South America (Geographic Keyword)
326-350 (1,346 Records)
Textiles have always had great social significance in the Andes. They were used to expressed identity and power as well as position and function within society. Intensive investment in textile technologies yielded some of the best such artifacts of the ancient world. While spinning and weaving produced fine garments, it was colors—achieved primarily through the use of brilliant organic dyes—that constituted the major visual qualities of Andean textiles. A limited number of studies exist that...
The Development of Inequality in Middle Horizon Cusco: Entheogens and Ritual Ceremonies to the Rescue (2016)
The Andean and Amazonian regions are home to numerous plants that can be prepared to induce altered states of consciousness. During the pre-Inka period in the Cusco area, evidence from the village of Ak'awillay indicates the consumption of alcohol, coca, and hallucinogens in public ceremonies. Some of the rituals involving entheogens could have corresponded to healing sessions, but the paraphernalia uncovered at the site suggests that most hallucinogens were consumed to communicate with the...
The Development of ‘Peripheral Communities’ in the Eastern Andes (2015)
The Chachapoya have come to be seen as a peripheral cultural entity in relation to the broader pre-Columbian Andes, yet little work has addressed how these ‘peripheral’ communities developed in relation to each other. While it is clear that the material culture that is manifestly associated with the Chachapoya developed prior to AD 1000, it is unclear how uniform this process was on a regional level. In the pre-Columbian Andes the development of centralized and partitioned monumental...
Did Potters Urn? Potential Skeletal Evidence of Ceramic Production from the Ch’iji Jawira Site in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. (2016)
The city of Tiwanaku (AD 500-1100) in the Bolivian altiplano was comprised of multiethnic neighborhoods, with some of these barrios being home to "guild-like" specialists laboring at differing jobs. Ch’iji Jawira, one site within this community, is often described in the archaeological record as containing both a manufacturing center for pottery and a residential area home to these ceramic manufacturers. Prior bioarchaeological research has also shown that the people who were buried at the...
Diet and Adaptations in a High Altitude Rockshelter of Southern Peru, Based on Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopes (2017)
We present the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses made on well-preserved collagen of four Early and one Middle Holocene adult humans together with coeval faunal remains of Cuncaicha rockshelter in the Peruvian puna to determine paleodiet. In addition, we reconstruct important aspects of the ecology of the Pucuncho Basin, in which Cuncaicha is located, using new as well as already available and secured values for stable carbon and nitrogen of archaeological and modern fauna...
"Diet and connections among cultural groups in the Atacama Desert during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 950-1450) (2015)
The Pica-Tarapacá and the Atacama cultures appeared in northern Chile during the Late Intermediate Period, after the decline of the Tiwanaku state. Archaeological data suggests that both groups practiced maize agriculture and pastoralism to variable degrees, but their trade and exchange links differed significantly. Interaction with coastal groups, in the form of fish and other marine resources is common in the Pica-Tarapacá sites. The Atacama groups, who occupied the Atacama oases and...
Diet in Coastal Arequipa, Peru, at the Dawn of the Wari Empire (2017)
Excavations at Uraca, a cemetery in the Majes Valley, Arequipa, Peru, uncovered incomplete human skeletons (MNI = 157) and associated grave goods dating to the Early Intermediate Period and the early Middle Horizon. Interpersonal violence was omnipresent at Uraca: 67 of 100 adults suffered cranial wounds (7 were insults received around the time of death), and 20 individuals were violently decapitated and/or defleshed after death. AMS dates show the individuals buried at Uraca lived from...
Diet, Status, and Identity in Colonial Peru: Investigations at Carrizales (Zaña Valley, Peru) (2016)
Late 16th century Peru was a dynamic period associated with emerging Spanish colonial polices - forced resettlement and tribute extraction – coupled with general demographic decline. Spanish officials and indigenous communities alike had to make difficult choices on how they provided for their households and put food on the table. We examine the effects of this tumultuous period on Spanish and indigenous foodways at the reducción site of Carrizales, located in the lower Zaña Valley on the North...
