Brian Bauer
University of Illinois at Chicago, Anthropology, Department Member
Research Interests:
This paper assesses the original name of the Inca settlement now known as Machu Picchu. We examine three data sources: the field notes of Hiram Bingham, toponyms on nineteenth century maps, and information recorded in seventeenth century... more
This paper assesses the original name of the Inca settlement now known as Machu Picchu. We examine three data sources: the field notes of Hiram Bingham, toponyms on nineteenth century maps, and information recorded in seventeenth century documents. The results uniformly suggest that the Inca city was originally called Picchu, or more likely
Huayna Picchu, and that the name Machu Picchu became associated with the ruins starting in 1911 with Bingham’s publications.
Huayna Picchu, and that the name Machu Picchu became associated with the ruins starting in 1911 with Bingham’s publications.
Research Interests:
El presente artículo aborda las excavaciones arqueológicas desarrolladas en 2005, en la antigua Escuela de Medicina de San Fernando, colindante con el Hospital Real de San Andres (actual plaza Italia en el centro de Lima). Durante el... more
El presente artículo aborda las excavaciones arqueológicas desarrolladas en 2005, en la antigua Escuela de Medicina de San Fernando, colindante con el Hospital Real de San Andres (actual plaza Italia en el centro de Lima). Durante el desarrollo del proyecto arqueológico se hallaron diversas evidencias culturales que obedecen a las antiguas clases de anatomía, las mismas que fueron rescatadas y analizadas mediante rigurosos métodos de análisis bioantropológico. Gracias al dato histórico se permitió, asimismo, analizar y comprender las evidencias arqueológicas.
The fate of the mummies of the Inca kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has been the focus of more than a century of historical and archaeological research. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were... more
The fate of the mummies of the Inca kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has been the focus of more than a century of historical and archaeological research. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were deposited in the Hospital of San Andre´s in Lima in 1560. In this work, we summarize what is currently known concerning the fate of the royal Inca mummies as well as the results of a recent ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological testing program that we conducted on the hospital grounds. The excavations revealed the location of the hospital’s first cemetery, the remains of a nineteenth-century fountain, an early colonial trash pit, and, most intriguingly, a vaulted structure. While we did not find the royal mummies, the historical research and archaeological fieldwork yielded new information on the history of the San Andre's compound and life in Lima during early colonial times.
Research Interests:
Tracking social and economic change in Andean societies prior to the invasion of the Spanish has always been a difficult task, especially given that these cultures failed to develop any form of written record. Here we present a new method... more
Tracking social and economic change in Andean societies prior to the invasion of the Spanish has always been a difficult task, especially given that these cultures failed to develop any form of written record. Here we present a new method of reconstructing socio-economic shifts in a rural setting from the analysis of the frequency of oribatid mite remains present in a sedimentary lake sequence. Oribatid mites are soil-dwelling microarthropod detritivores, some of which inhabit areas of grassland pasture. One of the primary controls governing their abundance in such habitats is the level of animal dung present. We propose that past fluctuations in mite remains can be related to the density of domestic animals using the area of pasture and, by extension, may provide a proxy for broad-scale social and economic change through time. To test this hypothesis, we analysed a high-resolution (∼6 years) mite record from a sequence of well-dated sediments from Marcacocha, a climatically sensitive lake site located close to an important Inca trading route across the Andes. The timing and magnitude of mite fluctuations at Marcacocha since the 1530s show remarkable correspondence with a series of major, well-documented socio-economic shifts in the region relating to political and climatic pressures. This provided the confidence to extend the record back a further 700 years and reconstruct changes in domestic herbivore densities for a period of time that lacks historical documentation and thereby infer changes in human occupation of the basin. In particular, high mite abundances appear to correspond clearly with the rapid rise and fall of the Inca Empire (c. AD 1400–1532). We argue that small lake basins such as Marcacocha may be particularly suitable for obtaining continuous oribatid mite records and providing the possibility of reconstructing large herbivore abundances in the Andes and elsewhere.
Research Interests:
The fate of the mummies of the Inca kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has been the focus of more than a century of historical and archaeological research. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were... more
The fate of the mummies of the Inca kings following the Spanish conquest of Peru has been the focus of more than a century of historical and archaeological research. Several lines of evidence indicate that five of the royal mummies were deposited in the Hospital of San Andre´s
in Lima in 1560. In this work, we summarize what is currently known concerning the fate of the royal Inca mummies as well as the results of a recent ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological testing program that we conducted on the hospital grounds. The
excavations revealed the location of the hospital’s first cemetery, the remains of a nineteenth-century fountain, an early colonial trash pit, and, most intriguingly, a vaulted structure. While we did not find the royal mummies, the historical research and archaeological fieldwork yielded new information on the history of the San Andre´s compound and life in
Lima during early colonial times.
in Lima in 1560. In this work, we summarize what is currently known concerning the fate of the royal Inca mummies as well as the results of a recent ground-penetrating radar survey and an archaeological testing program that we conducted on the hospital grounds. The
excavations revealed the location of the hospital’s first cemetery, the remains of a nineteenth-century fountain, an early colonial trash pit, and, most intriguingly, a vaulted structure. While we did not find the royal mummies, the historical research and archaeological fieldwork yielded new information on the history of the San Andre´s compound and life in
Lima during early colonial times.
Research Interests:
Bauer, Brian S.
1992 Avances en Arqueología Andina. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos, “Bartolomé de Las Casas” Cuzco, Peru (pp. 151, 80 figures, 4 tables).
1992 Avances en Arqueología Andina. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos, “Bartolomé de Las Casas” Cuzco, Peru (pp. 151, 80 figures, 4 tables).