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This volume is concerned with craft specialization and cultural complexity in prehispanic Andean communities in northwestern Argentina, with particular reference to cultural and social processes in the Ambato Valley (Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina) in the first millennium. The analytical perspective is based on technological processes and labour investment applied to the manufacture of different ceramic wares. The objectives of this study are not only to contribute to the study of social change through the analysis of the technological processes of pottery production, but also to analyze and compare production at two different cultural moments, studying its variability through time, production, distribution, use and discard contexts involved in pottery production. The author begins with an introduction to general and particular objectives, hypothesis and theoretical background to craft production and cultural complexity, social change and craft specialization. Chapter 2 contextualizes chronologically and culturally case studies related to Condorhuasi, Cienaga and Aguada. Chapters 3 and 4 present the archaeological sites and the results obtained in relation to the pottery technology. Chapter 5 centres on specific analysis of labour investment, as one of the theoretical approaches to the study craft specialization. In the final chapter, the author presents her conclusions, linking both craft specialization and social change. Overall, the work is an important contribution to the knowledge of past Andean communities, as well as an original insight into craft specialization and labor-technology change.
