Republic of Ecuador (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
1,576-1,600 (1,695 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project is an archaeological field school operating in the Cayo District of Western Belize and has excavated at multiple sites in Belize annually since 1988. In the past five years, the project has focused on excavation of peri-abandonment deposits, or deposits of artifacts built up during and after the...
Understanding the Tapajó Socio-Political System through the Study of Landscapes and Material Culture (2018)
The socio-political organization of the Tapajó people living in the Lower Amazon region during late precolonial times has been studied through two main sources: contact chronicles and archaeological data coming from the Santarém site located at the mouth of the Tapajós River. Based on these sources, researchers have formulated three models to explain the socio-political organization of the Tapajó. However, recent surveys and excavations conducted in the upland Belterra plateau provide new data...
Understanding Vertebral Anomalies and Growth Patterns During the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1470) in the Huanchaco Bay Area, Peru (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The mass sacrifice of Chimú children in the Moche Valley has become the largest event in the world. Two mass occurrences were discovered at the sites of Huanchaquito Las Llamas (HLL) and Pampa la Cruz (PLC). At PLC the sacrificial events date to the Late Intermediate period (AD 1000–1470). This research explores birth defects of the lumbosacral spine that...
Underwater archaeology in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia: Use of the littoral zone in the Tiwanaku period (AD 500-1150) (2017)
Since 2014, the project of underwater archaeology in Lake Titicaca (ULB), gives priority to the study of the Yampupata strait between the Island of the Sun and the Copacabana Peninsula. This research strategy was chosen because of different elements: First of all, the Island is a homogenous insular territory whose affordable dimensions (14,3 Km2) allow underwater activities. Secondly, one of the main characteristics of this territory is its dense, complex and continuous occupation which has been...
Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection and Management in Pacific Island States (2018)
The waters of the Pacific Ocean contains a wealth of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) encompassing the history of humanity from the Stone Age to the Atomic Age and witnessing climate change. This paper presents a summary of the outcomes of the UCH Programme in Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Notable progress includes the reference to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the UCH in SAMOA Pathway outcome document (2014), national and regional capacity building workshops, and...
Unearthing the Deep Roots of the Long-term Human History and Environmental Interaction in the Atacama Desert (2017)
New archaeological evidence demonstrates that by 12,800 years ago, bands of hunter-gatherers effectively occupied the hyperarid basins of the Atacama Desert. The selection of the habitats they exploited and the location of their activity areas were constrained by specific environmental circumstances that coincide with positive moisture anomalies that provided abundant resources. The distributions and properties of which were likely managed by these people to create complex landscapes using...
Ungendering Sex in Moche Ceramics (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Future Is Fluid...and So Was the Past: Challenging the 'Normative' in Archaeological Interpretations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Moche ceramic art (Peru, first millenium) is a corpus of veristic images including explicit depictions of sex acts and human genitalia. Because anatomical sex is so visible in these artifacts, the temptation to collapse sex and gender is strong – but what if we begin, instead, by...
Unrecognized Complexity: Defining the Significance of Huaca Letrada and the Northern Gallinazo (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last 30 years, perspectives on the Gallinazo and Virú have changed significantly. Results of 2022 intensive surface survey and accompanying drone-based mapping of sites on the south bank of the mid-La Leche Valley show that reassessment must continue. Comparable to the monumental crafting center of Cerro Songoy-Cojal in the mid-Zaña Valley to the...
Unresolved Questions in the Study of *Mopa Mopa: History, Geography, and Chemistry (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Plant Exudates and Other Binders, Adhesives, and Coatings in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. *Mopa mopa is the collective name given to the resin from species of the plant genus *Elaeagia (family Rubiaceae) that grows in regions of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The resin has been used from prehispanic times to the present day to decorate a range of objects from colonial Inka *qeros to highly decorated and...
Unsettling Settler-Colonial Archaeology: Constructing Indigenous Futurities at Puʻukoholā Heiau (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Often thought of as a discipline that concerns itself with ruins—that which is in the past—archaeology also serves the settler-colonial project, in the present and the future. For that reason, archaeology inherently functions as a political tool, even if typically imagined as an apolitical means of “preserving” the past. In other words, archaeology offers...
Untangling Wari Colonization, Trade, and Administration in Coastal Arequipa from the Site of Quilcapampa, Siguas Valley. (2017)
The seventh century AD marked a period of great social change in the coastal valleys of Arequipa, Perú. During this time, an increase in violence, population growth, and social complexity was met with foreign influences from the Wari state of the central highlands. While scholars have long asserted that Arequipa fell under Wari control at this time, the evidence for direct state control has never been demonstrated conclusively in the region. This presentation reports the results of our...
Upano, an Anthropized Valley in the Upper Amazon (2018)
Sangay, Ecuador, is probably the most prestigious and impressive site in Amazonia. It is indeed an immense establishment regrouping dozens complexes of artificial earthmounds and a network of endless paths dug along the edge of a terrace of the left bank the Upano. Many archaeological sites have been found in this narrow and straight Upano Valley has been modified over tens of kilometers in length by the pre-Columbian, but few of them have been excavated. Does this multitude of interconnected...
The Use of Balances in Late Andean Prehistory: Merchants or Bureaucrats? (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Political Economies on the Andean Coast" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In prehistory, scales were used by both merchants and bureaucrats and their use had profound impacts on economic and administrative practices. Research in the Andes has not critically addressed the role of balances in political economies, but their presence throughout the Andean coast highlights the need to explore how they were used and by whom....
