This book honors the scientific trajectory and accomplishments of Peter Kaulicke, founder of the archaeology program at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru (PUCP).
Its introduction and 19 chapters touch on current and past discussions in Andean archaeology. The book is divided into five parts that address the thematic diversity and complexity of the geographic area and time periods discussed. These themes reflect the theoretical aspects that Kaulicke has focused on: ancestor veneration; the experience and the construction of the landscape; and space, time, and material culture. Given the contributions’ great diversity, I comment on each one, grouping them in nine categories suitable for comparison and discussion.
Cultural Heritage: Higuera's chapter proposes an inspiring and feasible mechanism that would enable Peruvian scholars, citizens, and bureaucrats to have online access to detailed catalogs on museum collections around the world. Using the Machu Picchu case as an example, I agree that Yale's returning the collection to a peer institution, the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad at Cuzco (UNSAAC), is undoubtedly an inspiring precedent. The museum at Casa Concha and the current academic exchange cosponsored by Yale and UNSAAC have had a positive impact on the lives of scholars and students in Cuzco, enabling them to participate in workshops and seminars promoted by the International Center for the Study of Machu Picchu and Inca Culture. The big question is whether this precedent will be followed by similar exchanges between other local and international institutions.
Linguistics: Cerron-Palomino suggests that the language spoken in the Cuzco area, perhaps since the late Early Horizon, was not Quechua but instead was Proto-Pukina, which was later consolidated by a second wave during the Middle Horizon. His chapter emphasizes the importance of future genetic studies to corroborate this interesting hypothesis.
Burial practices: Four chapters focus on burial practices. Standen discusses how, from a symbolic perspective, the subadult artificial mummies from the Chinchorro tradition in Chile's northern coasts ensured group permanence in challenging natural conditions. Fernandini describes an unprecedented finding: a Middle Horizon mausoleum in which the body of the dead person is missing. Fernandini correctly ties “heterogeneous identities” to the concept that there seems to be no agent to display such heterogeneity without a body. Elera's contribution is a good summary of some of the most important discoveries at the Sican-Batan Grande site, including the rich ethnographic data he has collected over decades. His proposal that freshwater and fish were abundant during the summer season on the north coast of Peru should be more carefully studied. Cervantes also deals with Lambayeque, focusing on gender in the Sican elite and the importance of not relying simply on artifactual associations to determine their role in this group.
“Rediscoveries”: Three authors—Dulanto, Vetter, and Prümers—deal independently with what I consider to be two key discoveries that may rewrite Andean prehistory: (1) the presence of Paijan lithic technology in the south coast of Peru and (2) the locally made Frias-Vicus jewelry found in Piura, possibly using Tumaco-La Tolita techniques and iconography but with local additions, including what may have been local raw materials. The analysis of four bags with Lima iconography raises questions regarding the interaction between coastal and highland societies during the third to fourth century AD in the central coast of Peru.
Caravans in transit: Nuñez and Briones offer a detailed account of sites, burials, and material culture associated with the traffic of caravans and people between different ecological regions in northern Chile.
Social space and centrality: Seki offers detailed information on what seem to be residential structures and smaller ceremonial buildings during the early phases of Huacaloma in the Cajamarca Basin, providing evidence of complex ritual activities.
Cosmological perspectivism: Trending in archaeology is the Amerindian ontology on the imaginary embedded in Chavin art and architecture, using what I call the “mystified past” of Andean narratives for historical documents like the Huarochiri manuscript. In his chapter, Ikehara refers to the chosen ones who had the privilege or good luck to get closer to those powerful elements: the white-and-black portal, the staircases at Kunturwasi, and so on. I suggest that earlier researchers reached similar conclusions for the ritual experience at Chavin (see Lumbreras, Chavin de Huantar, 1993; Burger, Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization, 1992; or Rick, Context, Construction and Ritual in the Development of Authority at Chavin de Huantar, 2008). Yet Ikehara may be referring to big crowds attending those rituals, which would be a matter for further discussion. In any case, being “devoured” so as to be part of the predator is an experience that was possibly pursued by creative—and ambitious—priests who designed all these architectural features and coded messages in the temples discussed. In their chapter, Chacaltana and Cogorno offer an excellent account of how the so-called cosmological perspectivism in Amerindian societies of the Central Andean region clearly shaped political alliances and the symbolic union of biological sexes to generate fertility through the management of water.
Politics, religion, and social organization: Building on an influential article published in 2000 by Kaulicke, Marcone examines the nature of Lima sociopolitical organization, discussing, in relation to the chapter by Chacaltana and Cogorno, why intensified irrigation in the lower valleys occurred during Lima hegemony. Did the need to control multiple irrigation networks motivate centralization among the Lima? This is a valid question still awaiting an answer. Shimada discusses a broader problem of the city and ceremonial centers in the Andes. Data from Cahuachi, Pachacamac, Chan Chan, Pampa Grande, and Batan Grande-Sican suggest the importance of elaborating on the interrelations between prehispanic cities and religious centers.
Chronology: Vega-Centeno's chapter deals with “chronologists” versus “evolutionists” as the author labels the supporters of the Rowe versus the Lumbreras chronologies. I believe that both chronologies have their pros and cons. Still, I prefer to use a chronological model that does not assign, a priori, a social stage of development to a region, group, or period. A short side note: the author omits perhaps the most important aspect of the “horizon” concept—“as a primarily spatial continuity represented by cultural traits and assemblages whose nature and mode of occurrence permit the assumption of a broad and rapid spread” (Willey & Phillips, Method and Theory in American Archaeology 1958:33). In any case, I agree with Vega-Centeno that we should move on. A good start would be to focus on local absolute chronologies, using well-documented and contextualized radiocarbon samples to avoid potential inconsistencies—as advocated repeatedly by Kaulicke; this is a practice we should be inspired to follow.
Until then, abwarten und Tee trinken.
