Neo-environmental determinism and agrarian ‘collapse’ in Andean prehistory

Erickson, Clark L.

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00065236

Cited by 140 publications

(74 citation statements)

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“…Erickson (1999Erickson ( , 2000, for example, argues that many explanations of cultural change and process in the Andes are dominated by what he calls neo-environmental determinism. He is specifically critical of the suggestion that the collapse of Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been claimed that humans are the major modi¢ers of the landscape in the Lake Titicaca basin (e.g. Erickson, 1999Erickson, , 2000, but in the Rio Ilave valley human alterations are small (agricultural enhancement of soil erosion, for example) in comparison to natural landscape evolution. In most of the watersheds of the Lake Titicaca basin (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fluvial history of the Rio Ilave valley, Peru, and its relationship to climate and human history

Rigsby

Baker

Aldenderfer

2003

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Fluvial strata and landforms in the Rio Ilave valley (Peru) document a history of Holocene aggradation and downcutting that is correlative with regional climatic events and provides an environmental context for human occupation of the river valley. Periods of aggradation correspond to periods of high (or rising) level in Lake Titicaca and elsewhere on the Altiplano, and increased sediment accumulation in the Rio Ilave valley. Downcutting episodes correspond to periods of low level in Lake Titicaca and low or rapidly decreasing sedimentation rates in the Ilave delta. There are five terrace tracts (T1 through T5) present in this southwestern Lake Titicaca tributary. These tracts occur as both paired and unpaired terraces and have average heights from 1.4 to 24.3 m above the valley floor. The major part of the fluvial sequence was deposited during the time period from prior to the Last Glacial Maximum until about 8300 calendar years Before Present (cal BP)^a period of generally high (but variable) precipitation on the Altiplano and high water level in Lake Titicaca. Initial deposition (aggradation) was followed by successive downcutting to the T4 and T3 terrace surfaces. Initial downcutting began immediately after precipitation, runoff, and sediment load decreased while base level dropped. It was followed by a period of episodic equilibrium and minor downcutting that included a prolonged period of soil formation between V8350 and 6780 cal BP. The major pulses of downcutting likely occurred between V6000 and 4500 cal BP and were coincident with periods of decreased precipitation on the Altiplano and decreasing levels of Lake Titicaca. Two final periods of infilling, resulting in deposition of the T2 and T1 terrace sediments at V4000 to 2500 cal BP and V2000 to 1600 cal BP (during periods of rising water level in Lake Titicaca, lacustrine sedimentation in the Rio Desaguadero valley, and increased sedimentation offshore the Ilave delta), were separated by brief equilibrium stages and a brief downcutting event. This fluvial history, when coupled with regional paleoclimatic data, relates to the region's preceramic through Tiwanakuperiod archeological records. Archeological evidence indicates that humans occupied the Ilave valley as early as 10 000 cal BP. The higher terraces (T3, T4 and T5) were occupied for at least 5000 years, but humans did not utilize the lower terraces (T1 and T2) until after V4400^3700 cal BP. Our results confirm that these lower terraces would not have been available for either occupation or agriculture until after V4000 cal BP. ß

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluvial history of the Rio Ilave valley, Peru, and its relationship to climate and human history

Rigsby

Baker

Aldenderfer

2003

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…Furthermore, it is argued that this protracted period of aridity may (or may not) have been influential in hastening the demise of both the Tiwanaku and Wari cultures, centred on the southern shores of Titicaca and around Ayacucho, respectively (e.g. Binford et al, 1997;Erickson, 1999Erickson, , 2000.…”

Section: A Broader Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These included the use of raised field systems by the Tiwanaku (ca. AD 500-1100) (Kolata 1996;Erickson 1999Erickson , 2000 and constructing major terracing and irrigation systems by the Wari (AD 500-1000) (Williams, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting the rise of the Inca Empire within a climatic and land management context

et al. 2009

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Abstract. The rapid expansion of the Inca from the Cuzco area of highland Peru (ca. AD 1400–1532) produced the largest empire in the New World. Although this meteoric growth may in part be due to the adoption of innovative societal strategies, supported by a large labour force and a standing army, we argue that it would not have been possible without increased crop productivity, which was linked to more favourable climatic conditions. Here we present a multi-proxy, high-resolution 1200-year lake sediment record from Marcacocha, located 12 km north of Ollantaytambo, in the heartland of the Inca Empire. This record reveals a period of sustained aridity that began from AD 880, followed by increased warming from AD 1100 that lasted beyond the arrival of the Spanish in AD 1532. These increasingly warmer conditions would have allowed the Inca and their immediate predecessors the opportunity to exploit higher altitudes (post-AD 1150) by constructing agricultural terraces that employed glacial-fed irrigation, in combination with deliberate agroforestry techniques. There may be some important lessons to be learnt today from these strategies for sustainable rural development in the Andes in the light of future climate uncertainty.

