maria Valley is viable, more systematically to archaeological evidence but not supported by archaeological evidence. by Gonzalez, and the distribution in space was The written sources do not substantiate the much more limited. The discussion by Gonzalez argument either, as far as we know. demonstrates his deep knowledge of the archaeology of the region, and his systematic CONCLUDING REMARKS approach to the craft. However, the definition There are traits that occur repetitively during of the cultural context is not entirely satisfac- particular periods in NW Argentine prehistory. tory. Still, we do not know why he gives But the interpretation of these features is not particular importance to certain elements, and straightforward. There may be different less importance to others. explanations or interpretations for different In some recent literature, the culture con- attributes and their spatial distribution. Some cept has been replaced by a definition based on aspects may be explained by mere functional political forms. Ana Maria Lorandi considers explanations (e.g. the use of local lithic materi- that the Santa Maria culture represents a al), while other aspects may be interpreted by specific level of socio-political development. more complex social patterns. It cannot be In her opinion, NW Argentine cultures during excluded that there were different, partially the period in question were organised as large overlapping, social group identities operating chiefdoms (Lorandi & Ottonello 1985).These in the area. Tartusi &Nunez-Regueiro proposes, were later destroyed during the Incaic conquest. for example, that the so-called Condorhuasi The socio-political definition has never been "culture" actually corresponds only to a spe- discussed systematically in relation to the cific type of ceremonial ceramics, not linked archaeological evidence. In most discussions to specific "cultures" (Tartusi & Nunez- of chiefdoms and early states, the definition is Regueiro 1993).We can thus never know to based on site hierarchies. Sites are ordered what ethnic group the individual Indian con- according to size, and if there is a pattern with sidered himself to belong. Perhaps it would be a few very large sites, some intermediate size more suitable to look for variation in a more sites and several smaller sites, this is seen as general sense, and interpret particular traits indicating the existence of an administrative and correlated traits, rather than to look for system. This argument is actually hard to possibilities to delimit specific cultures. Dif- sustain (Cornell 1993).Variation in size may ferent levels of integration can be identified, be caused by several different factors. The in some instances overlapping such. At a basic argument is better if it is combined with direct level, the household may be a basic social unit indications of administration (e.g. particular (Cornell 1993, 1995/1996). The site may be administrative buildings). However, no such another unit. scheme has been elaborated for the Santa At the Pichao site the distribution of water, Maria Valley, and the present knowledge of for example, required some general co-ordina- the archaeological remains of the region does tion at the site level. There may, however, be

Carrenr Swedish Arehaeologr, Voh 6, l 998 Was Tt&ere a Santa Maria Cutture? 45 other special integrative levels within a site. distribution of different patterns continuous in Some of the pottery, for example, may have space? been produced by a group of specialists (Sjödin The repeated patterns and motifs of deco- 1996). In a regional perspective, common ration on the Santa Maria urns is a particular traits include the use of a range of domesticated trait, which may have a specific interpretation. animals and plants, imported obsidian, some These patterns may have been produced by shared ceramic styles and forms, and a common potters who specialised in the production of grave shape (Johansson 1996).The distribu- funerary vessels. The decoration on the Santa tion of these attributes in time and space does Maria ceramics may correspond to a few similar not correspond, and it is unlikely that they can histories or myths common to a lot of people be explained or interpreted by one general in a large area. The so-called Santa Maria model. culture was not constituted by common build- Our conclusion is that it is difficult to use ing traditions or general artifact similarity but the concept of a Santa Maria Culture or Santa by materialised myths, evident in the Maria chiefdom in general terms. There is a decoration on some ceramic material. The need for more empirical work, for systematic importance of this ceramic style has been study and comparision of assemblages at discussed by many archaeologists. There are different sites in different natural habitats even (all too) fantastic structuralist interpreta- displaying "Santa Maria ceramics". Which tions on these patterns, based only on objects traits are local? What sort of similarities are in museum collections (Weber 1981). there? Do the patterns of distribution of differ- Thus, we may perhaps conclude that the ent traits overlap? Are there different levels of reality ofthe Santa Maria Culture may tum out integration, as evidenced in the material to be a myth. culture? What do these levels of integration mean in social and cultural terms? Is the E&tgfish revised by Laura Wrang.

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