The Pre-Columbian Studies symposium, “Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-Columbian World” drew area specialists from the United States, Mexico, Peru, and the United Kingdom, as well as a constituency of craft practitioners interested in the Pre-Columbian technologies deployed in creating distinctive objects in a wide range of materials. These ranged from the fiber arts to mural painting, ceramics, metallurgy, and monumental stone sculpture. The presentations elicited animated discussion that assured the undivided attention of all who participated and rendered them largely oblivious to the unremitting deluge that coincided with the symposium weekend! The sessions comprised a rich blend of reports on new field research along with the results of analytical materials research. These featured groundbreaking work on mural pigments and a presentation on the celebrated and much-valued thorny oyster (Spondylus princeps), which was complemented by a tertulia offered by project grantee Carolina Vilchez earlier in the week.
Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-Columbian World | October 11–12, 2013