South American Archaeology Seminar: London

1st December 2018

6th Floor Seminar Room
Institute of Archaeology, UCL
34 Gordon Square,
London WC1H 0PY
Co. Sponsors:

Ceramic camelid whistle excavated at Huayuri, Nazca drainage, Peru

9.40 am Coffee/ Registration
10.10: Santiago Barbich (CONICET – National University of La Plata) Daily Practice and Spaces
in the Central Calchaqui Valley (Salta Province, NW Argentina) during the Late
Intermediate Period
10.50: Miguel Fuentes (UCL Institute of Archaeology) Who is controlling what? Assessing the role
of local populations in the administration and managing of resources, routes, and spaces
during the Inca period in the Arica area of Northern Chile.
Coffee 11.30 am
12.00: Viviana Siveroni (UCL, Institute of Archaeology) The place of ‘conopa’: non-Inca
worldviews in Inca ideologies of power
12.40: Kevin Floerke (Independent scholar) and Stephen Berquist (University of Toronto) The
Cusco Valley Inca Road Network
Lunch 1.20 pm
2.10: Philip Riris (UCL, Institute of Archaeology) Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination
of the Peruvian Preceramic radiocarbon record
2.50: João Saldanha (???) The rise of monumentality at the Mouth of the Amazon River
Tea 3.30 pm
4.00: Agathe Dupeyron (University of East Anglia, School of International Development)
Evaluating Archaeology as a Resource for Development in Peru: why, how?
4.40: Shaina Molano (University of California, Merced) and Kimberly Munro (Louisiana State
University) Displays of identity: A community-engaged approach to studying identity
through participatory research
You will be asked to make a contribution of £10.00 towards the cost of coffee, tea & lunch
Our next meeting will be on: Saturday 18th May 2019
If you would like to give a talk at a future seminar or for further information please contact Bill
Sillar: b.sillar@ucl.ac.uk
 South American Archaeology Seminar: London
ABSTRACTS:
Santiago Barbich
CONICET – National University of La Plata
noestusombra@gmail.com

In search of the organization of daily practices and spaces. The case of

El Churcal, NW Argentina, during the Late Intermediate Period
The Late Intermediate Period (LIP) in the central Calchaquí Valley (Salta Province) has often been
described under the light of the Inka conquest of the area. Within this context, my aim is to contribute
to the understanding of this particular period, by studying the organization of the daily practices and
spaces of the societies that occupied this area.

To address this issue, I analyze two lines of evidence from the archaeological site of “El Churcal”,
whose occupation is restricted to this period. One line of investigation assesses activities and practices
through the analysis of artifactual contexts from excavations; while the second way of analysis is
aimed at increasing the information about the architectural patterns and spatial structuring of the
settlement.

The aim is to gain a better understanding of the organization of daily spaces and practices among LIP
populations and to deepen the study of the social processes that took place in the central sector of the
Calchaquí valley. This study forms part of my PhD research in NW Argentina.

Miguel Fuentes
UCL, Institute of Archaeology
correomiguelfuentes@gmail.com; uczlfue@ucl.ac.uk

Who is controlling what? Assessing the role of local populations in the

administration and managing of resources, routes, and spaces during
the Inca period in the Arica area of Northern Chile.
Debate about the Inca expansion into the Arica area has contrasted two main theoretical models:
Direct and Indirect Rule. According to these models, Inca domination would have been implemented
in the Arica area (especially in the Highlands) either by “intermediate agents” (the altiplano leaders of
the Reinos Aymaras) or by the direct presence of the Inca state and its administrative and architectural
apparatus. Alternatives approaches that combine elements of both models have also been proposed.
However, all these models start by assuming a situation strongly determined by the “administration”
or “control” of the Inca state over populations, resources, and routes. One of the results of this has
been to produce an “archaeological narrative” where the Inca state, its agents and its “strategies of
expansion” seems to be the primary agents (seemingly uncontested) of this historical process.

