Ruralism,land use history,and Holocene climate in the Suches Highlands,Southern Peru.

详细信息   

• 作者：Vining ; Benjamin R.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2011
• 导师：Hammond, Norman,eadvisor
• 毕业院校：Boston University
• ISBN：9781267219633
• CBH：3500654
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：36646214
• Pages：556

文摘

This dissertation discusses the evolution of land use patterns and rural society in the Lake Suches basin of highland southern Peru, and their relationship to Holocene climate changes and socio-political development in the region since approximately 10,500 years BP. Archaeological survey documents settlement and land use patterns, and Holocene palaeoclimate is reconstructed on the basis of climate proxy archives in lacustrine sediment cores from Lake Suches. These data show a non-linear evolution of exploitation strategies and rural society that are intimately connected with regional socio-political environments. Suches is one of the highest inhabited regions of the Andean cordillera. The basin is a marginal environment located more than 4400 meters above sea level that presents severe limitations to occupation. Early inhabitants adapted to these limitations by developing a distinctive, sedentary pastoral economy focused on domesticated camelids. Long-distance socioeconomic tics supplemented local production, which changed through the rise and decline of prehispanic states in the central Andean area. Pastoral strategies relied on unique alpine wetlands "bofedales") that provided year-round sources of high-quality pasturage and water for domestic livestock in an otherwise inhospitable region. Stable patterns of bofedal exploitation indicate that the local hydrology and biotic organization of the basin were resistant to severe Holocene climate fluctuation. Smaller-scale and resilient hydrological systems apparently contributed to stable land use. In contrast, reformulation of pastoral organization and strategies indicate that herders adjusted production modes and intensified herding in response to the integrative affects of expansive regional political economies. Rural groups reformulated community structure in distinct phase, resulting in societies that were markedly more rural in character. A lack of state intervention strongly suggests that communities autochthonously effected their reorganization by instrumental decision-making. These data force a careful consideration of climate -- society interactions, and of the nature of ruralism. Rural constancy had a regionally stabilizing effect, and potentially adsorbed significant shocks from dramatic socio-political shifts and adverse climatic phases. System thresholds---at which dramatic changes in state are provoked---are more significant than gradual changes themselves. Data from Suches contribute to a greater understanding of rural dynamics, including how rural communities are created by agent-based processes.