Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science
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Browsing Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science by Subject "Acari Valley"
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Item A bird bone necklace from Amato, Acari Valley, Peru(2005) Valdez, Lidio M.This paper reports the recent discovery of a bird bone necklace from Amato, an Early Intermediate Period site located in the Acari Valley of Peru. The necklace was found in association with an approximately 60 year-old adult male, around whom had been buried several dozen headless human individuals of different sexes and ages, the likely victims of ritual sacrifice. The necklace was made from about 200 carpometacarpus bones of a small bird species that remains to be identified.Item Decapitación y cabezas humanas del valle de Acarí, Perú(2010) Valdez, Lidio M.; Williams, Jocelyn S.; Bettcher, Katrina J.; Dausse, Lucie; Dausse, LucieArchaeological excavations at Amato, a site established at the beginning of the Early Intermediate period (circa 50 BC – 300 AD) in the Acari Valley of the Peruvian south coast, uncovered two isolated human heads from different contexts. One head was found near an area where dozens intentionally decapitated skeletons were recovered. The second head was located in association with the main wall that encloses the site. Both heads were buried in similar fashion to Early Intermediate period south coast trophy heads; however, these heads from Amato were not culturally modified (e.g. perforated frontal bone and/or artificially enlarged foramen magnum). These two isolated heads demonstrate that not all human decapitation in the Acari Valley was for the purposes of securing trophy heads. Based on these findings, we suggest that the purpose and motivation for human decapitation and head-taking in the past was complex.Item Environmental risk and population pressure: conflict over food and resources in the Acari Valley, Peru(2007) Valdez, Lidio M.The South Coast of Peru is a hot and dry region with high sand dunes that is relieved only by a series of small rivers that carry water a few months per year and form valleys made fertile by irrigation. One such valley is Acari, a narrow valley with limited arable land and scarce water. Despite such limitations, recent archaeological research carried out in the Acari valley indicates that during the Early Intermediate Period (circa AD 1 – 550) the inhabitants of this valley successfully managed to cultivate a variety of crops. Perhaps as a response to the harsh environmental conditions, food storage was also developed. This research also indicates that guinea pigs were locally raised and constituted a fundamental source of protein. Nonetheless, scarcity of resources, in particular of arable land, appears to have prompted stress manifested in form of conflict. Walled sites, buffer zones, and evidence for human decapitation strongly indicate that during this particular time period violence prevailed in the Acari Valley.Item Una ofrenda de cerámica ceremonial Wari en La Oroya, Valle de Acarí, Perú(2009) Valdez, Lidio M.The aim of this paper is to describe and discuss the recent unexpected finding of a cache of ceremonial Wari ceramics at the site of La Oroya, in the Acari Valley, on the Peruvian south coast region. The deposit was found during the excavation of trenches in the streets of Acari to establish the sewer system of the town. One of those trenches cut a deposit consisting of hundreds of sherds from large polychrome vessels resembling those from Conchopata, in the Ayacucho Valley. Because the finding is the first of its kind for the Acari Valley and that its destruction was inevitable, it was decided to carry out an emergency excavation in order to document and uncover the deposit.