Parker VanValkenburgh
Hi! I'm an anthropological archaeologist who teaches in the department of anthropology at Brown University. My research focuses on empire, Indigeneity, and environmental change, with a particular focus on the Andean region. My work combines regional approaches (pedestrian survey, remote sensing, GIS), with household archaeology, archival methods, and the study of ceramic technology. With Carol Rojas Vega, I have directed the Paisajes Arqueológicos de Chachapoyas (PACha) project since 2017, in which our work has focused on understanding Indigenous experiences of colonialism in the Utcubamba river valley, in Peru's department of Amazonas between 1100 and 1800 CE. With Alicia Odewale, (University of Tulsa), I co-direct Mapping HIstorical Trauma in Tulsa, 1921-2021, a project focused on the history and legacies of anti-Black violence in Tulsa, Oklahoma (where we both grew up). With Steve Wernke, I am a co-PI of the GeoPACHA project - a crowd-sourced platform for archaeological site identification in the Andean region. Between 2008 and 2017, I directed the Proyecto Arqueológico Zaña Colonial, a study focused on evaluating the impacts of Spanish colonial forced resettlement in Peru's Zaña Valley which is currently in its final stages of publication. I direct the Brown Digital Archaeology Laboratory (https://browndigitalarch.wordpress.com/) and teach courses on Geographic Information Systems, cartography, critical digital archaeology, the politics of space and landscape, historical anthropology, and the archaeology and anthropology of the Andean region.
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Human remains were collected from Carrizales for the characterization of dietary isotopes and further examination of the impacts of Spanish colonialism on native foodways. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values were characterized in the enamel carbonate, bone carbonate, and bone collagen of individuals associated with Early Intermediate Period contexts (N=4) and the late 16th century chapel within the site’s reducción (N=21). Over half of the study sample failed to produce viable bone collagen, an issue that is common in bioarchaeological samples from the north coast of Peru. However, among those with viable bone collagen and carbonate, there were minimal differences in δ13C, δ18O, and δ15N values between the two phases. This extends to values in enamel carbonate, which is highly resistant to diagenesis. Therefore, patterns in isotope values do not mirror the significant differences manifest in food remains from Carrizales. We suggest that (1) the diets of Early Intermediate Period individuals and Early Colonial period individuals buried at the site were quite similar, contrasting with the patterns indicated by Late Intermediate Period food remains; and (2) both populations obtained water from similar sources – a pattern that reinforces the characterization of reducción in the Zaña valley as a relatively local phenomenon in which nearby populations were concentrated into planned towns, rather than drawn from distant valleys.
Abstract PRODUCING CHERREPE: REDUCCIÓN, ETHNICITY, AND PERFORMANCE IN THE ZAÑA AND CHAMÁN VALLEYS, XVI AND XVII CENTURIES Since the early 20th century, Andeanist archaeologists have made frequent use of ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources to add narrative, structural, and processual detail to our descriptions of past worlds. However, we have paid insufficient attention to the semiotic relationships between texts and archaeological sites – i.e., how both of these sets of media reflect and construct reality in distinct ways. In this essay, I examine sites and landscapes that emerged through forced resettlement in the lower Zaña and Chamán valleys, in Peru's north coast region, during the late 16th century AD. In doing so, I present several ideas about how we might rethink the comparison and synthesis of textual and archaeological evidence in the study of the Andean past. Specifically, I call attention to the performative dimensions of both reducción sites and visita documents and underscore their role in colonial ethnogenesis.
Human remains were collected from Carrizales for the characterization of dietary isotopes and further examination of the impacts of Spanish colonialism on native foodways. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values were characterized in the enamel carbonate, bone carbonate, and bone collagen of individuals associated with Early Intermediate Period contexts (N=4) and the late 16th century chapel within the site’s reducción (N=21). Over half of the study sample failed to produce viable bone collagen, an issue that is common in bioarchaeological samples from the north coast of Peru. However, among those with viable bone collagen and carbonate, there were minimal differences in δ13C, δ18O, and δ15N values between the two phases. This extends to values in enamel carbonate, which is highly resistant to diagenesis. Therefore, patterns in isotope values do not mirror the significant differences manifest in food remains from Carrizales. We suggest that (1) the diets of Early Intermediate Period individuals and Early Colonial period individuals buried at the site were quite similar, contrasting with the patterns indicated by Late Intermediate Period food remains; and (2) both populations obtained water from similar sources – a pattern that reinforces the characterization of reducción in the Zaña valley as a relatively local phenomenon in which nearby populations were concentrated into planned towns, rather than drawn from distant valleys.
Abstract PRODUCING CHERREPE: REDUCCIÓN, ETHNICITY, AND PERFORMANCE IN THE ZAÑA AND CHAMÁN VALLEYS, XVI AND XVII CENTURIES Since the early 20th century, Andeanist archaeologists have made frequent use of ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources to add narrative, structural, and processual detail to our descriptions of past worlds. However, we have paid insufficient attention to the semiotic relationships between texts and archaeological sites – i.e., how both of these sets of media reflect and construct reality in distinct ways. In this essay, I examine sites and landscapes that emerged through forced resettlement in the lower Zaña and Chamán valleys, in Peru's north coast region, during the late 16th century AD. In doing so, I present several ideas about how we might rethink the comparison and synthesis of textual and archaeological evidence in the study of the Andean past. Specifically, I call attention to the performative dimensions of both reducción sites and visita documents and underscore their role in colonial ethnogenesis.
practice of archaeological research as the trowel and the
field notebook. This course combines training in essential digital applications for archaeology
with critical discussions of the impact of digital methods on the conceptual dimensions of
archaeological research design and practice. Topics include topographic survey, GNSS, tabletbased
field-data recording systems, database design, digital photogrammetry, and
intermediate techniques in archaeological Geographic Information Systems. Demonstrated
proficiency in ArcGIS or open-sourced GIS software (the equivalent of an introductory course,
preferably Anthropology 1201) and previous archaeological field experience are prerequisites.