Republic of Bolivia (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
226-250 (537 Records)
Long term evolutionary narratives on South Andean pre-Columbian history have stressed lineal processes of complexity intensification, defined by big changes on subsistence strategies, from small and egalitarian hunter gatherer groups to complex multicommunitarian chiefdoms. These changes were thought to influence or even determine the structure of household and consequently daily life of people. Nevertheless recent household archaeology studies have demonstrated that the reproduction of...
Houses of Colonial Chiefly Authority: Local Elites in the Social Order of Mawchu Llacta, a Colonial Reducción Town in the Southern Highlands of Peru (2017)
As a result of the Toledan Reforms in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the late fifteenth century, new settlements known as reducciones were established to centralize indigenous populations. Such is the case of Mawchu Llacta, originally Espinar de Tute, in the Caylloma Province, Arequipa. The introduction of these sweeping reforms brought a series of major changes to the social order. External agents were established as the new bearers of power and local elites took on a secondary status. However,...
How many, how few, how long: pre-Columbian population density and human impact in pre-Columbian Amazonia (2017)
Assessing the landscape impact of past settlement and subsistence systems in space and in time is essential to reconstructing pre-Columbian land use in the Amazon basin. In this paper we consider archaeological and landscape evidence for past land use by examining the strengths and limitations of archaeological radiocarbon evidence as a proxy for broad demographic patterns in pre-Columbian Amazonia.
Human Coprolite Diet Reconstruction Confirms Wetland Resource Use in the Coast of the Atacama Desert, 6580 cal. yr BP (2017)
It has been proposed that Chinchorro coastal people along the Atacama Desert in northern Chile had marginal access to plant food, a position refuted by recent scholars. The older perspective comes from bone chemistry analyses which showed a nearly exclusive reliance on marine animal resources. Newer analyses of mummy gut contents shows a substantial reliance on wetland plant resources, especially sedge rhizomes and seeds. Therefore, existing analyses present very different ideas of Chinchorro...
Human Responses to Holocene Aridization South of the Atacama Desert (31° to 32° S), the Meaning of Differences in Landscape Use (2017)
The geographical band between 31°-32° S, from the Pacific to the Andes, lies in the southernmost part of the Semi-Arid North of Chile, south of the Atacama Desert. Multidisciplinary research to the north and south of the Choapa River’s mouth is uneven, thereby in need of new data for understanding the relative intensity of the human traces across the landscape and the human interactions with environmental changes. Currently, the combined pollen records in the coast and highlands indicate arid...
Human Selection on Maize Size Traits. A contribution from the archaeological record of Tarapacá, chile, South Central Andes. (2017)
Maize from Andean region has a recognized complex history, involving ecological and human interaction. Today, while Andean maize show high morphological and low genotypic diversities, the process involved in its production and selection is unclear. In this work we ask how the morphological and genetic diversity of maize has varied through Formative Period to present time in Tarapacá Region, northern Chile? To answer this we analysed thirty morphological traits and eight microsatellites markers...
Human-Environment Interactions and the Hunter-Gatherers of Chachapoyas, Peru (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although a growing bodies of scholarship address later cultural developments in such regions, Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCF) are nevertheless perceived by many as environments marginal for human occupation, especially for hunter-gatherers. One such region, the Chachapoyas culture area in northern Peru, has to date been home to...
Hunter-gatherer home ranges in arid environments: exploring some of the differences and similarities (2017)
Deserts have traditionally been considered marginal environments, because survival depends on several factors. Some researchers have pointed to the importance of water for hunter-gatherers living in these environments, as well as the increased knowledge of the environment they lived in, and its resources, as well as the awareness and knowledge of neighbors on whom to call in lean times or with whom to interact and exchange partners and the knowledge of resources. Here we present two cases from...
IDENTIFICATION OF CHARCOAL FROM METALLURGICAL FURNACES AT PULAC 050, SOUTHERN BOLIVIA (2010)
Charcoal samples from the base of two metallurgical furnaces at the Pulac 050 site in southern Bolivia were submitted for identification to determine if thola (Parastrephia) wood was burned in the furnace. This site appears to be a prehistoric metal working site that may date to the Middle Horizon, around 600-1000 CE. Pieces of modern reference wood were collected by a local man in Bolivia who was familiar with the vegetation. Wood was cut from a known thola shrub, and deadwood was collected...
