Tubular pottery comprises certain peculiar artifacts that were produced by late Holocene complex hunter-gatherer societies in southeastern South America for unknown purposes. Some authors have related them to mortuary behaviour which has also been suggested by historical sources, while others have considered domestic use. In this paper, the technical, compositional and functional properties of these artifacts are explored in order to contrast both hypotheses, given an example of how technical analysis allows the identification of special pottery within archeological contexts. This analysis includes a study of the fabrics involved using low and high magnification, thin sections, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and fatty acid profiles. The results show that these tubular artifacts are not fit structurally for utilitarian purposes and show no evidence of domestic use. Based on these results and on historical data, it can be postulated that they were used as part of mortuary rituals, thus becoming part of the select global group of pottery manufactured exclusively for mortuary purposes.

中文翻译：

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南美洲巴拉那盆地复杂狩猎采集者的殡葬陶器和神圣景观

管状陶器包括某些特殊的文物，这些文物是由南美洲东南部的全新世晚期复杂的狩猎采集社会出于未知目的而生产的。一些作者将它们与历史资料所暗示的太平间行为联系起来，而另一些作者则考虑了家庭使用。本文探讨了这些文物的技术、成分和功能特性，以对比这两种假设，并举例说明技术分析如何在考古背景下识别特殊陶器。该分析包括使用低和高放大倍率、薄切片、扫描电子显微镜、能量色散 X 射线光谱、穆斯堡尔光谱、激光诱导击穿光谱和脂肪酸谱研究所涉及的织物。结果表明，这些管状人工制品在结构上不适合实用目的，也没有证据表明可用于家庭用途。根据这些结果和历史数据，可以推测它们被用作太平间仪式的一部分，从而成为专门为太平间目的制造的全球精选陶器的一部分。