Riverbank Insights: Exploring Prehispanic Adaptation in Central Nicaragua’s Alluvial Landscapes through Archaeological Analysis and Local Wisdom
Author(s): Tomas Arce Buitargo; Irene Torreggiani; Alexander Geurds; Marta Arzarello; Gabriele Berruti
Year: 2024
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Centralizing Central America: New Evidence, Fresh Perspectives, and Working on New Paradigms" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
“El Agua es Vida, si no hay Agua, no hay Vida” (“Water is Life”) says Doña Francisca (community of Huehuestepe, Mayales River Valley [MRV], Nicaragua). Today more than ever this sentence holds true, given water’s increasing significance in the global climatic debate. Rivers are essential to human life, yet it can also be destructive, to connect and ultimately to shape human-environmental interaction through time and space. To what extent has this relationship changed in central Nicaragua since prehispanic times? Can we assess this through archaeological methods? This presentation will show the final results of the Interdisciplinary Archaeological Project Finca Santa Matilda (PRISMA), which integrates the geoarchaeological analysis of Roberto Amador site (RA, MRV, Chontales) and local knowledge on water and aquatic environments. Specific attention will be given to the technological, statistical, and traceological analysis of RA lithic artifacts. PRISMA unveiled how human adaptation strategies in the MRV are strictly linked to people’s understanding of the river behavior, the selective use of riverine resources, and on the predictability of hydroclimatic fluctuations. We argue that a multidisciplinary archaeological research, combined with local knowledge, could contribute to envisioning a more inclusive approach for planning sustainable water and land-use practices in Nicaragua.
Cite this Record
Riverbank Insights: Exploring Prehispanic Adaptation in Central Nicaragua’s Alluvial Landscapes through Archaeological Analysis and Local Wisdom. Tomas Arce Buitargo, Irene Torreggiani, Alexander Geurds, Marta Arzarello, Gabriele Berruti. Presented at The 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2024 ( tDAR id: 497689)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
Central America and Northern South America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -92.153; min lat: -4.303 ; max long: -50.977; max lat: 18.313 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 39344.0