Different and complementary landscapes: A case of study in the Flona-Tapajós (2016)
The goal of this presentation is to contribute to the ongoing debate in Amazonian studies to which human societies impacted and reshaped the landscapes. Landscapes are the results of a human action and environmental changes over time, providing a fundamental dataset for understanding social practices in a historically particular manner (Ingold 1993). Ultimately, this presentation sheds light on the formation and significance of settlement patterns within sites located in the Flona-Tapajós and...
Digital Archaeology and Virtual Reality Models of the Penal Colonies in the Galápagos Islands (1860–1959) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Unsettling Infrastructure: Theorizing Infrastructure and Bio-Political Ecologies in a More-Than-Human World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Islands have been used by societies around the world to abandon, exile, or relocate those deemed unworthy. Repressive institutions, as a form of state infrastructure, have been created on the islands during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to detain political prisoners,...
Dining and Feasting with the Lords and Gods: A Reevaluation of the Nature of the Activities at the Inca Site of Hatun Xauxa in the Mantaro Valley, Peru. (2016)
Recent studies have shown the importance of commensal politics in the consolidation of Inca power and ideology, highlighting the leading role played by the pots as political tools. Following this perspective, this paper proposes a reassessment of the nature of the activities carried out at the Inca site of Hatun Xauxa in the central highlands of Peru, based on functional and distributional analysis of the state and local pottery recovered during excavations made in 2014 by the Proyecto Qhapaq...
Dinámicas medioambientales, infraestructura de almacenamiento y paisaje agrario en Cajamarquilla (Siglos VII- IX d.C.) (2017)
Cajamarquilla es uno de los centros urbanos preincas más grandes de la costa peruana (160 ha). Localizado en el valle del Rímac, el sitio fue uno de los centros dominantes de la cultura Lima entre los siglos VII y IX d.C. Si bien otros grandes centros Lima coexistieron durante esta época, solo Cajamarquilla se localiza tierra adentro y en un entorno geológico altamente inestable al pie de la cordillera andina. Ya que este fue un periodo caracterizado por notables alteraciones medioambientales,...
Disability, Inclusion, and Citizenship: What Does it Mean to be Disabled in Southern Brazil (WGF - Dissertation Fieldwork Grant) (2020)
This resource is an application for the Dissertation Fieldwork Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. What counts as "disability," how is it framed, and who frames it? My project is concerned with examining disability, biopolitics, and citizenship in Brazil. More specifically, it is concerned with examining how one of Latin America's largest organization for supporting those with intellectual disabilities has recently turned towards increasingly drawing on biomedical frameworks of disability...
Discerning Site Distribution and Settlement Patterns in Andahuaylas (Apurimac), Peru (2015)
In the Andahuaylas region located in the southern central highlands of Peru, archaeologists have documented the presence of three critical cultural occupations: Wari, Chanka, and Inka (ca. AD 700-1400). Previous investigations claim that environmental change may have influenced collapse and played a decisive role in resettlement patterns. Using spatial data from 86 surveyed sites, this study investigates how state collapse, reorganization, and environmental transformations influenced settlement...
Discerning Site Distribution and Settlement Patterns in Andahuaylas (Apurimac), Peru (2016)
Archaeological scholarship in the Andahuaylas region of south-central highland Peru has documented the presence of three critical cultural occupations: Wari, Chanka, and Inka (ca. AD 700-1400). Previous investigations claim that environmental change may have influenced collapse and played a decisive role in resettlement patterns. Using spatial data from 86 surveyed sites, this study investigates how state collapse, reorganization, and environmental transformations influenced settlement patterns...
Discoveries in Southeastern Bolivia Shed Light on Indigenous Cultural Dynamics of South America (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Southeastern Bolivia is one of the least-understood regions in South American archaeology. However, it is of pivotal significance in regard to Indigenous cultural history and the dynamics of cultural interactions, especially given its location at the interface between the Andes and Amazonia. Ethnohistorically and ethnographically a large number of ethnic...
Discussing early societies Fishtail points and early social practices seen from the Southern Cone (2017)
The early peopling of South America is related to great environmental and material variability. Discussions must deal with early archaeological records including a variety of lithic assemblages in tropical lands, the Pacific coast, the Andes and the extensive southern plains and plateaus. In this context, fishtails are the most widespread point type exhibiting a dispersed pattern throughout most of South America during terminal Pleistocene times. They are therefore useful to think about with...
