De la cotidianidad a la ritualidad de las calabazas durante el período intermedio tardío en el desierto de Atacama, Chile

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

the gourds from attributed to the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1430 ad). The analysis is carried out from a mate-rialistic archaeosemiotic approach, relating Peircean semiotics to categories of the concrete society. A division is identified between the uses of the gourds and forms of sociability in daily-domestic and magical-religious ritual life, and the gourds are conceived as iconographic media that reflect the forms of social consciousness of a dominant group. It is concluded that these funeral objects and their signs not only represent prestige and distinction goods, but also manifest an ideological function regarding power relations, linked to the consumption of fermented beverages and entheogenic substances, and to altered states of consciousness.