Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Water is fundamental for life on earth, and, across the Andes, its fluctuating availability shaped the development of a broad range of hydraulic technologies. The vertical landscapes of this tropical mountain range saw surface runoff channeled from the high Cordilleras to broaden hydraulic catchments, water retention in lakes and wetlands feeding wide-ranging and complex interconnected canal systems, and groundwater dug up for sunken fields and wachaque systems across salinity gradients. Based on applicability, this session showcases the potential lessons for the present from the past hydraulic technologies. Therefore, this symposium sits at the interface of technology, ecology, and civilization. We call for papers that demonstrate current thinking on Andean hydraulic technology from perspectives including, but not limited to (1) developments in water harnessing technologies; (2) climate and environmental change adaptation in the past, including synching of cultural and environmental change; (3) dormant infrastructure restoration as low-cost measures to adapt to present impacts of climate change; and (4) studies on water symbolism in iconography, mortuary, and public ritual.
Other Keywords
Survey •
Landscape Archaeology •
Andes: Late Intermediate •
Water Management and Irrigation •
Andes: Formative •
Environment and Climate •
Digital Archaeology: Simulation and Modeling •
Andes: Late Horizon •
Geoarchaeology •
Technology
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Peru (Country) •
Republic of Panama (Country) •
Republic of Colombia (Country) •
Netherlands Antilles (Country) •
Aruba (Country) •
Republic of Ecuador (Country) •
Republic of Chile (Country) •
South America (Continent) •
South America: Andes
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)
- Documents (9)
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The Crop Fields of the Ramaditas: A Formative Site in the Atacama Desert (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ramaditas, a Formative village site dated to around 600 BC, is located in the driest section of the Atacama Desert. Surrounding the architectural structures is a large area of fields that were cultivated by the inhabitants of Ramaditas. Here we present aspects concerning the water system developed at Ramaditas based on an aerial...
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Human Impact on an Inhospitable Plain: New Insights into the Hydraulic System of the Rio Huaycho (Lake Titicaca, Bolivia) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ALTI-plano research project (Archaeological Lake Titicaca Inventory-Mapping) aims, in particular, to provide a complete map of archaeological sites along the eastern shores of Lake Titicaca. Our focus lies primarily on refining our grasp of local chronologies, human settlement patterns, and the environmental change effects on...
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Inca Hydrodynamics at the Chachabamba Archeological Site (Machu Picchu National Archeological Park, Peru) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Chachabamba archaeological site in the Machu Picchu National Archeological Park contains a unique water complex erected by the Incas. Based on archaeological investigations, it has been established that the function of this water complex was strictly ceremonial. The necessity to control water flow in an architectural context...
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Just Add Water: ENSO-Driven Ephemeral Agricultural Systems in the Arid Chapiyungas of Peru’s North Coast (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Abrupt climatic changes caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) bring profound ecological transformations to the Andean pacific coast. Archaeological research has largely focused on the impacts (which have been shown to be largely negative) of ENSO-positive phases, or “El Niños,” on complex socioecological systems in coastal...
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Precolumbian Water Management in the Andean Puna and Neotropical Forests of NW Argentina: Strategies for Sustainability in Contrasting Environments (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Agropastoral landscapes in South America boast complex and diverse geographies and histories. Numerous investigations have revealed that the contrasting environments in the Andes, far from remaining pristine, underwent extensive transformations by past human societies, which have had lasting repercussions on their biodiversity and...
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Riego de bofedales y formas de construcción de un paisaje pastoril de origen prehispánico, Andes centro sur (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Distintos factores han llevado a conceptualizar el altiplano como un espacio hostil y deshumanizado, y el pastoreo de camélidos como una forma única de subsistencia en este ambiente “extremo”. Desde esta óptica, se ha promovido que los pastores andinos aprovechan los pastos que crecen aquí naturalmente sin intervenir en su...
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Water and Hydraulic Technology in the Eastern Andean Mountains: The Amarete Valley (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Puna Apolobamba pastures played a critical role in farming, pastoralism, and agropastoralism in the Kallawaya territory. Located to the east of the Titicaca basin, the area was dotted by sunken fields, bofedales, and water qocha reservoirs supplemented with canals. In this presentation, I discuss the nature and distribution of...
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Water Technology and Symbolism in the Andes (Cordillera Blanca, Ancash, Peru) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dominated by the glaciated mountain couple Huascarán (male, 6768 m) and Tullparaju (female, 6395 m), the cultural landscape of the Callejón de Huaylas has long been shaped by stark contrasts in water availability. This paper showcases how water infiltration and surface runoff catchment technologies developed, as techné and as...
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Water, Maps, and Mountains: Shifting Water Taskways in the Andes (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the past as in the present water was and is a central material element of the communities of the highland Andes. Underpinning their relationship with water and the taskways this entails has been the constant negotiation and impact of human-human and human-ecology relationships. In this regard, these populations’ relationship...