ANTHROPOLOGY COLLOQUIUM SERIES
Friday, January 23rd at 3:30 pm in the Anthropology Lounge, 3106 WWPH
Pedro María Argüello García
PhD Candidate, University of Pittsburgh
Subsistence economy and chiefdom emergence in the Muisca area: a study of the Valle de Tena
A public dissertation presentation
Abstract:
Ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts for the Andes describe "vertical economies" involving diverse production strategies and risk buffering through the exploitation of closely spaced but varied environments at different elevations. The northern Andes of Colombia do not provide as much altitudinal variation as the central Andes, but systems of "microverticality" have been proposed as vital components of chiefly political economy during prehispanic times. Spanish colonial accounts describe such a system for the Valle de Tena, a steeply descending zone adjacent to Muisca chiefdoms in the high-elevation Sabana de Bogotá. Archaeologically documented settlement patterns, however, are quite different from those expected from a microverticality model.
Location and Address
3106 WWPH Anthropology Lounge