South America (Geographic Keyword)
1,276-1,291 (1,291 Records)
Manuals of American prehistory, divided South America into bio geographical zones, associated with archaeological traditions, and classify the basin of the Río de la Plata, as one marginal area of others with a more defined cultural profile. Systematic research and multidisciplinary projects, have discussed the boundaries of those units of archaeological and cultural analysis, as well as theoretical principles which held it. The basin of the Río de la Plata was associated with the "Pampa"...
Where the Land Meets the Sea: Preceramic Complexities on the North Coast of Peru (2017)
Interdisciplinary investigation of the large coastal mounds of Huaca Prieta and Paredones and their associated domestic settlements represent Preceramic human occupation as far back as ∼14000 cal BP. Research at these sites has documented a long Preceramic sequence from the activities of the first maritime/terrestrial foragers from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene to the construction of the mounds and the introduction and development of agriculture and monumentality from the middle to late...
Where was Chachapoyas? A view from the South (2015)
To answer the query "what was Chachapoyas?" we must think in terms of time, space and identity. Chachapoyas scholars have encountered documentary and/or archaeological evidence of a mosaic of social identities, all undergoing transformations during successive pre-Inca, Inca, and Colonial times within a truly vast Andean region. In this paper, I consider notions of Chachapoyas internal and external boundaries as they have been conceived in the southern area where I conduct my research....
Where was the forest in the Upper and Norwest Amazon before the arrival of the Europeans? (2016)
This paper presents evidence that suggests a very different environment than the observed landscape tropical forest of today. A comparison of two regions, the white waters system of the upper Amazon river (region of Iquitos, Peru) and the black water system of the Mesay river drainage (Chiribiquete National Park, Colombia), illustrates the strong possibility that these areas were grasslands in the past. This is considered to be a byproduct of (consider using anthopogenic activities) human action...
Why did people begin to make rock art?: A study case from Central North of Chile (2017)
The origin of rock art has frequently asked from an evolutionary and cognitive perspective to understand the dawn of making images in the Paleolithic. But in many regions of the world the beginnings of rock art production occurred later. The Central North of Chile is one of these places. In this area, the practice of marking and chipping rocks surfaces started around 2.000 BCE in coherence with the transition from the Middle to the Late Holocene and the start of many transformations in the...
Why did they leave? The Wari Withdrawal from Moquegua (2017)
In Moquegua the monumental provincial center of Cerro Baúl was ritually abandoned circa 1050CE. It is at this time that Wari affiliated occupation of the sacred summit ended and production of imperial Wari goods ceased in the region. This evidence does not indicate that the empire collapsed at this time, but instead suggests when Wari officials chose to withdraw from this frontier region. Why did they leave? In this paper we discuss the changing population dynamics in Moquegua at 1050CE and how...
Wild capuchin monkey archaeology (2016)
The known record of tool use in the human lineage now extends back 3.3 million years. For other animals, however, we have very few clues as to how and when their tool use behaviors evolved. Study of tool use among extant primates, in particular, offers an opportunity to develop comparative models and analogies for human technologies. Here, I present the results of recent archaeological investigations into stone pounding behavior by wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) in Brazil....
Wild resources and domestic plants in the South American farmer’s frontier (2016)
Southern Mendoza region has been considered the meridional boundary of South American farmers, which arrive at this region ca 2000 years BP. At the time of the Spanish arrival, there was coexistence among north Patagonian hunter gatherers and southern Andean farmers along Atuel and Diamante basins. However the real impact of the first domesticates (corn, squash, quinoa and beans) as well as how their latitudinal distribution could vary through time are still on debate. Different lines of...
"Winged Worldviews": Human-Bird Entanglements in Northern Venezuela, A.D. 1000–1500 (2017)
Drawing from archaeology, zooarchaeology, ethnohistory, ethnology, and avian biogeography, this paper aims at (re)constructing the interrelations between indigenous peoples and birds in north-central Venezuela, between AD 1000 and 1500. Amerindian narratives and premises of perspectival ontology from the South American Lowlands suggest that certain birds were more closely interrelated with humans then other beings. The analyses of nearly 3000 avian bone remains recovered in six late Ceramic Age...
Women’s Territorialities within Indigenous Societies in Brazil: Past Discourses, Present Relations (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a still scarce reflection on the practices, their effects and meanings, of women within indigenous and traditional societies in their territorial processes, from interdisciplinary and collaborative perspectives. This research is sought to consolidate an already existing network of collaboration between historians,...
Yanomamo: the Fierce People (1968)
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Yumbos and the construction of their cultural landscape (2017)
Archaeology as an academic practice in the northern Ecuadorian Andes has concentrated on a constant exploration of hypothesis about the past with the intention to acquire better and more accurate understanding about the origins and development of complex societies. Since the 1970’s, scholars have produced valuable outcomes directed to those goals analyzing evidences concerning to the dynamism of Prehispanic societies in terms of regional distribution, social relations, environmental constrains,...
Zooarchaeologial inferences and analogical reasoning at Chavin de Huantar (Peru) (2015)
Chavín de Huantar (1000-500 BC Peru) has long has been considered a major center in the central Andes given its complex architecture and art. Mostly based on art depiction, ritual at Chavín has long been associated with psychoactive plant ingestion. Stone sculptures show the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus, as well as the representation of monstrous animals and supernatural beings interpreted as priests transforming into animals during hallucinogen consumption. Inspired by Diane...
Zooarchaeological Analysis of a Guangala Pit at Rio Chico, Ecuador (N4C3-170) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Rio Chico site on the central coast of Ecuador was occupied almost continuously for 5000 years (ca. 3500 BCE to 1532 CE) in a region of coastal South America that is heavily influenced by climatic events such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Archaeological records and historical documents written by the Spanish provide evidence that by the Manteño...
Zooarchaeological Analysis of Fishing Strategies at Rio Chico, Ecuador (OMJPLP-170) (2018)
The Rio Chico site was occupied almost continuously for 5000 years (ca. 3500 B.C.E. to 1532 C.E.) in a region of coastal South America that is heavily influenced by climatic events such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Evidence suggests that occupants of Rio Chico were heavily dependent on marine resources. The fishing strategies utilized at Rio Chico sustained the community over time, which allowed for the long-term development of an economy based on the Spondylus trade. This combination...
Zooarchaeology of the Late Intermediate Period in Minaspata, Cuzco, Peru (2015)
Minaspata, a site located in the Cuzco Valley of the south-central Peruvian Andes, contains evidence of occupation spanning continuously from the Early Horizon through the end of the Inca Empire. In 2013, several units were excavated in order to better understand the social transformations which occurred in local populations due to colonial practices, both under the Wari state in the Middle Horizon and in the early consolidation of the Inca heartland. Analysis of the faunal remains of the...