Archaeology as a discipline has long been interested in documenting and understanding ritual practices in the material record. Andean ethnohistoric, ethnographic and archaeological studies indicate that ritual practices have played intrinsic roles in the pre-Hispanic, colonial and post-colonial Andean societies. In the introduction of Rituals of the Past: Prehispanic and colonial case studies in Andean archaeology, the editors Silvana Rosenfeld and Stefanie Bautista note that the volume builds on recent scholarship on ritual in the Andes that has focused on particular localities, time periods, or specific ritual practices such as sacrifice, feasting, or sacred entities (e.g. Bauer & Stanish Reference Bauer and Stanish2001; Benson & Cook Reference Benson and Cook2001; Bray Reference Bray2015; Klarich Reference Klarich2010; Meddens et al. Reference Meddens, Willis, McEwan and Branch2014). The volume is not a unified attempt to study ritual, hence ‘rituals’ in the title is intentionally plural as the case studies apply various theoretical and methodological approaches to define and identify ritual in the material record and its relationship to the ‘formation of, reproduction of, and changes in community life in past Andean societies’ (p. 6).

Following the introduction are 11 case studies which were originally presented at an SAA session in 2012. The book closes with a critical discussion by Jerry Moore. The volume is of great value to Andeanists and is absolutely worth a read for archaeologists looking to review diverse approaches and various scalar studies of ritual in the archaeological record. The majority of papers utilize architectural analysis to understand ritual practices; however, some of the other methods employed include viewshed analysis, analysis of material culture (ceramics, stone, beads, feathers, etc.) and the study of toponyms. With the exception of Nielsen et al.’s paper which is from the southern Andes, all of the case studies are from the central Andes region, modern-day Peru. Organized chronologically, the volume begins with case studies from the Formative period and extend through the colonial and post-colonial periods. The volume is heavy on Formative period case studies (chapters by Rick, Contreras, Chicoine et al., Onuki, Vega-Centeno Sara-Lafosse) and this section of the book will be particularly appealing to those interested in early complex societies.

For many of the case studies, sacred settings and monumental constructions act as ‘social and political agents’ (Chicoine et al., p. 144). Practices within these spaces served as constituent parts that defined and legitimized power relations. Sarah Abraham's chapter on the study of religious architecture in the early Colonial period in Pucará, in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru, documents indigenous agency and the dynamism of Andean Christianity. John Rick and Daniel Contreras’ chapters present new data about rituals practices at the Formative period site, Chavín de Huantar, traditionally considered the ‘mother culture’ of Andean societies. Rick describes new evidence that highlights a diversity of ritual activity in content, pattern and location and suggests that a large range of ritual activities occurred likely connected to a calendar and cult groups. Contreras’ chapter describes a previously unknown small-scale ceremonial structure located outside Chavín's site core. The presence of this building type, known as Mito style (a well-known Formative period ceremonial structure identified at highland and coastal sites), again implies ritual diversity at Chavín. Contreras suggests that the evidence indicates Chavín ritual activities had ‘heterarchical as well as hierarchical patterns’ (p. 71), requiring reconsideration of previous ideas of rituals at Chavín that emphasized monolithic processions in the monumental centre—suggesting new implications for Formative period society. David Chicoine et al.’s chapter on Formative period monumental centres in the Nepeña valley takes a ‘perceptual and geographic approach’ (p. 145) and they interpret the different religious messages and building traditions within the valley as connected to competition between valley polities. Yoshio Onuki's chapter, which documents episodic renovation, consisting of destruction and rebuilding of ceremonial centres at the early formative site of Kotosh in the Upper Huallaga valley on the coast of Peru, is suggested as a means of integration of community members.

In Jerry Moore's discussion, he notes that ‘ritual architecture is not only the space in which rites occurred, but it may also be the object and subject of ritual practice’ (p. 303). While the majority of case studies in the volume examine the design of the built environment, interestingly, multiple chapters describe termination rituals in buildings and associate these practices with changes in the socio-political landscape. Matthew Edwards connects the sealing-off of sections of the Wari administrative building at the site of Pataraya in the Nasca valley on the south coast of Peru with the decline of the Wari empire. Camila Capriata Estrada and Enrique Lopez-Hurtado's case study at the site of Panquilma, on the central coast of Peru, documented controlled burning events and abandonment of monumental structures in connection with the arrival of the Inka Empire in the region. Francesca Fernandini and Mario Ruales’ chapter describes multiple kinds of ritual activities at the site of Cerro de Oro in the Cañete valley. Ritual closure of the site occurred during the Early Middle Horizon period. Building architecture was dismantled and was used as fill in buildings—effectively closing them. Intrusive tombs were then placed in the fill. This ritual closure of the settlement coincided with its abandonment, which may be linked to flooding events.

Moore, whose own work has been directed toward the archaeological study of rituals related to architecture, points out in his discussion that the ‘emphasis on ritual within and directed toward architecture is a scholarly bias worth mentioning’ (p. 300). To that end, the final two case studies by Axel Nielsen et al. and Hendrik Van Gijseghem and Verity Whalen are a welcome departure from the other chapters, as they approach ritual outside the built environment, reminding the reader of the deeply embedded relationships between the natural landscape and Andean peoples. Both chapters are very compelling. Nielsen et al. examine the archaeological record along high-altitude mountain passes in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, identifying locations where artifacts, such as beads, lithics and ceramics, were ritually deposited as offerings to non-human entities by travellers. Van Gijseghem and Whalen study toponyms in the upper Ica valley to understand social memory of the landscape, in particular the power of mines. One of the exciting things about this book is it brings together a set of case studies based predominantly on recently completed field studies, providing new information and ideas about many of these sites.

Not surprisingly, the case studies in this volume highlight how rituals in the prehispanic Andes were carried out in many ways and with a variety of uses and intents. The majority of the volume is a pleasure to read and the diverse perspectives and scales the authors employ to approach ritual provide valuable examples of thinking about the significance and role of built structures as well as experiential social memory.