Use-Wear Analysis of the Middle Horizon (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Exploring Culture Contact and Diversity in Southern Peru" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Use-wear analysis is a qualitative method of study that observes abrasion patterns on material remains. Wear traces can come from stirring, lids, storage techniques, and other culinary practices. Apparent wear patterns and abrasion coarseness are features that help infer the use of different vessel forms. I applied this technique...
Using LiDAR and Environmental Suitability Models to Predict Probable Locations of Ancient Settlements in Manabí, Ecuador (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In recent years, LIDAR has gained popularity among archaeological researchers for its capability to reveal ancient settlement features hidden beneath dense vegetation coverage in heavily forested areas. More often, these studies have revealed undocumented monumental architecture and in some cases modified landscapes such as agricultural terraces, canals, and...
Using Multispectral Drone Imagery for Identification of Prehispanic Agricultural Features (2018)
In recent years, the use of multispectral satellite imagery has become an increasingly viable option for archaeological site detection and classification. Nevertheless, the high costs and relatively low resolution of multispectral data present challenges for local-scale archaeological feature detection. In this presentation, we will examine the advantages and limitations of using UAV aerial multispectral imagery as a means of local-scale feature detection. We compare results of remote sensing...
Using Parry Fracture Data to Further Assess Violence in Andahuaylas during the Late Intermediate Period (2018)
Previous studies of crania showing recurrent trauma suggest high rates of violence in the Andahuaylas province of Peru during the Late Intermediate Period. Through an assessment of direct blow fractures to radius and ulna bones (lower arm bones), we further examined violence in the region, anticipating a high rate of parry fractures. The skeletal remains assessed come from Sonhuayo, a fortified habitation sector of Cachi, a Chanka site in the west-central portion of the Andahuaylas province....
Using Traditional and Nontraditional Isotopic Tracers of Diet and Mobility of Brazilian Shell Mound Populations (ca. 8000–1000 years BP) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The study of shell mounds can shed light on human occupation and adaptations at coastal environments worldwide. In South America, human groups occupied the territory close to the Atlantic Ocean for millennium (ca. 8000 to ⁓1000 years BP), building hundreds of shell mounds, some with impressive dimensions. After 2000 BP, it is assumed that these populations...
Using Trauma Distributions, Victim Profiles, and Differential Scavenging to Infer Characteristics of Prehistoric Warfare: A Case Study from the Peruvian Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Non-state warfare has the potential to effect myriad aspects of people’s lives. The last several decades of archaeological research have revealed that conflict has shaped much our evolutionary history and regional population trajectories. Despite the importance of prehistoric warfare, it remains a substantial challenge to elucidate the basic characteristics of...
Uso de Dispositivos Open Hardware en Proyectos Arqueológicos en México (2019)
This is an abstract from the "La Práctica Arqueológica en México en Tiempos de Crisis: Escenarios, Problemáticas Claves, Actores, Acciones y Propuestas" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Desde sus orígenes de relativamente baja tecnología, la arqueología ha evolucionado en una disciplina altamente tecnologizada, que emplea instrumentos para localizar, caracterizar y exhibir al sitios y yacimientos. Los arqueólogos con acceso a tecnología novedosa...
Uso de un Espacio Sagrado: Excavaciones de la Sacristía de una Reducción Colonial en la Sierra sur del Perú (2017)
Los espacios rituales han sido desde siempre lugares importantes dentro de las comunidades humanas pues son la expresión material de sus creencias y su fe. En el caso del Virreinato del Perú, la invasión española del siglo XVI significó un cambio radical en la concepción y materialización de la religiosidad practicada, donde la construcción de edificios de carácter religioso encarnó el cambio de vida y costumbres de los pueblos conquistados. Esta ponencia explora el espacio arquitectónico de la...
The Utility of Portable XRF for Preliminary Site Prospection at Contaminated Colonial Period Mining Sites (Puno, Peru) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Field portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) has seen an increase in use for testing potentially toxic levels of heavy metals in modern mining and industrial waste sites. Understanding the spatial variation of pollutants in soil is necessary for identifying proper prevention measures for soil contamination and long-term effects on human health. While...
Utilization of Fish Resources at the Hopoate Site on Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga (2018)
Analysis of archaeological fish remains from the Hopoate site, on Tongatapu in the Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga, identified 18 different families. Significant change in relative abundance was evident in Lethrinidae (emperors) and Acanthuridae (surgeonfish, unicornfish), two families common as food fish in Tonga. Frequencies of the families were compared between the early settlement period (~2850-2900 cal BP) and the subsequent Plainware/Aceramic period. Larger-bodied Lethrinidae, which are...
Utilizing Ancient Oral Microbes to Track Human Migrations across the Pacific Islands: Insights from Palau and Beyond (2021)
This is an abstract from the "When the Wild Winds Blow: Micronesia Colonization in Pacific Context" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ancient human migrations underpin the origin of past cultures, health, ecological interactions, and identity. However, recent or rapid migrations are difficult to track using classical demographic tools that monitor human genetic mutations over time. A new method—tracking human migrations by assessing microbial genome...
Valley of No Masters: Exchanging Experiences at the Valley of the Masters, Northeastern Brazil (2018)
Field schools, and Methods and techniques in Archaeology classes are mandatory steps to achieve Master’s or a PhD degree in most graduate programs in Brazil. We, as instructors noticed a certain mismatch in students’ behavior in regard to decision-making in both situations: reticence during field activities, boldness during class discussions and debates. This dichotomy seemed to be related to field experiences in which the students had fewer opportunities to engage with other "more...