Discoveries in Southeastern Bolivia Shed Light on Indigenous Cultural Dynamics of South America

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Southeastern Bolivia is one of the least-understood regions in South American archaeology. However, it is of pivotal significance in regard to Indigenous cultural history and the dynamics of cultural interactions, especially given its location at the interface between the Andes and Amazonia. Ethnohistorically and ethnographically a large number of ethnic groups have been documented for southeastern Bolivia, including Chiquitoans and affilitated tribes, Chiriguanos, Chanés, Yamparas, Sirionos, Bororos, Ayoreos, among others. Archaeological surveys and excavations were conducted in this area during construction of the Bolivian portion of the San Miguel-Cuiabá natural gas pipeline. The pipeline corridor traverses remote and sparsely populated portions of the country, which are also among the most understudied in South American archaeology. In total, 58 newly identified archaeological sites were tested, yielding over 100,000 artifacts. Excavation results, radiocarbon dates, ceramic analysis, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction fill a gap in our knowledge base for this region of South America. Project findings relate directly to late prehistoric cultural dynamics at the interface of the Andes and the Amazon and support the general model of precolumbian dispersal patterns developed by Donald W. Lathrap over 40 years ago.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36216.0