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Thirteen papers by archaeologists from North and South America on the archaeology of coastal Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. The authors have all emphasized comparative approaches to prehispanic societies along the Pacific coast. They give preference neither to high theory nor to case-specific empirical details, but rather attempt to answer theoretically important research questions with appropriate methodologies and empirical datasets--ones that are amenable to a broad comparative view.
This book synthesizes in-depth bioarchaeological research into diet, subsistence regimes, and nutrition—and corresponding insights into adaptation, suffering, and resilience—among indigenous north-coastal Peruvian communities from early agricultural through European colonial periods. The Spanish invasion and colonization of Andean South America left millions dead, landscapes transformed, and traditional ways of life annihilated. However, the nature and magnitude of these changes were far from uniform. By the time the Spanish arrived, over four millennia of complex societies had emerged and fallen, and in the 16th century, the region was home to the largest and most expansive indigenous empire in the western hemisphere. Decades of Andean archaeological and ethnohistorical research have explored the incredible sophistication of regional agropastoral traditions, the importance of food and feasting as mechanisms of control, and the significance of maritime economies in the consolidation of complex polities. Bioarchaeology is particularly useful in studying these processes. Beyond identifying what resources were available and how they were prepared, bioarchaeological methods provide unique opportunities and humanized perspectives to reconstruct what individuals actually ate, and whether their diets changed within their own lifespans.
Warfare in the pre-Columbian Andes took on many forms, from inter-village raids to campaigns of conquest. Andean societies also created spectacular performances and artwork alluding to war – acts of symbolism that worked as political rhetoric while drawing on ancient beliefs about supernatural beings, warriors, and the dead. In this book, Elizabeth Arkush disentangles Andean warfare from Andean war-related spectacle and offers insights into how both evolved over time. Synthesizing the rich archaeological record of fortifications, skeletal injury, and material evidence, she presents fresh visions of war and politics among the Moche, Chimú, Inca, and pre-Inca societies of the conflict-ridden Andean highlands. The changing configurations of Andean power and violence serve as case studies to illustrate a sophisticated general model of the different forms of warfare in pre-modern societies. Arkush's book makes the complex pre-history of Andean warfare accessible by providing a birds-eye view of its major patterns and contrasts.
Continues on-going presentation of highly engaging anthropological research. This title contains a range of broad based and localized topics economic anthropologists that explore from various critical perspectives. It addresses questions of how political economy is articulated through processes of consumption, production, and evolution.
Ancient Households on the North Coast of Peru provides insight into the organization of complex, urban, and state-level society in the region from a household perspective, using observations from diverse North Coast households to generate new understandings of broader social processes in and beyond Andean prehistory. Many volumes on this region are limited to one time period or civilization, often the Moche. While Ancient Households on the North Coast of Peru does examine the Moche, it offers a wider thematic approach to a broader swath of prehistory. Chapters on various time periods use a comparable scale of analysis to examine long-term continuity and change and draw on a large corpus of prior research on states, rulership, and cosmology to offer new insight into the intersection of household, community, and state. Contributors address social reproduction, construction and reinforcement of gender identities and social hierarchy, household permanence and resilience, and expression of identity through cuisine. This volume challenges common concepts of the “household” in archaeology by demonstrating the complexity and heterogeneity of household-level dynamics as they intersect with institutions at broader social scales and takes a comparative perspective on daily life within one region of the Andes. It will be of interest to both students and scholars of South American archaeology and household archaeology. Contributors: Brian R. Billman, David Chicoine, Guy S. Duke, Hugo Ikehara, Giles Spence-Morrow, Jessica Ortiz, Edward Swenson, Kari A. Zobler
