Cover
Contents
Preface
1. Archaeology in South America: A Brief Historical Overview
Exotic Curiosities and Cabinets of Wonder
Scientific Explorers, Antiquarians, and Fieldworkers
National Museums, National Identities, and Early Archaeologists
Max Uhle and Julio Tello, Pioneers in South American Archaeology
Twentieth-Century Archaeologies
2. The Brave New World: Environmental Diversity in South America
Coastal Environments
Climatic Complexities
Climate Variations
Climate after the Last Glacial Maximum
Conclusion
3. The Last Ancient Homeland: The Peopling of South America
The “Clovis First” Hypothesis
Paleoindians in South America
Monte Verde, Chile: New Discoveries and Perspectives
A Broadly Populated Continent
More Paleoindians in Brazil
New Directions, New Controversies
4. Archaic Adaptations
The Las Vegas Culture (10,000–6,000 BP)
San Jacinto I, Colombia: Intensive Plant Utilization in the Savanna
Orinoco River Valley, Venezuela: Foragers in the Tropical Rainforest
Rio Caquetá, Broad-Spectrum Foraging in the Colombian Amazon
Coastal Adaptations in the Atacama Desert
Sambaquis: Maritime Collectors and Shell Mounds on the Atlantic Coast
Camelid Hunters in the Pampas and the Andes
Conclusion: Diverse Adaptations in a Diverse Continent
Key Terms and Methods
Places of Origins
From Foraging to Farming
Neolithic Revolution or Neolithic Evolution?
Divergent Agrosystems
Conclusion: The Myth of the Pristine Landscape
6. Social Complexities: Part I
Divergent Formative Transitions in Ecuador and Northern Peru
The Formatives of Amazonia
The Formative of Coastal Uruguay
Conclusion
Formative Villages on the Coast of Peru
Social Complexity and Early Urbanism: The Norte Chico and Caral
Complex Societies in the Casma Valley:Sechin Bajo, Cerro Sechin, and Sechin Alto
Hearths, Temples, and Pilgrimage Centers in the Central Andean Highlands
The Formative in the Titicaca Basin
Conclusion
8. Regional Florescences
Patagonia: Hunting-and-Gathering Variabilityin the Uttermost Part of the Earth
From the Pampas to the Paraná—Diversification and Intensification
Marajoara—Non-Agricultural Chiefdoms in the Amazon AD 300–1350
Agricultural Chiefdoms of the Western Llanos of Venezuela
Nasca: Ceremonial Centers and Ceramics on the South Coast of Peru
Conclusion
9. Age of States and Empires
The North Coast: Moche, Lambayeque, and Chimú
The Central Andes: Wari Empire (AD 750–1000)
Lake Titicaca and Beyond: Tiwanaku (AD 400–1100)
Conclusion
10. Twilight of Prehistory
The Amazons: Languages, Settlements, Ceramics, and Worldviews
Colombian Chiefdoms
Ecuadorian Coastal Chiefdoms: Manta
Coastal Peruvian Kingdom: Chincha
Ychsma/Pachacamac—an Enduring Pilgrimage Center on the Coast of Peru
Conclusion
11. Empire of the Four Quarters
Antecedents
Phases of Expansion
Cusco: City as Cosmos, City as Center
The Incas in the Provinces
The Edges of Empire
Creating Worlds
The End of Prehistory
12. After Prehistory
Prehistory, History, and Archaeology in the Post-Columbian World
Archaeologies of Resistance
Unwritten Histories
The Past in the Present
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index