Ethnoarchaeology of Andean South America: Contributions to Archaeological Method and Theory

by Lawrence A. Kuznar (Editor)

Overview

Andean South America offers significant anthropological insights into highland and arid zone adaptations, including pastoralist economy and ecology, settlement patterns, site formation processes, tool manufacture, and the cultural meanings of landscapes. The papers in this volume present detailed studies of highland and lowland pastoralists and horticulturalists, taphonomy, and sacred landscapes. The epistomological foundations of ethnoarchaeology, archaeological uses of ethnoarchaeology, and the relationship between environment and culture are key theoretical themes. This volume will be of use to anyone who studies human adaptations to highland or arid environments, and to those interested in pastoral societies, as well as Andean South America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781879621299
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Series:	International Monographs in Prehistory: Ethnoarchaeology Series , #4
Pages:	309
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lawrence A. Kuznar is a professor of anthropology at Indiana University–Purdue UniversityFort Wayne.

Table of Contents

Contents: Lawrence A. Kuznar, Introduction to Andean Ethnoarchaeology; Mark Aldenderfer, Andean Pastoral Origins and Evolution: The Role of Ethnoarchaeology; Alejandro Fabio Haber, Observations, Definitions and Pre-understandings in the Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoralism; Lawrence A. Kuznar, An Introduction to Andean Religious Ethnoarchaeology: Preliminary Results and Future Directions; Beatriz N. Ventura and Juan Bautista Belardi, When Clouds Cover the Woods: Ethnoarchaeology in the Yungas of Salta, Argentina; Hugo D. Yacobaccio and Celina M. Madero, Ethnoarchaeology of a Pastoral Settlement of the Andean Plateau: An Investigation of Archaeological Scale; María Soledad Caracotche, The Invisibility of Time: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Temporary Sites of Herders of the Southern Puna; Daniel D. Delfino, Of Pircas and the Limits of Society: Ethnoarchaeology in the Puna, Laguna Blanca, Catamarca, Argentina; Steve A. Tomka, “Up and Down We Move…”: Factors Conditioning Agro-pastoral Settlement Organization in Mountainous Settings; Axel E. Nielsen, Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives on Caravan Trade in the South-Central Andes; Lidia Clara García, Women at Work: A Present Archaeological View of Azul Pampa Herding Culture (North West Argentina); Maria del Carmen Reigadas, Herding Today, Lassoing the Past, Herding Yesterday: Toward the Ancients (Livestock Specialization and Variability in Pastoral Contexts); Luis Alberto Borrero, Regional Taphonomy: Background Noise and the Integrity of the Archaeological Record; Dolores Elkin and Mariana Mondini, Human and Small Carnivore Gnawing Damage on Bones - an Exploratory Study and its Archaeological Implications; Mariana Mondini, Taphonomic Action of Foxes in Puna Rockshelters: A Case Study in Antofagasta de la Sierra (Province of Catamarca, Argentina); Daniel Olivera and Atilio Nasti, Processing and Economic Yield in Lama glama

Editorial Reviews

Kuznar (presumably at Purdue U. given his Fort Wayne, IN sign- off) introduces ethnoarcheology as the study of the material culture of contemporary peoples; decries failure to recognize the value of research outside one's regional specialty; and discusses the methodology of a field "born from archeologists' frustrations about making inferences about the past from the archeological residues they excavated." Most of the 15 other contributions by Argentine and US academics investigate pastoral societies in the Andes' dry regions, though a couple address tropical forest and tundra-like environments. Includes maps, diagrams, and b&w photos of study sites, and tables categorizing such variables as bone finds and llama distribution by type. Lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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