Encyclopedia of Prehistory Volume 7: South America

Encyclopedia of Prehistory General Editors: Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember

Volume 1: Africa

Volume 2: Arctic and Subarctic

Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania

Volume 4: Europe

Volume 5: Middle America

Volume 6: North America

Volume 7: South America

Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia

Volume 9: Cumulative Index

Encyclopedia of Prehistory Volume 7: South America

Edited by

Peter N. Peregrine Lawrence University Appleton, Wisconsin

and

Melvin Ember Human Relations Area FileslYale University New Haven, Connecticut

Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Encyclopedia of prehistory/edited by Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 5. Middle America ISBN 978-1-4684-7134-2 ISBN 978-1-4615-0521-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-0521-1

I. Prehistoric peoples-Encyclopedias. 2. Antiquities, Prehistoric-Encyclopedias. I. Human Relations Area Files, Inc.

GN710 .E53 2000 960' .l'03-dc21

ISBN 978-1-4684-7134-2

© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2001

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All rights reserved

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

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ADVISORY BOARD

STANLEY H. AMBROSE

ROBERT E. ACKERMAN

BETTINA ARNOLD

RICHARD E. BLANTON

UMESH CHATTOPADHYAYA

JAMES DENBOW

D. BRUCE DICKSON

TIMOTHY K. EARLE

GARY M. FEINMAN

ANTONIO GILMAN

JONATHAN HAAS

MARY HELMS

WILLIAM F. KEEGAN

LAWRENCE H. KEELEY

JAIME LITVAK KING

PHILIP KOHL

ALEXANDER LESKOV

WILLIAM D. LIPE

JOYCE MARCUS

RONALD J. MASON

VINCENT PIGOTT

THOMAS J. RILEY

ANNA C. ROOSEVELT

JEREMY A. SABLOFF

FRED SMITH

ANNE P. UNDERHILL

NIKOLAAS J. VAN DER MERWE

RICHARD ZETTLER

University of illinois, Urbana Washington State University University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Purdue University University of Allahabad University of Texas, Austin Texas A&M University Northwestern University The Field Museum California State University, Northridge The Field Museum University of North Carolina, Greensboro Florida Museum of Natural History University of illinois, Chicago Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Wellesley College German Archaeological Institute Washington State University University of Michigan Lawrence University University of Pennsylvania North Dakota State University The Field Museum University of Pennsylvania Northern illinois University The Field Museum Harvard University University of Pennsylvania

The Encyclopedia of Prehistory was prepared under the auspices and with the support of the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University. The foremost international research organization in the field of cultural anthropology, HRAF is a nonprofit consortium of 19 Sponsoring Member institutions and more than 400 active and inactive Associate Member institutions in nearly 40 countries. The mission of HRAF is to provide information that facilitates the cross-cultural study of human behavior, society, and culture. The HRAF Collection of Ethnography, which has been building since 1949, contains nearly one million pages of information, indexed according to more than 700 subject categories, on the cultures of the world. An increasing portion of the Collection of Ethnography, which now covers more than 365 cultures, is accessible electronically each year to member institutions. The HRAF Collection of Archaeology, the first installment of which appeared in 1999, is accessible electronically each year to those member institutions opting to receiving it. Each year the Collection of Archaeology adds indexed full-text materials on a random sample of the major traditions in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory. After a tradition has been included in the Collection of Archaeology, HRAF plans to add materials on the complete archaeological sequence relevant to the tradition.

