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Rethinking the Andes-Amazonia Divide

A Cross-Disciplinary Exploration

Nowhere on Earth is there an ecological transformation so swift and so extreme as between the snow line of the high Andes and the tropical rainforest of Amazonia. Because of that, the different disciplines that research the human past in South America have tended to treat these two great subzones of the continent as self-contained enough to be studied independently of each other. Objections to that approach have repeatedly been raised, however, warning against imagining too sharp a divide between the people and societies of the Andes and Amazonia when there are clear indications of significant connections and transitions between them.
 
Rethinking the Andes-Amazonia Divide brings together archaeologists, linguists, geneticists, anthropologists, ethnohistorians, and historians to explore both correlations and contrasts in how the various disciplines see the relationship between the Andes and Amazonia, from deepest prehistory up to the European colonial period. This collaboration has emerged from an innovative program of conferences and symposia conceived to generate discussion and cooperation across the divides between disciplines.
 

420 pages | 64 color plates | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2020

Free digital open access editions are available to download from UCL Press.

Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology

Archaeology

History: Latin American History

Political Science: Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, and International Relations


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Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Andes-Amazonia? Why Cross-Disciplinary? Adrian J. Pearce, David Beresford-Jones, and Paul HeggartySection 1: Crossing Frontiers: Perspectives from the Various Disciplines 1.1  Archaeology — David Beresford-Jones and Eduardo Machicado Murillo 1.2  Linguistics — Paul Heggarty 1.3  Genetics — Lars Fehren-Schmitz 1.4  Anthropology — Alf Hornborg 1.5  The Andes-Amazonia Culture Area — Tom ZuidemaSection 2: Deep Time and the Long Chronological Perspective 2.1  Initial East and West Connections across South America — Tom Dillehay 2.2  The Andes-Amazonia Divide and Human Morphological Diversification in South America — André Strauss 2.3  Deep Time and First Settlement: What, If Anything, Can Linguistics Tell Us? — Paul Heggarty 2.4  Early Social Complexity in Northern Peru and its Amazonian Connections — Peter Kaulicke 2.5  Changing Andes-Amazonia Dynamics: El Chuncho Meets El Inca at the End of the Marañón Corridor — Alexander Herrera WassilowskySection 3: Overall Patterns – and Alternative Models 3.1  How Real is the Andes-Amazonia Divide? An Archaeological View from the Eastern Piedmont — Darryl Wilkinson 3.2  Genetic Diversity Patterns in the Andes and Amazonia — Fabrício Santos 3.3  Genetic Exchanges in the Highland /Lowland Transitional Environments of South America — Chiara Barbieri 3.4  Broad-Scale Patterns Across the Languages of the Andes and Amazonia — Paul Heggarty 3.5  Highland-Lowland Relations: A Linguistic View — Rik van Gijn and Pieter Muysken 3.6  Rethinking the Role of Agriculture and Language Expansion for Ancient Amazonians — Eduardo Góes Neves 3.7  The Pacific Coast and Andean Highlands /Amazonia — Tom Dillehay, Brian McCray, and Patricia J. NetherlySection 4: Regional Case Studies from the Altiplano and Southern Upper Amazonia 4.1   Linguistic Connections between the Altiplano Region and the Amazonian Lowlands — Willem Adelaar 4.2   Hypothesised Language Relationships across the Andes-Amazonia Divide: The Cases of Uro, Pano-Takana and Mosetén — Roberto Zariquiey 4.3   The Andes as Seen From Mojos — Heiko Prümers 4.4   The Archaeological Significance of Shell Middens in the Llanos de Moxos: Between the Andes and Amazonia — Umberto Lombardo and José M. CaprilesSection 5: Age of Empires: Inca and Spanish Colonial Perspectives 5.1  The Amazonian Indians as Viewed by Three Andean Chroniclers — Vera Tyuleneva 5.2  The Place of Antisuyu in the Discourse of Guamán Poma de Ayala — Cristiana Bertazoni   5.3  Colonial Coda: The Andes-Amazonia Frontier under Spanish Rule — Adrian J. Pearce 5.4  A Case Study in Andes-Amazonia Relations under Colonial Rule: The Juan Santos Atahualpa Rebellion (1742-1752) — Adrian J. PearceConclusion: The Andes-Amazonia Divide: Myth and Reality — Adrian J. Pearce, David Beresford-Jones, and Paul Heggarty Bibliography Index

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