Spanish colonial impact: investigating Spanish-Indigenous dynamics in Panamá, Argentina, and Chile through ceramic technology and exchange (1400-1700 CE)

This thesis examines the relationships between Indigenous and Spanish populations in South and Central America through the lens of pottery production and exchange. During the 15th-17th centuries, the expansion of the Spanish empire to the so-called ‘New World’ changed the lives of Indigenous people, enslaved African people, and Spanish settlers. To explore these interactions, pottery from four sites was selected: Panamá Viejo, Valdivia, Mendoza, and Santa Fe.

Colonial dynamics are investigated through the extent and nature of ceramic technological change, the maintenance of traditional technologies, and an understanding of why pots move, through trade and exchange, migration and resettlement.

A range of Indigenous, imported, and locally produced colonial pottery is studied to compare ceramic production pre- and post-colonisation. Provenance is assessed by combining thin section petrography with chemical analysis by XRF, with reference to the geology of case study areas, a range of ceramic reference groups from both Europe and the Americas, and other analytical work in the literature. Production technology is considered through macroscopic analysis, ceramic petrography, and scanning electron microscopy.

The potential provenance of the diverse pottery groups in each area, contextualised by existing studies, suggests established Indigenous connectivity prior to colonisation in all four cases. In addition, the study delineates two major colonial trade routes between Panamá Viejo and Valdivia, and Mendoza and Santa Fe. The reconstruction of key aspects of the technological sequences of ceramic production suggests a degree of hybridity in Indigenous pottery after the arrival of the Spanish. However, there is also substantial evidence for the retention of traditional production methods in all four cases. The social and political implications of these material continuities and changes are discussed.

In each case study, the identities of Indigenous and Spanish populations are materialised in unique ways through pottery production. No two case studies are identical in the degree or nature of technological continuity or change, which suggests that models applied to colonial studies need to be sensitive to local dynamics and histories.