May 2015 Ancient Andean Lectures and Conferences

[Mike R]

May 1, 6:45 PM
Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC May Lecture
"Unwrapping Khipu History: Using Structural Analysis to Trace the Development of Inka Khipus" 
Jeffrey C. Splitstoser, PhD
Prior to contact with the Old World, the peoples of the New World—other than the Maya—did not write, at least not in the way Westerners think of writing where signs (letters) represent speech. The Inkas, who ruled much of South America at the time of conquest, did not write, but they had khipus, knotted-string devices that served as their primary recordkeeping tool. The Inkas ran an empire using khipus. Unfortunately, there is no guide to reading khipus, no khipu “Rosetta Stone,” no dictionary. What we know comes primarily from ethnohistorical sources (Spanish chroniclers), court documents, and archaeology.
Recent research, including ongoing excavations at El Castillo de Huarmey, has confirmed the existence of Middle Horizon (ca. AD 500–1000) Wari (Peru’s first empire) khipus, proving that the khipu was not invented by the Inka. They represent the culmination of thousands of years of technological development whose origins might be found as early as Late Paracas times (ca. 500–200 BC), where excavations at the Ica Valley site of Cerrillos revealed khipu-like objects made ca. 350‒300 BC. Using original research, this talk will discuss the development of Inka khipus from their possible origins in Late Paracas wrapped cords through their antecedents in intricately wrapped and knotted Middle Horizon Wari khipus.
Dr. Jeffrey C. Splitstoser is currently an Assistant Research Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University. He received his Master’s degree (1999) and PhD (2009) in anthropology from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. Splitstoser’s dissertation research focused on textile practices and culture at Cerrillos, an Early Paracas site in the Ica Valley in Peru. He is currently researching at El Castillo de Huarmey, studying textiles and khipus recently excavated from the tombs of three Wari queens (ca. AD 700–1000).[1] Splitstoser is also the textile specialist for the Huaca Prieta Archaeological Project (Tom Dillehay, principal investigator), studying 6,200-year-old cotton textiles, some colored blue and representing the earliest known use of indigo dye in the world. Splitstoser is a research associate of the Institute of Andean Studies, Berkeley. He is also Vice President of the Boundary End Archaeology Research Center in Barnardsville, North Carolina, and the editor (with Dr. David Stuart) of its peer-reviewed journals, Ancient America and Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing. He also provides consultation on Andean textiles for the National Museum of the American Indian. Splitstoser was a Junior Fellow at the Dumbarton Oaks (2005‒2006). He is a Cosmos Club scholar.
[1] “Peru’s Royal Wari Tomb,” 
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/peru-tomb/pringle-text
Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives
1201 17th Street NW
Washington DC 
http://www.pcswdc.org

May 9, 1:30 PM
Pre-Columbian Society at the Penn Museum May Lecture
3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324    Room 345   1:30 PM
"The PERU LNG Project’s Contribution to World Heritage" 
Gregory Lockard, PhD: Senior Consultant, Enviromental Resources Management, Washington, D.C.
The PERU LNG Project involved the construction of a natural gas pipeline, liquefaction plant, and marine terminal to load liquid natural gas (LNG) ships.  The Project also involved the use of a quarry to obtain rocks for the construction of a breakwater at the marine terminal.  The principal objective of the PERU LNG Archaeological Project was to obtain permits from the Instituto Nacional de Cultura, which was Peru’s archaeology authority at the time, for the construction of the plant, quarry, and pipeline.  As one of the largest archaeological investigations in the history of Peru, the project included surveys, site evaluations, rescue (i.e., data recovery) excavations, and archaeological monitoring.  A total of 137 archaeological sites were rescued, and an additional 140 sites were investigated as chance finds (i.e., inadvertent discoveries) under archaeological monitoring plans.  Sites ranged from major archaeological complexes to very small artifact scatters.  This talk will present the results of the PERU LNG Archaeological Project, focusing on the four major complexes that were investigated: Pumapuquio, a highland Wari residential and administrative center; Corpas, a highland Warpa/Wari agricultural, residential, and ritual center; Rumajasa, a highland Wari/Chanka funerary site; and Bernales, a coastal Chincha site associated with a small adobe platform mound.     
Greg Lockard received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 2005. His graduate studies focused on the Moche and Chimu cultures of the north coast of Peru. His dissertation was on Political Power and Economy at the Archaeological Site of Galindo, Moche Valley, Peru. From 2011 to 2014, he led a multidisciplinary team providing all cultural resources support for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Responses along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Archaeological surveys conducted during the project identified 115 new sites and revisited 447 previously recorded sites. The project also involved a detailed investigation and assessment of Fort Livingston, a Civil War era fort. From 2008 to 2011, he served as the lead archaeologist for the PERU LNG Project. He is currently a Senior Consultant at Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Washington, D.C
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
Room 345
3260 South Street, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.precolumbian.org/nextmeeting.HTM 

