Late Intermediate Period (late + intermediate_period)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A preliminary archaeological and environmental study of pre-Columbian burial towers at Huachacalla, Bolivian Altiplano

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 7 2002
Matti J. Rossi
Chullpas are pre-Columbian burial towers built by indigenous Aymaras on the Bolivian Altiplano. Bolivian chullpas date back to the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000,1476) and the Late Horizon (A.D. 1476,1532). We recorded 228 chullpas among 84 sites in the Huachacalla region of west-central Bolivia. In our study area, the chullpas are on debris flows and coarse alluvium in the proximal and medial segments of alluvial fans at the foot of two volcanoes. Grain-size, element, and mineralogical analysis of chullpa wall material and local sediment revealed that the burial towers are composed of calcareous sand that is readily available in alluvial fan deposits near the sites. Our data suggest that the Aymaras considered environmental factors, such as drainage and stability of the soil, when they selected the locations of chullpas, whereas cultural factors played a significant role in chullpa architecture. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Residential mobility and resource use in the Chiribaya polity of southern Peru: strontium isotope analysis of archaeological tooth enamel and bone

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 6 2007
K. J. Knudson
Abstract The Chiribaya were a complex polity during the Andean Late Intermediate Period (c. AD 1000,1300) in the Ilo and Moquegua Valleys of southern Peru. Recent research has demonstrated that the Chiribaya polity was a señorío, a confederacy of economically specialised parcialidades. Here we test hypotheses regarding the movement of individuals and resources among the Chiribaya-affiliated sites of Chiribaya Alta, Chiribaya Baja, San Gerónimo and El Yaral, as well as from outside of the Ilo and Moquegua Valleys. Although archaeological human enamel and bone strontium isotope ratios from Chiribaya Baja and San Gerónimo cluster closely, there is a wider variety of strontium isotope ratios observed at Chiribaya Alta and El Yaral. This indicates that individuals buried in cemeteries at these sites had access to a wider variety of resources, and probably moved between different geological zones throughout their lifetimes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The usefulness of caries frequency, depth, and location in determining cariogenicity and past subsistence: A test on early and later agriculturalists from the Peruvian coast

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
Luis Pezo Lanfranco
Abstract Dental markers have been used to unravel particularities of paleodiet, subsistence, social structure, and health. This article aims to compare oral pathology among four pre-Columbian groups with different degrees of agricultural and socio-cultural development but comparable ecological conditions who lived on the coastal desert of Peru. Three of these groups are assigned to distinct phases of the Formative Period (2500,1 BC), a time critical for our understanding of the development of agriculture and social complexity. The fourth group corresponds to the Late Intermediate Period (1000,1470 AD), when agriculture had its apogee and society was highly stratified. In this study we test whether there is an increase (1) in the frequency of carious lesions and (2) in caries depth, and (3) if there is a shift from occlusal to extra-occlusal caries locations with the development of agriculture. Therefore, we analyze the frequencies of carious lesions and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL), the caries distributions by age, sex, and type of tooth, as well as the tissues affected by, and the location of the carious lesions. Since there are no significant differences in the frequencies of carious lesions and AMTL between the groups, we reject hypothesis 1. In contrast, caries depth does increase, and caries location changes from occlusal to extra-occlusal sites with agricultural development. However, we can only corroborate hypothesis 2 and 3 when taking into consideration dental wear. Thus, we recommend that caries depth and locations should be used with evaluations of dental wear to reconstruct subsistence in ancient populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:75,91, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Investigating cultural heterogeneity in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, through biogeochemistry and bioarchaeology

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Kelly J. Knudson
Abstract Individuals living in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and the neighboring upper Loa River Valley of northern Chile experienced the collapse of an influential foreign polity, environmental decline, and the appearance of a culturally distinct group during the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1,100,1,400). We investigate cultural heterogeneity at the Loa site of Caspana through analyses of strontium and oxygen isotopes, cranial modification styles, and mortuary behavior, integrating biological aspects of identity, particularly geographic origins, with cultural aspects of identity manifested in body modification and mortuary behavior. We test the hypothesis that the Caspana population (n = 66) represents a migrant group, as supported by archeological and ethnographic evidence, rather than a culturally distinct local group. For Caspana archeological human tooth enamel, mean 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70771 ± 0.00038 (1,, n = 30) and mean ,18Oc(V-PDB) = ,3.9 ± 0.6, (1,, n = 16); these isotopic data suggest that only one individual lived outside the region. Material culture suggests that the individuals buried at Caspana shared some cultural affinity with the San Pedro oases while maintaining distinct cultural traditions. Finally, cranial modification data show high frequencies of head shaping [92.4% (n = 61/65)] and an overwhelming preference for annular modification [75.4% (n = 46/61)], contrasting sharply with practices in the San Pedro area. Based on multiple lines of evidence, we argue that, rather than representing a group of altiplano migrants, the Caspana population existed in the region for some time. However, cranial modification styles and mortuary behavior that are markedly distinct from patterns in surrounding areas raise the possibility of cultural heterogeneity and cultural fissioning. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


The Expansion, Diversification, and Segmentation of Power in Late Prehispanic Nasca

ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Issue 1 2004
Christina A. Conlee
During the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000,1476) the organization and foundation of power in Nasca was transformed from earlier times. Previously, religious resources were central to the development and maintenance of the political and social hierarchy. After the collapse of the Wari Empire and a period of balkanization, the resources used to establish and maintain power broadened considerably. The expansion of the power base into new realms coincided with an increase in the number of local elites in the drainage. There was no longer a focus on regional ceremonial centers; instead, elites were able to build power through a variety of activities including exchange, craft production (with a focus on utilitarian items), feasting, community-based ritual activities, and probably warfare and defense. During this period the levels of the political hierarchy grew and a more heterarchical type of regional polity developed. [source]