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Prehispanic Causeways and Regional Politics in the Llanos of Barinas, Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles S. Spencer  and
Elsa M. Redmond
Charles S. Spencer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192
Elsa M. Redmond
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192
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Abstract

In this article we discuss the Prehispanic earthen causeways (calzadas) that traverse the llanos (humid savannas) of Barinas state, Venezuela. A salient question is why the calzadas in this area connect some archaeological sites but not others. Some scholars have proposed that the calzadas were constructed primarily as an adaptive response to seasonal flooding. We assess this proposition by examining Late Gaván phase (A. D. 550-1000) data from along the Río Canaguá and find a lack of positive association between sites that experience seasonal inundations and linkage to the calzada network. Instead, we conclude that the configuration of Late Gaván calzadas is better explained by a series of economic, military, and religious factors, all related to the political dynamics of chiefdom organization on the regional level.

En este artículo discutimos las calzadas prehispánicas de los llanos del estado Barinas, Venezuela. Una pregunta relevante es por qué las calzadas conectan algunos sitios y no otros. Algunos investigadores han sugerido que las calzadas fueron construidas principalmente para el desplazamiento a través de los llanos inundadizos. Evaluamos esta proposición con datos pertenecientes a la fase Gaván Tardía (550-1000 d. C.), obtenidos por los autores en la zona del Río Canaguá. El análisis no rindió una correlación positiva entre sitios en zonas que sufren inundaciones estacionales y sitios conectados a la red de calzadas prehispánicas. En cambio, concluimos que la configuración de calzadas fue determinada en mayor parte por un complejo de factores económicos, militares y religiosos, todos relacionados con la dinámica política de la organización cacical durante la fase Gaván Tardía.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 95 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1998

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