Abstract

The prehistory of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile has been constructed around certain traditional classes of objects, such as ceramics and lithics, following the Old World and North American standards. As such, color has been relegated to an invisible status, despite its essential visible qualities and color’s importance in the region’s social, symbolic, economic, and political processes. This article focuses on color and polychromy by studying objects from different funerary sites associated with the end of the regional pre-Columbian chronological sequence (ca. 1000–1500 AD). We present descriptions of the iconography and the symmetry of the motifs of these objects, and the first physicochemical characterization of the mineral paintings obtained using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and hyperspectral imaging. With four new radiocarbon dates, we establish their chronology, associated in two cases with isotope measurements to evaluate the origin of the leather used. The research reveals a dual and simultaneous practice: while painted motifs demonstrated a visible interregional flow of information, paintings’ chemical analysis testifies to a pigment production probably associated with the local exploitation of mineral coloring matter. In contrasting visual and material productions, we explore mineral pigments’ social value and role during the late Atacama pre-Columbian period. Using an interdisciplinary approach regarding the materiality of color, we subsequently evaluate the social implications of mineral polychromy in this south-central Andean region. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.