Religion in the Andes: Vision and Imagination in Early Colonial Peru@@@The Huarochiri Manuscript: A Testament of Ancient and Colonial Andean Religion

The Andes, which have a wide variety of diverse and distinct environmental zones ranging from the hyperarid coast to the high-altitude altiplano, are an ideal region in which to explore the use of oxygen isotope analyses to elucidate archaeological residential mobility. However, some questions remain, including the mobility of water through the environment, the seasonal and annual variability of precipitation in the past, and the role of water storage and beverage preparation techniques. Here, the advantages and disadvantages of oxygen isotope analysis in the Andes, and beyond, will be explored using oxygen isotope data from archaeological human enamel and bone from Peru, Bolivia and Chile (c. AD 1–1500). Although strontium isotope values from this region vary according to regional geology, oxygen isotope data do not always follow expected patterns based on known environmental variables, and probably reflect the movement of water throughout the Andes, complicating its use as a tool to identify human migration in the past. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Oxygen isotope analysis in a land of environmental extremes: the complexities of isotopic work in the Andes

The inclusion of radiogenic strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis in archaeological and bioarchaeological research has resulted in the creation of new data by which to evaluate models of migration, culture change, colonization, trade, and exchange. Overwhelmingly, archaeologists have used radiogenic strontium isotope signatures in human enamel and bone apatite to reconstruct ancient mobility patterns and to distinguish between individuals of local and non-local origins at archaeological sites. The method also has been employed to establish the provenience of artifacts, ancient building materials, and foodstuffs as well as to track the origins and migratory patterns of prehistoric animals. The present chapter provides an introduction to the fundamental principles, approaches, applications, and future directions of radiogenic strontium isotope analysis in archaeology.

Applications of Sr Isotopes in Archaeology

Over the pre-Columbian sequence, Andean warfare ranged greatly in intensity. This review combines published information on cranial trauma and settlement patterns, which often align and clarify each other, to make an initial assessment of how severely Andean populations were affected by war over time and space. The data speak to a number of major topics in the archaeology of warfare, such as the origin of war, contrasts in state militarism, and changes in the practice of war related to social organization. Although there is considerable regional variation, two large-scale “waves” of escalated conflict that are clearly supported by the cranial trauma and settlement pattern data occurred in the Final Formative (late Early Horizon, 400 BC–AD 100) and the Late Intermediate period (AD 1000–1400).

Patterns of War in the Andes from the Archaic to the Late Horizon: Insights from Settlement Patterns and Cranial Trauma

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Rebecca Osborn

Papers

The geographic origins of Nasca trophy heads using strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope data