Thinking Big in the Andes: Papers in Honor of Charles Stanish

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Thinking Big in the Andes: Papers in Honor of Charles Stanish" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This session celebrates the deep impact of Dr. Charles (Chip) Stanish on archaeology in and beyond the Andes. His empirical and wide-ranging research illuminates the development of social complexity and the construction of wealth, ritual authority, and large cooperative networks under specific regimes of trade, agriculture, and conflict. From his University of Chicago dissertation in the upper Moquegua valley and his decades of pathbreaking research in the Titicaca Basin to his major advances in the Chincha valley, he has addressed the Andean sequence from Paracas to Inca, and shed light on processes that resonate far beyond the Andes. Currently executive director of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment (USF), Dr. Stanish was director of UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology (2001–2016), and previously curator and anthropology chair at the Field Museum. The author of five books, multiple edited books, and scores of articles, he has won recognition as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among other honors. Above all, his infectious curiosity, brilliance, boundless energy, and big heart have touched and inspired legions of students and colleagues. These papers recognize his influence and honor his contributions.