Peru (Other Keyword)
51-73 (73 Records)
Polychrome ceramics of the Nasca culture (south coast of Peru, c. 100 BC - AD 600) are world renowned as one of the most colorful and artistically complex creations of the ancient Americas. Up to ten distinct colors depicting fabulous supernatural creatures adorn unique vessel forms with eggshell thin walls fixed in perfect oxidizing firings. Such masterpieces fill art books and spawn enthusiastic but fanciful speculations about Nasca society and its artisans. This paper rounds out the view of...
The Reitz Stuff: A Faunal Perspective on El Niño from Coastal Peru (2016)
For the last thirty years, zooarchaeological data from coastal Peru have provided groundbreaking insight into the Holocene history of El Niño, the interannual climatic phenomenon that affects global climate and human societies. Elizabeth J. Reitz has authored important studies with both of us on El Niño and faunal biogeography, and she served as a mentor to one of us in developing biochemical proxies for El Niño. In this paper, we review the history of faunal studies of El Niño and analyze...
Resultados preliminares del Proyecto Moqi (Peru): explorando la administracion inkaica en el departamento de Tacna (2017)
Moqi es un asentamiento Inca ubicado entre las cuencas de los ríos Cambaya y Borogueña, a 2,8000 msnm, en la cabecera del río Locumba (Tacna, Peru). Las investigaciones (2012-2014) buscaron ampliar el conocimiento de las características arquitectónicas de Moqi Alto y Moqi Bajo, la producción del sitio arqueológico, las relaciones entre su población y el vínculo económico, social y cultural con el Estado Inca. Los primeros resultados, en el contexto de la hipótesis planteada (que propone que Moqi...
Rethinking and Refining the Activities Associated with the Monumental Compounds of Jatanca, Peru (2015)
The Late Formative Period site of Jatanca is located in the southern sector of the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru. The five architecturally intricate monumental compounds that make up the core of this site housed sociopolitical, economic, and ritual activities that operated at a variety of interdependent scales. Recent excavations in 2014 within Compound I have further refined our knowledge of the relationships between the complex multiscalar activities that took place within these important spaces....
Ritual Hearth Structures at the Casma Valley Site of Huerequeque: Making a Case for Highland/Coastal Interaction in Initial Period (2100-1000 BCE) Peru (2015)
Recent excavations at the site of Huerequeque, some 24 km inland at an altitude of 450 m, exposed several large and elaborate hearths, including three ventilated examples. While hearths for cooking and warmth are very common within residential architecture at Huerequeque, these special hearths are consistently associated with non-domestic architecture. One example occupies the center of an intermediate-sized mound structure adjacent to the main platform mound at the site where it served as a...
Rural Life during and after the Fall of the Wari Empire: A Stable Isotope Analysis of Childhood Diet and Geographical Origins at the Village of Qasa Pampa, Ayacucho, Peru (2017)
Life in a rural village can be vastly different from life in the metropolis, and when an empire collapses the effects can reach even the smallest village. For Qasa Pampa, an agricultural village that was occupied in Wari (ca. 650 – 850 CE) and post-Wari (ca. 1000 – 1200 CE) times and located several kilometers away from the capital of Huari, life for its population may have been quite distinct from their capital counterparts. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis can shed light on the...
Scale, Interaction, and Society: Constituting Social Boundaries in the Northern Peruvian Andes (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. Archaeologists often look to certain practices, such as interregional trade, local feasting, or inter-community warfare, as having defined different kinds of social boundaries—between corporate groups, communities, polities, ethnicities, or regions. Tom Dillehay’s interdisciplinary work on a variety of...
A Second Room of the Posts? Ceremonialism at La Marcha during Late Nasca and the Middle Horizon (2015)
Preliminary investigations of the La Marcha site have revealed a key residential, mortuary, and ceremonial locale in the Las Trancas Valley. While initial use of the site occurred during the late Formative, here we report on the considerable Late Nasca and Middle Horizon occupation. In addition to residential zones, we documented large plazas with huarango post features similar to those at Estaquería and Cahuachi. These include complexes of up to 9 posts, oriented in rectilinear clusters along...
Shared Motifs and Figures in the Archaic of the Cajamarca Highlands: New Data from the site of Callacpuma (2016)
The northern Andes, and in particular the Cajamarca region, has for years seen a dearth of archaeological investigation into the lithic, or archaic period. This is surprising given early investigation in the region by Augusto Cardich whose excavations at caves like Cumbe yielded archaic period occupations dated to 8,500 B.C. More recent work at Conga and Maqui Maqui north of the Cajamarca basin have documented hunter-gatherer occupations including projectile points dating to approximately 12,000...
Site-seeing: Aeriality, Archaeological Survey and Objectivity in Coastal Peru (2017)
Far from being mana from the future, aerial imagery has been integral to both the practical and conceptual dimensions of archaeological survey almost from its inception. In this presentation, I argue that aerial photography captured via private and state-funded reconnaissance in the 1930’s and 40’s played a transformational role in the emergence of regional approaches in Peru’s desert coast in the mid 20th century. I discuss how the use of aerial imagery has both enabled and constrained the...
Sourcing the Obsidian from Campanayuq Rumi: Implications for Understanding Chavín Interaction (2015)
Campanayuq Rumi is a large civic-ceremonial center located near Ayacucho in the south-central highlands of Peru. Dating to the late Initial Period (1100-800 BC) and Early Horizon (800-300 BC), Campanayuq Rumi is notable for its close association with the Chavín sphere of interaction. In particular, the site has been considered significant because of its geographical proximity to Quispisisa, the most important obsidian source during the early first millennium BC. Recent excavations at Campanayuq...
