South America (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (1,291 Records)
The site of Huaca Colorada, in the Jequetepeque Valley, on the North Coast of Peru, is an ideal location to examine cultural interchange and technological innovation from both a production and consumption perspective due to its occupation during the Middle Horizon (AD 600 – 1000). This period is marked by sustained cultural interaction throughout the Peruvian Andes. Evidence for this interchange at Huaca Colorada is found in the mixing of a number of different ceramic traditions within...
Arqueoastronomy and built landscape: the spatial orientation of geometric enclosures in Western Amazonia (2016)
Geometric enclosures found over a 400 sq. km area in Western Amazonia were built in patterned ways that involved depth, width, and morphology of monumental ditches excavated in a clay soil matrix. Pattern eventually included care for solar orientation. A study of 419 geometric enclosures showed that around 60% of them were clearly oriented according to the sun’s trajectory and its maximum distance from the Ecuador, e.g. the solstice. One of the working hypotheses is that the agricultural...
Arqueologia y Comunidad en la provincia de Manabi, dos casos de estudio (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Working with the Community in Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tabuga, pequeña comunidad agrícola del norte de Manabi corresponde a un importante sitio arqueológico de la cultura Jama-Coaque (500 ac - 1650 dc). Ante años de expolio por huaqueros, del bloqueo del acceso al mar por el narcotráfico y de la falta de interés por la autoridades locales, la comunidad de Tabuga ha decidido enfrentar estos obstáculos...
Arqueología de los repartos mercantiles en los Andes coloniales: endeudamiento, elites locales y cultura material. (2017)
La colonización de los Andes representó una oportunidad de enriquecimiento individual para peninsulares, criollos y nativos. Esto se logró mediante el mercantilismo forzoso de productos europeos y americanos, promovido por mercaderes limeños y tempranamente ejecutado por los corregidores (entre otros). El reparto de mercaderías a precios excesivos generó el endeudamiento forzado de las comunidades nativas. En muchos casos, los curacas también buscaron beneficiarse de esta práctica, colaborando...
The arrival of the Incas and it consequences in the transformation of the sociopolitical landscape of the lower Lurin valley (2015)
Lately, several research projects have been taking place in the Lurin valley, central coast of Peru, in archaeological sites dating to the Late Intermediate Period (s. XVII-XV) and the Late Horizon (s. XV-XVI). This work has been complemented with recent studies focused on the presence of a segment of the Qhapaq Ñan and its importance as an articulating axis between these settlements during the Late Horizon. Preliminary results of these research studies have allowed us to reevaluate hypothesis...
Artisan production and morphological changes in skeletons from San Jose de Moro (North coast of Peru) (2017)
The study of occupational stress markers was an attractive investigation field some years ago, due to the alleged possibility for the identification of ancient activities through skeletal changes. Nevertheless, a critical vision of the issue evidences that this relation is not so easy to establish, because bone biology is complex and also because different activities may produce similar changes. This does not mean that this type of studies should be abandoned. On the contrary, it is a call for...
Arybolas, amphoras and Manteño Ordinario: The production and significance of Ecuadorian transport vessels (2015)
The late prehispanic coastal Ecuadorian societies subsumed as Manteño -Guancavilca, are imagined as seafarers of the Andean region. On balsa rafts they plied a coast dotted with ports; participants in a trading empire. This traditional model of political-economic integration is being challenged with emphasis on regional autonomy and ethnic diversity. It is proposed that the analysis of the "ordinary" Manteño -Guancavilca vessels can contribute to this debate. Large, coarse paste, roughened...
Assessing Fishtail projectile point distribution in the Southern Cone (2016)
This presentation discusses possible causes affecting the distribution of fishtail points in the southern Cone. This distribution is discontinuous, with large territories without diagnostic remains and areas where sites are concentrated. Also, most of the sites with this type of points exhibit few specimens, with remarkable exceptions in Uruguay, the Argentinian Pampa and Patagonia and southern Chile. We will present thoughts arising from long term research in a micro region in the Argentinian...
