library("lubridate")
library("rcartocolor")
library("tidyverse")
library("glue")
library("scales")
library("ggrepel")
library("ggridges")
library("geomtextpath")
library("knitr")
library("here")
library("tidyr")
library("readxl")
library("janitor")
library("ggplot2")
library("dplyr")
library("cowplot")
library("ggforce")
library("gridExtra")
library("kableExtra")
theme_set(theme_minimal())Ritual Ceramics at Hualcayan: Understanding the Role and Scale of Feasting Practices at a long-occupied, multicomponent site in the North-Central Highland Andes
Setup
Introduction
Description of the data set
The ceramics data contains a wealth of information from multiple field seasons at Hualcayan, a long-occupied, multiplication site in the North-Central Highland Andes. The ceramics data was compiled by multiple analysists and researchers, some working in English and some in Spanish. These data had not been used in a code-based program up to this point and thus was not standardized. Many of the steps below standardize and streamline the data while also decoding some of the categories into more descriptive variables. There are 94 columns in the original ceramics data with all of the metadata collected from archaeological excavation. Of specific interest in this analysis, though are the columns of operacion, bolsa, context, period, subop, length, width, thickness_code, diameter, fragment, serving, general_form_name, decoracion.
# Read CSV file
ceramics <- read_csv(here("Final/diagnostic_ceramics_P.csv"))Warning: One or more parsing issues, call `problems()` on your data frame for details,
e.g.:
dat <- vroom(...)
problems(dat)Rows: 6270 Columns: 94
── Column specification ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Delimiter: ","
chr (70): Temporada, Bolsa, Context, Period, Context Alt., Contexto_Old, Sub...
dbl (22): Operación, Caja, Fragmento de la vasija_N, Tipo determinado_N, Col...
lgl (2): Igual a, Forma de la vasija_Salta a
ℹ Use `spec()` to retrieve the full column specification for this data.
ℹ Specify the column types or set `show_col_types = FALSE` to quiet this message.kable(head(ceramics))| Temporada | Operación | Bolsa | Context | Period | Context Alt. | Contexto_Old | Subop | Cantidad | Length | Width | Thickness_code | Diameter | Fragment | Serving | General Form name | Specific Form | Decoracion? | Forma general | Forma específica | detalle específico | Color de pasta | Temperante | Cocción | Color externo | Color interno | Acabado externo | Acabado Interno | Filiación | Fecha de análisis | Persona | Foto | Cámara | Número de foto | Observaciones | ObservacionesRB | Muestra? | Hannah? | Grosor [Top, mm] | Grosor [Avg, mm] | Grosor_mm | % de Borde | Dibujado | Escaneado | Caja | Fragmento de la vasija_D | Fragmento de la vasija_N | Tipo determinado_D | Tipo determinado_N | Color de pasta_D | Color de pasta_N | PerFrag_D | PerFrag_N | Diseño de decoración_D_Resumen | Diseño de decoración_N_Resumen | Motivo o Técnico Decorativa Común? | Naturaleza de los colores resumen_D | Naturaleza de los colores resumen_N | % del borde | Peso | Hollín y Residuo_D | Hollín y Residuo_N | Igual a | Issues? | IssuesDetail | Forma de la vasija entera_D | Forma de la vasija entera_N | Forma de la vasija_Salta a | Forma del borde_D | Forma del borde_Elaboración_D | Forma del borde_Elaboración_N | Forma del borde_N | Cocción_D | Cocción_N | Color de la superficie Externa_D | Color de la superficie Externa_N | Color de la superficie Interna_D | Color de la superficie Interna_N | Acabado de superficie Exterior_D | Acabado de superficie Exterior_N | Acabado de superficie Interior_D | Acabado de superficie Interior_N | Ubicación de la decoración externa_N | Ubicación de la decoración external_D | Ubicación de la decoración interna_D | Ubicación de la decoración interna_N | Temperante_D | Temperante_N | Tamano de temperantes_D | Tamano de temperantes_N | Porcentage de Temperantes_D | Porcentage de Temperantes_N | Método de elaboración_D | Método de elaboración_N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2 | CE-118 | C-0052 | 4 | 0052 | 52 | AA18 | 1 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 2 | 99 | 99 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 99 | 4 | 99 | NA | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 4,6 | 1 | 0 | 7/23/2014 | JC | NA | NA | NA | Grosor: Top=4.6, Middle=4.8, Bottom=4.7 | NA | SI | NA | 4.6 | 4.7 | NA | 99 | No | - | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-1 