Rituals of the Past: Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology

by Silvana Rosenfeld (Editor), Stefanie Bautista (Editor)

Overview

Rituals of the Past explores the various approaches archaeologists use to identify ritual in the material record and discusses the influence ritual had on the formation, reproduction, and transformation of community life in past Andean societies. A diverse group of established and rising scholars from across the globe investigates how ritual influenced, permeated, and altered political authority, economic production, shamanic practice, landscape cognition, and religion in the Andes over a period of three thousand years.

Contributors deal with theoretical and methodological concerns including non-human and human agency; the development and maintenance of political and religious authority, ideology, cosmologies, and social memory; and relationships with ritual action. The authors use a diverse array of archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic data and historical documents to demonstrate the role ritual played in prehispanic, colonial, and post-colonial Andean societies throughout the regions of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. By providing a diachronic and widely regional perspective, Rituals of the Past shows how ritual is vital to understanding many aspects of the formation, reproduction, and change of past lifeways in Andean societies.

Contributors: Sarah Abraham, Carlos Angiorama, Florencia Avila, Camila Capriata Estrada, David Chicoine, Daniel Contreras, Matthew Edwards, Francesca Fernandini, Matthew Helmer, Hugo Ikehara, Enrique Lopez-Hurtado, Jerry Moore, Axel Nielsen, Yoshio Onuki, John Rick, Mario Ruales, Koichiro Shibata, Hendrik Van Gijseghem, Rafael Vega-Centeno, Verity Whalen

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607325956
Publisher:	University Press of Colorado
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Edition description:	1
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Silvana A. Rosenfeld is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of South Dakota. Her research interests include ancient ritual, animal domestication, ancient foodways, and bone technology, and her work has been published in Quaternary International, Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences, Nawpa Pacha, and Latin American Antiquity. She has conducted most of her fieldwork in Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Chavín de Huántar (Peru), and her research has been funded by grants from the Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation. This is her first book.

Stefanie L. Bautista is completing her dissertation for the anthropology department at Stanford University. Her research interests include household archaeology, ceramic technology, and geographical information systems. While her research focuses mainly on the Paracas and Nasca cultures of the Rio Grande de Nasca Region, she also maintains active research interests on the presence of the Wari culture in Arequipa. This is her first book.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Tables xiii

1 An Archaeology of Rituals Silvana A. Rosenfeld Stefanie L. Bautista 3

2 The Nature of Ritual Space at Chavín de Huántar John W. Rick 21

3 Not Just a Pyramid Scheme? Diversity in Ritual Architecture at Chavín de Huántar Daniel A. Contreras 51

4 From Ritual to Ideology: Ritual Activity and Artistic Representations in the Northern Highlands of Peru in the Formative Period Yoshio Onuki 79

5 Architecture and Ritual Practices at Huaca A of Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke Rafael Vega-Genteno Sara-Lafosse 103

6 Territoriality, Monumentality, and Religion in Formative Period Nepeña, Coastal Ancash David Chicoine Hugo Ikehara Koichiro Shibata Matthew Helmer 123

7 Ritual Practice at the End of Empire: Evidence of an Abandonment Ceremony from Pataraya, a Wari Outpost on the South Coast of Peru Matthew J. Edwards 151

8 From the Domestic to the Formal: A View of Daily and Ceremonial Practices from Cerro de Oro during the Early Middle Horizon Francesca Fernandini Mario Ruales 169

9 The Demise of the Ruling Elites: Terminal Rituals in the Pyramid Complexes of Panquilma, Peruvian Central Coast Camila Capriata Estrada Enrique López-Hurtado 193

10 Reconstructing Early Colonial Andean Ritual Practice at Pukara, Peru: An Architectural Approach Sarah Abraham 217

11 Ritual as Interaction with Non-Humans: Prehispanic Mountain Pass Shrines in the Southern Andes Axel E. Nielsen Carlos I. Angiorama Florenda Ávila 241

12 Mining, Ritual, and Social Memory: An Exploration of Toponymy in the Ica Valley, Peru Hendrik Van Gijseghem Verity H. Whalen 267

13 Rituals of the Past: Final Comments Jerry D. Moore 295

List of Contributors 313

Index 315

Editorial Reviews

“[This volume] will have a major impact on the study of ritual in the pre-Columbian New World.” 
—John Janusek, Vanderbilt University
"The essays in this volume are on the cutting edge of archaeological research in the Andean region."
—Sixteenth Century Journal
"Rituals of the Past is a commendable and engaging volume, and the reader will be well rewarded by time spend amidst many of its chapters.”
—Antiquity

From the Publisher