The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The unique ecologies of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCF) throughout the Americas have impacted the human cultures to which they are home from initial human colonization to the present. Decades of research have contributed to understanding these environments biologically, yet they often remain understudied archaeologically. This organized session aims to bring a comparative approach to the study of TMCFs, exploring how human-environment interactions within various tropical and subtropical cloud forests in Latin America have influenced past human populations and cultures, as well as the development of archaeological practice within these regions. This symposium brings together a number of papers exploring archaeology in tropical cloud forests, including social, political, and economic complexity; identity construction; paleoecology; environmental change; subsistence practices; and resilience. Regional contributions include scholarship from Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, etc. A comparative perspective on archaeology in such regions can greatly enhance our knowledge about human-environment interactions in Tropical Montane Cloud Forests, including implications for conservation of these fragile ecosystems today.

Other Keywords
Survey • Landscape Archaeology • Ethnohistory • Ecology • Paleoethnobotany • Colonialism • Formative • Caves and Rockshelters • Andes: Late Intermediate • Subsistence and Foodways

Geographic Keywords
Republic of Panama (Country) • Republic of Colombia (Country) • Netherlands Antilles (Country) • Aruba (Country) • Republic of Ecuador (Country) • South America (Continent) • Republic of Peru (Country) • Republic of Chile (Country) • Department of Martinique (Country) • Republic of El Salvador (Country)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-5 of 5)

  • Documents (5)
Documents
  • Botanical Resources in Ancient Costa Rican Cloud Forests (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Venicia Slotten.

    This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleoethnobotanical investigations at domestic contexts in Arenal, Costa Rica, reveal the plant resources utilized by past peoples living in a tropical montane cloud forest setting. Macrobotanical remains recovered through horizontal excavations of household structures at G-995 La Chiripa and G-164 Sitio Bolivar and flotation of soil...

  • Clouds for Water, Forest for Healing: Prehispanic Cultural Dynamics in the Cloud Forests of the Northern Andes (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Estanislao Pazmiño.

    This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The cloud forests along the eastern and western foothills of the northern Andes have received little attention in the overall archaeology of South America. These regions of broken geography and dense forests have historically been considered culturally poor, with little impact on the sociocultural transformations of the Andean and...

  • Human-Environment Interactions and the Hunter-Gatherers of Chachapoyas, Peru (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lauren Pratt.

    This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although a growing bodies of scholarship address later cultural developments in such regions, Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCF) are nevertheless perceived by many as environments marginal for human occupation, especially for hunter-gatherers. One such region, the Chachapoyas culture area in northern Peru, has to date been home to...

  • Landscapes and Ecologies of Chachapoya Ancestral Sites: Preliminary Results from the MAPA-SACHA Project (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Arlen Mildred Talaverano Sanchez. Daniela Maria Raillard Arias.

    This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In limestone cliffs and on lush slopes of northeastern Peru’s montane cloud forest, Indigenous Andean communities known as the Chachapoya built mortuary architecture for their dead for centuries before Spanish colonization. For Indigenous Andeans, ancestors are powerful social agents that can intercede in the lives of descendant...

  • Running Down That Hill: Inka Imperial Problems in the Tropical Montane Cloud Forests of Ecuador (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ryan Hechler. William Pratt.

    This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over multiple Inka emperors’ reigns, Tawantinsuyu (the Inka Empire) had notoriously difficult experiences trying to secure their foothold in the Amazon. When marching north into the highlands of modern Ecuador, the Inkas thought it best to expand westward with their colonial agenda prioritizing access to the Pacific Coast before the...