Recent Studies in Andean Prehistory and Protohistory: Papers from the Second Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory

The contributions in this volume represent nine of the twenty-three papers presented at the Second Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory (NCAAE) held at the American Museum of Natural History on November 19-20, 1983. Papers include The Preceramic and Formative Period Occupations in the Cordillera Negra: Preliminary Report by Michael A. Malpass, The Early Horizon--Early Intermediate Period Transition: A View from the Nepena and Viru Valleys by Richard E. Daggett, Paracas in Chincha and Pisco: A Reappraisal of the Ocucaje Sequence by Dwight T. Wallace, Impressions in Metal: Reconstructing Burial Context at Loma Negra, Peru by Anne-Louise Schaeffer, The Moche Moon by Elizabeth P. Benson, Archaeological Investigation in the Andean Piedmont and High Llanos of Western Venezuela: A Preliminary Report by Charles S. Spencer and Elsa M. Redmond, Pachacamac--An Andean Oracle Under Inca Rule by Thomas C. Patterson, The Spanish League and Inca Sites: A Reassessment of the Itinerary of Juan de Matienzo through N.W. Argentina by Gordon C. Pollard, and Written Sources on Andean Cosmogony by George Kubler.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past_special/1001/thumbnail.jp

Archaeological survey, Barinas

343 p. : ill., maps (1 col.) ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-343)."This is the first of a series of monographs about an archaeological project that the authors carried out in the high llanos and Andean piedmont of the Distrito Pedraza, Barinas, Venezuela. We were interested in documenting the evolution of prehistoric chiefdoms in the western Venezuelan llanos and in assessing the possibility that intersocietal interaction such as exchange and warfare played a role in chiefdom development here. We benefited from reading the early historic accounts of the European explorers and missionaries who encountered chiefdoms in the western Venezuelan llanos in the sixteenth century. Also, we wanted to build on the findings of a few archaeologists who had conducted archaeological investigations in the western Venezuelan llanos to answer questions of chronology, settlement, and subsistence. Our research design called for monitoring prehistoric cultural developments in a study region centered on the Canagua River valley, extending across the high llanos and up into the adjacent piedmont, wherein we would collect archaeological data on regional settlement patterns, community organization, households and subsistence practices, and artifact distributions within and between settlements. In this volume, we present the Barinas project's research design, introduce the chronological sequences that we established for the Andean piedmont and high llanos, and report the findings of the first phase of field investigations: the five seasons of regional survey we conducted in our 450 km2 study region centered on the Canagua River valley. The bulk of this volume is devoted to detailed descriptions of 103 archaeological sites. Sites of the Curbati complex dated to A.D. 300-1000 are restricted to the piedmont, where they are typically located on remnant river terraces overlooking stretches of farmable alluvium. Our survey revealed evidence of a two-level settlement-size hierarchy for Curbati-complex sites in the Curbati and upper Canagua River valleys. While Curbati-complex sites never have earthworks, some Curbati-complex sites in the Curbati River valley are associated with petroglyphs. One of these sites was La Esmeralda (B8), the largest Curbati-complex settlement, which extended over 8 ha of an alluvial terrace on which stood a large boulder bearing petroglyphs. A similar two-level settlement-size hierarchy obtained for sites in the piedmont of the later Cano Seco complex, dated to A.D. 1000-1550, although there is evidence of population growth in the number and areal extent ([< or = to] 25 ha) of Cano Seco settlements, especially in the upper Canagua River valley. The only Cano Seco-complex site associated with petroglyphs, however, was the small (3.125 ha) site of La Piedra Herrada (B20) in the Curbati River valley. All but one of the petroglyphs discovered in our study region were confined to the Curbati River valley. Sites with Gavan-complex ceramics dated to A.D. 300-1000 are largely restricted to the high llanos, where our survey revealed a clear regional hierarchy of three levels according to site size and associated mounded architecture. The 33 ha site of El Gavan (B12), with its linear plaza flanked by tall earthen mounds, house mounds, and associated earthworks and causeways stood at the top of the settlement hierarchy. Linked by causeway to the regional center were five second-order settlements with similar mound configurations, only on a smaller scale. The lowest level of the regional settlement hierarchy consisted of 28 habitation sites smaller than 5 ha in area and without visible mounded architecture. We located, mapped, and test-excavated a 35 ha drained-fields facility (B27) southeast of the regional center of El Gavan; another expanse of drained fields may have existed northwest of the regional center at site B52 on the fertile alluvium of the Cano Mitiao Hondo. We estimate that the potential maize yields reaped on these drained fields would have greatly exceeded the subsistence requirements of the nearest habitation sites (B26, B98). Due to the drained fields' proximity to causeways leading to the regional center, we propose that the considerable agricultural surplus produced on the drained fields was delivered to the regional elite at El Gavan (B12). The discovery of four third-order habitation sites with Gavan-complex ceramics in the upper Canagua River valley, associated with large tracts of fertile alluvium, raises questions about the relationship and intersocietal interaction between the inhabitants of the high llanos and the adjacent forested piedmont in late Gavan times. The oval causeway that encloses the regional center of El Gavan may have served in part as a defensive earthwork. The degree of centralized regional organization manifested by the Gavan-complex settlement hierarchy, with the array of mounded architecture, the network of intersite causeways, and the implementation of drained-field agriculture, are commensurate with the archaeological manifestations expected for chiefly societies. The paramount chiefdom centered at El Gavan (B12) did not persist until the European incursions in the sixteenth century. We located eight Cano Seco-complex (ca. A.D. 1000-1550) sites on the high llanos, which adhered to the two-level settlement-size hierarchy obtained for Cano Seco-complex sites in the adjacent piedmont. We also located 10 sites of the early historic period on the high llanos that we assigned to the Chuponal complex and tentatively date to A.D. 1550-1850. The largest and greatest density of Chuponal settlements occurred on the El Chuponal alluvium, east and across the Canagua River from the town of Pedraza (Ciudad Bolivia), which was founded in 1591"--P. 10-11

Statecraft and expansionary dynamics: A Virú outpost at Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley, Peru

The St-Guilhem Cloister, the northwest corner, depicting entry with paired columns; The Cloisters collection (a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) contains approximately five thousand European medieval works of art, with a particular emphasis on pieces dating from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries. Among the famous works of art held at the Cloisters are seven south Netherlandish tapestries depicting The Hunt of the Unicorn,and Robert Campin's Mérode Altarpiece. The Cloisters also holds many medieval manuscripts and illuminated books, including the Limbourg brothers' Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry and Jean Pucelle's book of hours for Jeanne d'Evreux. The building housing the collection is itself a work of medieval art. It is a composite structure, incorporating elements from five medieval French cloisters: Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-en-Bigorre, and Froville. These disassembled European buildings were reassembled in Fort Tryon Park (1934-1938) in a setting with gardens planted according to horticultural information culled from various medieval documents and artifacts. Notable works of architecture include the Cuxa cloister, with an adjacent Chapter House; and the Fuentidueña Apse from a chapel in the province of Segovia (Castilla y León, Spain). The museum is largely due to two collectors and patrons; John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and George Grey Barnard, an American sculptor and assiduous collector of medieval art. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 7/4/2008