Reciprocal exchange, value, and forms of transaction: an archaeological approach from the Atacama Desert (northern Chile)

Exotic goods belong to a class of valuable materials that have played an important role in ritual activities, political ceremonies, and economic agreements in different human contexts, both past and present. However, we have made little progress in understanding exchanges as relationships between donors and receivers, as forms of reciprocal interaction that forged a network of links between individuals and groups of different cultural traditions. Although the archaeological record presents multiple limitations in the study of these interactions, an exploratory archaeological perspective allows researchers to examine questions related to the social character of exchanges, the value attributed to goods, and the ways in which these circulated. I argue that the presence of exotic goods is an indicator of intercultural social relations whose values are expressed through their consumption. They represent a relational materiality between humans and nonhumans, which allows us to discuss forms of reciprocity and the cultural nature of the network of long-distance exchanges. Here, I present case studies from archaeological localities in the Atacama Desert (northern Chile) during the Formative Period (800 BCE-400 CE) to illustrate these concepts.