South American Archaeology

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Archaeological study of South America from initial human settlement through European colonial encounters, with emphasis on the Central Andes. This region encompasses striking environmental diversity where societies developed technological innovations, monumental architecture and complex political systems. The course examines how archaeologists reconstruct past lifeways through material evidence, considering interactions between environment, technology, social organization and cultural expression. Students explore long-term processes of change, including agricultural development, urbanization, political centralization and cultural transformation. Study includes major pre-Inca societies, the rise of the Inca Empire and Spanish colonization. Contemporary Andean communities and their maintenance of ancestral practices provide context for understanding long-term cultural continuity. TOPICS AND THEMES. Course topics may include: environmental diversity and human adaptation across ecological zones; early settlement patterns and cultural change; agricultural systems, technological innovations and monumental architecture; artistic traditions and material culture as expressions of identity and belief; pre-Inca political systems and the development of complex societies; Inca imperial strategies, administrative technologies and infrastructure; Spanish colonial encounters and Indigenous responses; ethical dimensions in archaeological practice, including repatriation and collaboration with descendant communities; connections between archaeological evidence and contemporary Andean societies. Prerequisites: Junior or senior classification.