ABSTRACT
Styles-as-assemblages consist of a host of things: technology, technique and material. Archaeologists assume that makers set out to produce certain forms from the outset, and they appear to do so without engaging with materials in any way: it's almost as if styles are cast in predetermined forms like manufactured goods on a production line. The chapter explores that style was perceived as a black-box simply because archaeologists only looked at style in a partial fashion; they tended to base their judgements on style only on the basis of the end-products of complex processes of making. It examines a case study from Pre-Hispanic Chile, South America. Archaeologists Francisco Vergara and Andres Troncoso examine the rock art of two communities in Pre-Hispanic Chile – hunter-gatherer and farmer – from a technical perspective. The most sophisticated understanding of the kinds of processes comes from work on the design systematics of Pueblo pottery from the American Southwest.