"Provides data and information that can be used for comparative analysis and as a foundation for further exploration. Inviting research from various geographic, cultural, and temporal locales from around the globe, the editors present a complex snapshot of the past."--Anne L. Grauer, editor of A Companion to Paleopathology "This cohesive collection of empirically based studies integrates biological and archaeological data in order to investigate social behavior and its linkages with human health. Relevant to anyone interested in the intersections of culture, health, and biology."--Jaime M. Ullinger, codirector, Quinnipiac University Bioanthropology Research Institute Drawing upon wide-ranging studies of prehistoric human remains from Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and the Americas, this groundbreaking volume unites physical anthropologists, archaeologists, and economists to explore how social structure can be reflected in the human skeleton. Contributors identify many ways in which social, political, and economic inequality have affected health, disease, metabolic insufficiency, growth, and diet. The volume makes a strong case for a broader integration of bioarchaeology with mortuary archaeology as its distinctive approaches offer new ways to look at power, resources, social organization, and the shape of human lives over time and across cultures. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen
This book describes an archaeological investigation of human occupation in the northern area of the Patagonian archipelago in the far south of South America. It is of global anthropological and archaeological interest, dealing as it does with an archipelago characterised by a maze of islands, fiords, channels, volcanoes and continental glaciers, in an area which is still very sparsely inhabited with only scattered settlements. It was one of the last parts of the continent to be populated by man, with the arrival of marine hunter-gatherer-fishers. The arrival of human beings in this area, and their subsistence strategies in varied environments, constitute a new example of man's ability to adapt over the course of his history. It is also of interest to document how humans overcome some biogeographical barriers to occupy territories, and how other kinds of barrier restrict movement and access to other regions, leaving certain human groups isolated. Two hunter-gatherer traditions, one marine and one pedestrian, with very different cultural development processes, coexisted in this part of Patagonia separated by less than 100 km of mountains, volcanoes and glaciers. There is no evidence of contact between them over their whole time sequence; on the contrary, the archaeological and bioanthropological evidence indicates two independent axes of movement: one used by canoe groups along the Pacific coast and the other by pedestrian groups in the interior of the continent east of the Andes.
There is widespread acknowledgement among anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnobotanists, as well as researchers in related disciplines that specific foods and cuisines are linked very strongly to the formation and maintenance of cultural identity and ethnicity. Strong associations of foodways with culture are particularly characteristic of South American Andean cultures. Food and drink convey complex social and cultural meanings that can provide insights into regional interactions, social complexity, cultural hybridization, and ethnogenesis. This edited volume presents novel and creative anthropological, archaeological, historical, and iconographic research on Andean food and culture from diverse temporal periods and spatial settings. The breadth and scope of the contributions provides original insights into a diversity of topics, such as the role of food in Andean political economies, the transformation of foodways and cuisines through time, and ancient iconographic representations of plants and animals that were used as food. Thus, this volume is distinguished from most of the published literature in that specific foods, cuisines, and culinary practices are the primary subject matter through which aspects of Andean culture are interpreted.
Presenting studies in Andean archaeology and iconography by leading specialists in the field, this volume tackles the question of how researchers can come to understand the intangible, intellectual worlds of ancient peoples. Archaeological Interpretations is a fascinating ontological journey through Andean cultures from the fourth millennium BC to the sixteenth century, A.D. Through evidence-based case studies, theoretical models, and methodological reflections, contributors discuss the various interpretations that can be derived from the traces of ritual activity that remain in the material record. They discuss how to accurately comprehend the social significance of artifacts beyond their practical use and how to decode the symbolism of sacred images. Addressing topics including the earliest evidence of shamanism in Ecuador, the meaning of masks among the Mochicas in Peru, the value of metal in the Recuay culture, and ceremonies of voluntary abandonment among the Incas, contributors propose original and innovative ways of interpreting the rich Andean archaeological heritage. Contributors: Luis Jaime Castillo Butters | Peter Eeckhout | Christine Hastorf | Abigail Levine | Geroge F. Lau | Frank Meddens | Charles S. Stanish | Edward Swenson | Gary Urton | Francisco Valdez