Toward a Holistic Understanding of Marine Ecosystems in the South Central Andes: An Interdisciplinary Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity/Zooarchaeological Survey

Summary

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

Maritime adaptations play an essential role in the central Andean past as far back as the region’s earliest occupation. While economically useful molluscan species are well known by archaeologists, other invertebrates are inadequately understood due to poor preservation and/or lack of interest. This poster presents the preliminary results of a biodiversity survey conducted in southern Peru by an interdisciplinary team of zoologists and archaeologists. Invertebrates were collected using intertidal and SCUBA methods, identified by taxonomic experts, imaged, sampled for DNA, and vouchered in the Florida Museum of Natural History. Resulting data has been compiled into a website designed to aid archaeologists in the identification of marine invertebrates by providing photographs, CT scans, and up-to-date taxonomic information all linked to a museum specimen. Additionally, the website provides data on animals that were likely consumed but lack remains commonly preserved in archaeological deposits (e.g., sea cucumbers and octopuses), and animals essential to the ecosystems but not directly consumed by humans (e.g., amphipods and polychaetes). By combining efforts to document marine biodiversity with archaeological research, this project broadens our understanding of the inhabitants of the prehistoric Andean coast beyond consumers of marine resources to participatory members of a rich and complex ecosystem.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37238.0