Dr. Maria Bruno: "Practices and Processes of Formative Period (1500 BC-AD 300) Agricultural Change on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia."

March 1, 2013 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm

In the Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andes, narratives of agricultural change have focused exclusively on a single innovation, raised-fields. In this presentation, Dr. Bruno will discuss a wider range of agricultural practices that contribute to agricultural change worldwide, and consider what role they might have played in the development of agricultural production on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia during the Formative period (1500 B.C. – AD 500). She examines past agricultural practices through analysis of archaeological plant remains and other related archaeological datasets. This study reveals continuities and changes in agricultural practice that intersected with process of change in Formative period demography, settlement, public architecture and ritual, and foodways. This new narrative of agricultural change provides a broader context in which to understand the rise and significance of raised-field agriculture in the lake basin.

Location and Address

3106 WWPH "Anthropology Lounge"