Abstract

This article presents a synthesis of regional archaeological investigations in the city and region of Valdivia during the colonial period (1550–1820). Previous studies have traditionally been centered on Hispanic mindsets and the role of conflict, the frontier status of colonial society in southern Chile, and the dispersed character of indigenous settlement. Here local sequences of material culture are reconsidered together with previous conceptual frameworks proposed by historical and anthropological research. Our research is based on new field surveys, the study of standing buildings, and assemblages of finds. These have been linked to different types of sites, including urban centers, fortifications, and mission posts. The results allow us to investigate the intercultural character of local society, settlement patterns, and the role of Valdivia in the context of the Peruvian viceroyalty and the Spanish Empire as a whole. Conclusions reveal the specific colonial processes that characterized the region and the sequence of founding, abandonment, and refounding of the urban center of Valdivia, which, in turn, impacted patterns of indigenous settlement and provoked technological hybridization in local ceramic industries. These changes can be linked to the emergence of an intercultural society, the definition of which proves more complex than that accepted by current binary categories.