South America: Andes (Geographic Keyword)
776-800 (845 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since late prehispanic times, peoples throughout the central Andean highlands have created highly productive anthropogenic agricultural landscapes on a monumental scale through terracing. Yet a large proportion of these terrace systems fell into disrepair and abandonment through the Spanish colonial period, even in the face of food shortages. The...
Transition in a Place Between: Salinar Phase (500 BCE–CE 1) Settlement Patterns in the Chaupiyunga of the Moche Valley (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Peering into the Night: Transition, Sociopolitical Organization, and Economic Dynamics after the Dusk of Chavín in the North Central Andes" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Moche Valley, the dusk of Chavín brought the end of millennium-long traditions of large ceremonial centers (Guañape Phase, 1600–500 BCE) and ushered in a long period of sociopolitical fragmentation and endemic conflict (Salinar Phase, 500...
Travelling across the Atacama Desert: New Evidence for Human Mobility in Northern Chile Based on Oxygen and Strontium Isotopes (2018)
The study of human mobility is key to understanding the social and cultural dynamics of the pre-Columbian groups that inhabited northern Chile’s Atacama Desert. Material culture suggests that during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1450) individuals frequently crossed the desert from the coast to the Andes and vice versa. Fish remains have been found in the interior valleys, and inland textiles and crops at the coast. This paper explores mobility in northern Chile through the application of...
Two Individuals, One Urn Burial from La Real, Peru: A Bioarchaeological Investigation of Urn Burial Practices (2018)
The site of La Real, located in the southern, near-coastal region of Peru, was an elite burial ground where mortuary contexts reveal Wari imperial influence during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). This study examines the mortuary treatment of two human fetus/neonate skeletons placed inside a decorated, ceramic urn and compares funerary treatment to Wari fetus/neonate burials and others in the Andes to evaluate the geographic reach, chronological depth, and cultural significance of this funerary...
Two Long-Term Tom Dillehay Projects: Monte Verde, Zana, and the Processes of Archaeological Debate and Criticism (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dedication, Collaboration, and Vision, Part I: Papers in Honor of Tom D. Dillehay" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The long-term projects of Tom Dillehay led the discipline through quagmires of criticism that exemplify the processes of paradigm freeze and thaw. His innovative archaeology drew criticism both responsible and irresponsible. It was a prolonged and messy process, but the scientific debate played out as...
Under Pressure: Evidence of 'La Vida Cotidiana' in Cranial Shape Typology at Jarana, an Inca Site in Southern Perú (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster details the results of cranial modification typology research conducted at Jarana, a Late Intermediate and Early Inca administrative site located in the San Juan de Churunga river valley of southern Peru. Cultural cranial modification was particularly widespread among pre-Hispanic societies in the Andes. The practice is commonly interpreted as a...
Understanding Nasca ‘Trophy Head’ Individuals from the Site of Zorropata in Peru Using Isotopic and Biochemical Methods (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Myriad factors shaped cultural practices such as ‘trophy head’ taking in Andean prehistory. Zorropata, located in the Las Trancas Valley, Nasca, Peru, was a large domestic site with likely ceremonial function occupied relatively continuously from the Late Nasca period (c. AD 450-600) until the early Middle Horizon/Loro period (c. AD 600-1000). Archaeological...
Understanding Pottery Production at El Campanario (Huarmey-Peru) through Ceramic Paste Analysis and pXRF (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Scaling Potting Networks: Recent Contributions from Ceramic Petrography " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The present research focuses on the strategies in the procurement of raw material used in the production of pottery at the El Campanario site during the beginning of the Late Intermediate period (AD 1150–1280). The manufacture of pottery occurred within the domestic areas at this site and while domestic pottery was...
Understanding Quilcapampa (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Wari and the Far Peruvian South Coast: Final Results of Excavations in Quilcapampa" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As the papers in this session have demonstrated, the site of Quilcapampa La Antigua in a previously isolated region of southern Peru is notable for its long-distance connections, strong Wari influence, and brief occupation during the tenth century AD. In this closing paper on our excavations, I want to...
Understanding Vertebral Anomalies and Growth Patterns During the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1470) in the Huanchaco Bay Area, Peru (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The mass sacrifice of Chimú children in the Moche Valley has become the largest event in the world. Two mass occurrences were discovered at the sites of Huanchaquito Las Llamas (HLL) and Pampa la Cruz (PLC). At PLC the sacrificial events date to the Late Intermediate period (AD 1000–1470). This research explores birth defects of the lumbosacral spine that...
Ungendering Sex in Moche Ceramics (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. Moche ceramic art (Peru, first millenium) is a corpus of veristic images including explicit depictions of sex acts and human genitalia. Because anatomical sex is so visible in these artifacts, the temptation to collapse sex and gender is strong – but what if we begin, instead, by...
Unrecognized Complexity: Defining the Significance of Huaca Letrada and the Northern Gallinazo (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last 30 years, perspectives on the Gallinazo and Virú have changed significantly. Results of 2022 intensive surface survey and accompanying drone-based mapping of sites on the south bank of the mid-La Leche Valley show that reassessment must continue. Comparable to the monumental crafting center of Cerro Songoy-Cojal in the mid-Zaña Valley to the...
The Use of Balances in Late Andean Prehistory: Merchants or Bureaucrats? (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Political Economies on the Andean Coast" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In prehistory, scales were used by both merchants and bureaucrats and their use had profound impacts on economic and administrative practices. Research in the Andes has not critically addressed the role of balances in political economies, but their presence throughout the Andean coast highlights the need to explore how they were used and by whom....
