Download or read book Huari Administrative Structure written by William Harris Isbell and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 1991 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Vernacular Architecture in the Pre Columbian Americas written by Christina Halperin and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vernacular Architecture in the Pre-Columbian Americas reveals the dynamism of the ancient past, where social relations and long-term history were created posthole by posthole, brick by brick. This collection shifts attention away from the elite and monumental architectural traditions of the region to instead investigate the creativity, subtlety and variability of common architecture and the people who built and dwelled in them. At the heart of this study of vernacular architecture is an emphasis on ordinary people and their built environments, and how these everyday spaces were pivotal in the making and meaning of social and cultural dynamics. Providing a deeper and more nuanced temporal perspective of common buildings in the Americas, the editors have deftly framed a study that highlights sociocultural diversity while at the same time facilitating broader comparative conversations around the theme of vernacular architecture. With diverse case studies covering a broad range of periods and regions, Vernacular Architecture in the Pre-Columbian Americas is an important addition to the growing body of scholarship on the indigenous architecture of the Americas and is a key contribution to our archaeological understandings of past built environments.

Download or read book Mummies and Mortuary Monuments written by William H. Isbell and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since prehistoric times, Andean societies have been organized around the ayllu, a grouping of real or ceremonial kinspeople who share labor, resources, and ritual obligations. Many Andean scholars believe that the ayllu is as ancient as Andean culture itself, possibly dating back as far as 6000 B.C., and that it arose to alleviate the hardships of farming in the mountainous Andean environment. In this boldly revisionist book, however, William Isbell persuasively argues that the ayllu developed during the latter half of the Early Intermediate Period (around A.D. 200) as a means of resistance to the process of state formation. Drawing on archaeological evidence, as well as records of Inca life taken from the chroniclers, Isbell asserts that prehistoric ayllus were organized around the veneration of deceased ancestors, whose mummified bodies were housed in open sepulchers, or challups, where they could be visited by descendants seeking approval and favors. By charting the temporal and spatial distribution of chullpa ruins, Isbell offers a convincing new explanation of where, when, and why the ayllu developed.

Download or read book Andean Archaeology I written by William H. Isbell and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Study of the origin and development of civilization is of unequaled importance for understanding the cultural processes that create human societies. Is cultural evolution directional and regular across human societies and history, or is it opportunistic and capricious? Do apparent regularities come from the way inves tigators construct and manage knowledge, or are they the result of real constraints on and variations in the actual processes? Can such questions even be answered? We believe so, but not easily. By comparing evolutionary sequences from different world civilizations scholars can judge degrees of similarity and difference and then attempt explanation. Of course, we must be careful to assess the influence that societies of the ancient world had on one another (the issue of pristine versus non-pristine cultural devel opment: see discussion in Fried 1967; Price 1978). The Central Andes were the locus of the only societies to achieve pristine civilization in the southern hemi sphere and only in the Central Andes did non-literate (non-written language) civ ilization develop. It seems clear that Central Andean civilization was independent on any graph of archaic culture change. Scholars have often expressed appreciation of the research opportunities offered by the Central Andes as a testing ground for the study of cultural evolu tion (see, e. g. , Carneiro 1970; Ford and Willey 1949: 5; Kosok 1965: 1-14; Lanning 1967: 2-5).

Download or read book Pikillacta written by Gordon F. McEwan and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The origin of the first Andean imperial state has been the subject of lively debate for decades. Archaeological sites dating to the Peruvian Middle Horizon time period, A.D. 540 to 900, appear to give evidence for the emergence of an expansive empire that set the stage for the development of the later Inca state. This archaeological investigation of Pikillacta, the largest provincial site of Peru’s pre-Inca Wari empire, provides essential background for interpreting the empire’s political and cultural organization. With engineering skills rivaling those of the builders of Cuzco itself, the Wari at Pikillacta erected more than seven hundred buildings covering nearly two square kilometers, with a fresh water supply and an elaborate underground sewage system but, enigmatically, only seven short streets and a near total lack of windows. In this long-awaited volume, Gordon McEwan and his colleagues report on the labor costs of construction (nearly 6 million man-days), the typology of Pikillacta's enigmatic architecture, and the site’s spectacular hydraulic system as well as its ceramics and chronology, human remains, and metal artifacts. In the final section, building on his years of research and excavation, McEwan develops a hypothetical model of Wari provincial administration in the Cuzco region, arguing that the Wari were innovators of techniques of statecraft that explain the function of and the labor investment in the Pikillacta complex. His book not only substantively contributes to our understanding of when and exactly how and why Pikillacta was built and what it was used for, it also illuminates the political and cultural antecedents of the Inca state.

