Publications by Warren B Church
PLOS ONE
Many native populations in South America have been severely impacted by two relatively recent his... more Many native populations in South America have been severely impacted by two relatively recent historical events, the Inca and the Spanish conquest. However decisive these disruptive events may have been, the populations and their gene pools have been shaped markedly also by the history prior to the conquests. This study focuses mainly on the Chachapoya peoples that inhabit the montane forests on the eastern slopes of the northern Peruvian Andes, but also includes three distinct neighboring populations (the Jívaro, the Huancas and the Cajamarca). By assessing mitochondrial, Y-chromosomal and autosomal diversity in the region, we explore questions that have emerged from archaeological and historical studies of the regional culture (s). These studies have shown, among others, that Chachapoyas was a crossroads for Coast-Andes-Amazon interactions since very early times. In this study, we examine the following questions: 1) was there pre-Hispanic genetic population substructure in the Cha...
Encyclopedia of Prehistory, 2001
Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2006
Masters Degree Thesis; University of Colorado at Boulder, 1988
Available on Researchgate
Se encuentra en el website Researchgate
The George Wright Forum, 1999
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Humid montane forests are challenging environments for human habitation. We used high-resolution ... more Humid montane forests are challenging environments for human habitation. We used high-resolution fossil pollen, charcoal, diatom and sediment chemistry data from the iconic archaeological setting of Laguna de los Condores, Peru to reconstruct changing land uses and climates in a forested Andean valley. Forest clearance and maize cultivation were initiated during periods of drought, with periods of forest recovery occurring during wetter conditions. Between ad 800 and 1000 forest regrowth was evident, but this trend was reversed between ad 1000 and 1200 as drier conditions coincided with renewed land clearance, the establishment of a permanent village and the use of cliffs overlooking the lake as a burial site. By ad 1230 forests had regrown in the valley and maize cultivation was greatly reduced. An elevational transect investigating regional patterns showed a parallel, but earlier, history of reduced maize cultivation and forest regeneration at mid-elevation. However, a lowland site showed continuous maize agriculture until European conquest but very little subsequent change in forest cover. Divergent, climate-sensitive landscape histories do not support categorical assessments that forest regrowth and peak carbon sequestration coincided with European arrival.
The Archaeology of the Upper Amazon
This chapter presents evidence for interregional interaction excavated from the stratified layers... more This chapter presents evidence for interregional interaction excavated from the stratified layers of Manachaqui Cave, a rock shelter in the fragmented upper montane forests of the northern Peruvian ceja de selva. Manachaqui is situated beside a pre-Hispanic road spur that ascends to a high pass that separates the Maranon and Huallaga river valleys and descends eastward into the dense, uninhabited ceja de selva cloud forest (Figure 3.1). In pre-Hispanic times, the road linked ancient societies in the north Andean highlands to societies at the renowned site of Gran Pajaten and other ancient settlements in the forested upper valley of the Montecristo River, a major tributary of the Abiseo and Huayabamba rivers, which empty their combined waters into the lowland Huallaga river. As of this date, Manachaqui Cave is the earliest, longest, and most complete stratified cultural sequence recovered in Peru's northern montane forest. The location of the rock shelter at the forest edge affords an opportunity to examine a range of problems related to dynamic Andean-Amazonian and highland-lowland relationships during the pre-Hispanic past (Church 1996). Foremost among these are (1) the antiquity of human occupation in this part of the ceja de selva; (2) the abundance and nature of the evidence for regional and interregional travel, transport, and exchange; and (3) the role of Manachaqui Cave in the context of developing economic and sociopolitical complexity in the settlements of the upper Montecristo River Valley (Church 1997; Church and Valle Alvarez 2017).
Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2021
regarding Imperio's history of occupation and particularly the site's special fun... more regarding Imperio's history of occupation and particularly the site's special functions. The imagery enabled identification of subtle surface features that we suggest could be overlooked and inadvertently destroyed during conventional ground-level mapping and documentation activities in such complex, overgrown terrain. Many such features are functional elements of a planned drainage system that warrants further study for long-term conservation planning.
Ambio, 1994
Threats to Rio Abiseo National Park, northern Peru. KR Young, WB Church, M Leo, PF Moore Ambio. S... more Threats to Rio Abiseo National Park, northern Peru. KR Young, WB Church, M Leo, PF Moore Ambio. Stockholm 23:44, 312-314, 1994. In 1983, more than 274 000 ha of Peruvian wilderness were formally protected by the establishment of Rio Abiseo National Park. ...
Andean past, 1994
and others. Support of the Fulbright Commission in Lima and the kind attention of Marcia Koth de ... more and others. Support of the Fulbright Commission in Lima and the kind attention of Marcia Koth de Paredes enabled the ceramic analysis and my stay in Peru. Payson Sheets, Frederick Lange, Frank Eddy, and Richard Burger offered guidance at various levels of this work.
MEDS BV, a company based in the Netherlands but mainly active in the Americas, perform an aerial ... more MEDS BV, a company based in the Netherlands but mainly active in the Americas, perform an aerial LiDAR and photogrammetric survey in November 2019 at the archaeological site of Kuelap, on the northeastern Peruvian cordillera at about 3000 m altitude (Amazonas region). Although the monumental Kuelap site complex is immense and was likely the most populous settlement in the Utcubamba river valley, the site and its occupants are not described in any known documents left by the early Spanish colonists. Consequently, and despite intensive archaeological studies, important questions regarding Kuelap’s political, economic, and religious roles in the region remain unresolved. The work has the logistical support of the IGN, Instituto Geografico Nacional of Peru, and avails itself of the collaboration of anthropologist Warren Church, a specialist in ancient Andean cultures and expert in the archaeology of the region under study.
n developing nations preoccupied with the enormous challenges of political, economic and social r... more n developing nations preoccupied with the enormous challenges of political, economic and social reorganization and recovery during the 1990s, caring properly for natural protected areas and archaeological heritage is not always a high priority. In Peru, the search for revenues during the past decade has taken a significant toll on the nation’s natural and cultural resources, a trend that culminated in the recent controversy over the Lima government’s plans to expand tourist infrastructure at the Inca “palace” of Machu Picchu, arguably South America’s greatest tourist attraction. Yet while a political storm drawing international interest raged over Machu Picchu, a quieter but similar dilemma had begun emerging decades earlier at another remarkable ancient settlement in the eastern Andean cloud forests of northern Peru. The equally spectacular Chachapoyas site of Gran Pajatén was targeted for tourism development soon after its 1964 discovery.
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Publications by Warren B Church