PCSWDC Annual Symposium – Amazonia and the Making of the Andean World

The Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C., is now accepting registrations for its 22nd annual symposium, “Amazonia and the Making of the Andean World.” This one-day event will take place at the U.S. Navy Memorial and Naval Heritage Center in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, September 26, 2015.

The results of archaeological work over the last two decades have challenged the traditional view of Amazonia as a refuge for primitive hunters and gatherers living in small roving bands and barely subsisting in the hostile jungle environment.  Recent studies have revealed evidence for early permanent occupation of the area, astonishingly large-scale societies, precocious development of ceramics, and the domestication of food sources that, some argue, would spread later to the Andean region. This symposium will feature leading scholars who are conducting cutting-edge research, as they review the evidence for the surprising complexity and diversity of social and cultural development in pre-contact Amazonia and for its relationship to the Andes. Among the speakers will be Clark Erickson, University of Pennsylvania; Michael Heckenberger, University of Florida; Linda Perry, Foundation for Archaeobotanical Research on Microfossils; Eduardo Neves, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo; Denise Schaan, Universidade Federal do Para, Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, and Francisco Valdez, Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement.

For details and registration information (on-line registration is possible and encouraged), please go to the PCSWDC website at www.pcswdc.org.