C M Torres
Biographic Data
| ID | 53983 |
|---|---|
| NAME | C M Torres |
| GIVEN NAMES | C M |
| FAMILY NAME | Torres |
| SIGNATURE | TORRES C M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Colorado College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6759-2977 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 478 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
Las materialidades y las corporalidades de la identidad
Living with Chronic Impairment
Impairment to the skeleton provides tangible traces that bioarchaeologists can study to understand disease and disability in the past. However, conceptions of disease and disability are more difficult to assess in bioarchaeological contexts. Here, we use the bioarchaeology of care approach to both understand disease and assess the presence of care in a Chilean woman with facial disfigurement from the Solcor 3 cemetery in northern Chile. Changes i…
On the pathways. Inter-nodal archaeology in the Atacama desert Pampa (c. 7000 BP-400 BP)
Emerging inequality in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile)
Bioarcheologists have focused extensively over the past few decades on how to best investigate past activity, often concentrating on data collection protocols and more recently focusing on statistical approaches. Here, we complement ongoing studies focusing on emerging inequality during the Middle Period (AD 400-1000) in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile) by investigating entheseal patterns among individuals (n = 210) interred in four cemeter…
The Life and Death of a Child
Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100-400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more gene…
The interior frontier
An isotopic study of dietary diversity in formative period Ancachi/Quillagua, Atacama Desert, northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To characterize the paleodiet of individuals from Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 400) Atacama Desert sites of Ancachi and Quillagua as a means of understanding the dietary and cultural impacts of regional systems of exchange. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one bone samples recovered from the cemetery of Ancachi (02QU175) and in/around the nearby town of Quillagua were the subject of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone…
The Precarious State of Subsistence
Numerous bioarchaeological studies emphasize an increase in dental lesions associated with the transition to agricultural subsistence. Over the years, this diachronic trend has led to the conflation and oversimplification of specific dental indicators of oral health with broad subsistence strategies, emphasizing intergroup variation at the expense of intragroup variation. In order to explore such hidden variation, this metastudy uses published da…
Wearing the marks of violence
OBJECTIVES: In this article, we present analyses of traumatic injury data from the Middle Period Coyo Oriental cemetery in northern Chile. We test a series of hypotheses about the role of sex, foreign contact, ritual access, and temporal shifts, in the patterning of cranial trauma in this cemetery. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-seven crania from Coyo Oriental were analyzed using standard bioarcheological methods to determine sex and age as well…
Participation, representation, and shared experiences of women scholars in biological anthropology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) membership surveys from 1996 and 1998 revealed significant gender disparities in academic status. A 2014 follow‐up survey showed that gender equality had improved, particularly with respect to the number of women in tenure‐stream positions. However, although women comprised 70% of AAPA membership at that time, the percentage of women full professors remained low. Here, we continue to conside…
Eating out or dining in
The Middle Period of the Atacama oases, North Chile, has been characterized as a time of peace, uniform abundance, and widespread access to exotic materials. In the present work, we test this notion through a comparison of Middle Period human isotopic data (δ13Cco, δ15Nco, and δ13Cap) representing two distinct ayllus, Solcor and Tchecar, in the San Pedro de Atacama oases. We employ Bayesian mixture modeling of individual-level isotopic data to qu…
Calate
6 La voz quechua Q'ala se traduce por "desnudo, pelado, sin nada" (AMLQ 2005: 159), en tanto, en aymara, la raz Cala es "piedra" Nuestro caso debe ser una espaolizacin, pues estas lenguas no admiten el sufijo "-te", o siquiera la vocal "e". Es extrao, sin embargo, que se agregase esta partcula hispana pronominalizadora. Ambos significados de las lenguas indgenas pueden relacionarse filosficamente como una evocacin a la desnudez de carcter ltico: …
Integrating Identities
Despite our instinctive understanding of the importance of "identity," archaeologists and bioarchaeologists continue to struggle to rigorously investigate this complex phenomenon. Here, we present a contextualized multiscalar bioarchaeological approach to studying identities in the past-individual and group, mutable and immutable-through the mortuary record. We argue that, while many scholars have moved beyond the single-focus study, archaeologic…
