In Ancient People of the Andes, Michael A. Malpass describes the prehistory of western South America from initial colonization to the Spanish Conquest. All the major cultures of this region, from the Moche to the Inkas, receive thoughtful treatment, from their emergence to their demise or evolution. No South American culture that lived prior to the arrival of Europeans developed a writing system, making archaeology the only way we know about most of the prehispanic societies of the Andes. The earliest Spaniards on the continent provided first-person accounts of the latest of those societies, and, as descendants of the Inkas became literate, they too became a source of information. Both ethnohistory and archaeology have limitations in what they can tell us, but when we are able to use them together they are complementary ways to access knowledge of these fascinating cultures. Malpass focuses on large anthropological themes: why people settled down into agricultural communities, the origins of social inequalities, and the evolution of sociopolitical complexity. Ample illustrations, including eight color plates, visually document sites, societies, and cultural features. Introductory chapters cover archaeological concepts, dating issues, and the region's climate. The subsequent chapters, divided by time period, allow the reader to track changes in specific cultures over time.

Although ancient civilizations in the Andes are rich in historyÑwith expansive empires, skilled artisans, and vast temple centersÑthe history of the Andean foothills on the south coast of present-day Peru is only now being unveiled. Nasca, a prehispanic society that flourished there from AD 1 to 750, is best known for its polychrome pottery, its enigmatic geoglyphs (the "Nasca Lines"), and its ceremonial center, Cahuachi, which was the seat of power in early Nasca. However, despite the fact that archaeologists have studied Nasca civilization for more than a century, until now they have not pieced together the daily lives of Nasca residents. With this book, Kevin Vaughn offers the first portrait of village life in this ancient Andean society. Vaughn is interested in how societies develop and change, in particular their subsistence and political economies, interactions between elites and commoners, and the ritual activities of everyday life. By focusing on one village, Marcaya, he not only illuminates the lives and relationships of its people but he also contributes to an understanding of the more general roles played by villages in the growth of increasingly complex societies in the Andes. By examining agency in local affairs, he is able for the first time to explore the nature of power in Nasca and how it may have changed over time. By studying village and household activities, Vaughn argues, we can begin to appreciate from the ground up such essential activities as production, consumption, and the ideologies revealed by ritualsÑand thereby gain fresh insights into ancient civilizations.

The Ancient Central Andes presents a general overview of the prehistoric peoples and cultures of the Central Andes, the region now encompassing most of Peru and significant parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. The book contextualizes past and modern scholarship and provides a balanced view of current research. Two opening chapters present the intellectual, political, and practical background and history of research in the Central Andes and the spatial, temporal, and formal dimensions of the study of its past. Chapters then proceed in chronological order from remote antiquity to the Spanish Conquest. A number of important themes run through the book, including: the tension between those scholars who wish to study Peruvian antiquity on a comparative basis and those who take historicist approaches; the concept of "Lo Andino," commonly used by many specialists that assumes long-term, unchanging patterns of culture some of which are claimed to persist to the present; and culture change related to severe environmental events. Consensus opinions on interpretations are highlighted as are disputes among scholars regarding interpretations of the past. The Ancient Central Andes provides an up-to-date, objective survey of the archaeology of the Central Andes that is much needed. Students and interested readers will benefit greatly from this introduction to a key period in South America’s past.

In Ancient Andean Houses, Jerry Moore offers an extensive survey of vernacular architecture from across the entire length of the Andes, drawing on ethnographic and archaeological information from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia to the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile. This book explores the diverse ways ancient peoples made houses, the ways houses re-create culture, and new perspectives and methods for studying houses. In the first part of this multidimensional approach, Moore examines the construction of houses and how they shaped different spheres of household life, considering commonalities and variations among cultural traditions. In the second part, Moore discusses how domestic architecture serves as both constructed template and lived-in environment, expressing social relationships between men and women, adults and children, household members and the community, and the living and the dead. Finally, Moore critiques archaeological approaches to the subject, arguing for a far-reaching and engaged reassessment of how we study the houses and lives of people in the past. Moore emphasizes that the house has always been a pivotal space around which complex human meanings orbit. This book demonstrates that the material traces of dwellings offer insight into significant questions regarding the development of sedentism, the spread of cultural traditions, and the emergence of social identities and inequalities.

The main purpose of this book is to evaluate the "state of the art" of the research on ancient maritime communities along the South American Pacific coastline. Using multidisciplinary approaches, this volume spans the earliest occupation in South America to the early years of the Spanish occupation.

Reconstructs how life was in the ancient cities of the Andes including how village settlements gave way to religious centers, how city-states became empires, and the importance of Machu Picchu.

Featuring approximately 145 of the most sumptuous and culturally significant Wari objects from collections in the United States, Peru, and Europe, and published to accompany the first exhibition in North America of their startlingly beautiful art An eminent ancestor of the better-known Inca, the Wari ascended to power in the south-central highlands of Peru in about AD 600, underwent a brief period of incandescently explosive growth, and then, by AD 1000, collapsed. Elite arts and the ideologies that informed them were among the Wari’s most prominent exports. From their capital, one of the largest archaeological sites in South America, they sent their religion along with elaborate objects and textiles out to highland provincial centers hundreds of miles to the north and south, and down into populous Pacific coastal areas to the west. The arts were crucial to the Wari’s political, economic, and religious communications: like other ancient Andean peoples, they did not write. The objects featured here cover the full range of Wari arts: elaborate textiles, which probably were at the core of their value systems; sophisticated ceramics of various styles; exquisite personal ornaments made of gold, silver, shell, or bone and often inlaid with precious materials; carved wood containers; and other works in stone and fiber.