South America: Andes (Geographic Keyword)
1,076-1,096 (1,096 Records)
Spanish conquest of the Andes commenced in 1532 and, for all intents and purposes, was over by 1572. Yet, this somewhat simplifies the story. Throughout the Andean region, but especially away from the early strongholds of Spanish power, such as the towns and cities, conquest was a mixture of appropriation and negotiation. Drawing on research from the Ica Highlands (South-central Peru) and the Cordillera Negra (North-central Peru) this paper examines how Spanish religious orders initially...
Where Are the Cinchecona? Mortuary Architecture and Socio-political Organization in Jauja, Peru, during the Late Intermediate Period (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Round House: Spatial Logic and Settlement Organization across the Late Andean Highlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Late Intermediate period constitutes a time of important changes in the life of pre-colonial Andean societies, including new mechanisms for the construction of power and authority. In the case of the Yanamarca valley in Jauja, central highlands of Peru, previous investigations have...
Where Are the “Interesting” Skulls? The Practice and Taphonomy of Modern Interaction with Human Remains in Open Tombs (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond the Ancestors: New Approaches to Andean "Open Sepulchers"" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Modern interaction with ancient human remains is near-ubiquitous in aboveground open-air tombs, used in the Andes during the late prehispanic period (ca. 1000–1532 CE). These spaces are host to a range of activities, from looting and sale of artifacts by professional huaqueros to exploration by local history enthusiasts....
Where the River Flows: Water Politics and Textile Production in Colonial Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Water is intrinsically linked to textile production. The dye process requires a substantial amount of water to acquire a consistent and proper color. Colonial textile mills, known as obrajes, were strategically built near bodies of water for this reason. Obrajes significantly shaped colonial water politics. Their presence on the water changed waterscapes, or...
Where-felines? An XRF-Based Sourcing of Tiwanaku's Chachapuma Sculptures (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. Turnovers in political and religious authority in the ancient Titicaca Basin correspond with significant, intentional shifts in material procurement practices. During the 5th century AD, the developing Tiwanaku elite asserted a new ideological hegemony through a novel monumental and iconographic tradition. Tiwanaku masons also...
Who Founded Quilcapampa? Wari Agents, Social Network Analysis, and the Unfurling of a Middle Horizon State (2018)
At the beginning of the ninth century AD, a Wari-affiliated settlement was founded in the Sihuas Valley of southern Peru. Celebrants ritually smashed face-necked jars when they abandoned the site less than a century later. These vessels likely represent elites or ethnic groups in the Wari sphere - agents whose associations in conflict or cooperation can be used to tell a more dynamic story of the founding of Quilcapampa during this turbulent era of Wari state expansion. This paper uses social...
Who’s Who? Investigating Historic Burials at Chavín de Huantar Peru Using Radiogenic Strontium Isotope (87Sr/86Sr) Analysis (2018)
Since 2009, the Programa Arqueológico Chavín has unearthed a series of historic burials from the Monumento Arqueológico Chavín de Huántar. Although the identity of the deceased remains a mystery, initial archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggests that the individuals may be casualties of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), perhaps even Chilean soldiers who met an unusual and unfortunate fate at the hands of Chavín’s residents. The current paper presents radiogenic strontium isotope...
Why Heterarchy? A View from the Tiwanaku State’s (AD 500-1100) Labor Force. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Cooperative Bodies: Bioarchaeology and Non-ranked Societies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When past peoples congregated to form complex societies, a question arises as to under what circumstances would heterarchical, reciprocal labor be emphasized over top-down hierarchical configurations? In the Central Andes of South America, modern indigenous people practice reciprocal labor with groupings organized around family...
Why the Chimu State of the Northern Coast of Peru Failed: Rapid Expansion Is Not Always Enough (2018)
In the last 1000 years before the arrival of the Spanish in 1532, the expansionist states of the Andean region of Peru—like those of the Old World--appear to have grown incrementally, flourished briefly, and disappeared. Despite intensive study in the 1970’s and since, the inner structure and dynamics of Chimor have eluded archaeologists because there is limited information from European observers and because there are many questions archaeologists have not yet addressed. At its maximum, Chimor...
The Witching Hour: Demonization of Female Bodies and the (mis)Construction of Gender during the Spanish Evangelization of Huarochirí (Lima, Peru) (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. In 1660, Francisca Melchora, widow of the lord of the Huarochirí people in the Viceroyalty of Peru, became immersed in a witchcraft criminal case. However, she was not accused of being a witch herself, but instead of hiding accused women and resisting a Spanish lieutenant sent to...