Identity and Offerings in the Southern Peruvian Andes: A comparative study of the painted tablets and discs tradition of the Arequipa region, Southern Peru (2017)
Inka and Spanish imperial projects in the Andes frequently targeted local beliefs and ritual practices, albeit in dissimilar ways. Understanding the effects of imperial projects is not possible without a clear sense of the local ritual landscape and its (in)compatibility with state religions and other practices spread across state networks. The painted tablet and disc tradition of the Arequipa region in the Southern Peruvian Andes offers a particular case for studying local and regional rituals...
Identity Intersectionality and Gender in the Archaeological Past and the Archaeologists’ Present (2017)
Archaeologists live in a reality in which gender, sexuality, race, age, and occupational identities (to name a few) are pervasive and impactful in our professional and personal lives. Our individual experiences in the world are always being shaped by our place at the intersection of multiple perceived and/or performed identities in the multiple social landscapes we inhabit. It then must be accepted that social identities operated similarly for people in the past. Still, there remains a hesitance...
Identity, Residential Mobility and Anthropogenic Lead in early colonial Huamanga (Ayacucho), Peru (2017)
La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús de Huamanga, the earliest Jesuit church in modern-day Ayacucho, Peru, was built in AD 1605 near the main plaza. Famous for its baroque art, this standing church is in need of extensive renovations. In a partial restoration in 2008, an archaeological excavation uncovered human and faunal remains underneath the church floor proper, and underneath the floors of associated chapels. Upon examination, only indigenous individuals appear to be buried underneath the...
The Impact of Climate Dynamics and Cultural Change on the Demography and Population Structure of Pre-Columbian Populations in the Atacama (2017)
Archaeological studies in the Central Andes have pointed at the temporal coincidence of climatic fluctuations and episodes of cultural transition throughout the pre-Columbian period. Although most scholars explain the connection between environmental and cultural changes by the impact of climatic alterations on the capacities of the ecosystems inhabited by pre-Columbian cultures, direct evidence for assumed demographic consequences has been missing so far. Desert margin areas, as we find them at...
Imperial authority and local agency: Investigating the interplay of disruptive technology, indirect authority, and changing ritual practice at Dos Cruces. (2017)
The Chimu smelting site of Dos Cruces is located along the Zaña River in the middle valley of the greater Lambayeque area. Dos Cruces is located at the intersection of two major trade routes and nearby several rich sources of copper ore. The smelting of ore at Dos Cruces utilized wind powered smelting technology, a new innovation for this region. Despite its obvious Chimu affiliations, Dos Cruces lacks an audiencia, or indeed any indication of Chimu administrative oversight. The denizens of Dos...
Imperial Remodeling: Hatuncancha and Later Inca Construction (2019)
This is an abstract from the "How Did the Inca Construct Cuzco?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Though generations of scholars have mapped nearly all the standing architecture of the imperial and colonial city of Cusco, nevertheless, the site remains caught in the hypothetical moment of its apogee prior to its destruction during the Great Inca Revolt. A recent intensive survey of the central portion of the city provides nuanced data that permits a...
In the Middle of Nowhere: Inter-nodal Archaeology and Mobility in the Southern Andes (2017)
"Inter-nodal archaeology" contributes to research on social processes through the study of the areas between nodes, i.e., places where human activities tend to cluster (sites or densely settled areas, depending on the scale). By focusing on the material traces directly generated by people’s movement, this approach holds great potential for addressing questions regarding who travelled across regions and why. These possibilities are illustrated through research conducted in three inter-nodal areas...
INAA of Loro Ceramics from Zorropata, a Middle Horizon Las Trancas Habitation Site in Nasca, Peru (2017)
Early in the Middle Horizon (c. AD 650-1000), the Wari Empire expanded from its Ayacucho homeland and established at least three colonies (Pacheco, Pataraya, and Inkawasi) in the Southern Nasca Region (SNR) on the South Coast of Peru. Concomitant with the Wari presence local settlement patterns underwent dramatic reorganization. Large portions of the population shifted from the Nasca and Taruga Valleys south to the Las Trancas Valley – away from and perhaps in contention with the Wari. A new...
