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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (12 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Merced Previously Published Works (2020)
This broad literature review considers advances in the study of cranial vault modification with an emphasis on investigations of Andean skeletal remains over the last two decades. I delimit three broad categories of research, building on Verano's synthesis of the state of Andean paleopathology in 1997. These are associations with skeletal pathological conditions, classification and morphology, and social identity. Progress is noted in each of these areas with a particular emphasis on methodological advances in studying morphology as well as the growth of contextualized bioarchaeology and the incorporation of social theory in the consideration of cranial modification as a cultural practice. The article concludes with avenues for future research on head shaping in the Andes specifically and paleopathology more broadly.
    Cover page: Cranial modification and the shapes of heads across the Andes
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Merced Previously Published Works (2013)
    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 AMS ,14C dates from osteological remains from San Pedro de Atacama, in order to contribute to an understanding of the Atacameno cultural sequence. These dates suggest that some cemeteries were occupied for long periods, frequently transcending cultural phases, and that in fact a number of cemeteries within the same ayllu were in use concurrently. We also show that, not surprisingly, population displacement through time primarily follows oscillations in the sources of water. The new information presented here suggests that future work in the region should emphasize detailed analyses that consider intra-ayllu variability, given that diversity within periods is masked by the uniform use of cultural phases to describe human development. © 2013 by the Society for American Archaeology.
      Cover page: The Sequence of Human Occupation in the Atacama Oases, Chile: A Radiocarbon Chronology Based on Human Skeletal Remains
      • Thesis
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Merced Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2017)

      Mortuary practices deeply affect the living as they reflect how the living view death and how the dead re-member the identity of the living. Within the Andes, there was a continuity of mortuary practice that endured from the Middle Horizon (650-1000 CE) to the Late Horizon (1438-1532 CE), creating and maintaining a memory of death, life, and identity. When the Spanish colonized the Andes, they introduced Catholicism and structures that forced local Andeans to accept the religion – and concomitantly, their specific mortuary practices. Catholicism was a substantial disruption to the mortuary ritual that had been sustained for centuries. However, when confronted with Catholicism and its mortuary practice, local Andean groups had varied responses encompassing a spectrum from acceptance to resistance including participation in the Taki Onqoy revitalization movement. Taki Onqoy was a cultural revitalization movement that preached for traditional huacas to defeat the Spanish God. The site of Iglesiachayoq (Ayacucho), an Inka settlement in the Chicha-Soras Valley of Peru, was identified by Cristóbal Albornoz as a center of Taki Onqoy. The site was excavated in 2015 and subsequent analysis of materials took place in 2016 to investigate Taki Onqoy as a cultural revitalization movement through material remains. A MNI of 21 individuals were uncovered during this excavation. I use mortuary, skeletal and isotopic analyses on the burials from Iglesiachayoq to address questions about the relationship between indigenous and Spanish actors during the colonial moment. Graves were assessed for structure, grave goods and body positioning, while the human remains were analyzed for information related to demography, paleodiet and mobility These individuals and their graves demonstrate a wide spectrum of responses to the Spanish presence from acceptance of Catholicism to resistance by practicing Taki Onqoy, but I find that most individuals were in-between, indicating the negotiated nature of identity during the Early Colonial Period at Iglesiachayoq.

