Landscapes of Insecurity in Huancavelica, Peru: Infrastructure, Emplacement, and Quotidian Life in Volatile Surroundings

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Late Intermediate Period (1000-1400 CE) in the Central Andean highlands is characterized by balkanization and warfare, a pattern that is materialized through the construction of hilltop forts (pukaras) and skeletal trauma observed from Ancash to the Titicaca Basin. After a decades-long hiatus in academic research in Huancavelica, Peru, which was prompted by the propagation of guerrilla warfare carried out by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), recent surveys have finally begun to shed light on this understudied region through the identification of previously unrecorded sites. Fortified settlements, lookout stations, tombs, and other infrastructural features are strategically positioned across montane ravines to mitigate violent encounters. These sites embody a “landscape of insecurity,” reflective of the fractured political and social dynamics of the Late Intermediate Period. Through this lens, we can begin to recognize the Huancavelica highlands as a landscape that has been forged by both pre-Hispanic and modern violence, while also exploring the practices through which communities create stable space in otherwise tumultuous conditions and emplace themselves within hostile landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40075.0