In this presentation, I will discuss some of the archaeological evidence that has been used to support
these models. I will also present architectural and spatial data to examine an alternative approach on
the social and political dynamics of the Late Period in the Arica area that emphasizes potential
elements of local management of resources, routes, and spaces. The concept of “Local Power” and the
important of alternative models of economic and cultural exchange between the Inca and the local
populations will be examined.
 South American Archaeology Seminar: London
Viviana Siveroni
UCL, Institute of Archaeology
viviana.siveroni.13@ucl.ac.uk

The place of ‘conopa’: non-Inca worldviews in Inca ideologies of power

In this paper, I review the concept of ‘conopa’ through an analysis of early colonial documents and
archaeological material culture. Archaeologists think of ‘conopa’ as an artefact of Inca culture and
ideology (1400 to 1532 AD). However, we still know little about the meanings these artefacts were
supposed to convey. Written sources tell us ‘conopa’ was a common ritual object that had a central
role in the domestic rituals of Early Colonial native Andeans (after 1532 AD). These sources speak of
various types, the most common being a palm size, naturalistic representation of an animal or crop —
mostly but not only— carved out of stone. In this presentation, I will focus on a less known type, the
‘runa conopa’ often described as an anthropomorphic figurine or pot.

First, I summarize the basic elements of rituals and thank offerings associated to ‘runa conopa.’ I also
pay attention to the performance and the gestures of practitioners while manipulating ‘conopa.’ This
information is mainly drawn from documents of the Extirpation of Idolatries campaign (after 1609
AD) that others have published (e.g., Duviols 2006). Using this information, I then look for evidence
of ‘runa conopa’ practice in different periods and regions of the Prehispanic Andes. In doing so, I
favour the analysis of ceramic anthropomorphic figurines. This exploration suggests two things. First,
some Prehispanic ceramic figurines may well be seen as Prehispanic ‘runa conopa.’ Second, ‘runa
conopa’ practice was widely spread across the Andes way before the Incas expanded out of Cuzco. To
conclude, I contrast ceramic figurines to metal figurines of Capacocha contexts, exploring possible
parallels and looking for overlapping semantic fields. I ask whether provincial household ideologies
—particularly ‘runa conopa’ practice— had a place in the construction of Inca ideologies of power.

Kevin Floerke and Stephen Berquist

Independent scholar University of Toronto
kevin@kevinfloerke.com

The Cusco Valley Inca Road Network

The Inca road system in the Cusco Valley has been remarkably understudied and undertheorized
despite lying at the heart of the largest empire in the Americas and being the origin point for a road
system designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Far from the simplistic vision of four
primary roads emanating to the four corners of Tawantinsuyu, this paper presents the Cusco Valley
road system as a complex and multifunctional network that worked to enact and perform elements of
Inca state power and perception. The paper also analyzes the form and function of viewing platforms
found in close association with road remains near the valley horizon, suggesting a consideration of
forced perspective and structured experience relating to the act of entering and exiting the Cusco
Valley. Analyzing data collected during an extensive field survey conducted over two years between
2012-2013, this paper considers implications for our understanding of how intervisibility relates to
and constructs Inca ideas of authority, relatedness, and identity.
 South American Archaeology Seminar: London
Riris, Philip
UCL, Institute of Archaeology
p.riris@ucl.ac.uk
Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination of the Peruvian
Preceramic radiocarbon record
John Rick’s classic 1987 paper “Dates as Data: An Examination of the Peruvian Preceramic
Radiocarbon Record” laid the foundation for quantitative investigations of archaeological radiocarbon
(14C) as a proxy for relative fluctuation in past population levels and inspired a multitude of
methodological innovations. This paper revisits the propositions of his seminal work with a formal
model-testing approach and the benefits of hindsight and improvement in method. Using a large and
improved regional dataset of radiometric determinations (n = 1180) from the period 14000 – 3000
14C years before present, I perform a comparative analysis of the demographic trajectories of two
sub-regions, the desert coast and Andean highlands of Peru, employing summed probability
distributions of calibrated radiocarbon dates. Against the backdrop of theoretical models of population
growth, and controlling for taphonomic factors and sampling biases, significance and permutation
tests are performed on the data to investigate change over time in population. Together, these provide
a necessary measure of statistical confidence that have hereto been absent from the discussion of pre-
Columbian demography. Further testing and comparison to climate archives is able to illustrate
sustained population growth over the entire Holocene epoch in this region, with only a few notable
exceptions at the end of the mid-Holocene (5000 cal BP), possibly related to aridification. The
findings are viewed in relation to the cultural and technological changes that indigenous societies
experienced in the timeframe in question, and some directions for methodological advances are
suggested.

