De la cotidianidad a la ritualidad de las calabazas durante el período intermedio tardío en el desierto de Atacama, Chile
Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino January 1, 2021 Cristián Ouvares Acuña
Gourds from the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1430 AD) are analyzed through a materialistic archaeosemiotic approach that combines Peircean semiotics with categories of concrete society. A division is identified between the uses of gourds in daily-domestic life and in magical-religious ritual life. The gourds are conceived as iconographic media reflecting the social consciousness of a dominant group. These funeral objects and their signs represent not only prestige and distinction goods but also manifest an ideological function related to power relations, linked to the consumption of fermented beverages and entheogenic substances, and to altered states of consciousness.