Contri bu tors

Mark Aldenderfer Department of Anthropology University of California Santa Barbara, California United States

Daniel Aresenault Department d'histoire Universite Laval Quebec Canada

Tamara L. Bray Department of Anthropology Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan United States

Jose Proenza Brochado CEPA,IFCH Pontificia Universidade Catolica do RGS Rio Grande do SuI Brazil

David Browman Department of Anthropology Washington University St.Louis, Missouri United States

Warren B. Church Department of Environmental Sciences Columbus State University Columbus, Georgia United States

Tom Dillehay Department of Anthropology University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky United States

Timothy Earle Department of Anthropology Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois United States

Paul Goldstein Department of Anthropology University of California, San Diego San Diego, California United States

Wesley Hurt (deceased)

William Isbell Department of Anthropology State University of New York Binghampton, New York United States

vii

viii Contributors

Patricia J. Knobloch La Mesa, California United States

Lawrence Kuznar Department of Sociology and Anthropology Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Indiana United States

Jerry Moore Department of Anthropology California State University, Domniguez Hills Carson, California United States

Peter N. Peregrine Department of Anthropology Lawrence University Appleton, Wisconsin United States

Ernesto Luis Piana CADIC-CONICET Malvinas Argentinas sin Tierra del Fuego Argentina

Thomas Pozorski Department of Psychology and Anthropology University of Texas-Pan American Edinburg, Texas United States

Shelia Pozorski Department of Psychology and Anthropology University of Texas-Pan American Edinburg, Texas United States

Donald Proulx Department of Anthropology University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts United States

John Rick Department of Anthropological Science Stanford University Stanford, California United States

Anna Roosevelt Department of Anthropology The Field Museum and Department of Anthropology University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois United States

Charles Stanish Department of Anthropology University of California Los Angeles, California United States

Preface

The Encyclopedia of Prehistory represents an attempt to provide basic information on all archaeologically known cultures, covering the entire globe and the entire prehistory of humankind. It is designed as a tool to assist in doing comparative research on the peoples of the past. Most of the entries are written by the world's foremost experts on the particular areas and time periods.

The Encyclopedia is organized accord­ing to major traditions. A major tradition is defined as a group of populations sharing similar subsistence practices, technology, and forms of sociopolitical organization, which are spatially contiguous over a rela­tively large area and which endure tempo­rally for a relatively long period. Minimal areal coverage for a major tradition can be thought of as something like 100,000 square kilometers, while minimal tempo­ral duration can be thought of as some­thing like five centuries. Major traditions are not quite like cultures in an ethnolog­ical sense because, in addition to socio­culturally defining characteristics, major traditions generally have a more extended

temporal dimension. Major traditions are also defined by a somewhat different set of sociocultural characteristics than are eth­nological cultures. Major traditions are defined based on common subsistence practices, sociopolitical organization, and material industries, but language, ideology, and kinship ties play little or no part in their definition because they are virtually unrecoverable from archaeological con­texts. In contrast, language, ideology, and kinship ties are central to defining ethno­logical cultures.

There are three types of entries in the Encyclopedia: the major tradition entry, the regional subtradition entry, and the site entry. Each contains different types of information, and each is intended to be used in a different way. The major tradi­tion entry is a general summary of infor­mation about a single major tradition; it provides descriptive information about the environment and culture of the people whose lifeways comprised the tradition. The major tradition entry lacks formal references but provides a list of suggested readings. Although the geographical and

ix

x Preface

temporal range of the major tradition entry was stipulated for the authors, they were given the freedom to define regional subtraditions and sites on the basis of their own interpretations of the archaeo­logical record. Regional subtradition and site entries, then, focus on archaeological areas and locales that are conventionally distinguished in the archaeological record for a given major tradition. The regional subtradition and site entries provide spe­cific information on the unique archaeo­logical record of a particular region or a particular archaeological site and are fully referenced.

How to Use the Encyclopedia of Prehistory

How you use the Encyclopedia will differ depending on the type of research you are doing. For most projects, you will want to begin with the maps at the front of the volume. Each map shows the geographi­cal range of the major traditions in the volume at a given point in time. You may consult these maps and find the name(s) of major traditions in an area or time period of interest. The major tradition entries are organized alphabetically, with associated regional subtradition and site entries fol­lowing immediately after the major tradi­tion entry. It is important to note that although all major traditions have entries in the Encyclopedia, not all major tradi­tions have regional subtradition or site entries associated with them. As noted above, in compiling the Encyclopedia, we allowed the authors to decide whether there is enough information in the archae­ological record to warrant distinguishing regional subtraditions. Similarly, we al­lowed authors to determine which (if any) archaeological sites are important enough to warrant individual entries.