Assessing prehistoric herding strategies through stable isotope analysis: a case study from the Dry Puna of Argentina (2017)
The relationship between human groups and animal populations in the past can be studied through stable isotope analysis of zooarchaeological remains. More specifically, the isotopic analysis of domestic animals’ tissues can help us to investigate herd composition, diet and mobility strategies employed by herders in the past. However, before these methods can be applied to resolve such questions, variation in isotopic composition and its causes must be addressed and explored by a modern reference...
Assessing the genetic diversity in the extant Chachapoya population from northeastern Peru using uniparental DNA markers (mtDNA and Y-chromosome) (2015)
The aim of the study is to elucidate the origin and population history of the human communities from northeastern Peru, with both contemporary and ancient DNA data. For the first phase of the study, contemporary Y-chromosomal (23 STRs) and mitochondrial (HVR1 and HVR2 sequences) data from four populations (Chachapoya=276; Jivaro=47; Huancas=21 and Cajamarca=34) distributed in the northeastern region of Amazonas (Peru), was assessed. At haplogroup level, the markers showed differential...
Assessing the Population History of the Atacama Desert using 3D Geometric Morphometric Methods (2017)
Many scholarly debates in South American archaeology have centered on the discovery and cranial morphology of the earliest inhabitants known as Paleoamericans that predate 8,000 years BP. Although it was initially hypothesized that cranial differences between Paleoamericans and later populations may reflect distinct biological populations or migration patterns that occurred after the initial colonization of South America, recent genetic data show biological continuity throughout the Holocene in...
Attempt of Modelization of the First Settlements in America at Pleistocene Based on the New Archaeological Sequences in Piaui (Brazil) (2017)
The research our teams are conducting in the parc of Capivara in Brazil since 2008 lead to reveal 6 new Pleistocene archaeological sequences . The sites are all located within a 20 km area and stem from different sedimentary and topographic environments including: open air, rock shelter, cave at the bottom of cuesta or in karst. Each of the sites shows different sedimentary sequences, including different archeological horizons and different typo-technical compositions. The dating that we have...
Authentication of Museum-Curated Tsantsas Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing Technology (2017)
The Shuar, native to Northern Peru and Southern Ecuador, prepared shrunken heads to serve as trophies following battle, in response to their cultural beliefs. Authentic shrunken heads (tsantsas) were prepared in a precise manner and exhibit key morphological characteristics. Forgeries, including primates and inauthentic human preparations, were marketed to tourists and private collectors to profit from the "savage" image surrounding the Shuar. Inauthentic shrunken heads were prepared in a...
The Aymara Indians of the Lake Titicaca Plateaus, Bolivia (1948)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
"Bai Kui", the True Garden; "Ava-Ti", the White Population: Horticultural Intensification in Lowland South America (2017)
The "true garden" or "Bai Kui" of the Kashinawá, Pano language speakers in the state of Acre, Brazil, is described here as an example of the original horticulture which occupied the arc of dry forests in southeastern Amazon. Improved forms of manioc, peanuts, and peppers evolved during 9,000 years of cultivation and were exchanged with farmers on the Pacific Coast to improve garden diversity in an ancient and far-flung cultural interaction sphere. The connectivity required for long-distance...
Bast Fiber Technology in the West Coast of South America: A Study of the Early Coastal Hunter-Gatherer's Fiber Production (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Histories of Human-Nature Interactions: Use, Management, and Consumption of Plants in Extreme Environments" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study presents the results of an archaeobotanical analysis of the hunter-gatherer’s plant-fiber technologies of South America’s west coast. Due to the extreme aridity of the Atacama Desert, the preservation of organic technologies is exceptional. I analyze a unique assemblage...
A Bayesian Approach to the Interpretation of Andean Faunal Assemblages (2017)
Zooarchaeology offers a rich source of data for exploring a number of important questions, from domestication and subsistence to ritual practices and political economy. However, issues of equifinality frequently arise, making it difficult to interpret faunal assemblages as different agents and processes may create similar archaeological signatures. Researchers are often forced to make subjective choices when suggesting preferred explanations for their data. Such approaches are subject to human...