Modeling diet in times of change
Investigating human responses to political and environmental change through paleodiet and paleomobility
Bioarchaeological approaches are well suited for examining past responses to political and environmental changes. In the Andes, we hypothesized that political and environmental changes around AD 1100 resulted in behavioral changes, visible as shifts in paleodiet and paleomobility, among individuals in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and Loa River Valley. To investigate this hypothesis, we generated carbon and oxygen isotope data from cemeteries da…
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
Explorando La Diversidad Dietética en La Prehistoria Del Desierto De Atacama
A lo largo de su prehistoria, el norte rido de Chile fue ocupado por una gran diversidad de culturas dispersas por todos los pisos ecolgicos de la regin. Sin embargo, desde el Arcaico Tardo se encuentran evidencias de intercambio de recursos y elementos culturales entre estas zonas, prctica que se intensific durante los Periodos Medio e Intermedio Tardo. En este trabajo se evalu la composicin de la dieta de las poblaciones locales, por medio del …
Mobility and Exchange among Marine Hunter-Gatherer and Agropastoralist Communities in the Formative Period Atacama Desert
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the most unforgiving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occupation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal
Cultural Diversity and Paleomobility in the Andean Middle Horizon
Despite a long history of research, interactions between the Tiwanaku polity of the Andean Middle Horizon (ca.A.D. 500-1100) and the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile remain controversial. Here, we investigate Middle Horizon interactions through an isotopic identification of the geographic origins of individuals buried in San Pedro de Atacama cemeteries and present the largest radiogenic strontium isotope dataset generated, to date, fo…
Issues of affinity
The Middle Period (AD 400–1000) in northern Chile's Atacama oases is characterized by an increase in social complexity and regional interaction, much of which was organized around the power and impact of the Tiwanaku polity. Despite the strong cultural influence of Tiwanaku and numerous other groups evident in interactions with Atacameños, the role of immigration into the oases during this period is unclear. While archaeological and bioarchaeolog…
The Sequence of Human Occupation in the Atacama Oases, Chile
The San Pedro de Atacama oases have been permanently occupied since ca. 2500 B.P. and over this time developed a rich culture that was intertwined with social developments in the south-central Andes. However, despite decades of archaeological research, the region still lacks a strong chronological framework based on absolute dates. Here we present 53 new AMS14C dates from osteological remains from San Pedro de Atacama, in order to contribute to a…
Dental health in Northern Chile's Atacama oases
As one of the few areas apt for horticulture in Northern Chile's arid landscape, the prehistory of the Atacama oases is deeply enmeshed with that of the inter‐regional networks that promoted societal development in the south central Andes. During the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1000), local populations experienced a cultural apex associated with a substantial increase in inter‐regional interaction, population density, and quantity and quality of mortu…
Examining Local Social Identities Through Patterns of Biological and Cultural Variation in the Solcor Ayllu, San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
Studies of local forms of social organization in peripheral areas can enrich our understanding of the sociopolitical factors structuring core-periphery interactions. This research explores how local group identities impacted the ways in which individuals and communities at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, expressed their relationship to the Tiwanaku polity during the Middle Horizon. Combining information from body modification practices, burial conte…
Assessing the life history of an andean traveller through biogeochemistry
Bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry can elucidate aspects of individual life histories that are often lost in the archaeological record. Here, we use stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of enamel, bone and hair to reconstruct paleodiet and paleomobility in an adult male interred along a pre-Columbian route connecting the northern Chilean coast to the inland Loa River Valley. Although this well-preserved burial included mortuary goods typical of…
Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World
The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador …
Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Interpersonal violence in prehistoric San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