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | Q10, Q9 | 1 | 19.81 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3/17/2014 | ECV | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.23 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-1460 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | T11 | 1 | 16.27 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | I | S | bowl | closed bowl | NA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1/27/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.31 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-602 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S9 | NA | 1 | 18.34 | 2 | 13 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 5.37 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S7 | 1 | 15.32 | 16.14 | 2 | 15 | I | S | bowl | closed bowl | NA | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 5.79 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S7 | NA | 1 | 21.99 | 2 | 17 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.27 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
# Clean column names
clean_ceramics <- ceramics %>% clean_names()
kable(head(clean_ceramics))| temporada | operacion | bolsa | context | period | context_alt | contexto_old | subop | cantidad | length | width | thickness_code | diameter | fragment | serving | general_form_name | specific_form | decoracion | forma_general | forma_especifica | detalle_especifico | color_de_pasta | temperante | coccion | color_externo | color_interno | acabado_externo | acabado_interno | filiacion | fecha_de_analisis | persona | foto | camara | numero_de_foto | observaciones | observaciones_rb | muestra | hannah | grosor_top_mm | grosor_avg_mm | grosor_mm | percent_de_borde | dibujado | escaneado | caja | fragmento_de_la_vasija_d | fragmento_de_la_vasija_n | tipo_determinado_d | tipo_determinado_n | color_de_pasta_d | color_de_pasta_n | per_frag_d | per_frag_n | diseno_de_decoracion_d_resumen | diseno_de_decoracion_n_resumen | motivo_o_tecnico_decorativa_comun | naturaleza_de_los_colores_resumen_d | naturaleza_de_los_colores_resumen_n | percent_del_borde | peso | hollin_y_residuo_d | hollin_y_residuo_n | igual_a | issues | issues_detail | forma_de_la_vasija_entera_d | forma_de_la_vasija_entera_n | forma_de_la_vasija_salta_a | forma_del_borde_d | forma_del_borde_elaboracion_d | forma_del_borde_elaboracion_n | forma_del_borde_n | coccion_d | coccion_n | color_de_la_superficie_externa_d | color_de_la_superficie_externa_n | color_de_la_superficie_interna_d | color_de_la_superficie_interna_n | acabado_de_superficie_exterior_d | acabado_de_superficie_exterior_n | acabado_de_superficie_interior_d | acabado_de_superficie_interior_n | ubicacion_de_la_decoracion_externa_n | ubicacion_de_la_decoracion_external_d | ubicacion_de_la_decoracion_interna_d | ubicacion_de_la_decoracion_interna_n | temperante_d | temperante_n | tamano_de_temperantes_d | tamano_de_temperantes_n | porcentage_de_temperantes_d | porcentage_de_temperantes_n | metodo_de_elaboracion_d | metodo_de_elaboracion_n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2 | CE-118 | C-0052 | 4 | 0052 | 52 | AA18 | 1 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 2 | 99 | 99 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 99 | 4 | 99 | NA | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 4,6 | 1 | 0 | 7/23/2014 | JC | NA | NA | NA | Grosor: Top=4.6, Middle=4.8, Bottom=4.7 | NA | SI | NA | 4.6 | 4.7 | NA | 99 | No | - | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-1 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | Q10, Q9 | 1 | 19.81 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3/17/2014 | ECV | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.23 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-1460 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | T11 | 1 | 16.27 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | I | S | bowl | closed bowl | NA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1/27/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.31 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-602 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S9 | NA | 1 | 18.34 | 2 | 13 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 5.37 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S7 | 1 | 15.32 | 16.14 | 2 | 15 | I | S | bowl | closed bowl | NA | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 5.79 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 2011 | 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | 4 | 0001 | 1 | S7 | NA | 1 | 21.99 | 2 | 17 | I | S | bowl | open bowl | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2/3/2014 | EKCC | SI | Canon SX50 HS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 4.27 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