Download or read book Andean Archaeology II written by Helaine Silverman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The origins and development of civilization are vital components to the understanding of the cultural processes that create human societies. Comparing and contrasting the evolutionary sequences from different civilizations is one approach to discovering their unique development. One area for comparison is in the Central Andes where several societies remained in isolation without a written language. As a direct result, the only resource to understand these societies is their material artifacts. In this second volume, the focus is on the art and landscape remains and what they uncover about societies of the Central Andes region. The ancient art and landscape, revealing the range and richness of the societies of the area significantly shaped the development of Andean archaeology. This work includes discussions on: - pottery and textiles; - iconography and symbols; - ideology; - geoglyphs and rock art. This volume will be of interest to Andean archaeologists, cultural and historical anthropologists, material archaeologists and Latin American historians.

Download or read book Regional Archaeology in the Inca Heartland written by R. Alan Covey and published by U OF M MUSEUM ANTHRO ARCHAEOLOGY. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ancient People of the Andes written by Michael A. Malpass and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Ancient People of the Andes, Michael A. Malpass describes the prehistory of western South America from initial colonization to the Spanish Conquest. All the major cultures of this region, from the Moche to the Inkas, receive thoughtful treatment, from their emergence to their demise or evolution. No South American culture that lived prior to the arrival of Europeans developed a writing system, making archaeology the only way we know about most of the prehispanic societies of the Andes. The earliest Spaniards on the continent provided first-person accounts of the latest of those societies, and, as descendants of the Inkas became literate, they too became a source of information. Both ethnohistory and archaeology have limitations in what they can tell us, but when we are able to use them together they are complementary ways to access knowledge of these fascinating cultures. Malpass focuses on large anthropological themes: why people settled down into agricultural communities, the origins of social inequalities, and the evolution of sociopolitical complexity. Ample illustrations, including eight color plates, visually document sites, societies, and cultural features. Introductory chapters cover archaeological concepts, dating issues, and the region's climate. The subsequent chapters, divided by time period, allow the reader to track changes in specific cultures over time.

Download or read book Peruvian Prehistory written by Richard W. Keatinge and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-03-10 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peruvian Prehistory offers an authoritative survey of the cultural evolution of Peru from the appearance of the first inhabitants around 10,000 BC to the arrival of the Spanish in 1534. The book is divided chronologically into three main parts, which examine in turn the highland and lowland zones in the Preceramic and Initial periods; the development of complex society at Chavin, Tiwanaku and Fluari and in the Moche and Nazca cultures; and the culmination of this process, the Pan-Andean empire of the Incas, and the way this can be studied through a combination of archaeology and ethnohistoric research. A fourth, concluding section deals with the often neglected tropical forest region of Peru and its formative influence on the evolution of Andean culture. The first collective assessment of Peruvian archaeology for a generation, this volume traces the processes of political, social and economic change in Andean civilisation in a manner that will attract many with no specialist interest in Peru.

Download or read book Ancient Titicaca written by Charles Stanish and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-03-12 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark work brings the author's intimate knowledge of the ethnography and archaeology in this region to bear on key theoretical issues in evolutionary anthropology."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Palaces and Power in the Americas written by Jessica Joyce Christie and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient American palaces still captivate those who stand before them. Even in their fallen and ruined condition, the palaces project such power that, according to the editors of this new collection, it must have been deliberately drawn into their formal designs, spatial layouts, and choice of locations. Such messages separated palaces from other elite architecture and reinforced the power and privilege of those residing in them. Indeed, as Christie and Sarro write, "the relation between political power and architecture is a pervasive and intriguing theme in the Americas." Given the variety of cultures, time periods, and geographical locations examined within, the editors of this book have grouped the articles into four sections. The first looks at palaces in cultures where they have not previously been identified, including the Huaca of Moche Site, the Wari of Peru, and Chaco Canyon in the U.S. Southwest. The second section discusses palaces as "stage sets" that express power, such as those found among the Maya, among the Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest, and at El Tajín on the Mexican Gulf Coast. The third part of the volume presents cases in which differences in elite residences imply differences in social status, with examples from Pasado de la Amada, the Valley of Oaxaca, Teotihuacan, and the Aztecs. The final section compares architectural strategies between cultures; the models here are Farfán, Peru, under both the Chimú and the Inka, and the separate states of the Maya and the Inka. Such scope, and the quality of the scholarship, make Palaces and Power in the Americas a must-have work on the subject.

Download or read book Ecology and Ceramic Production in an Andean Community written by Dean E. Arnold and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-10-16 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ethnoarchaeological study looks at pottery production in a contemporary Peruvian Andean community.

