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Ritual and Plant Use at Conchopata: An Andean Middle Horizon Site

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Social Perspectives on Ancient Lives from Paleoethnobotanical Data

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the patterns of plant use at Middle Horizon sites in the Andes. We present data from the site of Conchopata, near the site of Huari, which was excavated and analyzed based on likely use of this space. The rooms were categorized into ritual or domestic spaces. The plant remains from these areas were examined in order to determine if plant use provides insight into activity use at the site. In the end, the remains recovered from Conchopata leave us with the impression that domestic and ritual life continuously blended together to leave behind a mixed record of daily activity in an early urban center.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ñawinpukyo, near Conchopata has also been studied extensively (Leoni 2005, 2006; Machaca 1997).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank William Isbell, Anita Cook, and the Conchopata excavation team for their work on collecting and housing the authors while the samples were processed in Peru. Christine Hastorf was instrumental in giving us this opportunity all these years ago, and the team of undergraduates that helped with some of the sorting of materials. Much of the sorting was done in Ripon by Kelsey Green under the supervision of Whitehead. The Field Museum of Chicago, donated several hours of SEM time, and the Dean of Faculty at Ripon College who donated laboratory and research funds to complete the final analysis. This manuscript was reviewed and commented on by an anonymous reviewer and Maria Bruno.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of South Dakota, 326 East Hall, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA

    Matthew P. Sayre

  2. SWCA Environmental Consultants, 5647 Jefferson Street NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109, USA

    William T. Whitehead

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  1. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA

    Matthew P. Sayre

  2. Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA

    Maria C. Bruno

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Sayre, M.P., Whitehead, W.T. (2017). Ritual and Plant Use at Conchopata: An Andean Middle Horizon Site. In: Sayre, M., Bruno, M. (eds) Social Perspectives on Ancient Lives from Paleoethnobotanical Data. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52849-6_6

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