May 15, 7:00 PM
"Inca: Conquests of the Andes/Los incas y las conquistas de los andes" 
Join Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, The Ellen and Harry S. Parker III Assistant Curator of the Arts of the Americas, for a lecture exploring the DMA’s newest exhibition, Inca: Conquests of the Andes/Los incas y las conquistas de los andes, which opens this evening in Chilton Gallery II. Featuring over 120 objects—from ceramic and gold vessels to textile and feather garments—the exhibition conveys the richness and dynamism of over 1,000 years of Andean cultural history.
Horchow Auditorium 
Dallas Museum of Art
1717 North Harwood
Dallas, Texas 
https://www.dma.org/programs/event/inca-conquests-andeslos-incas-y-las-conquistas-de-los-andes

May 16
South American Archaeology Seminar
10.00 am*/Coffee/ Registration/*
10.30: Francisca Santana Sagredo (Oxford University) - /Dietary variability and mobility patterns in the world’s driest desert: stable isotope analysis and ancient populations in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile/.
11.10: María Carolina Rivet (CONICET) - /Ancestry in the Andes. An archaeological contribution from the Puna of JujuyProvince (Northwest Argentina)/
11.50://Phillip Riris (UCL) & Rafael Corteletti (Universidade Federal do Paraná) /Computational photographic survey at Avencal, Santa Catarina, Brazil: A New Record of Pre-Columbian Rock Art with Polynomial Texture Mapping/
*/Lunch/*//
1.30 pm Umberto Lombardo (Bern University) /10,000 years of human-environment interactions in SW Amazonia/*.*
2.10: Eduardo Machicado-Murillo (Cambridge University) - Environmental instability and the development of settlement patterns and land use in San Ignacio de Moxos, Eastern Bolivia
2.50: Sanna Saunaluoma (Helsinki University) Geoglyphs and Circular Villages In Southwestern Amazonia: Archaeological And Ethnohistorical Perspectives
*/Tea/*
3.50:Bruna Rocha (UCL) Shifting Frontiers along the Tapajós Rapids
4.20:Carla Jaimes (Deutsche Archäologisches Institut) From millennium to millennium: stylistic ruptures and transformations in the southeastern mounds of the Llanos de Mojos
5.00:Jose Iriarte (University of Exeter), Francis Mayle (University of Reading), Bronwen Whitney (Northumbria University), John Carson (University of Reading), Jennifer Watling (University of Exeter). ‘Environmental impacts of agrarian societies in Amazonia: Lessons from the Llanos de Moxos’
Anyone wishing to attend is welcome.Please email Manuel Arroyo-Kalin at ucl....@gmail.com <mailto:ucl....@gmail.com> to reserve a place (note this is a new e-mail address)
Ground Floor Lecture Room, G6
The Institute of Archaeology, UCL
34 Gordon Square,
London, England

May 18, 6:00 PM
 Southwest Seminars Lecture
"Recent Archaeology of South America and Latest Research Findings from Monte Verde, Chile"
Dr. Thomas Dalton Dillehay, Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies, Vanderbilt University
Santa Fe Hotel
Santa Fe, New Mexico
http://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/events/ancient-sites-ancient-stories-2015-9/

May 21, 7:30 PM
South Suburban Archaeological Society Lecture
"Earliest Coastal Peruvian Temples" 
Matthew Piscitelli, Ph.D., Instructor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago
Marie Irwin Center 
Homewood, Illinois
http://www.arkyfacts.org/lectures.html

May 28, 6:00 PM
Nevada State Museum Humphrey Lecture Series
"Ancient Civilizations of Peru"
Dr. Hal Starratt 
Starratt’s “Andean Prehistory: The Archaeology of Ancient Civilizations in Peru” lecture looks beyond the Inca civilization in South America. Specifically, he will discuss the history of the Moché culture, which flourished for more than 800 years.
Starratt began his archaeological career working at classic Mayan sites in Mexico and Honduras. In 2002, he accepted an invitation to work at the Moché site of El Brujo on the northern coast of Peru. That began a six-year study of ancient Andean civilizations. 
His work included recording and photographing delicate murals adorning the Moché pyramids, and excavating a sacred well site at El Brujo. 
Nevada State Museum 
Carson City, Nevada 
http://www.wnc.edu/news/2015-04-27e.php

Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and Lectures
http://bit.ly/11aKJzE