The Ahistorical Shell Middens at the Northern Tip of South America

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Dedication, Collaboration, and Vision, Part II: Papers in Honor of Tom D. Dillehay" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Subject to different historical forms of colonialism, the northern tip of South America is a politically marginalized area that is arguably the least understood from an archaeological perspective. While there is a basic understanding of ceramically defined periods, little is known about human interactions with the changing physical environment since the beginning of the Holocene. We know less about early territorial occupations, or even the more recent Arawak-speaking Wayuú people, who still occupy Colombia and Venezuela today. Here I present some new research on the eastern coast of the Guajira Peninsula that yielded an unexpected change of view on what materials make historical episodes or events. I explore the meaning of the shell record in this particular dry land environment—the research project developed after a recent collaboration with Tom Dillehay that opened a series of unresolved questions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Dedication, Collaboration, and Vision, Part II: Papers in Honor of Tom D. Dillehay   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36317.0