Quintessential Places: Analyzing the Character of Precolumbian Sites

Settlements of all sizes are quintessential, or have distinctive traits that help to characterize and distinguish them. Papers will analyze the quintessence of places from Native North America through the Andes and query what makes a site distinctive. Previous archaeological and art historical analyses of place may have incorporated these aspects, but perhaps not under the rubric of "quintessential."

Distinctive traits may be attributable to topography; plan; geological features; visual culture; inhabitants; and practices such as rituals and social interaction. Such traits may be tangible or intangible, isolated or intersecting. Above all, quintessential places are sites of dwelling and experience that are shifting rather than static.

Quintessential places are not unlike the Roman genius loci ("spirit of the place"), with orientation, identity, and experience substituting for spiritual aspects of Roman spaces. Orientation may be directional or spatial, and overlap with identity. Identity also may be embodied in land use; architectural and artistic styles; and imagery. Experience can include movement; rituals; climatic and astronomical phenomena; and social and filial interaction. In addition, scale; authenticity; narrativity; interiority; and place as an ecosystem encompass the character of a place.