# Select and filter columns
filtered_ceramics <- clean_ceramics %>%
select(operacion, bolsa, context, period, subop, length, width, thickness_code, diameter, fragment, serving, general_form_name, decoracion) %>%
mutate(fragment = ifelse(grepl("I", fragment, ignore.case = TRUE), "Rim", fragment), #we only want to look at diagnostic rim pieces. everything else we don't need
period = case_when(
period == "4" ~ "Recuay",
period == "3" ~ "Huaras",
period == "2" ~ "Chavín",
period == "1" ~ "Initial",
period == "0" ~ "Preceramic",
TRUE ~ as.character(period)), #decoding period to be more descriptive
subop = str_replace(subop, " ", ""), #removing spaces between some subobs T 10 vs T10
general_form_name = tolower(general_form_name), #cleaning up names
diameter = case_when(
grepl("^\\d*\\.?\\d+$", diameter) & (diameter != "99" & diameter != "0") ~ as.character(diameter),
TRUE ~ NA_character_
),
decoracion = case_when(
decoracion == "0" ~ NA,
decoracion == "1, 2" ~ "Incised & Stamped",
decoracion == "1, 3" ~ "Positive painted & Incised",
decoracion == "1, 3, 9" ~ "Pos. painted, Incised, Applique",
decoracion == "3, 6" ~ "Positive painted & Modeled",
decoracion == "3, 9" ~ "Positive painted & Applique",
decoracion == "1" ~ "Incised",
decoracion == "2" ~ "Stamped",
decoracion == "3" ~ "Positive painted",
decoracion == "4" ~ "Negative painted",
decoracion == "5" ~ "Mold-made",
decoracion == "6" ~ "Modeled (sculpted)",
decoracion == "7" ~ "Burnished",
decoracion == "8" ~ "Etched/engraved",
decoracion == "9" ~ "Applique",
decoracion == "10" ~ "Zoned slip",
TRUE ~ as.character(decoracion))) %>% #decoding the decoration into characters/descriptions
filter(
grepl("Borde - Rim|I", fragment, ignore.case = TRUE),
!is.na(period),
grepl("^\\d*\\.?\\d+$", diameter),
diameter != "99" & diameter != "0") %>%
mutate_all(~ ifelse(. == "99" | . == "-", NA, as.character(.))) #in Dr. Bria's data, there are many values that mean N/A, these include 99, IND, nd, 0, etc. This step is to make them all one type of missing value 'NA'
kable(head(filtered_ceramics))| operacion | bolsa | context | period | subop | length | width | thickness_code | diameter | fragment | serving | general_form_name | decoracion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CE-1 | C-0001 | Recuay | Q10,Q9 | 19.81 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
| 1 | CE-1460 | C-0001 | Recuay | T11 | 16.27 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
| 1 | CE-602 | C-0001 | Recuay | S9 | 1 | 18.34 | 2 | 13 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
| 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | Recuay | S7 | 15.32 | 16.14 | 2 | 15 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
| 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | Recuay | S7 | 1 | 21.99 | 2 | 17 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
| 1 | CE-610 | C-0001 | Recuay | R10 | 1 | 38.46 | 2 | 15 | Rim | S | bowl | NA |
Goals
Better understand shifting ritual practice, especially feasting practices, through time at a high altitude site.
Organize over 2,500 data points in a way where pattern recognition is more possible.
Generate visualizations of the data which encourage future questions and more fine-grained analysis.
Theme 1: Attributes and Measurements— Role and Scale
Problem 1
How can the attributes and measurements of ritual ceramics at Hualcayan help us understand the role and scale of ritual practices through time? What are the differences in the role and scale of ritual feasting through time at Hualcayan?
To understand the role and scale of ritual feasting, I will look at the size (thickness and diameter) of each of the forms (jar, bowl, bottle, etc) separated by time period. Thicker and larger diameter sherds would have been part of larger vessels.
Throughout the archaeological record, larger vessels typically relate to larger feasting practices with more people taking part in ritual consumption. By performing this analysis (size vs. form) for each time period, this visualization will help us understand how the role and scale of ritual feasting shifted through time periods (Initial, Early Horizon [Chavín—Early], Early Horizon [Huaras—Late], Intermediate Period).