Download or read book Handbook of South American Archaeology written by Helaine Silverman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-04-04 with total page 1228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the contributions of South American archaeology to the larger field of world archaeology have been inadequately recognized. If so, this is probably because there have been relatively few archaeologists working in South America outside of Peru and recent advances in knowledge in other parts of the continent are only beginning to enter larger archaeological discourse. Many ideas of and about South American archaeology held by scholars from outside the area are going to change irrevocably with the appearance of the present volume. Not only does the Handbook of South American Archaeology (HSAA) provide immense and broad information about ancient South America, the volume also showcases the contributions made by South Americans to social theory. Moreover, one of the merits of this volume is that about half the authors (30) are South Americans, and the bibliographies in their chapters will be especially useful guides to Spanish and Portuguese literature as well as to the latest research. It is inevitable that the HSAA will be compared with the multi-volume Handbook of South American Indians (HSAI), with its detailed descriptions of indigenous peoples of South America, that was organized and edited by Julian Steward. Although there are heroic archaeological essays in the HSAI, by the likes of Junius Bird, Gordon Willey, John Rowe, and John Murra, Steward states frankly in his introduction to Volume Two that “arch- ology is included by way of background” to the ethnographic chapters.

Download or read book Ancient Cuzco written by Brian S. Bauer and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cuzco Valley of Peru was both the sacred and the political center of the largest state in the prehistoric Americas—the Inca Empire. From the city of Cuzco, the Incas ruled at least eight million people in a realm that stretched from modern-day Colombia to Chile. Yet, despite its great importance in the cultural development of the Americas, the Cuzco Valley has only recently received the same kind of systematic archaeological survey long since conducted at other New World centers of civilization. Drawing on the results of the Cuzco Valley Archaeological Project that Brian Bauer directed from 1994 to 2000, this landmark book undertakes the first general overview of the prehistory of the Cuzco region from the arrival of the first hunter-gatherers (ca. 7000 B.C.) to the fall of the Inca Empire in A.D. 1532. Combining archaeological survey and excavation data with historical records, the book addresses both the specific patterns of settlement in the Cuzco Valley and the larger processes of cultural development. With its wealth of new information, this book will become the baseline for research on the Inca and the Cuzco Valley for years to come.

Download or read book Globalizations and the Ancient World written by Justin Jennings and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-08 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Justin Jennings argues that globalization is not just a phenomenon limited to modern times. Instead he contends that the globalization of today is just the latest in a series of globalizing movements in human history. Using the Uruk, Mississippian, and Wari civilizations as case studies, Jennings examines how the growth of the world's first great cities radically transformed their respective areas. The cities required unprecedented exchange networks, creating long-distance flows of ideas, people, and goods. These flows created cascades of interregional interaction that eroded local behavioral norms and social structures. New, hybrid cultures emerged within these globalized regions. Although these networks did not span the whole globe, people in these areas developed globalized cultures as they interacted with one another. Jennings explores how understanding globalization as a recurring event can help in the understanding of both the past and the present.

Download or read book Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture written by Izumi Shimada and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pampa Grande, the largest and most powerful city of the Mochica (Moche) culture on the north coast of Peru, was built, inhabited, and abandoned during the period A.D. 550-700. It is extremely important archaeologically as one of the few pre-Hispanic cities in South America for which there are enough reliable data to reconstruct a model of pre-Hispanic urbanism. This book presents a "biography" of Pampa Grande that offers a reconstruction not only of the site itself but also of the sociocultural and economic environment in which it was built and abandoned. Izumi Shimada argues that Pampa Grande was established rapidly and without outside influence at a strategic position at the neck of the Lambayeque Valley that gave it control over intervalley canals and their agricultural potential and allowed it to gain political dominance over local populations. Study of the site itself leads him to posit a large resident population made up of transplanted Mochica and local non-Mochica groups with a social hierarchy of at least three tiers.

Download or read book Emergence and Change in Early Urban Societies written by Linda Manzanilla and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives an overview of different factors involved in the emergence and change in early urban societies in fourth-millennium Mesopotamia and Egypt; pre-Shang China; Classie horizon Central Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya Area; and Middle Horizon societies in the Andean Region. These factors range from centralized storage and redistributive econo mies, agromanagerial models, mercantile network control, confliet and conquest, conversion of military commanders into administrators, political power through monumental cosmic reproduction, and elite power through ideological change. It discusses specific archaeological data useful in theoretieal construction. In the Introduction, a discussion of different developmental processes of urban societies is made. The Eastern Anatolian example emphasizes the role played by interregional exchange networks linking the Mesopotamian plains with the Syro-Anatolian regions. The emergence of an elite is related with the control of the movement of craft goods and raw materials, more than with the appropriation of subsistence goods. The Chinese example stresses the importance of conflict provoked by demographie pressures on resources. The Mesoamerican cases relate to vast urban developments and manu facturing centers, ideological importance of monumental planning, and changing behavior of elites. The Andean cases are related either to the transformation of theocratie leadership into military administrators oe to the agricultural intensification model.