If you have a particular topic of interest, you will want to scan the major tradition entries and use the topical head­ings to determine which of the major traditions have information on that par­ticular topic. Not all major tradition

entries have information on all topics, but the following is a complete listing of the topics for which information may be presented:

Absolute Time Period Relative Time Period Location Diagnostic Material Attributes Regional Subtraditions Important Sites Environment

Climate Topography Geology Biota

Settlements Settlement system Community organization Housing Population, health, and disease

Economy Subsistence

Wildfoods Domestic foods

Industrial arts Utensils Ornaments Trade Division of labor Differential access or control of resources

Sociopolitical Organization Social organization Political organization Social control Conflict

Religion and Expressive Culture Religious beliefs Religious practitioners Ceremonies Arts Death and afterlife

Suggested Readings

Preparing the Encyclopedia of Prehistory

To develop the Encyclopedia, we first had to develop a comprehensive list of major traditions. To do this, we divided the

world into eight regions: Africa, the Arctic and Subarctic, East Asia and Oceania, Europe, Middle America, North America, South America, and Southwest Asia. We then consulted basic, summary literature on the prehistory of each region and drew up a preliminary catalogue of the major traditions of the world. We sent this pre­liminary catalogue to our advisory board for comment and critique and revised the catalogue according to their suggestions. The revised catalogue was then sent to the advisory board for a final review and critique.

Once the complete list of major tradi­tions was assembled, we invited recogni­zed experts on the region and time period of each major tradition to contribute en­tries. Solicitations continued until we found authors for virtually all the major traditions. In extending these invitations, we tried whenever possible to first invite archaeologists from the region of the major tradition. We are pleased that schol­ars from more than 20 nations agreed to contribute to the Encyclopedia. We invited authors to comment on the definition of their major tradition and made numerous substantive changes based on their input. We also invited authors to contribute additional entries on important regional subtraditions and sites for their major traditions; many, although not all, did so. We reviewed all completed entries, and, if there were substantive questions or con­cerns about a particular entry, we asked appropriate members of the advisory board for adjudication.

We have used a fairly light hand in editing the entries that comprise the Encyclopedia. Our reasons were twofold: first, we wanted to maintain the authors' individual styles, despite the outline we required them to follow; second, inter­preting the archaeological record is often not as empirical and scientific as many of us would like to believe. Experience with and knowledge of local variation in the archaeological record are often critical to interpretation. Thus we thought it impor­tant to allow the experts working in a particular area to advance interpretations of the archaeological record with which they are comfortable. We never forced authors to provide information on a topic for which they thought there were no data; nor did we remove statements that seemed to stretch the available data. In short, we have let the experts speak in their own voices.

Acknowledgments

Many people helped in preparing the Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Carol R. Em­ber, Executive Director of the Human Relations Area Files; Eliot Werner, Exec­utive Editor for the Behavioral and Social Sciences at Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; the copyeditor and Herman Makler and the rest of the production staff at Kluwer Academic/Plenum Pub­lishers; and the members of our advisory board. We thank all of them, and of course the authors of the entries, for their help in creating this unique work.

Preface xi

Contents

Andean Regional Development 1

David Browman

SUBTRADITIONS: Cajamarca, 5 Huarpa, 8 Qeya, 10 Recuay, 13 Usupukio, 15

Andean Regional States 18

Timothy Earle

SUBTRADITIONS: Andean Chiefdoms of the Central and Northern Highlands, 23 Andean Coastal Valleys States and Chiefdoms, 26

