Decorated formative period pottery from cochabamba, Bolivia: Rydén's observation

Abstract

Stig Rydén's 1961 observation that a certain Formative (pre‐Tiahuanaco) pottery was decorated was neglected until our 1984–87 investigations. Our excavations in the Cochabamba Valley yielded one ceramic type with pattern burnishing—Rydén's decoration—dated to between 800 B. C. and A. D. 200, with various attributes permitting more precise temporal placements. The pottery, probably produced in the northern part of the Cochabamba Valley, was found as distant as the Mizque Valley 120 km southward, and therefore is useful for interrelating the diverse regional and local Cochabamba Formative ceramic traditions, and perhaps tying them to central Andean ceramic sequences which include the same decorative technique.