A Bioarchaeological Assessment of Prehistoric Ethnicity among Early Late Intermediate Period Populations of the Azapa Valley, Chile

Late Prehispanic Coquina Quarrying and Tomb Construction in Coastal Southern Peru

“…Miranda and Umire (2007) report the occasional use of boulders and stones for walls and burial coverings in Late Intermediate Period tombs from a cemetery near Ilo, Peru, but none of the rocks are finished into slabs. In addition, coquina use in tombs is not reported for cemeteries located further south of Punta Picata along the coast of southern Peru or northern Chilean (Focacci 1980;Sutter 2005). Excavation of other Late Horizon sites along the southern Peruvian or northern Chile coastal plain might also contain evidence of coquina quarrying and its use in cemeteries.…”

Multiregional Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Andes During the Late Intermediate Period (c. A.D. 1000–1400)

“…Large sites such as San Lorenzo and Chiribaya Alta (and possibly Cerro Sombrero) are found several kilometers inland in the Azapa and Osmore Valleys and appear to be centers that coordinated the economic activities of fishing populations, farmers, and part-time craft producers (Muñoz 1993(Muñoz , 2005Reycraft 1998, p. 58;Rivera 1991). The residential areas of these sites may represent the paramount settlements of two-tier regional hierarchies, and they are surrounded by cemeteries representing diverse economic occupations or ethnic identities, suggesting a ritual significance (Lozada and Buikstra 2005;Sutter 2005).…”

“…The lower parts of important river valleys were nodes of interaction between coastal and highland spheres, and sites in these areas contain a wide range of styles, some of which are distributed in a manner suggestive of enclaves of nonlocal groups (e.g., Bird 1943;Owen 1993, pp. 94-126;Sutter 2005).…”

“…Studies of domestic architecture, ceramic distributions, and mortuary remains suggest ethnic interdigitation in lower-valley regions (e.g., Owen 1993;Reycraft 1998;Sutter 2005). Exchanges appear to have been fairly localized-valley areas often contain coastal polychromes and highland styles, but coastal ceramics are rare in highland contexts and highland ceramics are seldom found along the coast before Inka times (Bawden 1993;Conrad 1993;Covey 2000, p. 131;Muñoz 1981;Muñoz et al 1987aMuñoz et al , b, 1997Rice 1993;Santoro et al 1987;Stanish 1985Stanish , 1989.…”

Craniometic variation in the Azapa Valley: Reply to Sutter and Mertz (2004)

“…However, they have never accounted for the interaction between spatial and temporal components of cranial deformation for Azapa Valley crania. A number of scholars (Munizaga, 1980;Sutter, 2005a), including Cocilovo and Costa-Junqueira (2001, p. 213), described the spatial and temporal variability in cranial deformation practices for the Azapa Valley. While most Early and Middle Archaic period skulls exhibit no deformations, annular deformations become prevalent among Late Archaic skulls, and predominate among post-Archaic coastal skulls, while tabular forms of deformation are far more frequent among post-Archaic inland mortuary populations.…”