Use-Wear Analysis of the Middle Horizon (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. Use-wear analysis is a qualitative method of study that observes abrasion patterns on material remains. Wear traces can come from stirring, lids, storage techniques, and other culinary practices. Apparent wear patterns and abrasion coarseness are features that help infer the use of different vessel forms. I applied this technique...
Using Multispectral Drone Imagery for Identification of Prehispanic Agricultural Features (2018)
In recent years, the use of multispectral satellite imagery has become an increasingly viable option for archaeological site detection and classification. Nevertheless, the high costs and relatively low resolution of multispectral data present challenges for local-scale archaeological feature detection. In this presentation, we will examine the advantages and limitations of using UAV aerial multispectral imagery as a means of local-scale feature detection. We compare results of remote sensing...
Using Parry Fracture Data to Further Assess Violence in Andahuaylas during the Late Intermediate Period (2018)
Previous studies of crania showing recurrent trauma suggest high rates of violence in the Andahuaylas province of Peru during the Late Intermediate Period. Through an assessment of direct blow fractures to radius and ulna bones (lower arm bones), we further examined violence in the region, anticipating a high rate of parry fractures. The skeletal remains assessed come from Sonhuayo, a fortified habitation sector of Cachi, a Chanka site in the west-central portion of the Andahuaylas province....
Using Trauma Distributions, Victim Profiles, and Differential Scavenging to Infer Characteristics of Prehistoric Warfare: A Case Study from the Peruvian Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Non-state warfare has the potential to effect myriad aspects of people’s lives. The last several decades of archaeological research have revealed that conflict has shaped much our evolutionary history and regional population trajectories. Despite the importance of prehistoric warfare, it remains a substantial challenge to elucidate the basic characteristics of...
The Utility of Portable XRF for Preliminary Site Prospection at Contaminated Colonial Period Mining Sites (Puno, Peru) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Field portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) has seen an increase in use for testing potentially toxic levels of heavy metals in modern mining and industrial waste sites. Understanding the spatial variation of pollutants in soil is necessary for identifying proper prevention measures for soil contamination and long-term effects on human health. While...
Variability among the Dead: Population Structure and Inferred Cultural Adaptations to the Changing Environmental and Sociopolitical Landscapes during the Late Moche (AD 650–800) Era in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru (2018)
Recent bioarchaeological and archaeological research regarding the environmentally influenced demise of the Moche (AD 200 – 800) of the Jequetepeque Valley, Perú, indicates a variety of responses, including population dispersals, political fragmentation, cultural hybridization, and new political alliances with recently arrived foreigners at ceremonial centers. Biodistance analyses suggest that adjacent highland Cajamarca peoples from the adjacent highlands arrived in the Jequetepeque and likely...
Variations in Settlement Patterns and Neighborhood Organization in Early Horizon Peru (2018)
This paper examines forms of proto-urban settlements in coastal Ancash, north-central Peru, centered on the Nepeña Valley. During the Early Horizon (800-100 BC), the region witnessed the development of culturally and economically interrelated settlements with varying degrees of architectural density and complexity. Most of these centers were organized around clusters of walled enclosures with duplicate domestic facilities interpreted as multi-functional residential complexes, or compounds....
Vibrant Ruins and the Construction of Casma Ancestralized Landscapes: Preliminary Insights from the Lower Nepeña Valley (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Casma State Material Culture and Society: Organizing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Archaeological Evidence of a Re-emergent Ancient Polity" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In coastal Ancash, archaeologists have been puzzled by the presence of Casma style objects (~AD 800-1300) at archaeological sites with earlier cultural components. This has led to significant cultural historical and chronological confusion including...
Victims or Venerated? A Bioarchaeological Examination of Gendered Ritual Violence and Social Identity of the Possible Aqlla at Túcume, Peru (2018)
Human sacrifices are frequently referred to as ‘victims’ of ritual violence, which presupposes that the sacrificed had no control over their fate or were unjustly harmed. Many examples of human sacrifice have been identified recently across the north coast of Peru involving a range of time periods and bodily treatment to suggest that there was incredible variation in practice, including in the identity of those sacrificed. Both males and females have been identified as sacrifices, but rarely are...
The View from the North: Topará and Early Horizon Commoner Lifeways at Jahuay, Quebrada Topará, Peru (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. Just north of the Chincha Valley, the village site Jahuay at the mouth of the Topará valley offers an opportunity to investigate non-elite lifeways, and specifically the Topará cultural tradition, in the Chincha region during the terminal Early Horizon Period (approximately 250-1...
A View from the Virú: Place and Sight in the Virú Valley Project Reconsidered (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological investigation on the north coast of Peru to this day draws from the 1946 Virú Valley Project; however, recent investigations have reevaluated chronologies and settlement hierarchies previously based on these data. Continuing these investigations, this paper revisits the valley to reconsider the idea of place and sight in the Virú landscape....
Violence among the Gallinazo: New Insights from Pampa la Cruz, Moche Valley (2018)
The Moche of the North Coast of Peru, are well known for their ritualized culture of violence. Warriors, prisoners, weapon bundles, and sacrifice are commonly depicted in a variety of Moche media, and archaeological evidence from urban centers suggests such acts were practiced. What is not known is if the Early Intermediate Period ancestors of the Moche also engaged in such acts of violence. Pre-Moche, Gallinazo phase urban sites were often located in defensible settings and some show evidence...