        Cover page: Catholicism, Negotiation and Taki Onqoy: How Mortuary Ritual and Biogeochemistry Re-members Identity During the Early Colonial Period at Iglesiachayoq, Chicha, Peru
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Merced Previously Published Works (2017)
          Cover page: Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record Reply
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Merced Previously Published Works (2017)
          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, archaeological individuals themselves are still neglected. A contextualized bioarchaeological approach brings together a variety of methods to investigate aspects of individual and group identities, provides a means of accessing biological facets of identity, and allows for more nuanced understanding of the complexities of social identities. We illustrate the utility of our model with a case study using archaeological, bioarchaeological, and biogeochemical data from northern Chile, stressing both the fixed and the dynamic aspects of different identities. We focus on the tumultuous transition between the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1100) and Late Intermediate Period (AD 1100–1400) in northern Chile’s San Pedro de Atacama oases and the neighboring upper Loa River Valley. Our research demonstrates a shift toward homogenizing representations of social identities as well as biological aspects of identities as societies began reformulating their social groups following the end of the complex and cosmopolitan Middle Horizon.
            Cover page: Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Merced Previously Published Works (2021)
            To explore the possible emergence and lived consequences of social inequality in the Atacama, we analyzed a large set (n = 288) of incredibly well preserved and contextualized human skeletons from the broad Middle Period (AD 500-1000) of the San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) oases. In this work, we explore model-based paleodietary reconstruction of the results of stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen and hydroxyapatite. The results of this modeling are used to explore local phenomena, the nature of the Middle Period, and the interaction between local situations and the larger world in which the oases were enmeshed by identifying the temporal, spatial, and biocultural correlates and dimensions of dietary difference. Our analyses revealed that: 1) over the 600-year period represented by our sample, there were significant changes in consumption patterns that may evince broad diachronic changes in the structure of Atacameño society, and 2) at/near 600 calAD, there was a possible episode of social discontinuity that manifested in significant changes in consumption practices. Additionally, while there were some differences in the level of internal dietary variability among the ayllus, once time was fully considered, none of the ayllus stood out for having a more (or less) clearly internally differentiated cuisine. Finally, sex does not appear to have been a particularly salient driver of observed dietary differences here. While we do not see any de facto evidence for complete dietary differentiation (as there is always overlap in consumption among individuals, ayllus, and time periods, and as isotopic analysis is not capable of pinpointing different foods items or preparations), there are broad aspects of dietary composition changing over time that are potentially linked to status, and foreignness. Ultimately, these stand as the clearest example of what has been termed "gastro-politics," potentially tied to the emergence of social inequality in the San Pedro oases.
              Cover page: Temporal, spatial and gender-based dietary differences in middle period San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: A model-based approach
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Merced Previously Published Works (2022)
              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 generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacameños and Tarapaqueños. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.
                Cover page: The Life and Death of a Child: Mortuary and Bodily Manifestations of Coast–Interior Interactions during the Late Formative Period (AD 100–400), Northern Chile
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Merced Previously Published Works (2017)
                Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological research, most likely because it appears to be a wasteland, devoid of basic resources and therefore of no apparent interest for humans. However, as we elaborate here, this view is very far removed from the actual archaeological potential afforded by the zone, which has revealed itself as a privileged place to study human mobility and pre-Hispanic social relations. We have chosen it as a case study following a research strategy that initially hypothesized Calate as a space of socially dense mobility and today stands out as a true archaeological laboratory for understanding the archaeology of internodal movement in the southern Andes.
                  Cover page: CALATE: DE LUGAR DESNUDO A LABORATORIO ARQUEOLGICO DE LA MOVILIDAD Y EL TRFICO INTERCULTURAL PREHISPNICO EN EL DESIERTO DE ATACAMA (CA. 7OOO AP-55O AP)
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Merced Previously Published Works (2019)

                  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 collagen and hydroxyapatite and multisource mixture modeling (FRUITS, food reconstruction using isotopic transferred signals) of paleodiet. These individuals were compared with nearly 200 other Formative Period individuals from throughout the region to identify differences in dietary behaviors.

                  Results

                  80.6% (25/31) of the samples yielded sufficient well-preserved collagen and were included in the multisource mixture model. The FRUITS model, which compared individuals with a robust database of available foods from the region, identified a wide diversity of diets in the Ancachi/Quillagua area (including both coastal and interior individuals), and, most notably, thirteen individuals who consumed an average of 11.2 ± 1.9% terrestrial animals, 19.8 ± 1.9% legumes, and 22.5 ± 3.1% marine fauna, a balanced pattern of protein consumption distinct from both the coastal and inland individuals in our larger regional sample.

                  Conclusions

                  The combination of stable isotope analysis and multisource mixture modeling permitted the characterization of dietary behavior of 25 individuals from nodal sites in the Atacama Desert, thus enhancing our understanding of the economic and social relationships that bound together Formative Period sites, populations, and individuals in this hyperarid region.
                    Cover page: An isotopic study of dietary diversity in formative period Ancachi/Quillagua, Atacama Desert, northern Chile
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Merced Previously Published Works (2019)
                    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 data from 185 archaeological sites to test the hypothesis that the prevalence of dental lesions (carious lesions, antemortem tooth loss, and periapical abscesses) among classified agricultural groups is higher than among hunter-gatherers. As a secondary hypothesis, this study also tests the association between climatic variables (temperature variation, altitude, and precipitation) and dental lesion prevalence. Our results show that, despite significant differences in the average prevalence of carious lesions between agricultural and hunter-gatherer populations, the variation in caries prevalence shows high overlap (>70%) between subsistence patterns. Additionally, differences in the prevalence of antemortem tooth loss and periapical abscesses between agricultural and hunter-gatherer populations are not significant, showing even larger overlaps in prevalence ranges. Complementing the lifestyle analyses, climatic factors (mean temperature, annual temperature, and precipi-tation) are significantly correlated with the prevalence of specific dental pathological lesions and not others. Our results emphasize the need to reevaluate certain dental conditions as direct indicators of broad subsistence patterns, calling attention to the complex multifactorial pathogenesis of dental lesions and the nonlinear relationship between oral indicators of health and subsistence lifeways.
                      Cover page: The Precarious State of Subsistence: Reevaluating Dental Pathological Lesions Associated with Agricultural and Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways
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