SITES: Cerro Azul, 29 Chiribaya Alta, 30 Punchaumarca, 31 Tunanmarca, 32

Aymara Kingdoms 34

Charles Stanish

Chavtn 38

Warren B. Church

SUBTRADITIONS: Highland Chavin, 42 Coastal Chavin 45

SITES: Ataura, 48 Cerro Blanco, 49 Chon goy ape, 50 Karwa, 51 Kotosh, 52 Kuntur Wasi, 53 Pacopampa, 54 PalIk a 56

Chimu 58 Jerry Moore

SITES: Cerro de la Virgen, 64 Chan Chan, 65 EI Milagro de San Jose, 68 Farfan, 69 Manchan, 70 Quebrada Santa Cristina, 71

Coastal Andean Archaic 73

Peter N. Peregrine

Early Amazonian 75

Anna Roosevelt

Early Coastal Andean Formative 78

Sheila and Thomas Pozorski

SUBTRADITIONS: Central Coast Early Coastal Formative, 81 North Coast Early Coastal Formative, 83 North-Central Coast Early Coastal Formative, 85

SITES: Cardal, 87 Cerro Blanco, 88 Cerro Sechin, 88 Garagay, 89 Huaca de los Reyes, 90 Huaca Lucia, 91 La Florida, 91 Las Haldas, 92 Monte Grande, 92 Pampa de Las Llamas-Moxeke, 93 Punkuri, 94 Purulen, 95 Sechin Alto 95 Taukachi-Konkan, 96

Early East Brazilian Uplands 98

Wesley Hurt

SUBTRADITIONS: Flake and Core Tool, 99 Itaparica, 100 Serran6polis, 101 Southern Brazilian Core Tool, 102

SITES: Abrigo 6, Cerca Grande, 103 Abrigo do Pilao, 104 Jose Vieira, 105 GO-JA-Ol, 105 GO-JA-03, 106 Gruta do Padre 107

xiii

xiv Contents

Early Highland Andean Archaic 108 John Rick

SUBTRADITIONS: Central Andean, 111 North Andean, 114 Southern Andean, 115

SITES: Asana, 117 Guitarrero Cave, 118 Pachamachay Cave, 119 Puente, 119

Early Parana-Pampean 121

Peter N. Peregrine

Highland Andean Formative 123

David Browman

SUBTRADITIONS: Chiripa, 127 Huamachuco, 130 Pucara, 133 Wichqana, 135

Huari 138

Patricia J. Knobloch

SUBTRADITIONS: Huarpa, 141 Nasca, 142

SITES: Azangaro, 143 Conchopata, 144 Huari, 145 Jincamocco, 146 Pachacamac, 147 Pikillacta, 148

Inca 150 Tamara Bray

SUBTRADITIONS: Imperial Heartland, 156 Antisuyu, 160 Chinchaysuyu, 166 Collasuyu, 171 Cuntisuyu, 176

SITES: Cuzco, 181 HUlinaco Pampa, 183 Incallacta, 185 Ingapirca, 186 Island of the Sun, 187 Machu Picchu, 188 Ollantaytambo, 190 Rumicucho, 191 Samaipata, 192 Tomebamba, 193

Late Amazonian 195

Anna Roosevelt

Late Andean Hunting-Collecting 200

Mark Aldender/er

SUBTRADITIONS: Central Andean, 203 Circum-Titicaca, 205 Northern Andean, 207 South-Central, 207

SITES: Asana, 209 Chobshi Cave, 210 Guitarrero Cave, 210 Lauricocha, 211 Pachamachay, 212 Pikimachay, 212 Que1catani, 213 Telarmachay, 214 Toquepala, 214 Viscachani, 215

Late Coastal Andean Formative 217

Sheila and Thomas Pozorski

SUBTRADITIONS: North Coast Late Coastal Formative, 220 South Coast Late Coastal Formative, 222

SITES: Chankillo, 223 Kushipampa, 224 Pampa Rosario, 225 Paracas, 226 San Diego, 226

Late East Brazilian Uplands 228

Wesley Hurt

SUBTRADITIONS: Casas Subternlneas, 229 Humaita, 230

SITES: Abrigo de Waldermar, 231 Lagoa Sao Paulo, 232 PR-FO-17, 232 RS-SM-07, 233 Tres Vendas, 234

