Izumi Shimada

We present a multidisciplinary summary vision of the natural and cultural contexts and impacts of an 11th century mega-El Niño event and the extraordinary social responses to and consequences of it. Evidence and impacts of torrential rains and associated severe flooding dated ca. 1050 CE have been documented at multiple sites along the Peruvian coast, particularly in the Lambayeque region. The flood buried the Middle Sicán capital of Sicán with fluvial deposits 1.0 to 1.5 m thick. During this calamitous process that may have lasted many months, three episodes of large-scale human sacrifice of well over 200 individuals who were overwhelmingly healthy young to adult males took place near the center of the Gran Plaza of Sicán. There are suggestions of possible live burials. Efforts aimed at the clarification of victim identities and life histories are ongoing, however, the abundance of serving vessels and food remains indicate correspondingly large-scale feasting events that were closely associated in time and space. Resultantly, we posit that these events may have been pleas for the return of normalcy. Within a span of one or two generations, the Middle Sicán polity underwent transformations, likely triggered by adverse effects of this mega- El Niño.

* There is no work whatever at this time that presents the urban configuration and composition of a Moche city, so [Shimada's] considerable data on this topic will be very valuable for scholars of urbanism of the Moche, of the North Coastal region and, for compara-tive purposes, of ...

ABSTRACT The primary information that can be derived from Mossbauer spectra is mainly on the hyperfine interactions between the Mossbauer nuclei and their solid state environments. Mossbauer spectroscopy thus primarily provides information on the chemical state of the iron, for instance on its oxidation state and on the magnetic properties of the iron bearing compounds. This enables one to tell which iron bearing compounds or minerals are present in the ceramics. Even though iron is only a minor constituent of ceramics, the physical and chemical transformations of the iron during the firing are manifold and depend strongly on the firing conditions. Knowledge of the state of the iron in fired ceramics therefore often permits conclusions as to the conditions under which the ceramics were fired, like the firing temperature, the oxidizing or reducing character of the kiln atmosphere, and even the sequence of reducing and oxidizing firing periods. Such knowledge is frequently of interest from the point of view of archaeology or anthropology, since it permits an assessment of the technical skills of ancient potters and hence on the cultural achievements of ancient civilizations.

The importance of the experimental approach is obvious as archaeology strives for greater methodological rigor through explicit definition and quantification of relevant variables and their interrelationships. Unlike "destructive" excavation, it offers replicability and forces us to systematize our inquiry. The editors have brought together 14 published and four original articles of varied topics, length, and specificity organized into four classes. This diversity reflects their broad conception of experimental archaeology, which is said to "test, evaluate, and explicate method, technique, assumptions, hypotheses, and theories at any and all levels of archaeological research" and "define and control as many variables as possible" (p. xii). The selected articles share the common goal of defining the nature of articulation between method and theory. The editors argue for the productiveness and potential of the experimental approach well beyond the replicative or imitative studies that Ascher (Experimental Archaeology, American Anthropologist 63:793-816, 1961) saw as the "keystone of experimental archaeology." Each division of the book is preceded by brief but helpful comments by the editors. The first class is the controlled replication of recovered artifacts or activities. The overwhelming majority of past "experimental" studies fall in this class. Many of these studies, however, are object oriented and do not focus upon assessment and comparison of the effects of changes deliberately introduced into a process. The relationship between independent and dependent variables rather than replication of a given object or activity should be the focus of experimental studies. Speth's analysis of hard-hammer percussion flaking and Weaver's attempt to determine sources of distortion in archaeomagnetic measurements using experimental kilns are both examples of concern with the former. Crabtree and Puleston tackle the persistent problem of functional identification in archaeology. We generally lack any widely applicable understanding of many artifacts' functions and tend to rely on common sense and post hoc interpretations. Although some researchers have approached this problem by compiling "culturally significant activity" lists, experimental analysis can effectively narrow the range of plausible alternative functions or question the validity of typological classifications with implied functions. Crabtree, for example, argues that obtuse-angle lithics cannot be treated simply as nondiagnostic or manufacturing by-products. He suggests that they were working edges and raises the important question of multifunctional tools and simultaneous production of two tools (e.g., blades and polyhedral cores). Puleston's experimentation with Maya chultuns has one significant implication, that experimental analysis may lead to discovery of behavior patterns for which no modern counterparts exist. Skeptical of the current tendency to associate highly centralized political systems with imposing monumental ruins, C. J. Erasmus conducted two field experiments on rock and earth excavation/carrying to determine the total labor investment for construction of the Maya ceremonial center at Uxmal. The study showed a surprisingly low figure. However, Erasmus failed to determine the behavioral variability of his subjects prior to his measurement, and we are left to wonder about the possible effects of extra motivation on the part of his workers to impress him with their productivity (Shimada, Behavioral Variability and Organization in Ancient Constructions, in Papers on the Economy and Architecture of the Ancient Maya, edited by Raymond Sidrys, 1978). In addition, whether the ceremonial construction was a result of voluntary or forced labor cannot be determined on the basis of a low experimental figure.

