Reflections and Ripples of the Caiman: Papers in the Spirit of Don Lathrap

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Reflections and Ripples of the Caiman: Papers in the Spirit of Don Lathrap" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Some thirty-five years after his sudden passing, the research of Donald Lathrap continues to affect the development of archaeology throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the area of his greatest interest, South America. In recent decades, as the curtain has lifted for archaeologists regarding the antiquity, diversity and complexity of pre-Columbian Amazonian societies, Lathrap’s perspective, considered unorthodox at the time, has been largely (though imperfectly) vindicated.

This session is arranged along two themes. The first is reflective, with several papers considering the impacts Lathrap had on their research and development as scholars. This includes discussions of Lathrap’s pedagogy from former students; and celebrations of notable milestones in Andean archaeology like the 50th anniversary of the UIUC excavation at Real Alto. Recent archival research on Lathrap’s archival material currently housed in multiple institutions throughout the U.S. and Peru, and the publication of his dissertation, are also “new” revelations on Lathrap’s contribution to South American archaeology. The second theme of this symposium tests and confronts Lathrap’s ideas with new datasets coming out of the Andes, Amazonia, and Caribbean. New ripples are made by investigators who grapple with questions he could only imagine would be asked in South American archaeology.