# filtered data
filtered_ceramics <- filtered_ceramics %>%
mutate(
thickness = as.numeric(thickness_code),
diameter_numeric = as.numeric(diameter)) %>%
filter(period %in% c("Chavín", "Huaras", "Recuay"), #we want just the three most signficant periods
!is.na(general_form_name),
general_form_name != "ind. serving") #remove ind. serving because it is not a significant category with many data points + is not well defined, can take many forms
# plotting
plot1 <- ggplot(filtered_ceramics, aes(x = diameter_numeric, y = general_form_name, fill = general_form_name)) +
geom_density_ridges(rel_min_height = 0.005, alpha = 0.6) +
labs(title = 'Diameter Across Forms', x = "Diameter (centimeters)", y = "Form") +
theme(plot.title = element_text(size = 14, hjust = 0.5)) +
theme(legend.position = "none") + # Remove legend
facet_wrap(~period, scales = 'free', ncol = 1) +
scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") +
coord_cartesian(xlim = c(0, 50))
#specifiy breaks & labels because the thickness column is in a code— 1: 1-3mm, 2: 3-6 mm, etc.
breaks <- c(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
labels <- c("0-1", "1-3", "3-6", "6-9", "9-12", "12-15", "15-18", "18-21")
# plotting
plot2 <- ggplot(filtered_ceramics, aes(x = thickness, y = general_form_name, fill = general_form_name)) +
geom_density_ridges(rel_min_height = 0.005, alpha = 0.6) +
labs(title = 'Thickness Across Forms', x = "Thickness (millimeters)", y = NULL) +
theme(plot.title = element_text(size = 14, hjust = 0.5), axis.text.y = element_blank()) +
theme(legend.position = "none") +
facet_wrap(~period, scales = 'free', ncol = 1) +
scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") +
scale_x_continuous(breaks = breaks, labels = labels) +
scale_y_discrete(position = "right") +
coord_cartesian(xlim = c(0, 7))
# Combine plots
combined_plot <- grid.arrange(plot1, plot2, ncol = 2)Picking joint bandwidth of 1.62Picking joint bandwidth of 1.66Picking joint bandwidth of 1.5Picking joint bandwidth of 0.322Picking joint bandwidth of 0.263Picking joint bandwidth of 0.293Warning: Removed 242 rows containing non-finite values
(`stat_density_ridges()`).
Interpretation
Here, two density ridge plots are used to visualize the attributes and measurements of ritual ceramics at Hualcayan across multiple time periods. Density ridge plots are suitable for visualizing the distribution of continuous variables (diameter, thickness) across categories (form, time periods). Faceting by period (Chavín, Huaras, Recuay) allows for a clear comparison of these distributions across different periods. With color differentiation across vessel type (form) and labeled a labeled y axis, the reader is able to track changes in size based on form for the entire dataset, or within a specific period.
In examining the visualizations of ritual ceramics across different time periods at Hualcayan, certain intriguing patterns emerge, offering small insights into the role and scale of ritual feasting. Within the Chavín period, the diameter distribution across various ceramic forms appears generally normal. Noteworthy exceptions include the olla con cuello (cooking pot with neck), exhibiting a trimodal pattern from 5-25 centimeters, and the olla sin cuello, which deviates slightly from the norm. Other forms, however, present a relatively normal distribution, spanning the 5 cm to 25(ish) cm range. Thickness distributions reveal a prevalence in the 3-6 and 6-9 millimeter intervals, showcasing a multimodal appearance due to measurement intervals. A surprising revelation is the substantial thickness of jars, almost on par with ollas designated for cooking purposes.
Transitioning to the Huaras period, the landscape of ceramic use undergoes notable shifts. Plates go out of fashion, and the diameter distribution undergoes changes. Ollas without necks display high variability, with three discernible types: small, medium, and large. This variability is mirrored in the thickness of ollas. Ollas with necks, however, exhibit less variability, with a prominent mode around 18 cm in both diameter and thickness. Jars maintain consistency in their variable size, while bowls adopt a more normal distribution with a clear median around 14 cm in diameter. Yet, the thickness of bowls varies noticably, with some displaying unexpected thickness relative to their diameter.
In the Recuay period, there is an increase of vessel types, including plates, bottles, handled serving bowls, and cups. Plates, ollas, jars, cups, bowls, and bottles exhibit relatively normal diameter distributions. However, handled serving bowls stand out for their increased variability and larger diameters. Thickness patterns broadly mirror diameter trends, although bottles deviate by displaying greater thickness and variability than anticipated given their low diameter.
