MATERIALIZANDO ELEMENTOS DE IDENTIDAD: ANÁLISIS ICONOGRÁFICO DE TOCADOS DE LA CULTURA BAHÍA, ECUADOR

Studies of ceramics associated with the Bahía culture, which pertains to the Regional Development period and was centered in the present-day province of Manabí on the coast of Ecuador, have mainly focused on establishing typologies and organizing them chronologically. The present study offers an iconographic analysis of Bahia-style anthropomorphic ceramic figurines found in various Ecuadorian museum collections, focusing on specific characteristics and features of the associated headdresses. Based on this analysis, which uses semiotics as a methodological tool, it is proposed that these archaeological pieces correspond to representations of people who belonged to a particular group within a stratified society, thus suggesting the presence of both social and gender hierarchies in Bahia culture. It is further proposed that the headdresses and the elements with which they were embellished, constituted symbols of power that served, as well, to materialize the identity of both the group and the individual.