Late Highland Andean Archaic 235

Lawrence Kuznar

SUBTRADITIONS: Central Highland Andean Terminal Late Archaic, 239 South-Central Highland Andean Terminal Late Archaic, 243 Salt Puna Terminal Late Archaic, 246

SITES: Asana, 248 Huaricoto, Terminal Pachamachay, 250 Puripica 1, 250 Que1catani, 251 Tulan 52, 251

Late Parana-Pampean 253

Peter N. Peregrine

Magellan-Fuegan 255

Ernesto Luis Piana

SUBTRADITIONS: Beagle Channel-Cape Horn, 259 Western Magellan-Otway, 262

SITES: Bahia Buena-Punta Santa Ara, 265 Englefield, 265 Lancha Packewaia, 266 Shamakush I, 267 Tunel I, 268 Tunel VII, 269, Punta Baja I, 270

Moche 272

Daniel Arsenault

Nasca (Nazca) 280

Donald Proulx

SITES: Cahuachi, 284 Pampa de San Jose, 285 Ocucaje, 286 Ventilla, 287

Old Amazonian Collecting-Hunting 289

Anna Roosevelt

Old South American Hunting-Collecting 293

Tom Dillehay

SUBTRADITIONS: Flake Tool, 296 Leaf-shaped Projectile Point, 297 Stemmed Projectile Point, 298

SITES: Itaparita Phase Sites in Eastern Brazil, 299 Monte Verde, 300 Patagonia Complex, 301 Tagua-Tagua, 302 Tequendama, 302

Sambaqui 304

Wesley Hurt

SUBTRADITIONS: Itarare(Atlantic Coast Village), 305 Nitoroi(Refuse Mound), 306 Paranagua (Platform Mound), 307

Contents xv

SITES: Pantano do SuI, 308 Praia da Tapera, 309 Sambaqui da Caieira, 310 Sambaqui de Camboinhas, 310 Sambaqui da Carni9a, 311 Sambaqui at Forte Marechal Luz, 312 Sambaqui da Pedra Oca, 313 Sambaqui da Pia9aguera, 314 Sambaquis de Ponta das Almas, 315 Sambaqui do Rio Sao Joao, 315

South Andean Ceramic 317

Peter N. Peregrine

Tiwanaku 319

Paul Goldstein

SUBTRADITIONS: Azapa Tiwanaku, 327 Cochabamba Tiwanaku, 330 Moquegua Tiwanaku, 332 San Pedro de Atacama Tiwakanu, 335 Tiwakanu Core Region, 339

Tupi 343

Jose Proenza Brochado

SUBTRADITIONS: Guarani, 347 Tupinamba, 350

SITES: Almeida, 352 Arroyo Malo, Fazenda Soares, 353 Sao Miguel del Itaiacec6, 354

Index 355

Introduction

South America is a continent of amazing diversity. On the west coast the Andes rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean and climb rapidly to more than 6000 m, then decend into the broad Amazon and Pampas basins. The Amazon is an equatorial rainforest, while the Pampas is a rich grassland. On the east coast the land rises again to a broad upland known as the Brazilian Highlands. These uplands are situated above 2000 m and stretch from the north coast of Brazil south of Uruguay. I find that South America can be usefully divided into four major regions: the Andes, the Amazon, the Pampas, and the eastern highlands. One other region of South America-the northwestern lowlands of Colombia, Venezuela, and the Intermediate Area-is covered in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 5: Middle America, as are the coastal and highland regions of Ecuador. While there is great diversity (both cultural and environmental) in each of these regions and none of them has clear boundaries, I find this division provides a useful framework for looking at the prehistory of South America. In this brief introduction I hope to provide an overview of South American prehistory as a way to give context to the more specific entries that follow in this volume of the Encyclopedia of Prehistory.

