88th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology; Portland, Oregon

Title of Presentation: Assembling the dead and the living: funerary practices within eastern populations of the Southern Andes
(Tucumán, Northwestern Argentina)

Conference: 88th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology Portland, Oregon; March 29 – April 2, 2023

Report:

While in Portland at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, I had the opportunity to communicate the preliminary outcomes of my ph.D research focused on human-landscape relationships and the consolidation of egalitarian societies during Prehispanic times. My paper entitled “Assembling the dead and the living: funerary practices within eastern populations of the Southern Andes (Tucumán, Northwestern Argentina)” focused on the study of typological and stylistic descriptions and classifications of burials among prehispanic groups of Northwestern Argentina. My ultimate goal was to unveil how funerary practices fostered a logic of collective well-being and embodied long-term experience of inhabiting landscapes that prevented the institutionalization of social and economic inequalities.

At the SAA meeting, I was able to present the results of my research and obtain insightful perspectives on my work from experts in the field of mortuary archaeology. I had the opportunity to network with specialists in the area of Andean Archaeology working in different countries such as Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. They provided me with fruit-bearing advice, comments, and feedback on my research on mortuary practices, as well as suggestions for future work.

Additionally, with the support of the Kellogg Institute, I assisted the SAA’s award ceremony where I received the “Matthew Tobin Cappetta Scholarship” grant. This grant provided me with funding to conduct experimental, ethnographic, and archaeological work this summer in Argentina together with local indigenous communities.