Co-operative Republic of Guyana (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (764 Records)
Pottery production was an important aspect of the social and economic life within Andean societies. In pre-industrial societies craft production occurred at the household level and depending upon the social complexity, this production was either independent or sponsored by the elite. Recent archaeological excavation of domestic contexts at the El Campanario site revealed that the area was occupied by the Casma polity during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 AD). This coastal polity occupied the...
The Central American Ceramics Research Project: A Case Study on How to Make Old Museum Collections Relevant Again (2018)
The Central American Ceramics Research Project, a student driven and collaborative research program carried out between 2009-2013, completed a scholarly survey of more than 13,000 ceramic objects in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The project originated as an effort to update old catalog information and bring to light important but largely forgotten collections of ceramics. However, it quickly developed into a major collaborative research effort that brought...
Central Andes Kotosh Religious Tradition, Third Millennium BCE: Hearth Designs as Andean Portals between Worlds (2017)
On top of Caral Peru’s amphitheater mound, an entry passageway opens to an inner sanctum—tiered benches surrounding a sunken floor and a central ceremonial hearth. This concentric design recessed into the earth repeats in diverse ways throughout third millennium BCE Kotosh Religious Tradition temples in the central Andes. Whence the concentric sunken design and hearth? I propose the hearth functioned as Andean portals for communication with unseen worlds, giving offerings, remembering ancestors....
Ceramic Differences at the Household/Neighborhood Level at Cerro Mejía: Evidence of a Possible Multiethnic "Mitmaqkuna" Community on the Southern Frontier of the Wari Empire (2017)
This poster will present the results of the analysis of household ceramic assemblages from the slopes of the secondary Wari center Cerro Mejía in the Moquegua Valley. The slopes of Cerro Mejía are divided into distinct domestic neighborhoods by fieldstone walls. Based on differences between these neighborhoods observed during excavations it has been hypothesized that this site was a multiethnic community similar to Inca mitmaqkuna with local inhabitants from throughout the region and possibly...
A Ceramic Investigation into the Relationship between Emergent Complexity and Religion on the South Coast of Peru (2017)
This paper investigates negotiations of power on the south coast of Peru through ceramic attribute analysis. The ceramic sample comes from the site of Cerro Tortolita, which contains both ceremonial and habitation zones. This site’s emergence in the upper Ica Valley during the 3rd century AD coincided with a broader increase in local settlement hierarchy. The timing of Cerro Tortolita’s rise and its religious nature provide a unique opportunity to isolate and investigate the relationship between...
Ceramic production for Castillo de Huarmey, Peru: multiple productions and buzzing potters (2017)
The paste analysis of the ceramics found in the Castillo de Huarmey, a Middle Horizon Wari political center on the north coast of Peru brought forth the existence of a variety of production areas and a panorama of multiple producers with different agendas or practices. Much of the ceramics appear to have been made with material available in the Huarmey lower valley, coastal area, and probably the adjacent Culebras Valley. The fine painted Wari ceramics and fine reduced impressed wares present a...
Ceramic variability and social interaction in the Middle Orinoco: On multi ethnic communities and ceramic traditions in the Late occupation period (500-1500 AD) (2017)
The Átures Rapids in the Middle Orinoco region are mentioned in the historical sources as a key trading center linking the Western Llanos of the Orinoco and the Guyana, where people, goods and ideas were exchanged. A recent study in Picure Island, located in the rapids, present a variety of ceramic temper wares, beads and quartz crystals associated in stratigraphically excavated contexts. The ceramic sherds recovered in Picure are closely related to other archaeological sites in the Middle...
Ceramics Inside and Out: Food, Style, and Identity in Coastal Northeastern Honduras during the Selin Period (AD 300–1000) (2018)
Prehispanic populations of northeastern Honduras were positioned at the border of Mesoamerica and Lower Central America. Previous research on ceramic style suggests local affiliation shifted over time from north to south as part of an adept strategy to navigate the complex political and social landscape of the region through the promotion of an inclusive group identity. This study explores the actual implementation of that strategy by investigating communal feasting contexts where symbolically...
