A Multi Theory Approach for Studying Presumed Ritual Pottery - The Stirrup Spout Bottle as a Case Study from the Pre-Hispanic Andes

Anthropological art and culture theory, neurobiological cognition theory, comparative religious studies, form-function analysis as well as archaeological and pictorial scenic context information are used to identify the hitherto unknown functionality of the stirrup spout bottle, a predominant pre-Hispanic vessel type at the Peruvian north coast, and to allocate this and further spouted bottle types to its presumed cultural domain: the religious-cosmological realm. The inferential limits of ethnographic analogy and of traditional art historical approaches of artifact interpretation are considered, as well as the caveats of meta-level inferences from archaeological finds without written context, and how to deal with the epistemological ambiguity of material produces as results of human intentional acts. Ethnographic, ethnohistorical and the limited archaeological evidence points to ritual consumption of hallucinogenic drugs in the pre-Hispanic Andes, which the spouted vessels may have been involved in as containers and administering devices. However, in the absence of residue analyses and without proof of psychoactive alkaloids or its degradation products, even an occasional use of the spouted bottles as containers for drug storage and administration stays hypothetical.

Keywords:Anthropological art theory; Culture theory; Religious studies; Ethnographic analogy; Scenic context analysis; Ritual drug consumption