The Andes

The earliest archaeological tradition in the Andes is the Old South American Hunting-Collecting (c. 13,000-

10,000 B.P.) tradition; it may be the oldest established archaeological tradition in the New World, currently predating all other recognized traditions. People of the Old South American Hunting-Collecting tradition were, as the name implies, nomadic hunters and gatherers of Pleistocene megafauna and plant species. They were followed by peoples of the Late Andean Hunting­Collecting (c. 8000-6000 B.P.) tradition, who were also nomadic hunters and gatherers. By the time period of this traditon, Pleistocene fauna had disappeared, and peoples were hunting and gathering a wider variety of plant and animal species. This "broad spectrum" foraging was also true for peoples of the Early Highland Andean Archaic (7000-4500 B.P.) tradition, but these peoples also started experimenting with plant cultiva­tion, particularly Chenopodium, perhaps some root crops including potato, and there is some evidence that alpacas were beginning to be kept.

Plant and animal domestication was in place by the time of the Late Highland Andean Archaic (4500-3500 B.P.) and Coastal Andean Archaic (c. 7000-4100 B.P.)

traditions. Coastal Andean Archaic peoples raised a wide variety of plants, including squash, maize, pota­toes, and beans, and kept llama and guinea pig. They supplemented these domestic foods with resources from the sea, and lived in large coastal villages near fresh water sources. Late Highland Andean Archaic peoples appear to have been seasonally sedentary and main­tained a fairly high reliance on wild foods. However,

xvii

xviii Introduction

Late Highland Andean Archaic peoples did cultivate potatoes, beans, peppers, and other crops, and may have kept llama or alpaca. Ceramics were first made by peoples of the Highland Andean Formative (3500-2200 B.P.) tradition, who moved seasonally and lived in small villages of adobe houses. Llama and alpaca were kept, and potatoes and other root and grain crops were grown in summer villages. By the end of the tradition it appears that the highlands had become segregated into a series of perhaps a dozen regional polities.

Political deVelopment occurred somewhat more rapidly on the Andean coast. During the Early Coastal Andean Formative (4100-3000 B.P.) tradition, a settle­ment hierarchy emerged with large regional centers containing groups of carefully arranged platform mounds. Irrigation agriculture was established, and fish and shellfish were intensively harvested from the sea. This pattern continued through the Late Coastal Andean Formative (3000-2200 B.P.) tradition, with regional centers growing into true urban communities and the appearance fortified military sites. In the highlands, however, people of the Chavin (2800-2200 B.P.) tradition also developed a powerful centralized polity, focused at the large temple center of Chavin de Huantar. During the Andean Regional Development (2200-1300 B.P.) tradition, temple centers spread throughout the highlands as the foci of numerous regional polities.

The first Andean states appeared along the northern Peruvian coast. Peoples of the Moche (1950-1200 B.P.) tradition created true urban centers with several thou­sand residents and supported by a complex system of irrigation agriculture. On the southern coast, people of the Nasca (2200-1300 B.P.) tradition built large ceremo­nial centers, but these do not appear to have had large resident populations. Most people lived in agricultural villages in river valleys, some of which grew quite large over time. While a state may have been present, it is more likely that the Nasca peoples lived in regional chiefdoms. The Tiwanaku (1600-900 B.P.) tradition marks the first appearance of states in the highlands. People of the Tiwanaku tradition developed what appears to be a powerful centralized state in the area around Lake Titicaca. The state was supported by large­scale herding of llama and alpaca, and coordinated raised-field agriculture.

