South America: Andes (Geographic Keyword)
926-950 (1,096 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Technique and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Callacpuma is a multicomponent archaeological site in the Cajamarca Basin of the northern highlands of Peru with a long and complex history of human occupation spanning from at least 1000 BC to approximately AD 1500. An estimated 3,000-4,000 rock art panels dot the landscape of Callacpuma. Over the past three field seasons, 100...
Spatial Pattern of δ18O Water Isotope in the Argentinean Central West: Their Potential to Model Human Mobility at Archaeological Scale (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the δ18O isotopes results based on a new southern Mendoza water sampling. Using GIS the δ18O isotope information from water sources is modeled in regional isoscapes. With this baseline we discuss human mobility, analyzing three archaeological cases. In total 92 water source samples from rivers, creeks, springs, snow, lagoons, and water...
Spatial Temporalities and the Ritualized Remodeling of Chachapoya Architectural Space (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How social space is produced in archaeological contexts is often studied as the result of the gradual accumulation of social practices. However, as a complement to these generative processes, sudden events also have radical impacts on how space is signified, expressed, and experienced. This paper addresses recent research in the Chachapoyas region of the...
Spear-Thrower or Bow? Refining Comparative Metrics to Track the Cultural Transmission of Bow Technology in the Andes (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The appearance of new projectile technology can be among the most significant shifts in a region’s history. To metrically distinguish dart and arrow projectile points, we present new data on hafted archaeological projectile...
Square Knots: A Case Study of Quipus AS55 and AS56 and Evidence for Square Root Calculation and Land Redistribution in the Andes (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Quipus, the record-keeping tools of the Incan empire, offer insight into the mathematics of the Andes through the numerical records embedded in them. AS55 and AS56, a pair of quipus found in association with each other, feature complex mathematical relationships in the numbers recorded on them. These properties were first presented and analyzed in a...
Stable Isotope Analysis of Charred and Desiccated Plant Remains from the North Coast of Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the key findings of early work that utilized isotopic analysis of macrobotanical remains was that charred remains seemed to produce reliable isotopic measurements, while uncharred (desiccated) remains did not. This early research contrasted charred remains from the highlands of Peru with uncharred...
Stable Isotope Analysis of Dental Serial Sections Suggests Delayed Weaning among Archaic Foragers of the Andean Altiplano (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Behavioral Ecology and Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Previous research identifies delayed weaning as a behavioral adaptation to life at high altitude in the Andean and Tibetan highlands. This research examines the stable isotope chemistry of dental serial sections in Archaic period forager populations of the high Andes in the Lake Titicaca Basin to estimate weaning ages and the potential onset of delayed...
Stable Isotope Evidence of Dietary Trends among Prehistoric Populations from the Semiarid Region, Chile (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The semiarid region of Northern Chile (29°–32° S) is a transitional ecological area, located between the extreme hyperarid conditions of the Atacama Desert and the Mediterranean ones of Central Chile, with a long history of human occupation (Archaic Period–Late Period). This study evaluates the stable isotope signatures, δ 13Cap, δ 13Ccol, and δ15N, of...
Stable Isotope Measurements of Weaning Age and Early Childhood Diet in the Ancient Andes: Variation in Early Life Experiences in Tiwanaku Society (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Understanding the complex roles and meanings of breastfeeding practices and childhood provisioning may help bioarchaeologists contextualize paleodietary studies and the role of foodways in the construction and maintenance of social identities. Here, we employ stable isotope measurements (δ15N and δ13C) of weaning age and early childhood diet derived from...
Stable isotopic evidence for camelid mobility and its consequences for early hunter-gatherer settlement patterns in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, Chile (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We examine the stable isotopic signature of camelid and rodent remains from PaleoIndigenous sites of the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT), Atacama Desert (12,800 – 11,200 cal yrs BP; 800 – 1,200 masl). 𝛿13C and 𝛿15N values suggest two groups of animals: 1) with higher 𝛿15N signal and increased C4 diet and, 2) with lower 𝛿15N values and a C3-predominant diet....
State Control of Production and Distribution of Inka-Style Pottery in the Southern Border of Tawantinsuyu (Inka State) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Andean and Amazonian Ceramics: Advances in Technological Studies" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study aims to identify the nature and degree of state control over the production and distribution of Inka-style ceramics in Aconcagua Valley and Maipo-Mapocho basin (Central Chile) during the Late Period (AD 1400–1536) and what role the Diaguita may have played in this process. The analysis focuses mainly on aríbalos...
The State of Andean Obsidian Artifact Provenance: A Social Network Analysis (SNA) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum: Celebrating 20 Years Serving the Archaeological Community " session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Obsidian was both a common domestic good and a highly sought-after exotic material imbued with ideological significance in the past. In the south-central Andes of Peru and Bolivia, obsidian procurement and distribution greatly expanded during the Middle Horizon (CE 600–1000),...
States of Vulnerability: Examining Moche Era Practices of Care in Life and Death (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. The way that communities cared for their living and dead holds great potential to elucidate the cosmovision of the Moche. Ritual practices during the Moche period involved human offerings that include women, children, and men at different stages of...
