Fremen and Frost: An Arrakis Model of Early Human-Water Dynamics in the Central Andes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Water is essential for life. Forager research demonstrates that communities adjust mobility strategies in arid regions, often tethering to water sources. This talk investigates human-water relationships in multiple arid environments. We argue that, as the most critical resource for humans, water played a pivotal role in early settlement dynamics. Using Arrakis as an analog for the Central Andes, we hypothesize how water use and technologies may have varied across diverse ecosystems, and discuss the implications for the archaeological record. We use examples from two Pleistocene-Holocene sites in southern Peru, the high-elevation Cuncaicha rockshelter and Quebrada Jaguay 280 near the Pacific coast to explore how water availability may have impacted site selection, occupation intensity, and settlement strategies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51734