Stringing it Together: An Examination of Shell and Stone Beads at Panquilma (2016)
The presences of different type of artifacts, especially shell and stone beads, have often been used to discuss these inter-regional trade networks. In this paper I will discuss and try to identify some of these regional networks and the importance of exchange within these local networks. I examine whether elaborate grave goods are displays of wealth or whether they might represent ritual paraphernalia. I discuss the nature of incipient status inequality.
A Study of Domestic Ceramics from Hualcayán, Ancash, Peru. (2015)
In the Peruvian Andes, archaeological analysis of prehistoric ceramics disproportionately focuses on materials recovered from ritual spaces compared to domestic areas. This bias limits our understanding of the role of ceramics in domestic contexts. To address the imbalance, this poster focuses on characteristics of ceramics in recovered from survey and excavations at a residential sector of the Hualcayán site. This sector, called Panchocuchu, contains most of the site’s domestic...
A Study of Fineline Iconographic Depictions at the Late Moche site of Huaca Colorada, in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru (2015)
The Late Moche Period (AD 500-800) of the North Coast of Peru is marked by significant alterations to the iconography of elite fineline ceramics. In particular, the earlier imagery, depicting conventionalized narratives of ritual performances and exploits of male Moche divinites or their mortal avatars disappears in certain locales. In southern valleys, at sites such as Galindo, Late Moche elite ceramics largely depicted abstract geometrical imagery including the widespread step-and-mountain...
Tello and Carrión Cachot on Recuay Culture: A Visual Archaeology (2018)
While the achievements of the great Peruvianist Julio C. Tello and his theories about Andean civilisation are well-chronicled, much less work has addressed his engagements with archaeological illustration, its practices and desires, especially beyond his signature Chavín work. This paper examines the imagery and arguments of key publications by Tello and his student and intellectual disciple, Rebeca Carrión Cachot, on the Recuay culture (ca AD 100-700). Together, they discerned the culture’s...
To Screen or to Float?: Methodological Considerations for Archaeobotanists in Coastal Peru (2015)
In recent years, coastal Peru has seen an encouraging upwards trend in the number of archaeologists trained in the field of paleoethnobotany or archaeobotany. With growing numbers of practitioners in the field, it is crucial to remain vigilant of methodological concerns that are relevant not only to archaeobotanists as a whole, but particularly to those working in the unique environment of coastal Peru. In the interest of maximizing interpretative potential while maintaining the capability to...
Towards an Archaeology of the Japanese Immigration to Peru (2018)
The first evidence of culture contact between Japan and Peru can be traced back to the 16th century. Although the Japanese immigration did not start officially until 1899 with the arrival of the ship Sakura Maru to the Peruvian coast, the earlier presence of 20 indios de Xapón (indians from Japan) was recorded in 1613. This immigration process has been often studied by historians, and the situation of their descendants has been analyzed by anthropologists and sociologists. However, there are...
Trade and Sacrifice: Osteometry, Skeletal Part Representation, and Paleopathology of Camelid Assemblages in the Central Andes (2017)
Chavín de Huántar is a complex ritual site widely recognized for its connections to other regional centers. While much of this regional interaction is understood based on common ceramic styles and designs as well as the presence of non-local material, much less is known of the actual mode of transportation. Llama caravans most certainly played a key role in the movement of goods across space during Chavín times. Were llamas for caravans raised in the proximities of Chavin? Were caravan llamas a...
Understanding an Alternative Pattern of Coalescence: A Study of Architecture and Organization at a Non-fortified, Pre-Inca Town in Highland Peru (2017)
This study presents an analysis of the architecture and spatial organization at Maukallaqta de Nuñoa, a prehispanic site within the highlands of Peru dating to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000 – 1450). Within the northern Titicaca Basin where the site is located, hillforts dominate the archaeological landscape during this time as a result of increased political fragmentation and social discontinuity. While these hillforts often display very little architectural investment other than their...
Urban Planning, Neighborhoods, and the Organization of Residential Space at the Early Horizon Center of Caylán, Coastal Ancash, Peru (2015)
This paper examines and compares the spatial organization of residential compounds in order to reconstruct patterns of neighborhood and urban life at the Early Horizon of Caylán (800-1 BC), Nepeña Valley, north-central coast of Peru. Systematic surface mapping combined with limited horizontal excavations indicate that the urban core of the ancient city was composed of more than 40 residential complexes articulated through a series of streets and corridors. Detailed first-hand mapping of streets...
Variations in Cranial Vault Modification at Uraca, Majes Valley, Peru (2015)
Cranial vault modification was a prevalent type of body modification practiced throughout the ancient Andes. It was achieved by binding the head during childhood, which left the crania permanently altered into adulthood. Different methods of binding led to visually different forms of modification, which likely marked membership in different ethnic groups. Researchers have documented three major modification styles in the Andes: tabular oblique, tabular erect, and circumferential. Recent...
Variations in Initial Period Ceremonial Architecture at the Caballo Muerto Complex (2016)
The Caballo Muerto Complex is well known for the presence of numerous Initial Period platform mounds thought to have functioned as temples. What is less known, is that some of the mounds, including Huaca Herederos Grande and Huaca Cortada were associated with smaller-scale buildings that also seem to have functioned as religious structures. In this paper, I discuss investigations of a square abode building found at the base of Huaca Cortada. Excavation of the structure demonstrated that the...
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...