Margaret Brown Vega

Ritualized Coping During War: Conflict, Congregation, and Emotions at the Late Pre-Hispanic Fortress of Acaray

Fear and anxiety are emotions that intensify during times of warfare. This paper explores the materiality of these emotions in the context of conflict and community restructuration. During the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1000–1470) in the Huaura Valley of the coast of Peru, people converged to rebuild, and subsequently seek refuge in, the fortification at Acaray. Excavations at Acaray reveal it was used to defend against an attack during a time of upheaval. The people who congregated at Acaray carried out rituals inside the fort that probably ameliorated anxiety and fear. These emotions would have resulted not only from the threat of war, but from the convergence of groups who did not normally interact under such intense circumstances. Using ethnographic analogy, social theory, and detailed studies of offerings, I suggest rituals in times of war enabled people to deal with group tension, defense, security, and illnesses such as susto (soul loss).

Ritual practices and wrapped objects: Unpacking prehispanic Andean sacred bundles

Collections of objects wrapped in containers, called bundles, are known throughout the Americas. Drawing upon ethnographic literature, especially descriptions of bundle use in the Andes, this article unravels the social context and practices involved in the creation and deposition of an archaeological bundle. The author presents an analysis of a bundle offering excavated from within the prehispanic fortification of Acaray, located on the Central Coast of Peru in the Huaura Valley. Careful attention to the configuration of the bundle offering, the contents, and their qualities permits a sophisticated interpretation of the offering’s broader meaning. The assemblage and deposition of the bundles solidified social bonds among people and powerful spirits. Through the bundling of people and place (Acaray), the building of physical defenses, and the calling of animated selves for spiritual defense through bundle ceremonies, new identities were made, and the dangers of war could be unmade, in the Huaura Valley.Collections of objects wrapped in containers, called bundles, are known throughout the Americas. Drawing upon ethnographic literature, especially descriptions of bundle use in the Andes, this article unravels the social context and practices involved in the creation and deposition of an archaeological bundle. The author presents an analysis of a bundle offering excavated from within the prehispanic fortification of Acaray, located on the Central Coast of Perú in the Huaura Valley. Careful attention to the configuration of the bundle offering, the contents, and their qualities permits a sophisticated interpretation of the offering’s broader meaning. The assemblage and deposition of the bundles solidified social bonds among people and powerful spirits. Through the bundling of people and place (Acaray), the building of physical defenses, and the calling of animated selves for spiritual defense through bundle ceremonies, new identities were made, and the dangers of war could be unmade, in the Huaura Valley.

War, Hunting, and Projectiles

garet Lock’s conceptions of local biology (Lock and Kaufert 2001). Wolf-Meyer closes by bringing two key issues to the forefront: (1) redefining bioethics so that that discipline does not focus primarily on technologies and their use but instead on the entanglements of human biology, social obligations, and cultural expectations and desires; and (2) the inevitable creation of new desires, markets, medicines, and kinds of labor and productivity that occurs as Americans reconceive sleep through “take back your time” movements, workplace napping, and revision of school start times. Ultimately, WolfMeyer reminds us that how, where, and why we sleep are always political decisions.

Review of the book Frontier Life in Ancient Peru: The Archaeology of Cerro la Cruz by Melissa A. Vogel

