Paper short abstract:

This communication presents preliminary results of an interdisciplinary project that is carried out in the indigenous community of Ollagüe, Chile. We discuss the temporal movement of the industrial materiality associated with the mining history of the village during the 20th century.

Paper long abstract:

In Chile, the process of modernization, expressed by the expansion of capitalism and industrialization in the 20th century, had many economic and social impacts. However, the material culture associated with modern mining industries and its influence on indigenous societies suffers from a lack of studies from an archaeological perspective. Based on sulphur mining camps located in Ollagüe, a commune of the Antofagasta region in northern Chile, this communication shows the importance of modern materiality associated with the presence of mining industries. Could industrial ruins and the materiality of the recent past engender memory spaces intertwined with the local indigenous communities' contemporary preoccupations? By considering different forms of time representation, we seek to discuss the role of industrial materiality and the processes through which memory structures are formed. Drawing attention to the peculiarities of Chile's modernization and capitalist expansion, the temporal movement allow us to approach industrial materiality in terms of continuity, fragmentation, and ruptures. We seek to examine the significance of real and imaginary objects, of physical remains and representations, and to evaluate the outcomes that materiality generates on the society that describes, transforms, exhibits, and preserves it. Patrimonial policies have been used as active elements in the reconstruction of memories, of local identities, and in ethnic vindication discourses. Through archaeology, issues such as identity, heritage, and memory assume a physical presence. Thus, an archaeological approach brings to light this temporal fragmentation, generating local and global political commitments towards the recent past, its material culture and its spaces.