Displays of identity: A community-engaged approach to studying identity through photo diaries (2017)
This study is part of a larger research project, which looks at displays of social identity and the effects of influence from outside contemporaneous groups in pre-Columbian Peru. In studying past communities, we look beyond our own interpretations of "who" we perceived people to be and begin asking questions that reveal who they thought they were and how they chose to advertise that to those deemed "other." The nature of this research requires working closely with contemporary local...
Distributional Studies in north Patagonia, Argentina. An Archaeological Ceramic Approach. (2015)
During the last ca. 3000 years BP, there was a change in socioeconomic organization of hunter-gatherers in Southern Mendoza, north Patagonia, Argentina. New technologies, like pottery, bow and arrow, was incorporated allowed the exploitation and occupation of marginal areas, such as highlands and arid environments. Technological strategies, mobility and use of space are linked in this research by a distributional analysis of archaeological ceramics from southern Mendoza archaeological sites....
Distributional studies in the Diamante Valley, Mendoza, Argentina: a methodological approach. (2016)
We present a random sampling design for the Diamante Valley, Mendoza, Argentina. We selected 3 areas located in the highlands, the piedmont and the lowlands. The aim is to test differences and variability in the use of the space. Each of the areas is constituted by 100 Km2 and was divided by GIS in 10000 sampling units of 10000 m2. 122 units have been selected randomly in each of the areas. From data available of neighboring areas we generated expectations of material densities and...
Diversidad y Complementariedad en los Desarrollos Sociales Precolombinos de las Cuencas Upano y Palora, Morona Santiago, Ecuador (2016)
En Pablo Sexto, Amazonía Sur del Ecuador, se ha descubierto una variabilidad, en cuanto a modos de vida de sus pobladores, a través de los años (2.000 a.C. – 1.700 d.C.). El estudio llevado a cabo en esta zona, fue financiado por SENESCYT e INPC, para la obtención de datos paleobotánicos. Dentro de este contexto, la posición teórica adoptada fue la Ecología Histórica, entendiendo a la cultura material: cerámica, lítica y suelos, como productos tecnológicos, culturales, económicos y políticos,...
DIY Digital Archaeoacoustics: Sensory-Spatial Mapping (2015)
An experiential link to past life, sound is a medium for engaging questions of ancient emplacement and human activity. Spatial sonics can be linked to a dynamic sensory map of one's surroundings; beyond conveying information about structural boundaries and environmental events, architectural and landform acoustics can help or hinder communication. Although acoustics and audio digital signal processing are specialist disciplines, consumer audio technologies can enable the extraction of sonic...
Diáspora y Etnogénesis durante el Tiwanaku Terminal en el la región de Cohoni, La Paz, Bolivia (2015)
Esta ponencia se centra en las poblaciones del Tiwanaku Terminal – Intermedio Tardío Temprano (ap. 900 – 1200 d.C.) en la región de Cohoni, en los valles orientales del río La Paz, en Bolivia. Se resumen los antecedentes investigativos de la región, y especialmente las excavaciones realizadas por nosotros en contextos habitacionales del sitio de Chullpa Loma, uno de los más grandes y complejos de Cohoni. Consideramos datos sobre la arquitectura habitacional y funeraria del sitio, así como los...
Documenting Dietary Effects of Imperial Collapse and Drought: Bioarchaeology and Stable Isotope Analysis at Huari-Vegachayoq Moqo, Peru (2017)
This study examines the diets of 32 individuals who were deposited in the Vegachayoq Moqo sector at the site of Huari, the capital of the Wari Empire. The commingled skeletal remains date to the second half of the Late Intermediate Period (LIP), long after the empire’s collapse circa 1100 CE. This was also a time of an extended drought. The diets, reconstructed from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bone collagen, are compared among the individuals and to those of earlier Wari populations...
Does technology hinder or assist story-telling? A critical theory approach to archaeological representation and relational data (2017)
Advances in archaeological science are throwing new light on old concerns about representations of the past. Methods such as GIS allow archaeologists systematically to analyze multiple variables at once and rapidly to view data from various vantage points. Critics argue that such methods lose sight of the experiential aspects of history—the cultural differences that influenced how different people participated in social life and told stories about their past. This paper argues that this critique...