Lee Dunn's List: ANCIENT AMERICAS

• Implications For The Archaeology Of Warfare In The Andes
• ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2005) —
• Using pre-Columbia Andean South American as a case study, Elizabeth Arkush and Charles Stanish of UCLA further the archaeological debate on the significance of warfare in societal development by re-examining current interpretations of the evidence of ritualized and defensive conflict in the ancient Andes.
• Through their research, Arkush and Stanish propose that the incorrect interpretation of defensive architecture, ceremonial activity, and ritualized conflict has led previous scholars to discard warfare as an explanation or recast it as non-serious "ritual battle."
• In an article that appears in the February 2005 issue of Current Anthropology, Arkush and Stanish argue that this misinterpretation has lead to an overly peaceful vision of the Andean past.
• Counterexamples from societies documented in ethnography and history demonstrate that defensive walls may have features that seem counterintuitive to the modern scholar, that sites may be both ceremonial and defensive,
• and that ritualized warfare may devastate populations and cause political change.
• Further, while a special form of ritual battle has existed for centuries in the Andes, it is often used inappropriately as an analogy for pre-Columbian conflict.
• Arkush and Stanish contend that warfare in the Andes was more prevalent and destructive than is currently thought.
• A better understanding of the archaeological signatures of warfare, grounded in known examples, should clarify the course of war and peace in the Andes and other world regions.

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• Updated December 31, 2009
• Ancient Earth Carvings Found in Amazon Jungle
• FOXNews.com
• Environmentalists bemoan the clearcutting of the Amazon rainforests. But an unexpected bonus has turned up:
• Beneath cleared jungle archaeologists are uncovering mysterious geometric designs carved into the earth. 
• With the help of satellite imagery from Google Earth, Brazilian archaeologists are finding more and more of the earth carvings, called geoglyphs, in the Amazon rainforest. 
•  

  Flickr/Diego Gurgel

   

  Difficult to see from the ground, geoglyphs like this one often go unnnoticed. Now, thanks to the ready availability of satellite imaging, many are being uncovered.
• According to a story on environmental blog TreeHugger,
• The geoglyphs are believed to have been sculpted by ancient people from the Amazon region around 700 years ago, though their purpose is still unknown.
• So far, nearly 300 geoglyphs have been identified, but with advances in satellite imaging — and increased clearing of the jungle coverage — scientists are hoping to discover many more of these strange, geometric designs.
• The Web site cites leading geoglyph scientist Alceu Ranzi.
• His latest discovery consists of five sets of geometric shapes, with circles, squares and lines that measures more than a mile from one extreme to another.

  • A continuation of the Nazca Lines on the continent of South America?
  Add Sticky Note
• Ranzi explained that the geoglyphs are hard to locate from the ground; the advent of Google Earth and ready access to satellite data has greatly facilitated his task. 
• "You do not see them in the field. There is a difference in the color of grass, but it is very thin. If there were no satellite images, there would be no possibility [of making these new discoveries]."
• For more on this discovery, read the full story on TreeHugger.com.

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