The transitions in these three periods represent a huge symbolic overhaul and change in the dominant culture for the North-Central Andes; yet these plots demonstrate appropriate vessels to bring to a ritual feast doesn’t change too much. With a few of the more individual patterns outlined above, this plot is reflecting a community of practice- though there are massive cultural overhauls and new networks, ritual practice (both in practice and in scale) appears to remain mostly consistent. It is still the same local community, yet privy to new networks (social and cultural). In general judging by the lack of one glaringly clear patterns, though the transition from Chavín to Recuay is often thought of as disruptive, the ritual ceramics at Hualcayan suggest that how you make a bowl or a cooking pot does not change all that much. In the future, this hypothesis could be analyzed through more petrographic analyses like looking at temper and looking closer at ceramic techniques.
Though the distributions are relatively consistent, when you spend time really diving into the plot, you can see that Recuay ritual ceramic sizes are more left-skewed (especially in thickness) and have a wider range (for both thickness and diameter) than the others— meaning that ritual ceramics are consistently slightly larger than the other periods. Archaeological evidence shows that as Huaras transitioned into Recuay in the Early Intermediate Period, feasting became the ritual practice. Thus, ceramics from Hualcayan are consistent with the interpretation that the Recuay scaled up feasting practices. Furthermore, the presence of more vessel forms associated with ritual feasting (handled serving bowls, bottles, cups) also suggests increased interest in ritual feasting. The appearance of more cups and keros is interesting because it suggests increased use of chicha beer. This is also true of thee handled serving bowls, which would have been used to serve chicha into the cup or bowl.
In sum, this plot (while not representative of one huge, glaring pattern) demonstrates a slight shift in ritual feasting patterns. From the Chavín to Recuay period, feasting is scaled up with more vessel types and slightly larger vessels being used to support larger feasting practices. Perhaps most importantly, the plots of ritual ceramics support the interpretation from many archaeological studies that chicha became more important in ritual contexts through time. This pattern continues through the next 500+ years in the Andes.
Theme 2: Decorated Ritual Ceramics
Problem 2
How does decoration relate to scale?
Is there a correlation between larger vessels and decoration? In other words, does increased scale in feasting practices correlate to increased effort in fine decoration?
# Rename the columns to lower case
filtered_ceramics <- filtered_ceramics %>%
rename_all(tolower)
# Mutate the decoracion variable and reorder things so they are next to similar things. cups, bowls, plates, painting negative painting etc.
filtered_ceramics <- mutate(
filtered_ceramics,
decoracion = fct_relevel(decoracion,"Mold-made", "Applique",
"Etched/engraved", "Incised & Stamped", "Stamped", "Incised",
"Negative painted", "Positive painted", "Pos. painted, Incised, Applique", "Positive painted & Incised", "Positive painted & Applique", "Positive painted & Modeled"),
general_form_name = fct_relevel(general_form_name, "bowl", "plate",
"cup/kero", "jar", "handled serving bowl", "olla con cuello",
"olla sin cuello"))
#plot together
ggplot(na.omit(filtered_ceramics), aes(x = diameter_numeric, y = decoracion, color = general_form_name)) +
geom_count(aes(size = after_stat(prop * 100), group = 1), alpha = 0.4) +
scale_size_area(max_size = 10, labels = scales::percent_format(scale = 1)) +
labs(title = "Decoration vs. Size",
x = "Diameter (centimeters)",
y = "Decoration") +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5)) +
guides(
color = guide_legend(title = "Form"),
size = guide_legend(title = "Proportion")) +
scale_color_brewer(palette = "Dark2")
#faceted by period
ggplot(na.omit(filtered_ceramics), aes(x = diameter_numeric, y = decoracion, color = general_form_name)) +
geom_count(aes(size = after_stat(prop * 100), group = 1), alpha = 0.4) +
scale_size_area(max_size = 10, labels = scales::percent_format(scale = 1)) +
labs(
title = "Decoration vs. Size",
x = "Diameter (centimeters)",
y = "Decoration") +
guides(
color = guide_legend(title = "Form"),
size = guide_legend(title = "Proportion")) +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5)) +
scale_color_brewer(palette = "Dark2") +
facet_wrap(vars(period), scales = "free_y", nrow = 3, strip.position = "top") +
theme(strip.background = element_blank(), strip.placement = "outside")
Interpretation
Here, the two plots explore the relationship between the size of ritual ceramics and the presence of decoration. The scatter plot with size proportions is effective in showcasing the relationship between two continuous variables (size and decoration) while considering the frequency of occurrences. The collor differentiation allows for the identification of patterns across different general form categories. By faceting by period, there is a temporal dimension to the analysis, aiding in the exploration of size, form, and decoration change over time. The plot faceted by period helps identify potential shifts in the effort put into fine decoration in relation to the scale and practices of ritual feasting activities.
