AHA Session 216
Conference on Latin American History 47
Conference on Latin American History 47
Saturday, January 6, 2024: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Golden Gate 4 (Hilton Union Square, Lobby)
Chair:
Christopher H. Heaney, Penn State University
Papers:
Session Abstract
Across the Americas, from Teotihuacan to Machu Picchu, breaking open the ground for the purposes of archaeological excavation is a fraught endeavor. Digging not only unearths the stratigraphic layers of time, but also exposes the frameworks that govern the social and physical landscapes. In the messy realm of the subsoil, excavations confront and transform debates about property, sovereignty, and identity. As new histories of Latin American archaeology unravel these uneasy entanglements, they foreground questions about the origins and development of the legal, territorial, and bureaucratic structures that empowered some people and dispossessed others as they engaged with the pre-colonial past. Focusing on the nexus between land, labor, and law this panel brings the act of excavation into historical focus in an effort to examine its different social, political, and cultural implications. Taking a panoramic scope—encompassing early colonial tomb raiders, republican petitioners, professional archaeologists, and agents of transnational corporations—these projects produce a shared dialogue that bridges regional and temporal contexts in an effort to understand both the particularities and commonalities of these dynamics.