The prehistoric population of San Pedro de Atacama lived through periods marked by prosperity and interregional interaction, as well as times of severe drought, social stress, and widespread poverty. A sample of 682 crania was analyzed for evidence of cranial trauma in order to assess changing patterns of interpersonal violence during the occupation of the oases. It was hypothesized that the level of traumatic injuries in this population would pa…
The Influence of Tiwanaku on Life in the Chilean Atacama
Using a contextualized bioarchaeological framework, in this article, I examine the complex relationship between the Tiwanaku polity of the Bolivian altiplano (C.E. 550-1000) and the inhabitants of the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile, in Tiwanaku's far periphery. I focus on how influences from Tiwanaku might have affected the presentation of Atacameño group identity in the mortuary context. I compare skeletal and mortuary data from 30…
Integrating Identities
Despite our instinctive understanding of the importance of "identity," archaeologists and bioarchaeologists continue to struggle to rigorously investigate this complex phenomenon. Here, we present a contextualized multiscalar bioarchaeological approach to studying identities in the past-individual and group, mutable and immutable-through the mortuary record. We argue that, while many scholars have moved beyond the single-focus study, archaeologic…
Mobility and Exchange among Marine Hunter-Gatherer and Agropastoralist Communities in the Formative Period Atacama Desert
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the most unforgiving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occupation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal
Assessing the life history of an andean traveller through biogeochemistry
Bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry can elucidate aspects of individual life histories that are often lost in the archaeological record. Here, we use stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of enamel, bone and hair to reconstruct paleodiet and paleomobility in an adult male interred along a pre-Columbian route connecting the northern Chilean coast to the inland Loa River Valley. Although this well-preserved burial included mortuary goods typical of…
Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World
The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador …
Investigating cultural heterogeneity in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, through biogeochemistry and bioarchaeology
Individuals living in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and the neighboring upper Loa River Valley of northern Chile experienced the collapse of an influential foreign polity, environmental decline, and the appearance of a culturally distinct group during the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1,100–1,400). We investigate cultural heterogeneity at the Loa site of Caspana through analyses of strontium and oxygen isotopes, cranial modification styles, a…
Hiding inequality beneath prosperity
The Middle Period in San Pedro de Atacama (AD 400–1000) stands out as a time of great prosperity that was, in part, associated with high levels of interaction with foreign polities, including the highland state of Tiwanaku. Although previous studies have demonstrated an increase in rates of violence during the subsequent Regional Developments Period (AD 1000–1400), this does not mean that the Middle Period was a time of peace and tranquility. Her…
Cultural Diversity and Paleomobility in the Andean Middle Horizon
Despite a long history of research, interactions between the Tiwanaku polity of the Andean Middle Horizon (ca.A.D. 500-1100) and the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile remain controversial. Here, we investigate Middle Horizon interactions through an isotopic identification of the geographic origins of individuals buried in San Pedro de Atacama cemeteries and present the largest radiogenic strontium isotope dataset generated, to date, fo…
The Sequence of Human Occupation in the Atacama Oases, Chile
The San Pedro de Atacama oases have been permanently occupied since ca. 2500 B.P. and over this time developed a rich culture that was intertwined with social developments in the south-central Andes. However, despite decades of archaeological research, the region still lacks a strong chronological framework based on absolute dates. Here we present 53 new AMS14C dates from osteological remains from San Pedro de Atacama, in order to contribute to a…
Dental health in Northern Chile's Atacama oases
As one of the few areas apt for horticulture in Northern Chile's arid landscape, the prehistory of the Atacama oases is deeply enmeshed with that of the inter‐regional networks that promoted societal development in the south central Andes. During the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1000), local populations experienced a cultural apex associated with a substantial increase in inter‐regional interaction, population density, and quantity and quality of mortu…
