Water Management in the Andes: Past, Present, and Future

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.