The Archaeology of Infancy in Central South Andes

RIVET, M. CAROLINA

Canterbury

Congreso; The Archaeology of Infancy and Childhood Conference; 2005

University of Kent

Unfortunately, past archaeological research concerning the southern-central Andes region of Chile has largely ignored the role and “social verification” of childhood. This lack of recognition may be linked to the current void of child related information available to researchers and is certainly responsible for the incomplete nature of past archaeological recording and theory formation. From the outset of my research, I hoped to alter this “past consistency”. By exploring childhood in relation to issues concerning social structures, continuities and discontinuities, it became posiible to view the archaeological child as being firmly a part of past prehispanic culture. In this paper I will use the archaeological record and mortuary data to identify, define and explore the evidence for children at two archaeological sites, namely Solcor-3 and Quitor-6. Both sites are located within the Atacama region of northern Chile and date to the middle and late periods.