Decorative band on a Chiribaya coca bag from El Algodonal
Tumilaca ceramic motif

Archaeology Research in Peru

by Bruce Owen

Updated 10 January 2008

This page contains selected papers by Bruce Owen about archaeological research in Peru, including

plus

The papers are nearly identical to the original paper documents, including pagination. They may be cited. To view these PDF files, your browser must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Most of these papers are also available at Andean Archaeology Papers by Bruce Owen.

Each document opens in a separate window, so you can jump around without reloading each time. Shrink or move the windows as needed. When finished with a document, close the window, rather than using the browser's back button. Some of the files are large. They may take a few moments to many minutes to open fully, so please be patient.

For information about the author, including titles of additional papers and technical reports that are available on request, please see my curriculum vitae.

Journal articles

2007. Rural Wari Far from the Heartland: Huamanga Ceramics from Beringa, Majes Valley, Perú. Andean Past 8:287-373. 6.7 M.

2007. Comment on Axel Nielsen: Armas Significantes. Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 12(1):33-34. Identifies three common flaws in studies of meaning or symbolism of material culture. In English. 103 K.

2005. Distant Colonies and Explosive Collapse: The Two Stages of the Tiwanaku Diaspora in the Osmore Drainage. Latin American Antiquity 16(1):45-80. 10.3 M.

2002. Marine Carbon Reservoir Age Estimates for the Far South Coast of Peru. Radiocarbon 44(3):701-708. 1.3 M.

2001. Tiwanaku en Moquegua: Interacciones Regionales y Colapso. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 5:169-188. (B. Owen and P. Goldstein). 4.9 M.

1996. Abandoning arsenic? Technological and cultural changes in the Mantaro Valley, Perú. Boletín del Museo del Oro, Bototá, Colombia 41:119-129. (A. Bezur and B. Owen). Evidence for the Inka tin-bronze horizon and reasons for it. 275 K.

Conference papers

2001. From Sequence to Social Organization: Tiwanaku Multicomponent Society in Moquegua, Perú. Paper presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans. 1.2 M.

1995. Warfare and Engineering, Ostentation and Social Status in the Late Intermediate Period Osmore Drainage. Paper presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Minneapolis. 180 K.

1994. Were Wari and Tiwanaku in Conflict, Competition, or Complementary Coexistence? Survey Evidence from the Upper Osmore Drainage, Perú. Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Anaheim. 970 K.

1993. Early Ceramic Settlement in the Coastal Osmore Valley: Preliminary Report. Paper presented at the Institute of Andean Archaeology annual meeting, 1993. 320 K.

1992. Coastal Colonies and the Collapse of Tiwanaku: The Coastal Osmore Valley, Perú. Paper presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Pittsburgh. 220 K.

Reports to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura

2007. Complejos de Patios con Columnas de Camaná: Levantamiento, Sondeos, y Fechados para Definir su Filiación Cultural y Cronológica: Informe de Campo e Informe Final. (H. Tantaleán and B. Owen). Report to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Mapping and test excavation of three residential sites in the Camaná valley that prove to date to the early Colonial period or the very end of the Late Horizon, sealed by volcanic ash in AD 1600. Site maps, unit descriptions, photos, interpretations, but no artifact analysis. In Spanish. Radiocarbon dates still pending. 25.1 M.

1999. Proyecto "Vecinos de Cerro Baúl" 1997: Informe de Campo e Informe Final. Report to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Test excavations at La Cantera (an Omo style Tiwanaku temple), Cancha de Yacango (a Chen Chen style Tiwanaku village and cemetery), Cerro San Miguel (a Tumilaca village), and two other Tumilaca sites. Site maps, unit descriptions, interpretations, initial artifact inventory, but no artifact analysis. In my approximation of Spanish. 1.2 M.

1997. Informe de Excavaciones en los Sectores Mortuorios de Chen Chen, Parte del Proyecto Rescate de Chen Chen, Temporada de 1995. Report to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Maps of the central cemeteries of Chen Chen tested in 1995 and each of 22 4x8 meter exposures. Mostly tombs, intact and looted, some before the AD 1600 Huaynaputina ash fall, plus one area of storage pits. Tabulation of cemetery areas, burial densities, and estimate of total number of burials. Certain canals were apparently abandoned before the use of some cemeteries. Inventory lists of contexts and artifacts. In my approximation of Spanish. 1.7 M.

