Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Heritage concerns the transmission of history, cultural traditions, and landscapes from the past into the present. Heritage can take many forms (tangible, intangible, natural). The heritage concept was developed in the nineteenth century by nation-states making heritage designations linked to provisions for funding and protection. In recent years, this top-down management of heritage has been challenged by numerous bottom-up movements of local groups who demand to be partners in determining what their heritage is and acquiring associated government support. This session brings together diverse case studies from the Americas: five papers discuss precontact archaeological heritage in Peru from the perspectives of archaeologists, local communities, and regional governments developing strategies for public education and protection of heritage sites and objects. One paper explores a Maya artist’s discoveries of how to reproduce ancient Maya turquoise pigment from plant extracts. Two discussants will outline patterns in the papers and add reflections on heritage from a landscape perspective in the American Southwest. The year 2020 adds new questions regarding the pandemic’s role in impacting and changing the values and management of heritage. Specifically, we ask: Can heritage be successfully communicated online or is a hands-on, personal experience part of its definition?

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)

  • Documents (6)

Documents
  • Civic Society Groups, Cultural Rights, and Rights to a "Heritage" City during COVID-19 (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Grace Alexandrino Ocaña.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In an archaeologically rich country like Peru, theoretically all people have access to archaeological sites. However, parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable and traditionally marginalized populations are disproportionally affected by archaeological sites (as well as by coronavirus). This presentation asks: What has changed in...

  • Cuenca, patrimonio y arqueología: Hacia un plan de gestión (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Juan Vargas. Felipe Manosalvas.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El desconocimiento sobre la relevancia del patrimonio arqueológico existente en el cantón de Cuenca, ha limitado la implementación de soluciones, lo que ha resultado en carencia de capacidad operativa, administrativa, legal, económica, de educación y valoración. La ausencia de estos elementos estructurales consecuentemente limita la...

  • Heritage, Museums, and Place Making at Chavín de Huántar (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Sayre.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Formative site of Chavín de Huántar in Peru is widely regarded as an important early pilgrimage center. This reputation was passed on to Spanish chroniclers by early colonial inhabitants of the site. Yet, in many ways the site has occupied a more important space in the national historical narrative than it has in local history and...

  • Local Politics, Money, and Power: Navigating Archaeological Heritage in the Peruvian Highlands (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michelle Young.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There are millions of rural, Quechua-speaking peoples living today in the modern nation of Peru. However, living populations do not always self-identify as descendants of the ancient communities that archaeologists study. There are complex reasons for this apparent disjuncture between ancient and contemporary peoples, some of which...

  • The Modern Recontextualization of Recuay Stone Sculptures: Process and Consequences (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexia Moretti.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Stone sculptures played a crucial role in socio-religious practices of the Recuay people between AD 100 and 700 in the north-central Peruvian highlands. Associated with ceremonial, funerary, and residential spaces, Recuay sculptures were objects of cult and veneration. Today, most of the surviving sculptures persist in the inhabitants’...

  • Rediscovering Ancient Maya Blue Pigments / Redescubriendo los antiguos pigmentos maya (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Luis Manuel May Ku.

    This is an abstract from the "Current Dynamics of Heritage Values in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El Azul Maya-Maya Ch´oj. Inicié con mi investigación hace aproximadamente dos años atrás tratando de pigmentar mis esculturas y cerámica con el Azul Maya. Tras cuatro meses de buscar la planta Ch´oj (Indigófera suffruticosa mil) al fin dí con ella. Cuando la encontré estaba en su período de floración y fruto, tuve que esperar a que los...