In Ancient Andean Houses, Jerry Moore offers an extensive survey of vernacular architecture from across the entire length of the Andes, drawing on ethnographic and archaeological information from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia to the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile. This book explores the diverse ways ancient peoples made houses, the ways houses re-create culture, and new perspectives and methods for studying houses. In the first part of this multidimensional approach, Moore examines the construction of houses and how they shaped different spheres of household life, considering commonalities and variations among cultural traditions. In the second part, Moore discusses how domestic architecture serves as both constructed template and lived-in environment, expressing social relationships between men and women, adults and children, household members and the community, and the living and the dead. Finally, Moore critiques archaeological approaches to the subject, arguing for a far-reaching and engaged reassessment of how we study the houses and lives of people in the past. Moore emphasizes that the house has always been a pivotal space around which complex human meanings orbit. This book demonstrates that the material traces of dwellings offer insight into significant questions regarding the development of sedentism, the spread of cultural traditions, and the emergence of social identities and inequalities.

Andean peoples recognize places as neither sacred nor profane, but rather in terms of the power they emanate and the identities they materialize and reproduce. This book argues that a careful consideration of Andean conceptions of powerful places is critical not only to understanding Andean political and religious history but to rethinking sociological theories on landscapes more generally. The contributors evaluate ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogies against the material record to illuminate the ways landscapes were experienced and politicized over the last three thousand years.

An innovative 1996 discussion of architecture and its role in the culture of the ancient Andes.

This book argues that a careful consideration of Andean conceptions of powerful places is critical not only to understanding Andean political and religious history but to rethinking sociological theories on landscapes more generally.

The Ancient Andean States combines modern social theory, recent archaeological literature, and the experience of the author to examine politics and power in the great Andean pre-Hispanic societies. The ancient Andean states were the great shapers of Peruvian prehistory. Social complexity, architectural monumentality, and specialized economic production, among others, were features of these sophisticated societies known by professionals and travelers from around the world. How and when these states emerged and succeeded is still debated. By examining Andean pre-Hispanic societies such as Caral, Sechín, Chavín, Moche, Wari, Chimú, and Inca, this book delves into their political and economic structures as well as explores their ideological worldviews. It reveals how these societies were organized and how different social groups interacted in the states. Archaeologists and anthropologists interested in Peruvian archaeology and the political and social structures of ancient societies will find this book to be a valuable addition to their shelves.

While many baby boomers are downsizing to a simpler retirement lifestyle, photographer and writer Judy Blankenship and her husband Michael Jenkins took a more challenging leap in deciding to build a house on the side of a mountain in southern Ecuador. They now live half the year in Cañar, an indigenous community they came to know in the early nineties when Blankenship taught photography there. They are the only extranjeros (outsiders) in this homely, chilly town at 10,100 feet, where every afternoon a spectacular mass of clouds rolls up from the river valley below and envelopes the town. In this absorbing memoir, Blankenship tells the interwoven stories of building their house in the clouds and strengthening their ties to the community. Although she and Michael had spent considerable time in Cañar before deciding to move there, they still had much to learn about local customs as they navigated the process of building a house with traditional materials using a local architect and craftspeople. Likewise, fulfilling their obligations as neighbors in a community based on reciprocity presented its own challenges and rewards. Blankenship writes vividly of the rituals of births, baptisms, marriages, festival days, and deaths that counterpoint her and Michael’s solitary pursuits of reading, writing, listening to opera, playing chess, and cooking. Their story will appeal to anyone contemplating a second life, as well as those seeking a deeper understanding of daily life in the developing world.