Strategizing Food Security under Colonial Rule at Purun Llaqta del Maino, Chachapoyas, Peru (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How does colonialism impact local food strategies? This paper considers this question at Purun Llaqta del Maino (PLM), Chachapoyas, Peru; a site with continuous occupation from the Late Intermediate Period (LIP; 1000-1450 AD), the Late Horizon (1450-1535), and the Early Spanish Colonial Period (1535-1700). Like many Andean regions, Chachapoyas was...
Strategizing Food Security under Colonial Rule at Transconquest Purun Llaqta del Maino, Chachapoyas, Peru (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How does colonialism impact local food strategies? This paper considers this question at Purun Llaqta del Maino (PLM), Chachapoyas, Peru, a site with continuous occupation from the Late Intermediate period (LIP) (AD 1000–1450), the Late Horizon (1450–1535), and the Early Spanish colonial period (1535–1700). Like many Andean regions, Chachapoyas was...
Stress and Sociocultural Reactions to Environmental Change in the Late and Terminal Lima on the Central Coast of Peru (2018)
This project examined evidence of stress in 469 excavated human skeletons of the pre-Hispanic Lima population from Huaca 20 in the Maranga Complex in modern day Lima, Peru dating to the end of the Early Intermediate Period (ca. 200-600 AD) and the beginning of the Middle Horizon (ca. 600-900 AD). This period saw the movement of the populations on both the North and Central Coasts of the Andes inland to areas with greater access to the critical water supply (Shimada, 1994). While the majority...
Strontium Isotopes and Human Migration at the Archaeological Site of Marcajirca, Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeological site of Marcajirca, located in the Puccha River Valley, atop a steep ridge at 3800 masl, provides an interesting context in which to examine changes in human mobility patterns through time on both a regional and local scale. Extensive radiocarbon dating of both archaeological and human skeletal material place occupation of the site between...
A Study of Incised Designs within a Wari D-Shaped Temple Complex (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Almost 100 Years since Julio C. Tello: Research at Huaca del Loro, Nasca, Peru" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With the discovery of a Wari D-Shaped temple and other adjacent architectural structures in 2019, the 2022 field season at Huaca del Loro focused on excavation of the temple complex. Well preserved mud plaster still remained on many of the walls and floors of the structures. Examination of the walls in the...
A Study of Social Inequality at the Andean Prehistoric Site of Ak’awillay (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While most research on emerging inequalities in prehistoric societies has focused on the elaboration of inequality in villages and polities on the periphery of large states, less attention has been placed on settlements existing outside influential regional centers. In this paper, we present the case of the Andean Middle Horizon (600-1000 C.E.) site of...
Styles, Technology and Identities: Origins and Uses of Provincial Inca Ceramics in Pueblo Viejo-Pucará, a Huarochiri’s Mitmaquna Settlement in the Lurin Valley (2018)
Distribution analysis of provincial Inca pottery in different layers of the residences of Pueblo Viejo-Pucará, including the palace of the curaca, will serve as a starting point to define the differences in access to diverse vessel forms and observe the contexts of use in domestic, funeral, public and ceremonial areas. The excavations in residential and ceremonial architecture carried out in Pueblo Viejo-Pucará, a Late Horizon (1470-1560 A.D.) urban settlement, provided rich and varied evidence...
Subsistence and Exchange in the Chincha Valley (Peru) Using Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From the Paracas Culture to the Inca Empire: Recent Archaeological Research in the Chincha Valley, Peru" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Chincha Valley was one of the most productive regions on the southern coast of Peru, yet little is known about the subsistence practices of the pre-Inca communities that existed in the inland valley of Chincha during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1476). The Chinchas formed...
Success and Power through Networking: Lessons from Chancay Elites in the Huaura Valley (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Indigenous Stories of the Inka Empire: Local Experiences of Ancient Imperialism" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the LIP, the north-central coast of Peru was inhabited by small but dynamic polities that were actively engaged in interregional networks of trade, intermarriage, and warfare. However, we know little about how these groups interacted with or were incorporated into the Inca Empire and it has long been...
The Sum of Their Parts: Excavation and Inventory of Isolated Commingled Remains alongside Partially Articulated Individuals at Diablo Wasi, Peru (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Continued Advances in Method and Theory for Commingled Remains" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Funerary contexts of commingled remains generally fall into one of two categories: primary mass burials and secondary reinterments. Each of these commingled contexts has standards of documentation, collection, and inventory that have proven effective in the past. At Diablo Wasi, in the northern Peruvian Andes, the funerary...
Surrounded by the Dead: A Spatial Analysis of Kuelap’s Mortuary Practices, Chachapoyas, Peru (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Kuelap is a monumental archaeological complex in the northeastern Andes that was occupied by the Chachapoya (ca. 500 – 1470 CE) and Inca (1470 – 1535 CE). Previous GIS research in the region has involved architecture and viewshed analysis of funerary features across the Utcubamba valley. This study uses GIS mapping to investigate the within site spatial...
Surveillance at Ancient Hillforts of the Titicaca Basin, Southern Peru: Insights into Social Dynamics and Defensive Strategies (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Surveillance: Seeing and Power in the Material World" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we model visibility and movement in and around ancient hillforts or pukaras across the highlands of southern Peru. During the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1450 CE), communities moved to hilltops where houses were often tightly packed together within the confines of large defensive walls. The...