1996. Inventario Arqueológico del Drenaje Superior del Río Osmore: Informe del Campo y Informe Final. Report to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Background text, references, and maps showing the locations of all sites recorded during systematic surface survey of the upper drainage of the Osmore valley (Cerro Baúl, Tumilaca valley, Torata valley, etc.), with a table listing ceramics and other features of each. UTM coordinates (PSAD56 datum) of all sites. Various official documents. In my approximation of Spanish. Large: 8.7 M.

1994. Inventario Arqueológico del Valle Osmore Costero: Informe del Campo y Informe Final. Report to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Background text, references, and maps showing the locations of all sites recorded during systematic surface survey of the coastal Osmore valley, with a table listing ceramics and other features of each. Similar to Appendix F of my dissertation, but better reports UTM coordinates (PSAD56 datum). In my approximation of Spanish. 1.8 M.

Dissertation

1993. A Model of Multiethnicity: State Collapse, Competition, and Social Complexity from Tiwanaku to Chiribaya in the Osmore Valley, Perú
Dissertation. Survey, excavation, and lab analysis primarily concerning Ilo-Tumilaca/Cabuza and Chiribaya cultures near Ilo, Peru, framed by a model of varying numbers of distinct social groups under different circumstances. Contrary to expectations, there were no Tiwanaku colonies near Ilo. Instead, former Tiwanaku colonists moved into the coastal valley around cal A.D. 1000 as the Tiwanaku state collapsed. Some aspects of chronology and interpretation have been superceded by later work, including some of the papers above.

Papers by David Jessup

1991. General Trends in the Development of the Chiribaya Culture, South-coastal Peru. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans. Briefly presents Jessup's three phases of Chiribaya ceramics (Algarrobal, Yaral, and San Geronimo), describes results of cemetery excavations at San Geronimo, and suggests general hypotheses about Chiribaya prehistory. Sixteen detailed figures, including examples of the ceramic phases, related styles, and two tombs with grave goods, reproduced at good quality from mediocre xeroxed originals. See Jessup 1990c for more complete textual descriptions of the ceramic styles. Posted by permission of the author. Large: 8.2 M.

1990c. Desarollos Generales en el Intermedio Tardio en el Valle de Ilo, Peru. Informe Interno del Programa Contisuyo. Draft, never finalized. Broader and more thorough than Jessup 1991, but without figures. Synthetic review of Chiribaya culture and archaeology. Detailed textual description of ceramic styles: Tumilaca, Chiribaya-Algarrobal, Chiribaya-Yaral, Chiribaya-San Geronimo, Ilo Multi-color, Osmore Multi-color, San Miguel, Pocoma/Gentilar, Estuquiña, and Porobaya Multi-color. See Jessup 1991 for illustrations; compare to Owen 1993 Appendix B and the "picture gallery" below. Discusses chronology of ceramic styles. Some details are now debatable, but most of this pioneering paper is still valid. In unedited Spanish. Posted by permission of the author. 120 K.

Statistical studies of historical assemblages from San Francisco and Oakland for the Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University

2004. Statistical Analysis. Quantitative analyses of meat cuts and species, glass and ceramic containers, and ceramic tableware and servingware by categories such as profession, ethnicity, and religion, with comparisons to data from Oakland, for SF-80 Bayshore Viaduct Seismic Retrofit Projects Report on Construction Monitoring, Geoarchaeology, and Technical and Interpretive Studies for Historical Archaeology, edited by Mary Praetzellis. 824 K.

2004. Statistical Analysis of Summary Faunal Data. Quantitative analysis for Putting the "There" There: Historical Archaeologies of West Oakland, edited by Mary Praetzellis and Adrian Praetzellis. 172 K.

2004. Statistical Analysis of Bottle Data by General Categories. Quantitative analysis for Putting the "There" There: Historical Archaeologies of West Oakland, edited by Mary Praetzellis and Adrian Praetzellis. 201 K.

Other information

Chiribaya pitcher A picture gallery of ceramics from the Osmore drainage

Tiwanaku ceramic motif What are those funny little graphics?

Sutton Flowform 16 kite An Archaeologist Uses Kite Aerial Photography: Why and how I make photographic maps with a camera suspended from a kite. Illustrated.

Wari ceramic motif Visit my class web pages, Museo Contisuyo, and other good stuff

Tumilaca flamingo ceramic motif Archaeology Research in Peru by Bruce Owen
Copyright (c) 2008, Bruce Owen. All rights reserved.
Please send comments on content and presentation to Dr. Bruce Owen.
URL of this document: http://bruceowen.com/research/researchperu.htm
Revised: 10 January 2008