Peoples of the Huari (1200-950 B.P.) tradition developed in the northern highlands of Peru what may be the first Andean empire. Communities appear to have been planned, and common forms of dress and iconog­raphy suggest that Huari leaders were integrated into a complex, multi regional political system. This wide­spread integration appears to have dissolved into

regionally distinct polities in the Andean Regional States (900-530 B.P.) and Aymara Kingdoms (900-530 B.P.) traditions, but reappeared during the Inca (c. 800-468 B.P.) tradition. It is clear that in all three traditions powerful elites ruled large agricultural population from urban centers. On the north coast of peru, the Chimu (1050-480 B.P.) tradition followed a similar pattern. The political center of Chan Chan had perhaps 50,000 residents, while agricultural hamlets may have had only a few families. These communities were integrated into a single polity through a king and a group of provincial and local elites. Finally, along the southern Andean coasts, peoples of the South Andean Ceramic (c. 2500-500 B.P.) tradition appear to have been influenced by political developments to the north and began coalesc­ing into large communities and regional polities that persisted until the Spanish conquest.

The Amazon

Until recently it was thought that the Amazon basin was the last area of South America to be inhabited by humans. Today we know that the Amazon was inhab­ited from the time the first humans entered the conti­nent. Peoples of the Old Amazonian Collecting-Hunting (11,000-7000 B.P.) tradition entered the region as nomadic collectors of forest nuts and fruits, fishers, and hunters of small game. By the time of the Early Amazonian (7000-2000 B.P.) tradition, peoples living in the Amazon basin appear to have begun settling in small villages, making ceramics, and experimenting with plant cultivation. They also hunted, fished, and collected extensively. Peoples of the Late Amazonian (2000-50 B.P.) tradition were village-dwelling horticulturalists who both planted domestic crops and cultivated wild trees and other plants. There is evidence that some villages were led by elites, and there is even evidence of regional site hierarchies in some areas.

The Pampas

The vast grasslands and arid flatlands of the Pampas and Patagonia have been home to humans for more than 10,000 years. Unfortunately, the material record of their lives has proved difficult to find and recover, and archaeological knowledge of the region is in a compar­atively unsophisticated state. The earliest distinct tradi­tion is the Early Parana-Pampean (7000-1500 B.P.) tradition. Peoples of this tradition were nomadic hunter gatherers who focused hunting on guanaco, rhea, and deer. They also fished and gathered a wide variety of plant foods. They were followed by peoples of the Late Parana-Pampean (1500-500 B.P.) tradition. These peo-

pIes were also hunters and gatherers, but some groups, particularly in the larger river valleys, also practiced agriculture and lived in sedentary villages, sometimes quite large. To the far south, peoples of the Magellan­Fuegian (6300-50 B.P.) tradition lived on the rugged Patagonian coasts in small nomadic groups. They hunted, gathered, and fished, with a particular emphasis on sea mammals and shellfish.

The Eastern Highlands

The first archeological tradition in the Eastern High­lands is the Early East Brazilian Uplands (11,000-5000 B.P.) tradition. Peoples of this tradition were hunters and gatherers who lived in rockshelters or small open-air sites. Most sites were probably occupied by individual families. Early in the tradition they hunted the last of the Pleistocene megafauna, but changed to hunting pecca­riys, tapir, capybara, and similar animal as the megafa­una became extinct. They were followed by peoples of the Late East Brazilian Uplands (5000-50 B.P.) tradition, who continued to hunt and gather, but supplemented those wild foods with domesticated horticultural prod­ucts. They also constructed villages of up to dozen pit houses and produced ceramics. Peoples of the Sambaqui (7000-500 B.P.) tradition lived during the same time as both the Early and the Late East Brazilian Uplands peoples, but occupied the coastal areas and focused subsistence on marine resources. They built distinctive mounds of shells, some of which were apparently used to support houses. Finally, peoples of the Tupi (1500-150 B.P.) tradition lived in small villages along the Brazilian coast and the interior region of the Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay rivers. They fished, hunted, and raised a variety of domestic plants. In the historic period, village chiefs were present and village warfare was endemic, but it is unclear whether either was common in the prehistoric period.