Before Calchaquí. The Formative Period and Middle Horizon ceramics in Northwest Argentina (2015)
This paper gives a characterization of the ceramic styles as well as the forms and functions of vessels and, broadly, the production of pottery in the village societies that inhabited the southern Calchaquí Valleys (Northwestern Argentina) during Formative period and Middle Horizon (first millennium AD). The study of ceramics in Northwestern Argentina has traditionally been centred on descriptions, taking decorative motives as fundamental evidence in the definition of styles and periodization....
The (beginning and) end of the world as we know it: The multiple makings and un-makings of the indigenous past in Huarochirí, Peru (2015)
Much scholarly understanding of the ancient Andes has been greatly influenced by the unique ca. 1608 Quechua manuscript of Huarochirí, Peru. For many archaeologists and historians the manuscript reveals an indigenous Andean cosmos otherwise hidden or lost. And indeed the text’s manifest leitmotif is the superation of worlds past by worlds present–an historical etiology of its narrators’ place in space and time. Here I present results from the first systematic archaeology in the central area of...
Beginning of Camelid breeding during the Formative period at the Pacopampa site, Peru. (2017)
Our research on faunal remains from the Pacopampa and the Kuntur wasi sites has shown that Camelid breeding began during the Late Formative period (800 – 500 BC) in the northern highlands of Peru. However, motives for the introduction and usage of these animals remain obscure. We conducted multi-disciplinary analyses of the camelid remains from the Pacopampa site to investigate breeding and utilization patterns of these animals. The Sr and O isotope values from tooth enamel showed that 17 of 18...
Belt-making traditions and identity at the site of Uraca, Majes Valley, Peru (2015)
This poster examines belt fragments recovered from the mortuary site of Uraca in the Majes Valley, Arequipa, Peru. The textiles utilized in this analysis were recovered during excavations in Sector I to the south, where interments were placed on a high bluff, and Sector II to the north, where interments were placed closer to the valley bottom. These sectors are not only defined by their geographical separation but also the variation in artifact and skeletal assemblages present between the two...
The Berkeley Schools of Geography and Andean Studies (2018)
This paper explores the legacy of the "Berkeley School of Andean Studies" and its relations to the eponymous "Berkeley School of Geography." We examine the relationships between the key founding figures of both schools including John H. Rowe and Carl O. Sauer, but also their students, disciples, and other scholars influenced by their seminal research. Through a review of the interactions between members of the two schools, as well as academic genealogies and writings, our paper has three main...
Between the puna and the valley: an approximation to local communities-Inca state interactions through road network analysis in Jauja, central Peru (2017)
Research on the Inca occupation in the conquered territories usually addressed the topic from a perspective that has been built on data obtained from state and local sites. The case of Jauja in the central highlands of Peru has not been the exception and much of our current knowledge about the Inca occupation of the region is based on information coming from indigenous settlements and state facilities. This paper proposes an alternative and complementary insight, trying to reach an approach to...
Beyond Monumentality: Looking Past the Pyramids of Cochasquí, Ecuador (2017)
The northern highland Ecuadorian site of Cochasquí is one of the country’s most respected archaeological resources. Investigations by archaeologists Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1910s), Max Uhle (1932), and Udo Oberem (1964-65) had principally focused on this Late Period site’s highly visible quadrangular earthen pyramids, which can reach heights of approximately 20 meters. The archaeological and public fascination with the visibly monumental has long diverted attention away from between and beyond...
Beyond the Cultural Pale?: Contextualizing El Morro de Tulcán within Regional Earthen Mound Development in the Northern Andes (2016)
El Morro de Tulcán is a massive earthen mound located near Popayán in southern Colombia. This structure towers over the surrounding landscape with a height of 50 meters at its highest point. This pyramid is an anomaly within the surrounding cultural vicinity, where tolas (i.e., earthen mounds) are a rare form of construction throughout much of Colombia. The closest region of tola development is in high concentrations in northern Ecuador, amongst the Caranquis and Yumbos. Research at El Morro de...