Few archaeologists working outside of the Central Andes know of the Casma polity (ca. A.D. 900–1300), and even among Andeanists the Casma polity has been overlooked and understudied. This is due, in part, to the difficulties of archaeologically identifying groups of people, especially when they are located near other more well known cultures or societies. It is exactly this situation that makes Cerro la Cruz, a frontier settlement of the Casma polity, an appropriate case for examining frontiers archaeologically. The central premise of this book is to illustrate the utility of theories of frontier zones developed from historical case studies for analyzing ancient conditions. Melissa Vogel effectively places Cerro la Cruz in a regional geopolitical context that spans the Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 600–1000) and the Late Intermediate period (ca. A.D. 1000–1470), a time of dramatic social and political change in the Central Andes. Within this setting we get a glimpse of how people who resided within the shifting frontiers between competing polities negotiated life. The book begins (Chapter 1) by describing the site of Cerro la Cruz in terms of previous interpretations about site function and geography. Given the location of the site, Vogel raises the issue of the study of peripheries. She also provides background on the culture history of the north coast of Peru, where Cerro la Cruz is located (Chapter 2). With the decline of the Wari highland state in the Middle Horizon period, the people of the north coast experienced dramatic changes. The degree to which the Wari state impacted people living in this area, including the Moche polity which was in decline at this time, is unclear. Vogel tells us that the Moche did not have a strong presence in the Chao Valley, and she suggests that the emergence of a Casma polity at this time could have been a source of internal stress for Moche society [p. 21]. Based on this interpretation, the Casma polity is relevant for reconsidering changes documented for other polities around the north coast during the transition from the Middle Horizon to the subsequent Late Intermediate period. In Chapter 3 the author elaborates on the two primary themes of site function and geographic location in light of theories on frontiers and political geography. She briefly reviews core-periphery models, specifically world systems theory [pp. 43–46]. Vogel considers peripheral areas to be dynamic and complex frontiers. She favors the work of Lightfoot and Martinez and their emphasis on frontiers rather than core-periphery models and an attempt to theoretically decolonize such spaces (Lightfoot and Martinez 1995). The frontier concept is highly appropriate for the Chao Valley, a region with fuzzy boundaries and multiple cultural influences [p. 48]. Vogel concludes the chapter with a brief review of other studies in the Andean region that examine frontiers. In Chapter 4 she focuses on the geographic setting of Cerro la Cruz and describes prior research at the site and in the region. She presents two hypotheses regarding the location and function of the site: the location was selected for defensive purposes, or for strategic control of the valley. Rather than considering these as competing possibilities, Vogel asserts that Cerro la Cruz was established for a variety of reasons including control, protection, visibility, and subsistence considerations [p. 68]. She bases her assessment on a spatial analysis involving these variables and uses pottery styles as a proxy for identity. Following this broad regional and theoretical introduction, Vogel focuses on the specifics of frontier life at Cerro la Cruz (Chapter 5). She describes daily life in the settlement, from mundane subsistence practices to practices related to ritual and defense. She includes an interesting discussion of labor-saving techniques for constructing terraces and other structures at Cerro la Cruz. At the end of the chapter Vogel again considers the two hypotheses for the site’s function, noting evidence for both defensive and strategic considerations. She concludes that the Chao Valley was a northern frontier of the Casma polity to the south, and that Cerro la Cruz was a frontier settlement with material culture revealing Casma, Chimú, and local influences. After briefly considering life on the frontier at Cerro la Cruz, Vogel expands her discussion to include evidence from the larger region and the

War, Hunting, and ProjectilesSlings and Slingstones: The Forgotten Weapons of Oceania and the Americas. By Robert York and Gigi York. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2011.

garet Lock’s conceptions of local biology (Lock and Kaufert 2001). Wolf-Meyer closes by bringing two key issues to the forefront: (1) redefining bioethics so that that discipline does not focus primarily on technologies and their use but instead on the entanglements of human biology, social obligations, and cultural expectations and desires; and (2) the inevitable creation of new desires, markets, medicines, and kinds of labor and productivity that occurs as Americans reconceive sleep through “take back your time” movements, workplace napping, and revision of school start times. Ultimately, WolfMeyer reminds us that how, where, and why we sleep are always political decisions.

War, Hunting, and Projectiles: Review of the book Slings and Slingstones: The Forgotten Weapons of Oceania and the Americas by Robert York and Gigi York.

garet Lock’s conceptions of local biology (Lock and Kaufert 2001). Wolf-Meyer closes by bringing two key issues to the forefront: (1) redefining bioethics so that that discipline does not focus primarily on technologies and their use but instead on the entanglements of human biology, social obligations, and cultural expectations and desires; and (2) the inevitable creation of new desires, markets, medicines, and kinds of labor and productivity that occurs as Americans reconceive sleep through “take back your time” movements, workplace napping, and revision of school start times. Ultimately, WolfMeyer reminds us that how, where, and why we sleep are always political decisions.