Summary

The prehistory of South America seems one of disparate regional evolution, with Andean populations rapidly evolving village life and political centralization, and other populations maintaining a fairly stable way of life for thousands of years. The lifeways of peoples in the interior of the continent and on the eastern coasts seem to have remained largely unchanged after the adoption of agriculture, and all seem to have followed similar hunting and gathering way of life before agricultural crops were introduced. Perhaps this picture is biased because of the relative paucity of information for areas outside of the Andes, but it does appear that the Andes

Introduction xix

were a particularly vibrant region for sociopolitical evolution. Why? What accounts for the dynamic nature of Andean cultural evolution when compared to the rest of the continent and, indeed, to much of the rest of the New World? Why didn't sociopolitical complexity appear, for example, in fertile and populous areas in the eastern highlands? Why was it the central Andes that saw the most dramatic changes, not the southern Andes? Questions such as these are at the center of most current archaeological research, and yet our answers are far from adequate. One purpose of the Encyclopedia of Prehistory is to offer a broad range of cases in order to examine such questions and test hypotheses about cultural evolution. Perhaps through a comparative perspective we will gain a better understanding of cultural evolution in South America and throughout the world.

A Word about the Entries

While the above summary may suggest a uniform knowledge of the archaeological record across South America, nothing could be farther from the truth. Some traditions have been the focus of intensive research, while others have gained the interest of only a few scholars. For example, we know considerably more about the Andes, even its very early prehistory, than we do about the Amazon or Pampas. The reasons for this variation are often difficult to ascertain, but have to do with physical accessibility, the personal interests of the researchers, as well as larger questions being asked by the community of archaeologists. As you use the Encyclopedia, bear in mind that some traditions have more and better information than others.

The above summary may also make it appear that the prehistory of South America can be easily cut up into discrete chunks. It cannot. As we discuss in the Preface to this volume, the units designed to organize the Encyclopedia of Prehistory-major archaeological traditions-are to some extent arbitrary, and they are most certainly meaningless in the context of the lives of the prehistoric peoples themselves. They are devices of our creation, in the present day, to make possible the comparative analysis of the peoples of the past. Thus, when I say, for example, that the Early Coastal Andean Formative tradition was followed by the Late Coastal Andean Formative tradition, it should not be taken to imply that the break between the two is clear and discrete, or that all people changed in exactly the same ways at precisely the same time. Nor should such a statement imply that there was a population replace­ment between the two traditions. More importantly, such a statement should not be taken to imply that the

xx Introduction

peoples of either tradition knew they were living in any sort of unity with other people who we, from our perspective today, suggest shared a common archaeo­logical tradition.

Any undertaking this massive will face goals that cannot be met. While we attempted to have each entry written by a noted scholar on the given tradition, conflicting schedules, miscommunication, and unfore­seen circumstances forced a number of scholars to miss our deadlines or withdraw from contributing to the Encyclopedia. In those cases I produced (often with

generous assistance from other scholars and members of the editorial board) what I call "minimalist" entries which provide basic information on major traditions and bibliographical source material for further research. These entries, while checked and approved by regional experts, were not written by an expert, and should, perhaps, be taken less seriously than other entries in the volume.

PETER N. PEREGRINE

Late Amazonian

Tiahuana 0

pean

( I) South America shO\~ing major traditions at 1000 B.I'.

Late Amazonian

Early Parana-P mpean

(2) South America showing major traditions at 2000 B.f'.

Early Amazonian

Late Coastal Andean Formati

Early Parana-P mpean

(3) outh America showing major traditions at 3000 8.1'.

Early Amazonian

te Archaic

Late East Brazilian Upl

Coastal Andean Archaic

(4) South America showing major traditions at 4000 11.1'.

Early Amazonian

rly Archaic

Late East Brazilian Upl

Coastal Andean Archaic

Early Parana-P mpean

(5) oulh America showing major Irad il ions at 5000 B.I'.

Old Amazonian Hunting-Collecting

Early East Brazilia Uplands

Late Andean

(6) South America showing major traditions at 8000 11.1'.

Old Amazonian Hunting-Collecting

Early East Brazilia Uplands

(7) South America showing major traditions a t 10,000 8.1'.