Across all time periods, the plot shows a clear trend for mid-size (10-20 cm in diameter) bowls with positive painting. By far, this is the most common occurrence for trend in size and decoration, shown by the size of the point relating to the proportion. This trend prompted further questions: is there one period that is more likely to have painted, mid-size bowls whereas another period is more likely to have incised bowls? To understand further, I used a plot faceted by period.
One analysis that comes out of this plot is in Huaras and Recuay periods, there is an increased formalization in materials associated with feast size and scale. In other words, it appears that feasts are shifting slightly from Chavín to later periods where bowls 10-15 cm in diameter become prevalent. Compared to Chavín where the points are more dispersed, there is a clear cluster of data for both Recuay and Huaras 10-15 cm painted bowls, suggesting a new focus or form of consumption where consumption materials are becomign standardized at a specific scale, especially for Huaras. This interpretation is consistent with archaeological evidence of ritual practices shifting to prioritize the consumption of chicha after the Chavín period. Since we know that during the Huaras period, they were shifting more toward chicha consumption and feasting of camelids and guinea pigs, this could explain the need for far more consistently sized bowls and a greater proportion of the sample.
In relation to my initial question, the plots suggest that there is not a positive correlation between vessel size and fine decoration. If this were true, I would expect the larger points to be clustered on the high end of the diameter range, whereas in reality they are relatively normally distributed with a strong cluster in the mid-size area. However, there are many interesting conclusions (outlined above) which do emerge from the plots which point to the evolving dynamics of ceramic practices and ritual practice through time.
Problem 3
Are there specific decorations associated with vessel type?
What can this show about the symbolic importance of certain decorations? For example, is painting associated with liquid consumption? Incision with vessels used to serve others? Negative painting with cooking?
#Decode the serving column and lump categories- fermentation and cooking vessels become food prep
filtered_serving <- filtered_ceramics %>%
mutate(serving_category = case_when(
serving %in% c("C", "S-F") ~ "Food preparation",
serving == "S-I" ~ "Intermediate Serving (serving others)",
serving == "S" ~ "Serving",
TRUE ~ as.character(serving)))
#Lump decoration categories by technique
filtered_serving_decoracion <- filtered_serving %>%
mutate(decoration_type = case_when(
decoracion %in% c("Mold-made", "Applique", "Etched/engraved", "Incised & Stamped", "Stamped", "Incised") ~ "Incised/Modeled",
decoracion %in% c("Positive painted & Modeled", "Positive painted & Modeled", "Positive painted & Applique", "Positive painted & Incised", "Pos. painted, Incised, Applique", "Positive painted", "Negative painted") ~ "Painted",
TRUE ~ as.character(decoracion)))
kable(head(filtered_serving_decoracion))| operacion | bolsa | context | period | subop | length | width | thickness_code | diameter | fragment | serving | general_form_name | decoracion | thickness | diameter_numeric | serving_category | decoration_type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CE-1 | C-0001 | Recuay | Q10,Q9 | 19.81 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 14 | Serving | NA |
| 1 | CE-1460 | C-0001 | Recuay | T11 | 16.27 | 16.4 | 2 | 14 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 14 | Serving | NA |
| 1 | CE-602 | C-0001 | Recuay | S9 | 1 | 18.34 | 2 | 13 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 13 | Serving | NA |
| 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | Recuay | S7 | 15.32 | 16.14 | 2 | 15 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 15 | Serving | NA |
| 1 | CE-609 | C-0001 | Recuay | S7 | 1 | 21.99 | 2 | 17 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 17 | Serving | NA |
| 1 | CE-610 | C-0001 | Recuay | R10 | 1 | 38.46 | 2 | 15 | Rim | S | bowl | NA | 2 | 15 | Serving | NA |
#plot these faceted by type of vessel- serving category
ggplot(na.omit(filtered_serving_decoracion), aes(x = decoration_type, fill = decoration_type)) +