Cranial vault modification as a cultural artifact
Participation, representation, and shared experiences of women scholars in biological anthropology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) membership surveys from 1996 and 1998 revealed significant gender disparities in academic status. A 2014 follow‐up survey showed that gender equality had improved, particularly with respect to the number of women in tenure‐stream positions. However, although women comprised 70% of AAPA membership at that time, the percentage of women full professors remained low. Here, we continue to conside…
Issues of affinity
The Middle Period (AD 400–1000) in northern Chile's Atacama oases is characterized by an increase in social complexity and regional interaction, much of which was organized around the power and impact of the Tiwanaku polity. Despite the strong cultural influence of Tiwanaku and numerous other groups evident in interactions with Atacameños, the role of immigration into the oases during this period is unclear. While archaeological and bioarchaeolog…
Eating out or dining in
The Middle Period of the Atacama oases, North Chile, has been characterized as a time of peace, uniform abundance, and widespread access to exotic materials. In the present work, we test this notion through a comparison of Middle Period human isotopic data (δ13Cco, δ15Nco, and δ13Cap) representing two distinct ayllus, Solcor and Tchecar, in the San Pedro de Atacama oases. We employ Bayesian mixture modeling of individual-level isotopic data to qu…
Modeling diet in times of change
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
Quiénes Viajaban
Histricamente, los estudios de movilidad en los Andes se han centrado en el modelo caravanero, segn el cual fueron grupos de hombres de tierras altas, con sus recuas de llamas, los agentes encargados del trfico interregional. Se presenta aqu el anlisis de nueve contextos mortuorios excavados a lo largo de senderos prehispnicos que conectaron la desembocadura del ro Loa con los oasis de Tarapac (Guatacondo y Pica) y con el rea atacamea (Quillagua …
Investigating human responses to political and environmental change through paleodiet and paleomobility
Bioarchaeological approaches are well suited for examining past responses to political and environmental changes. In the Andes, we hypothesized that political and environmental changes around AD 1100 resulted in behavioral changes, visible as shifts in paleodiet and paleomobility, among individuals in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and Loa River Valley. To investigate this hypothesis, we generated carbon and oxygen isotope data from cemeteries da…
"Estado de conservación y contextualización cronológica de la Colección Osteológica "Gustavo Le Paige
Entre 1950 y 1970 el sacerdote Gustavo Le Paige excav una de las mayores colecciones osteolgicas de Amrica Latina, que ha llamado la atencin de muchos investigadores en los ltimos 40 aos. En sus notas de terreno Le Paige consigna la exhumacin de 5482
Oral implications of labret use
This paper examines the osteological evidence for a case of long-term labret use in pre-Columbian north Chile and the pathological conditions associated with it. The burials from the site of Solcor 3 (AD 400-900) included a complete skeleton associated with two quartz labrets. Analysis of the skeleton of this adult male revealed wear and polish on the labial surface of both mandibular canines, indicating that the labrets were worn as a pair on ei…
The Precarious State of Subsistence
Numerous bioarchaeological studies emphasize an increase in dental lesions associated with the transition to agricultural subsistence. Over the years, this diachronic trend has led to the conflation and oversimplification of specific dental indicators of oral health with broad subsistence strategies, emphasizing intergroup variation at the expense of intragroup variation. In order to explore such hidden variation, this metastudy uses published da…
Wearing the marks of violence
OBJECTIVES: In this article, we present analyses of traumatic injury data from the Middle Period Coyo Oriental cemetery in northern Chile. We test a series of hypotheses about the role of sex, foreign contact, ritual access, and temporal shifts, in the patterning of cranial trauma in this cemetery. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-seven crania from Coyo Oriental were analyzed using standard bioarcheological methods to determine sex and age as well…
Calate
6 La voz quechua Q'ala se traduce por "desnudo, pelado, sin nada" (AMLQ 2005: 159), en tanto, en aymara, la raz Cala es "piedra" Nuestro caso debe ser una espaolizacin, pues estas lenguas no admiten el sufijo "-te", o siquiera la vocal "e". Es extrao, sin embargo, que se agregase esta partcula hispana pronominalizadora. Ambos significados de las lenguas indgenas pueden relacionarse filosficamente como una evocacin a la desnudez de carcter ltico: …
Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Oral implications of labret use
