Ethnoarchaeology of a Ceremonial House Related to the Tembeta Rite of Passage: Materiality, Ritual, and Cosmology among the Paī Tavyterã (Paraguay)

Large ceremonial houses are a widespread architectural form across the lowlands of South America, where they are central to diverse ritual practices. Among Guaraní-speaking peoples, one such practice is the male initiation rite kunumi pepy, in which the lower lip is pierced with a tembeta (labret) as a marker of social adulthood. This article examines the óga guasu, a large ceremonial house constructed by the Paĩ Tavyterã of eastern Paraguay specifically for this ritual. It analyses its embedded cosmological geography and archaeological visibility. The óga guasu operates simultaneously as a ritual stage and as a material expression of social and cosmological order. Detailed ethnographic documentation of the kunumi pepy demonstrates the intertwining of materiality, cosmology, and social reproduction. This study also highlights how ritual architecture shapes the archaeological record and illustrates how materiality, cosmology, and social reproduction intersect in the life of Indigenous societies in South American lowlands.