geom_bar(color = "white", alpha = 0.8) +
facet_wrap(vars(serving_category), ncol = 1) +
scale_fill_manual(values = c("cadetblue", "lightsalmon2")) +
coord_flip() +
labs(title = "Decoration and Vessel Types",
x = "Decoration Type",
y = "Count (n)",
fill = "Decoration Type") +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5)) +
guides(fill = guide_legend(reverse = TRUE))
# Huaras Period
huaras_serving <- ggplot(
na.omit(filtered_serving_decoracion %>% filter(period == "Huaras")),
aes(x = decoration_type, fill = decoration_type)) +
geom_bar(color = "white", alpha = 0.8) +
facet_wrap(vars(serving_category), ncol = 1) +
scale_fill_manual(values = c("cadetblue", "lightsalmon2")) +
coord_flip() +
labs(
title = "Decoration and Vessel Types (Huaras Period)",
x = "Decoration Type",
y = "Count (n)",
fill = "Decoration Type") +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5)) +
guides(
fill = guide_legend(reverse = TRUE)) +
ylim(0, 80)
# Recuay Period
recuay_serving <- ggplot(
na.omit(filtered_serving_decoracion %>% filter(period == "Recuay")),
aes(x = decoration_type, fill = decoration_type)) +
geom_bar(color = "white", alpha = 0.8) +
facet_wrap(vars(serving_category), ncol = 1) +
scale_fill_manual(values = c("cadetblue", "lightsalmon2")) +
coord_flip() +
labs(
title = "Decoration and Vessel Types (Recuay Period)",
x = "Decoration Type",
y = "Count (n)",
fill = "Decoration Type") +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5)) +
guides(
fill = guide_legend(reverse = TRUE)) +
ylim(0, 80)
# Combine Plots
combined_plot2 <- grid.arrange(huaras_serving, recuay_serving, ncol = 1)
Interpretation
These visualizations explore the relationship between specific decorations and types of vessels, focusing on the symbolic importance of these decorations in the context of consumption and preparation. Bar plots are effective for comparing the distribution of categorical variables (decoration types) across different groups (serving categories). Faceting allows for a detailed exploration of the relationship within each serving category and across different time periods.
This plot demonstrates that by far, decoration is far more prevalent on serving vessels than any other. This patterns was seen emerging from plots for question 2, but here, with simplified categories for decoration and for vessel type, it is clear that the most popular decorated ritual ceramic was a painted serving vessel. Incised is far less used, except for with intermediate serving vessels like handled serving bowls used to pour food or water into other vessels. This patterns is somewhat surprising, and at present I would need to ask further questions and further parse the data to understand why this pattern emerges. In an effort to understand better, I separated the data by period. Unfortunately, for Chavín, there were not sufficient unique values to parse these data out, so the period analysis came down to Huaras and Recuay.
For Huaras, food preparation vessels were almost never decorated, the only intermediate serving vessels were incised, and serving vessls were overwhelmingly painted rather than incised. Being familiar with the data, this visualization backs up the observation of a very standardized bowl emerging in the Huaras period. Painted, mid-size bowls that were very similar became overwhelmingly popular in ritual feasting practices.
For the Recuay, food preparation vessels began to have more decoration, split between painted and incised. The trend of incised intermediate serving vessels persisted, again requiring further analysis. Painted serving vessels were still the most prevalent for decorated ritual ceramics.
In answering my proposed question, these visualizations lead me to the hypothesis that painted (and thus more fine decoration) was associated with individual vessels. Cooking pots and intermediate serving vessels were less likely to be decorated, perhaps because these were more utilitarian and shared vessels. Serving vessels, on the other hands, would have been held and used by one person at a time and perhaps the more attention to decoration is for personalization purposes. Further analysis that would strengthen this interpretation would include specific motifs in the decorations to better understand the symbolic importance of certain vessel forms.