This paper examines the osteological evidence for a case of long-term labret use in pre-Columbian north Chile and the pathological conditions associated with it. The burials from the site of Solcor 3 (AD 400-900) included a complete skeleton associated with two quartz labrets. Analysis of the skeleton of this adult male revealed wear and polish on the labial surface of both mandibular canines, indicating that the labrets were worn as a pair on ei…
Cranial vault modification as a cultural artifact
Violence in Times of Changes
The Late Intermediate Period in the Andes (A.D. 1000-1476) witnessed a decline in the prosperity associated with the Middle Horizon and the state of Tiwanaku (A.D. 750-1000). These disruptions are manifested in the construction of fortified sites, migration, and in a paucity of material culture. We investigate whether these changes affected the levels of interpersonal violence in the oases of San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile. Nearly 150 crani…
Interpersonal violence in prehistoric San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
The prehistoric population of San Pedro de Atacama lived through periods marked by prosperity and interregional interaction, as well as times of severe drought, social stress, and widespread poverty. A sample of 682 crania was analyzed for evidence of cranial trauma in order to assess changing patterns of interpersonal violence during the occupation of the oases. It was hypothesized that the level of traumatic injuries in this population would pa…
Examining the Life History of an Individual From Solcor 3, San Pedro De Atacama
Detailed life history information using multiple lines of evidence including the identification of geographic origins, health, and body use indicators, can be used to elucidate the complex process of acculturation in the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile during the Middle Horizon. This paper presents the results of bioarchaeological and archaeological chemical analyses of the skeletal remains of an adult male (tomb 50, catalog number 1…
The Influence of Tiwanaku on Life in the Chilean Atacama
Using a contextualized bioarchaeological framework, in this article, I examine the complex relationship between the Tiwanaku polity of the Bolivian altiplano (C.E. 550-1000) and the inhabitants of the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile, in Tiwanaku's far periphery. I focus on how influences from Tiwanaku might have affected the presentation of Atacameño group identity in the mortuary context. I compare skeletal and mortuary data from 30…
Investigating cultural heterogeneity in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, through biogeochemistry and bioarchaeology
Individuals living in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and the neighboring upper Loa River Valley of northern Chile experienced the collapse of an influential foreign polity, environmental decline, and the appearance of a culturally distinct group during the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1,100–1,400). We investigate cultural heterogeneity at the Loa site of Caspana through analyses of strontium and oxygen isotopes, cranial modification styles, a…
Pre-Columbian Andean sickness ideology and the social experience of leishmaniasis
Hiding inequality beneath prosperity
The Middle Period in San Pedro de Atacama (AD 400–1000) stands out as a time of great prosperity that was, in part, associated with high levels of interaction with foreign polities, including the highland state of Tiwanaku. Although previous studies have demonstrated an increase in rates of violence during the subsequent Regional Developments Period (AD 1000–1400), this does not mean that the Middle Period was a time of peace and tranquility. Her…
"Estado de conservación y contextualización cronológica de la Colección Osteológica "Gustavo Le Paige
Entre 1950 y 1970 el sacerdote Gustavo Le Paige excav una de las mayores colecciones osteolgicas de Amrica Latina, que ha llamado la atencin de muchos investigadores en los ltimos 40 aos. En sus notas de terreno Le Paige consigna la exhumacin de 5482
Dental health in Northern Chile's Atacama oases
As one of the few areas apt for horticulture in Northern Chile's arid landscape, the prehistory of the Atacama oases is deeply enmeshed with that of the inter‐regional networks that promoted societal development in the south central Andes. During the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1000), local populations experienced a cultural apex associated with a substantial increase in inter‐regional interaction, population density, and quantity and quality of mortu…
Examining Local Social Identities Through Patterns of Biological and Cultural Variation in the Solcor Ayllu, San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
Studies of local forms of social organization in peripheral areas can enrich our understanding of the sociopolitical factors structuring core-periphery interactions. This research explores how local group identities impacted the ways in which individuals and communities at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, expressed their relationship to the Tiwanaku polity during the Middle Horizon. Combining information from body modification practices, burial conte…