The Inca Dogs and their Ancestors (2017)
The goal of this paper is to elucidate the social role of the dog in ancient Peru as an artifact, a physical manifestation of culture, produced by humans, through archaeological and iconographic interpretation. The large numbers of dogs available for study are a neglected archaeological resource, and one that can provide a wide variety of information on human life and cultures in ancient Peru. Through the examination of archaeological dog remains and dog iconography from differing temporal and...
Inca Presence at Las Huacas, Chincha Valley (2017)
When the Spanish arrived to the coast of Peru they heard stories of the wealthy Chincha Kingdom and the privileged position that they enjoyed within the Inca Empire. Previous archaeological and ethnohistorical research has concluded that at the Chincha Kingdom’s capital of La Centinela, the Inca rulers set up their authority alongside the local lord, and that they left him in charge of ruling the rest of the valley. This poster will present recent research conducted at the site of Las Huacas, a...
Inca Road Emplacement: The case of Canturillas - Nieve-Nieve in the Lurin Valley, Huarochirí, Lima, Peru (2017)
The Qhapaq Ñan or Great Inca Road was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in June 2014. The section of the road located between Pachacamac Sanctuary and the Inca administrative center of Hatun Xauxa (central highlands of Peru), is one of the most important, and one of the segments considered for the UNESCO declaration. Within this portion, the stretch from Canturillas to Nieve-Nieve is located near to the modern town of Nieve Nieve in a desert area, right where the Andes start raising, and...
The Inca State and the Valley of Acari, Peru (2018)
The south coast of Peru was one of the regions conquered relatively early by the expanding Inca state. Following its incorporation, a series of Inca administrative centers were established, all linked by a branch of the Inca road. Tambo Viejo was established in the Acarí Valley. The south coast was, in general, incorporated peacefully into the imperial system; the administrative control exercised by the Inca state was likely to have been exerted through local authorities. However, Inca control...
Incas in the Northern Highlands: Late Horizon Evidence at Ichabamba in the Condebamba Valley (2017)
The Condebamba valley, covering the southern part of the Cajamarca-Huamachuco road, constituted the privileged scenario of the interaction among local groups and foreign empires. Several surveys along this part of the Inca road have established the cultural sequence in the region and the main features of its settlements. One of these sites, Ichabamba, exhibits stone walls in a rectangular layout, with two narrow subdivisions framing a large central space. Due to its architectural features,...
Indigenous Miners and the Making of the Andean Markets in Colonial Huancavelica (2017)
The mercury mines of Huancavelica have often been described through two familiar discourses in the colonial narrative, the European pursuit of wealth through extractive industries, and the simultaneous destruction of indigenous Andean communities through brutal forced labor and the corrosive effects of the colonial market. While these two historiographical traditions contain a great deal of truth, they can minimize the role of indigenous Andeans in the creation of new economic networks that...
Industrial Islands: Ecological Impacts of the steam-powered mills of the El Progreso plantation, Galápagos Islands. (2017)
From 1880 to 1917 "El Progreso" plantation operated on the humid highlands of San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago (Ecuador). The plantation enterprise used steam-powered machinery for sugar refining and alcohol distillation. Despite its remote location, 1000 km west from the South American coast, this large operation took advantage of the latest industrial technology. A number of specialized machines were used in sugar processing which were imported from factories in Scotland and...
Inequality and Taskscape in a Precolumbian Agricultural Landscape (2017)
Raised fields and other earthworks, as parts of archaeological landscapes, can be theorized through Ingold’s related concepts of taskscape and lines. In the Bolivian Amazon, such earthworks are the physical remains of group or community activities in the precolumbian past. As such, they are both the products of community tasks, and infrastructure, or resources that in turn afford other community tasks. In conjunction with archaeological survey and excavation, mapping of raised fields and other...