Ceremonial and Psychotropic Plants of the Tiwanaku (AD 500-1000): New Evidence for Erythroxylum Coca and Anadenanthera Colubrina from the Omo Temple in Moquegua, Peru. (2017)
The consumption of psychotropic substances is a ceremonial practice widespread worldwide since antiquity, however, archaeological evidence for the role of plants in rituals is scarce and interpretations are mostly derived from ethnographies and iconography. Among other methods of analysis, Paleoethnobotany is one of the most indicated for the finding of micro and macro remains involved in ceremonies. This paper presents the results of a Paleoethnobotanical analysis conducted at the site of Omo...
Cerro de Oro and the Year A.D. 600: Changing Settlement Patterns in the Lower Cañete Valley (2017)
The year AD. 600 seems to be an important turning point in the settlement pattern of the lower Cañete valley. While settlements prior to this date tend to be small sized and located close to the river margin, the period after AD 600 shows settlements tend to be placed a few kilometers away from the river margin. The largest of these is Cerro de Oro, a 150ha densely populated settlement located on top of a mound, 13km away from the river margin. The construction and use of Cerro de Oro seems to...
Chacras in the Clouds: Documenting High-Altitude Agricultural Landscapes in the Tambillo Valley of Chachapoyas, Peru (2017)
Here we present preliminary results from targeted prospection and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight over the relic agricultural landscapes of the Tambillo Valley in northeastern Peru. This work was carried out as part of the first phase of Proyecto Arqueológico Tambillo (PATA), a project investigating the organization of political landscapes in the montane forest region of Chachapoyas. Specifically, PATA aims to determine whether the densely-clustered Late Intermediate Period settlements...
The Challenges of Bioarchaeological Research in Peru: Archaeological Field-School Project "Pachacamac Valley" (1991-) (2017)
The archeological study of human burials presents many special challenges. Deterioration begins or accelerates with the exposure to new environmental conditions after recovery. In many cases, the context has to be analyzed in situ by bioanthropologists to record information before the removal of the materials to the laboratory and storage area. Continuous participation of bioarchaeologists is also vital for subsequent analysis of the funerary context many months or years after the end of the...
Challenges of Using NGS to Detect T. cruzi in Human Remains from Pre-Columbian South America (2017)
The trypanosomatid parasites are responsible for devastating human disease worldwide. In the Americas, Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas Disease (CD), the most epidemic zoonosis in Latin America today. The clinical manifestations of CD, however, have been recognized in archaeological human remains from South America as early as 9,000 years ago. We present preliminary results of a project that applies paleogenomic methods, including targeted enrichment and next-generation...
Charki and Red Currant Jam: Provisioning Extractive Industries in Republican Highland Peru (2017)
With the current boom in the archaeology of the colonial period in the central Andes, we risk losing sight of the potential for archaeological investigation of the colonial aftermath. Following important work further afield in the Southern Cone, I argue for the particular relevance archaeology could have in exploring trade liberalization, emancipation, and the new commodity booms of the 19th century. Drawing on the recent investigation of a series of Republican tambos (roadside inns) in the...
Chenopod data in two countries of South America: Advances in knowledge about the use of Chenopodium in Argentina and Chile from Early Holocene (9000-11000 BP) to Historical Times (250 BP). (2017)
Argentina and Chile are the most austral American countries where Chenopodium species are recovered in several archaeological contexts. In both countries from the north to central and south, various issues are addressed from these findings such as hunter-gatherers subsistence strategies and chenopod grain morphological changes. Multi-proxy methods are used based on pollen, macro and micro botanical remains analyses, and isotopic data. However scarce botanical evidence has carried an uneven depth...
The Chicama Valley Archaeological Project (1989-2000) Revisited (2017)
Between 1989 and 2000, the Chicama Valley Archaeological Project, lead by Glenn S. Russell, Banks Leonard and Christopher Attarian, conducted archaeological survey and excavations in the lower Chicama Valley. This presentation will focus on a broad summary of settlement pattern change with reference to key excavation data that informs interpretation of the survey data. A focus will be how sociopolitical complexity developed in the context of control of irrigation systems. Approximately 25% of...
