Exchanges in Stone: Tracing the influence of Amazonian peoples on Andean ones as expressed in the rock art of Huánuco, Peru

Summary

Recent fieldwork documenting hundreds of rock art panels in the region of Huánuco, Peru has allowed the author to begin to establish a more finely tuned chronology than has previously been possible. The process of revealing this chronology involves stylistic seriation using such features as color, line thickness, superpositions, and preference for particular design features during certain periods and in certain groups. One of the surprising revelations of this work has been the widespread penetration of Amazonian ideas expressed in iconography into seemingly remote parts of the Andes. This paper will begin with a discussion of the chronology, including the methodology involved in revealing it. I will go on to explore the timing and nature of Amazonian influence in the Andes as expressed in rock art. The present research has revealed a strong similarity between the style of paintings on large boulders beside rivers in the highland Andes and those carved onto similarly located boulders in the Amazon. The presence of Amazonian iconography has also been detected at multiple highland locations. I will conclude by exploring some of the implications these revelations have for Andean archaeology and anthropological archaeology in general.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage