Andean pastoralism has long been considered a unique form of animal husbandry that is not comparable to Old World nomadic traditions. Recent archeological research has revealed that camelid pastoralism (the herding of llamas and alpacas) evolved independently in the New World. The essays in this book explore the archaeology of pastoralist societies in Andean South America. They discuss the origins of domesticated camelids, variation in the development of pastoralist traditions, ritual and animal sacrifice, and social interaction through caravans. The multidisciplinary chapters showcase contributions from different methodologies including settlement pattern analysis, zooarchaeology and paleobotany, and ethnoarchaeology. “The only book-length discussion of traditional Andean camelid pastoralism that fully integrates historical, ethnographic, and archaeological information concerned with the economic and sociopolitical roles of these camelids over the past 10,000 years. A major contribution to contemporary anthropological study of one of the world’s independent loci of ancient pastoralism.”
Edited by José M. Capriles
Edited by Nicholas Tripcevich
8.5 x 11 in. 280 pages 87 figs., 25 tables
978-0-8263-5702-1