Pottery technology, settlement and landscape in Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca, Argentina)

The transition from the Formative to the Late period (c. 1000 BP) on the volcanic plateau of Antofagasta de la Sierra in northern Argentina saw various changes in landscape use and settlement pattern. New power structures and social identities appear in the archaeological record in the wake of an increasing emphasis on cultivation and herding, coincident with a regional shift to greater aridity. The novel analysis reported here reveals that these changes also had an impact on pottery technology, notably vessel thickness, and considers the role of technological innovation as both cause and consequence of the changing world experienced by the inhabitants of Antofagasta de la Sierra.