The Chicama Valley in Time and Space (2017)
The Chicama is one of the largest valleys of the Peruvian coast, was part of the "heartland" of Moche culture, and a frontier between different cultural and linguistic regions at the time of Spanish arrival. This paper will review past and recent research in the valley and and their problems and potentials. Particular attention will be paid to landscape archaeology and the history of irrigation systems and land use through time, themes to be addressed in the other papers of the session.
Childhood Diets and Residential Mobility in the Late Intermediate Period, Colca Valley, Peru: A Study of Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Ratios from Dental Apatite (2017)
Around AD 1300 in the Colca Valley of southern Peru, an increasing proportion of elite individuals began to mark themselves as ethnically distinct by elongating the heads of children. This permanent act had far-reaching effects on the livelihoods of modified individuals, especially females, who exhibit more diversified diets in adulthood and experienced lower rates of cranial trauma. The present study complements prior stable isotopic analysis of bone collagen by examining carbon and oxygen...
Children at the Heart of Buen Suceso (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Finding Community in the Past and Present through the 2022 PARCC Field School at Buen Suceso, Ecuador" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Children in antiquity provide bioarchaeologists with a window into the past as they embody the environment and culture around them (Halcrow and Tayles 2011). Due to subadults’ sensitivity to biocultural factors, they are excellent indicators of the health and nutrition of a society...
Children of the Atacama Desert: The complex interactions between breastfeeding, weaning and environmental stress in one of the world’s harshest environments. (2017)
Infant feeding practices and the weaning process have important implications for early life health and mortality patterns. In particular, the concept of weaning stress is often invoked as an explanation for increased infant or child mortality and morbidity. In this paper we evaluate the concept of weaning stress and the bioarchaeological methods used to interpret its presence. We highlight the intimate connection between stress and the weaning process in our own research in the northern Atacama...
The Chonos archipelago: from hunting-gathering to industrial productivity in the western Patagonian channels (43°50’ - 46°50’ S), Chile. (2017)
The Chonos archipelago is a series of islands and fjords in the northernmost part of western Patagonia, South America. It has been disconnected from continental landforms since glacial retreat, thus it is an ideal area for assessing the human use of maritime habitats. We analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of the archaeological record focusing on the emergence of human intense signatures in the last part of the late Holocene. The archaeological record (87 sites) includes open-air and...
Chronological Investigations at Coastal Shell Mounds, Southeastern Brazil (2018)
Shell mounds (sambaquis) are a focus of scientific interest in Brazilian archaeology since the 1950´s and also for interdisciplinary approaches. Located along the Brazilian coast from north to south, they present geographical and chronological variabilities. This paper discusses the chronological aspects of large and small sized shell mounds located on the coast of São Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil. Radiocarbon dates suggest a long occupation of coastal hunter-gatherer-fisher groups spanning...
Circular Worlds: Comparison and Reflections on the Earthen Architecture of Lowland South American Circular Villages (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dedication, Collaboration, and Vision, Part I: Papers in Honor of Tom D. Dillehay" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As a mentor, Tom Dillehay has formed and influenced me and archaeologists from the southern cone of South America on a variety of themes, including the peopling of America, plant domestication, and the arrival of monuments. In particular, Dillehay had a significant impact on how we think about the uses,...
Climate Change and Culture in Late Pre-Columbian Amazonia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Global Perspectives on Climate-Human Population Dynamics During the Late Holocene" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Climate change has been linked to the reorganisation of past societies in different parts of the globe. However, until recently, the lack of archaeological and palaeoclimate data for the Amazon had prevented an evaluation of the relationship between climate change and cultural change in the largest...
Climate Change and Moche Politics: A View from the Northern Chicama Valley, Peru (2017)
In this paper I will discuss the different lines of evidence pertaining to detecting El Niño and La Niña events at the site of Licapa II and surrounding Northern Chicama Valley. Flood deposits, dune encroachments episodes, malacological data, canal destruction and rebuilding events, and radiocarbon evidence are used as proxies to help understand the intensity and timing of ENSO events. I compare evidence from Licapa II to other sites inside and outside the Chicama Valley to highlight the...