Work

Managing pastoral landscapes: remote survey of herding infrastructure in Huancavelica, Peru

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Recent archaeological research in the Andes suggests that Indigenous herders carefully managed their environments through the modification of local hydrology and vegetation. However, the limited geographical scale of previous research makes it challenging to assess the range and prevalence of pastoralist land management in the Andes. In this article, the authors utilise large-scale, systematic imagery survey to examine the distribution and environmental contexts of corrals and pastoralist settlements in Huancavelica, Peru. Results indicate that corrals and pastoralist settlements cluster around colonial and present-day settlements and that a statistically significant relationship exists between pastoral infrastructure and perennial vegetation. This highlights the utility of remote survey for the identification of trans-regional patterns in herder-environment relationships that are otherwise difficult to detect.

Source: Antiquity

DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2023.174

Authors: Bethany Whitlock, Parker Van Valkenburgh, Steven A. Wernke

Institutions: Brown University, Vanderbilt University

Language: English

Topic: Archaeological Research and Protection

Subfield: Archeology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,255