Art and Archaeology of Challuabamba, Ecuador

7. Stamps and Seals

111 Among the most interesting items of ceramic art at Challuabamba are the pieces bearing deeply carved designs. They are found in a variety of forms: flat stamps, large hollow circular forms which have been called “bracelets” (Uhle 1922:222) or roller stamps, which I will call cylinder seals, and other forms (Figure 7.1). There can be no doubt that they are local products, for their variations fall within the range of local ceramic production. Flat stamps and roller stamps (or cylinder seals) have been found at several sites in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. They “are very common items in Chorrera refuse” (Lathrap et al. 1975:51), and a large cylinder seal was found in Machalilla deposits at La Ponga (ibid.: cat. 233), but stamps and seals are rare in Andean Formative sites in general (Guffroy 1994:246). The largest collections outside the Ecuadorian coastal region come from Challuabamba (first shown by Uhle) (1922:221–223, Plate XXXV) and from Cerro Ñañañique. Guffroy (1994:248, Figure 15h) illustrates twelve flat ceramic stamps from Cerro Ñañañique and finds them similar to those from Chorrera collections illustrated by Lathrap et al. (1975: Nos. 521, 524, 533). As we might expect, unique individual examples have been found at several other sites (e.g., Pirincay: Hammond and Bruhns 1987:55; see Tellenbach 1998: Plate 35 for a selection from various sites). Although every one of the fourteen cylinder seals and thirty-seven flat stamps in our collection at Challuabamba is fragmentary, they are still the finest examples in terms of precision and design quality, as Uhle also asserted for the twelve cylinder seals in his collection. It is noteworthy that the carved items bear designs that have very little overlap with those found on containers. That suggests that the makersofthoseartifactsweremembersoftwodistinctsocialgroups. The term “carved,” which I have applied to the stamps and seals, refers to the technique, rare on containers, of cutting deep lines, dots, and shapes into smooth, leather-hard surfaces. This technique is easily distinguished from incision, modeling, and so forth, in which the Stamps and Seals 7 Art and Archaeology of Challuabamba, Ecuador 112 clay is softer and can be treated more freely, and changes made by adding more clay. Uhle referred to the technique as engraving, but in current use that term refers to incision on a surface already fired, while these were cut into the clay before firing when partly dry. Since the large hollow cylinders are the earliest (six of the fourteen examples coming from Level 4 of Cut 3), we will first look at all the cylinders and then go on to the flat stamps, which are mostly later, from Levels 1 and 2. Finally, we will look into the range of variation and the external relationships of the carved designs and into the question of their significance. Figure 7.1. Twelve of the fourteen cylinder seals are shown in the upper left corner of photo. Top row: No. 14, No. 7, No. 1, and No. 8; second row: No. 2, a flat stamp, No. 5, No. 9, No. 10; third row: No. 3, No. 11, a flat stamp, No. 4, No. 12. Cm scale at bottom. Photo by B. Jones. Cylinders Nos. 6 and 13 are shown in Figures 7.7 and 7.14. The three rows on the right and two rows on the bottom are flat or curved stamps. Stamps and Seals 113 Cylinder Seals All but two of the cylinder seals are shown in Figure 7.1 (the second from left in row 2 and the third in row 3 are flat stamps). Missing in this picture are cylinders numbered 6 and 12, shown in Figures 7.7 and 7.13. All are relatively large curving pottery fragments with carved designs on the external surface, all but one (No. 14) reduction -fired to a black or gray surface. All of them have at least one finished rim (at the top in Figure 7.1 except the first on the upper left) and Nos. 2 and 13 have finished rims at both top and bottom. The designs on cylinder seals do not necessarily have a top and bottom if, for example, they were used to print a pattern on textiles, but many of these designs do seem to have a top (Nos. 5 and 9 in the second row, for example). That might indicate a pictorial or...