摘要：Traditionally, the archaeology of north-western Argentina has described and
classified the glass beads recovered in post-contact or colonial sites according to their
morphology, color and “decoration”. Based on this, it has interpreted the presence of
Spanish chaquiras or glass necklaces in the archaeological record as a consequence
of beads circulation, along with other “valuable” objects, through bartering and/or
interchange networks between indigenous and Spanish elites.
This work advances in the archeometric analysis of glass beads found in
different depositational and post-depositational conditions, dated in a relative way
between 450 and 370 B.P. The sample observed belongs to the Pintoscayoc 1 or the
Alero de las Circunferencias site located in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, province
of Jujuy, Argentina.
Although the analyses carried out on this sample offer little information about
their European origin, they do allow to characterize their important state of corrosion.
