Toward the identification of Afro-Peruvian potting traditions

Since at least the 1970s, archaeological interventions in the historic city centers of Pacific coastal Peru, such as Lima and Trujillo, have yielded material evidence of the substantial African presence during the viceregal Period (1534-1821). However, this archaeology has mostly been carried out as part of contract projects and in the rehabilitation of historic sites and monuments, and these interventions have not been aimed at understanding the materiality of the African-descendant experience. In this case study, I argue that there are sufficient legacy collections and evidence from reports and historical documentation for a comparative archaeology and art history of slavery in Peru, and in particular for identifying Afro-Peruvian potting traditions. These traditions themselves, as the production by artisans, enslaved and free, often fall outside of the purview of art history, despite the creative interventions in visual and material culture. To demonstrate this point, I will draw on ceramic material from excavations in Lima, Trujillo, and from my own excavations at the Jesuit vineyards of Nasca.