Women, Sex and Sacrifice in Moche Iconography (2018)
Moche iconography depicts women in ritual roles as priestesses, objects of sacrifice, and possibly as deities; however, the roles of ordinary women have received much less attention from archaeologists. This paper explores the nature of women’s power in Moche society as represented in iconography and as inferred from bioarchaeological data, contrasting the roles of women in elite and non-elite contexts. With the exception of elite women performing rituals, Moche ideology inextricably linked...
Women’s Power and Prestige in the Pre-Hispanic and Early Colonial Andes (2018)
The second half of the first millennium A.D. witnessed some significant changes in gender roles and traditions in the Andes. The discovery of the first undisturbed burial context of fifty-eight noblewomen with hundreds of precious artifacts found at Castillo de Huarmey provides important evidence about women and their roles played in ancient society in the Wari Empire. The amount and the richness of the luxury and prestige items, which comprise hundreds of objects of the most diversified types,...
Wooden Posts and an Ontology of “Treeness” (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Bridging Time, Space, and Species: Over 20 Years of Archaeological Insights from the Cañoncillo Complex, Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Wooden posts have been a critical element of Andean architecture within the Jequetepeque valley on the north coast of Peru, particularly in the Moche site of Huaca Colorada (AD 650–850). However, wooden posts have frequently been interpreted in the...
Working toward Collective Benefit? Reflections on Community Based Participatory Research in Cangahua, Ecuador (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. The Pambamarca Archaeological Project (PAP) has conducted research in the Cayambe region of Ecuador for nearly two decades. In that time, PAP has trained scores of national and international students and actively incorporated local community stakeholders in efforts like the development of small-scale heritage tourism projects. It became clear that...
Working with Scotty: Perspectives on A Peripheral Paper Designed for the Ayacucho-Huanta Archaeological-Botanical Project (2018)
I was not involved directly with Scotty’s Ayacucho project (1969–1975), but from 1965 to 1968 I worked in the town of Quinua, engaged in dissertation research. Its territory included part of the site of Huari. After completing my dissertation, I returned to continue work in 1973, 1974, and 1980, and later, focusing on its ecological system, especially irrigation. Scotty invited me to prepare a paper on the ways farmers used ecological zones. The research, while more detailed, complemented what I...
A Worm’s Eye View of Chimú Domestic Practice (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Households to Empires: Papers Presented in Honor of Bradley J. Parker" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Andean household archaeologists have sometimes been slow to adopt a range of specialized methodologies that have become commonplace in regions such as Europe and the Near East. Dr. Bradley Parker’s recent work brought microartifact studies to the attention of archaeologists working in the Andes. In this paper, I...
XRF and Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Pigments Used in Middle Horizon Polychrome Ceramics from Cochabamba, Bolivia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the results of a combined XRF and Raman spectroscopic analysis of pigments used in the production of Middle Horizon ceramics from Arani, Cochabamba, Bolivia, that are currently housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The two central questions that this analysis investigates are (1) which of these materials were produced in...
The “X”-Ray Files: Preliminary Results on the Identification of Shark Species Using X-Ray Technology and Its Implications for a Better Understanding of the Economic and Symbolic Role Played by Sharks in Prehispanic Andean Societies (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Past Human-Shark Interactions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Shark fisheries were an important economic activity carried out by small-scale maritime communities in the prehispanic Andean coast since at least the second millennium BC. New evidence found in Huanchaco, north coast of Peru, suggests that during the fifth and seventh centuries of our era, sharks became an essential source of proteins in the daily diet and...
Ychsma Cultural Identity in Armatambo during Inca's Occupation, Peruvian Central Coast (2018)
This paper presents the results of a typology and iconographic analysis made on ceramic and textiles artifacts recovered at the Ychsma settlement of Armatambo. The Ychsma cultural affiliation of this archaeological site, which is located on a dense urban area south of Lima, is recognized in the literature (especially with the aerial photographs published by Kosok in 1965) but little detail has been published on the evidence of its affiliation and character of occupation. We can confirm that...
Yes, You Ken! A Guide to Creating Your Own Water Isotope Baseline (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How many water samples are Kenough? If you are Ken-fused about how to make your own, robust isotopic reference dataset for archaeological questions, this poster is for you. My job is baseline. At the beach, in the mountains––and everything in between. This poster reflects seven years of Ken-curious environmental isotopic sampling in the western Central...
The Zooarchaeology of Households at Las Peñas, a Late Intermediate Period site in the upper Torata Valley, Peru (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. The Late Intermediate Period (LIP; ca. 1000CE-1450CE) site of Las Peñas is located in the sierra of the upper Torata valley in southern Peru. Laboratory analyses of faunal remains recovered during the 2016 excavation of households at Las Peñas provide insight into domestic life during the LIP, as well as environmental and...