The existence of a situational concept indissolubly spatial and temporal in the Bolivian altiplano, better defined by the aymara term pacha, in the south-central Andes is well sustained by ethno-historic and ethnographic accounts. However, the implications of this concept for archaeological research have not been considered enough. Is especially suggestive that, the past being necessarily a place, humans may have conceived various ways to physically interact with their pasts through ceremonialism. This chapter considers the implication of this idea within a framework of archaeology of time, applying a fractal model of the pacha concept in its various nested scales. In order to illustrate the material forms that the idea of relating with the entities of a “place of the past” can adopt, this chapter discusses three case-studies along a historic sequence. The chapter finishes with some thoughts about the specific material conducts that can be adopted, even within the same ontological framework.
Coeval compressional deformation and volcanism in the central Andes, case studies from northern Chile (23°S-24°S)