Assessing the life history of an andean traveller through biogeochemistry
Bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry can elucidate aspects of individual life histories that are often lost in the archaeological record. Here, we use stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of enamel, bone and hair to reconstruct paleodiet and paleomobility in an adult male interred along a pre-Columbian route connecting the northern Chilean coast to the inland Loa River Valley. Although this well-preserved burial included mortuary goods typical of…
Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World
The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador …
Quiénes Viajaban
Histricamente, los estudios de movilidad en los Andes se han centrado en el modelo caravanero, segn el cual fueron grupos de hombres de tierras altas, con sus recuas de llamas, los agentes encargados del trfico interregional. Se presenta aqu el anlisis de nueve contextos mortuorios excavados a lo largo de senderos prehispnicos que conectaron la desembocadura del ro Loa con los oasis de Tarapac (Guatacondo y Pica) y con el rea atacamea (Quillagua …
Commemorating bodies and lives at Kish's 'A Cemetery
Over the course of a decade, the Joint Oxford-Field Museum Expedition to Kish recovered artifacts and skeletal remains from one of the most influential city-states in ancient Mesopotamia. We focus here on the process of commemoration of the dead as evidenced in the graves excavated from Kish's 'A Cemetery'. We use skeletal remains, fieldnotes, and artifactual evidence to situate these individuals within their biological and mortuary contexts and …
Issues of affinity
The Middle Period (AD 400–1000) in northern Chile's Atacama oases is characterized by an increase in social complexity and regional interaction, much of which was organized around the power and impact of the Tiwanaku polity. Despite the strong cultural influence of Tiwanaku and numerous other groups evident in interactions with Atacameños, the role of immigration into the oases during this period is unclear. While archaeological and bioarchaeolog…
The Sequence of Human Occupation in the Atacama Oases, Chile
The San Pedro de Atacama oases have been permanently occupied since ca. 2500 B.P. and over this time developed a rich culture that was intertwined with social developments in the south-central Andes. However, despite decades of archaeological research, the region still lacks a strong chronological framework based on absolute dates. Here we present 53 new AMS14C dates from osteological remains from San Pedro de Atacama, in order to contribute to a…
Cultural Diversity and Paleomobility in the Andean Middle Horizon
Despite a long history of research, interactions between the Tiwanaku polity of the Andean Middle Horizon (ca.A.D. 500-1100) and the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile remain controversial. Here, we investigate Middle Horizon interactions through an isotopic identification of the geographic origins of individuals buried in San Pedro de Atacama cemeteries and present the largest radiogenic strontium isotope dataset generated, to date, fo…
Investigating human responses to political and environmental change through paleodiet and paleomobility
Bioarchaeological approaches are well suited for examining past responses to political and environmental changes. In the Andes, we hypothesized that political and environmental changes around AD 1100 resulted in behavioral changes, visible as shifts in paleodiet and paleomobility, among individuals in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and Loa River Valley. To investigate this hypothesis, we generated carbon and oxygen isotope data from cemeteries da…
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
Explorando La Diversidad Dietética en La Prehistoria Del Desierto De Atacama
A lo largo de su prehistoria, el norte rido de Chile fue ocupado por una gran diversidad de culturas dispersas por todos los pisos ecolgicos de la regin. Sin embargo, desde el Arcaico Tardo se encuentran evidencias de intercambio de recursos y elementos culturales entre estas zonas, prctica que se intensific durante los Periodos Medio e Intermedio Tardo. En este trabajo se evalu la composicin de la dieta de las poblaciones locales, por medio del …
Mobility and Exchange among Marine Hunter-Gatherer and Agropastoralist Communities in the Formative Period Atacama Desert
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the most unforgiving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occupation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal
Modeling diet in times of change
Geography (33 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (27 works) · Archaeology (24 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (20 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (16 works) · Art (12 works) · Biology (12 works) · Ecology (11 works) · Anthropology (9 works)