Normalmente se plantea que la cultura Moche se ha gestado a partir de los desarrollos culturales autóctonos más tempranos conocidos como Cupisnique y Salinar, y que ha coexistido o competido con las culturas contemporáneas Gallinazo, Cajamarca y Recuay. Durante los primeros seis siglos de nuestra era los moche crecieron en capacidad productiva, complejidad sociopolítica y extensión territorial. La visión tradicional es que la entidad Moche, con su capital en el sitio de Moche, comenzó su expa..

Small particles play a decisive role in determining the magnetic properties of archaeological ceramics. These particles, mainly iron oxides, may be inherited from the parent material, they can be produced during the firing procedures, or they can be a product of burial in the ground and weathering. Mossbauer spectroscopy is a technique that is suitable for the identification of these particles and for their use in the reconstruction of the production techniques of ancient ceramics.

ed by Paul R. Fish This study results from an intensive survey of a proposed interstate highway crossing 31.5 miles of South Carolina piedmont. The authors use anthropological insight and much analytical skill to examine settlement and subsistence relationships in the western part of the state. A thorough evaluation and synthesis of relevant paleoecological data available for the Southeast provides a background for this aspect of investigation and represents a significant contribution of the volume. However, it is the methodological studies that are of particular note. Using a variety of straightforward statistical procedures, the authors analyze the reliability and usefulness of reconnaissance techniques and subsurface site discovery strategies. Other methodological considerations include evaluations of the "representativeness" of the highway transect, effectiveness of artifact collection strategies, the potential for identification of meaningful surface artifact distributional patterns at shallow and disturbed localities, and some aspects of site formation processes. The Snyders Mound and Five Other Mound Groups in Calhoun County, Illinois. DAVID P. BRAUN, JAMES B. GRIFFIN, and PAUL F. TITTERINGTON. Technical Reports, No. 13, Research Reports in Archaeology, Contribution 8, Museum of Anthropology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1982. xiii + 178 pp., illus., biblio. $7.50

The gold-silver-copper ternary alloy contents of gold objects from an unlooted Middle Sicin (ca, 1000 AD) burial site on the north coast of Peru were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using 10 μg metal rubbings from the interior of the objects. Electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) was also performed on a few of the objects allowed to be exported from Peru in order to measure thc interior and surface alloy contents and to determine if the INAA samples are representative of the interior alloy. The near-perfect agreement between the probe data for the interior metal and INAA sample data confirms that the INAA sampling method results in metal characteristic of the interior alloy. The thin outer edges, which are only about five μm thick, are depleted markedly in copper (18 wt% interior copper, 7% edge copper, for example) and suggest that, for the high-quality gold objects (typical contents: 45 wt% Au, 37% Ag, 18% Cu), surface depletion of copper (and enrichment of gold and silver) may not have been deliberately induced but could have been the result of the repeated hammering-annealing required to produce the thin gold sheets used for the construction of the objects. Lower quality tumbaga gold sheets (typical interior contents: 25 wt% Au, 45% Ag, 30% Cu) also show marked surface depletion of copper.

The enigmatic naipes, the I-shaped, standardized, arsenical copper sheet artifacts occur in a few to thousands of bundles in elite Sicán tombs on the northern north coast of Peru. Examination of their production process, use contexts, spatio-temporal parameters, and levels of standardization show them to be Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE) in time and cultural origin and locally produced. Naipes seemed to have served two context-dependent purposes as the key standardized medium of exchange in the Middle Sicán-early Manteño interregional trade (naipes in exchange for whole mullu and their beads) and as a prestige items for Middle Sicán elite rituals and tombs. Their economic role and significance in one context coexisted with those of social and symbolic character in another. Product standardization is neither restricted to a particular mode of production or type of product nor is it dictated by a technical-technological or economic factor.

Ancient DNA recovered from 57 individu- als excavated by Hiram Bingham at the rural communities of Paucarcancha, Patallacta, and Huata near the famed Inca royal estate and ritual site of Machu Picchu was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, and the results were compared with ancient and modern DNA from vari- ous Central Andean areas to test their hypothesized indig- enous highland origins. The control and coding regions of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 35 individuals in this group were sequenced, and the haplogroups of each indi- vidual were determined. The frequency data for the hap- logroups of these samples show clear proximity to those of modern Quechua and Aymara populations in the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, and contrast with those of pre- Hispanic individuals of the north coast of Peru that we defined previously. Our study suggests a strong genetic affinity between sampled late pre-Hispanic individuals and modern Andean highlanders. A previous analysis of the Machu ...