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“…Erickson 1999Erickson , 2006 2 , la monumentalidad ha sido tradicionalmente entendida en relación a la producción de ideologías y la estructuración de la complejidad social. A decir de Childe, por ejemplo, "[l]as construcciones públicas monumentales no solo distinguen las ciudades de los pueblos sino que también simbolizan la concentración de plusvalía social" (Childe 1950:12, traducción propia).…”

Section: Monumentalidad Y Paisajeunclassified

Monumentalidad y paisaje en la producción de fronteras: Explorando paisajes nacionales/istas del extremo norte de Chile

Angelo

2017

Chungará (Arica)

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El presente artículo analiza, mediante una mirada arqueológica, la construcción de la frontera moderna. Tomando como caso de estudio una sección de la frontera del actual norte chileno y lo que podría definirse como un "pequeño parche" en la inmensidad del desierto de Atacama, busco interrogar la relación entre paisaje y monumentalidad en la producción de las fronteras nacionales. Para tal efecto, empleo un marco metodológico y conceptual que explora algunos de los principios de la arqueología de paisajes, corriente que se ha popularizado en la arqueología de los Andes en las últimas décadas. A partir de este análisis se busca contribuir a debates sobre la modernidad, enfatizando cómo estos espacios marginales fueron centrales en la configuración de los espacios nacionales y constituyeron lo moderno desde la periferia.Palabras claves: paisaje, monumentalidad, máquinas, andariveles, modernidad. Mientras que los paisajes prehispánicos del mundo andino han sido extensivamente estudiados (Acuto 1999(Acuto , 2005Moore 1996; Troncoso 2006; Vitry 2003; entre otros), los paisajes históricos de los Andes coloniales o republicanos, son comúnmente ignorados en estudios arqueológicos. La poca atención a paisajes históricos por parte de la arqueología andina, a mi parecer, responde a una sobrecarga valorativa de aspectos considerados como simbólicos en el universo ideacional de las sociedades prehispánicas que para muchos investigadores está imbuido en la construcción del paisaje andino. Así, los resabios de estos simbolismos, cuando son identificados, son considerados comúnmente como evidencias de continuidad cultural, casi de manera esencialista, de lo que se considera "lo andino". In this article, I archaeologically scrutinize the construction of modern frontiers. By considering a small section of the current Chilean northernmost border and a patch of the Atacama Desert territory, I interrogate the relationship between landscape and monumentality, used in the production of national borders. In order to accomplish my goal, I recourse to a conceptual and methodological framework, exploring and inquiring about some of the principles of landscape archaeology, a theoretical trend that gained relevance in the archaeology of the Andes in the last decades. Thus, by highlighting the role that these marginal settings had in the configuration of a national territory, I expect to contribute to the study of modernity and how it builds itselfAdemás, los estudios de paisaje, relacionados generalmente a la idea de monumentalidad, enfatizan esa nostalgia colonialista que remarca el ideal de grandeza que los estados nación se esforzaron por promover.La perspectiva descrita, común en los estudios de arqueología de paisajes, condujo a desviar la atención de la compleja, y muchas veces conflictiva, dinámica histórica en la que los paisajes se insertan. En este trabajo, mediante el análisis de la construcción de los paisajes de frontera, me interesa instrumentalizar la arqueología como una herramienta para entender las trayectorias de los pro...

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Neo-environmental determinism and agrarian ‘collapse’ in Andean prehistory

Cited by 140 publications

References 8 publications

Fluvial history of the Rio Ilave valley, Peru, and its relationship to climate and human history

Fluvial history of the Rio Ilave valley, Peru, and its relationship to climate and human history

Putting the rise of the Inca Empire within a climatic and land management context

Monumentalidad y paisaje en la producción de fronteras: Explorando paisajes nacionales/istas del extremo norte de Chile

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