João Saldanha
???
jodanha@gmail.com
The rise of monumentality at the Mouth of the Amazon River
In this presentation I want to offer a long-term perspective of funerary structures from a specific
region of the lowland South America, the mouth of the Amazon River. The period comprises from the
3,000 BP, where the general rule seems to be the use of shallow pits with single burials accompanied
by rare and scanty grave goods, until 1,500 BP, when death is associated with highly elaborated
funerary urns deposited on earth, stone or wood monuments. The social and ritual dimensions of these
changes will be regard in the context of transformations and evolving of networks of relationships
occurred from the beginning of the Formative Period until the contact with the Europeans. It will be
argued that ditches, megaliths and wooden enclosures containing funerary pits appear suddenly on the
landscape from 1,100 BP signalling a significant change, with the initiating of a new labour
investment that effectively marked cultural landscape for the future. I will argue that the people that
built such funerary structures sought more elaborate forms of expression of identity and group
affiliation and, for this reason, not only different types of monuments, but also stylistically hybrid
ceramics, with high aesthetic appeal, start to dominate the archaeological landscape of the region."
 South American Archaeology Seminar: London
Agathe Dupeyron
University of East Anglia, School of International Development
A.Dupeyron@uea.ac.uk
Evaluating Archaeology as a Resource for Development in Peru:
Why, How?
Many archaeologists instigate projects with clear relevance to modern communities and profound
social, economic, environmental and cultural impacts. In Peru, projects can foster local development,
but are rarely articulated or measured in those terms. Evaluation deserves more consistent efforts: it
would increase the accountability, sustainability and replicability of these projects.

Using the case study of the Sustainable Preservation Initiative (SPI) in Peru, this talk explores the
challenges in evaluating small-scale heritage projects in South America. It appraises how a project’s
activities can be evaluated in practice, on the basis of interviews with SPI staff members and project
participants in the regions of Cajamarca, Lima and Amazonas. This analysis outlines possible
solutions to build trust and systematise evaluation. It considers a range of methods from international
development that respond to time, budget and data constraints, and discusses them in the SPI context.

Shaina Molano and Kimberly Munro

University of California, Merced Louisiana State
University
sem2152@gmail.com
Displays of identity: A community-engaged approach to studying
identity through participatory research
This is part of a larger research project, which looks at displays of social identity and the effects of
influence from outside contemporaneous groups in pre-Columbian Peru. In studying past
communities, we look beyond our own interpretations of “who” we perceived people to be and begin
asking questions that reveal who they thought they were and how they chose to advertise that to those
they deemed "other." The nature of this research requires working closely with contemporary local
communities who remain tied to their prehistoric landscapes and the effect that may have on how they
perceive themselves today. To this end, a community-engaged study on the advertisement of
contemporary identities was conducted in the agro-pastoral town of Cosma, situated in the Cordillera
Negra at the headwaters of the Jimbe branch of the Nepeña Valley. Participants from the Cosma
community created photo diaries during the 2016 field season, where they were able to take photos
they believed best represented who they were within their community. This paper will present on the
methods we utilized, the issues and problems we encountered, overarching themes represented in the
photographs, and the preliminary results of this pilot study within the Cosma community.
Furthermore, this paper will address our follow-up project slated for the 2019 field season. We look to
expand this type of participatory research to other communities in the region. If community engaged
archaeology is going to produce meaningful work, it is imperative that archaeologists continue to have
a presence in local communities.