We present a multidisciplinary summary vision of the natural and cultural contexts and impacts of an 11th century mega-El Niño event and the extraordinary social responses to and consequences of it. Evidence and impacts of torrential rains and associated severe flooding dated ca. 1050 CE have been documented at multiple sites along the Peruvian coast, particularly in the Lambayeque region. The flood buried the Middle Sicán capital of Sicán with fluvial deposits 1.0 to 1.5 m thick. During this calamitous process that may have lasted many months, three episodes of large-scale human sacrifice of well over 200 individuals who were overwhelmingly healthy young to adult males took place near the center of the Gran Plaza of Sicán. There are suggestions of possible live burials. Efforts aimed at the clarification of victim identities and life histories are ongoing, however, the abundance of serving vessels and food remains indicate correspondingly large-scale feasting events that were closely associated in time and space. Resultantly, we posit that these events may have been pleas for the return of normalcy. Within a span of one or two generations, the Middle Sicán polity underwent transformations, likely triggered by adverse effects of this mega- El Niño.

Paper presented at the symposium "Usar cerámica para responder preguntas. Aproximaciones interpretativas a los estudios de alfarería sudamericana" in the Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, Tucumán, Argentina. August 8-12, 2016. It examines how metallurgical and ceramic production and their products affect each other in tangible and intangible manners.

The use of one or more pairs of concave molds has been a major ceramic formation method throughout much of the world. This method has traditionally been seen as a rational solution to efficiently producing a large number of standardized products. This paper questions these views as being overly generalized or untenable in terms of data from excavated ceramic workshops and examination of products pertaining to Mochica and Sicán cultures on Peru's north coast and from the persistent figurine tradition of coastal Ecuador. For example, at the 1000-year old Middle Sicán workshop at Huaca Sialupe, vessels of the same size and shape were made using different sets of molds in contiguous rooms. This is antithetical to the commonly held view of molding associated with efficient production of standardized vessels. Figurines in these areas were predominantly produced using single press-molds. A key implication is that the molds were used to assure a faithful reproduction of important images or icons. Much the same can be said about the famed Mochica portrait vessels. Overall, our views of mold-based production need to balance producer and consumer's perspectives and take into account of the nature of products and use.

La cultura Gallinazo o Virú no ha recibido la atención que merece a pesar de su temprana identificación arqueológica, a su amplia distribución en la costa norte, y a las construcciones monumentales, impresionante sistema de irrigación y productividad agrícola que la caracterizan. Realmente, la contemporánea cultura Moche, con una cerámica, textilería y objetos de metal artística y técnicamente superiores, recibió la mejor de las atenciones tanto pública como profesional. La documentación sobr..

The gold-silver-copper ternary alloy contents of gold objects from an unlooted Middle Sicin (ca, 1000 AD) burial site on the north coast of Peru were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using 10 μg metal rubbings from the interior of the objects. Electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) was also performed on a few of the objects allowed to be exported from Peru in order to measure thc interior and surface alloy contents and to determine if the INAA samples are representative of the interior alloy. The near-perfect agreement between the probe data for the interior metal and INAA sample data confirms that the INAA sampling method results in metal characteristic of the interior alloy. The thin outer edges, which are only about five μm thick, are depleted markedly in copper (18 wt% interior copper, 7% edge copper, for example) and suggest that, for the high-quality gold objects (typical contents: 45 wt% Au, 37% Ag, 18% Cu), surface depletion of copper (and enrichment of gold and silver) may not have been deliberately induced but could have been the result of the repeated hammering-annealing required to produce the thin gold sheets used for the construction of the objects. Lower quality tumbaga gold sheets (typical interior contents: 25 wt% Au, 45% Ag, 30% Cu) also show marked surface depletion of copper.

My discussion primarily addresses the second half of this book (Chaps. 7–14) that presents case studies of pre-Hispanic mining, the process of extracting a wide range of minerals from the earth, commonly metallic ores for smelting and decorative purposes. Richard Burger comments on the first half that relates more closely to quarrying, a type of mining that in archaeology commonly refers to the extraction of dimension, or architectural, stones for construction and decorative purposes and noncrystalline and microcrytalline minerals and rocks for tool making. My comments are thematically organized and written from the vantage of personal knowledge and experience garnered over 3 decades on diverse aspects of the integrated process of pre-Hispanic mining and metallurgy in the Andes, particularly on the north coast of Peru.