Creation Battles in the Andean Highlands

Abstract Water is a multidimensional element for the indigenous communities of the Andean highlands. The Kichwa community Fakcha Llakta, of Otavalo, Ecuador has a close relationship with the existing water bodies in their territory. However, traditional knowledge associated with these resources is fading, giving way to new forms of use. The purpose of this research is to reveal the meanings of water for this indigenous community, in order to propose guidelines for sustainable resource management. It is an ethnographic study with a qualitative approach. The information was collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation by the research team, and the gathering of cultural objects. The findings were organized and sub-grouped according to four recurring elements: vital and sacred; diversity of use and value; a threatened natural resource; and the sustainability of water from the ancestral perspective.

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Distribution and Transmission of Medicinal Plant Knowledge in the Andean Highlands: A Case Study from Peru and Bolivia

Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine ◽

10.1155/2012/959285 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel ◽

Ina Vandebroek

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plant ◽

Market Integration ◽

Individual Motivation ◽

Migratory Activity ◽

Plant Knowledge ◽

Socioeconomic Characteristics ◽

Medicinal Plant Knowledge ◽

The Family ◽

Andean Highlands

This paper presents a study of patterns in the distribution and transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in rural Andean communities in Peru and Bolivia. Interviews and freelisting exercises were conducted with 18 households at each study site. The amount of medicinal plant knowledge of households was compared in relation to their socioeconomic characteristics. Cluster analysis was applied to identify households that possessed similar knowledge. The different modes of knowledge transmission were also assessed. Our study shows that while theamountof plant knowledge is determined by individual motivation and experience, thetypeof knowledge is influenced by the community of residence, age, migratory activity, and market integration. Plant knowledge was equally transmitted vertically and horizontally, which indicates that it is first acquired within the family but then undergoes transformations as a result of subsequent contacts with other knowledge sources, including age peers.

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Tracking spatial variation in river load from Andean highlands to inter-Andean valleys

Geomorphology ◽

10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.02.009 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 308 ◽

pp. 175-189 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Gustavo E. Tenorio ◽

Veerle Vanacker ◽

Benjamin Campforts ◽

Lenín Álvarez ◽

Santiago Zhiminaicela ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Variation ◽

Andean Highlands

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The Pacific coast and Andean highlands/Amazonia

Rethinking the Andes–Amazonia Divide ◽

10.2307/j.ctv13xps7k.25 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 221-236

Author(s):

Tom D. Dillehay ◽

Brian McCray ◽

Patricia J. Netherly

Keyword(s):

Pacific Coast ◽

The Pacific ◽

Andean Highlands

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Traditional Rainfed Barley Production in the Andean Highlands of Ecuador: Soil Nutrient Limitations and Other Constraints

Mountain Research and Development ◽

10.2307/3673571 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 115 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Deborah A. Bossio ◽

Kenneth G. Cassman

Keyword(s):

Soil Nutrient ◽

Nutrient Limitations ◽

Andean Highlands

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The Stone Ancestors: Idioms of Imperial Attire and Rank among Huari Figurines

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/971953 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 341-364 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Anita G. Cook

Keyword(s):

Special Importance ◽

Ancestor Worship ◽

Administrative Unit ◽

Origin Myths ◽

State Organization ◽

Andean Highlands ◽

The Web

Two caches were recovered at Pikillacta, the largest Huari state installation (A. D. 550-1000) in the southern Andean highlands; each contained 40 richly garbed votive turquoise figurines. The figurines are analyzed in terms of their production, use, and deposition as well as their overall morphology. To the extent possible, the rank associated with the costumes worn by each figure is also considered. Reference is made to Inca apparel and its potential for interpreting Huari official garments. Because the number 40 also held special importance in Inca state organization as an administrative unit or division, the Inca example provides concepts of administration vital to the interpretation of the figurines. A more unusual source—origin myths associated with the Chimor Kingdom—supports the relation between turquoise figurines and ancestor worship. I argue that the stone figurines embody qualities and convey concepts that are central to Andean political administration, and that they are intimately tied into the web of ancestral cults through which kinship, hierarchy, and inheritance were determined.

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The avifauna of thePolylepiswoodlands of the Andean highlands: the efficiency of basing conservation priorities on patterns of endemism

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270900000770 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 37-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

J. Fjeldså

Keyword(s):

Habitat Fragmentation ◽

Human Impact ◽

Disjunct Distribution ◽

Conservation Priorities ◽

Woodland Birds ◽

Cordillera Blanca ◽

Efficient Protection ◽

Scrub Forest ◽

Andean Highlands ◽

Near Threatened

SummaryThe Andean páramo and puna zones may once have been densely dotted by woodlands, mainly ofPolylepis, but human impact has now led to a highly disjunct distribution of this habitat. Because of the habitat fragmentation, many specialized woodland birds now show relictual distributions. Speciations to thePolylepiszone took place in Peru and Bolivia during cold/arid climatic periods, asPolylepis-dominated woodland refuges were isolated away from the humid cis-Andean zone and the pre-Andean scrub-forest in Bolivia. An efficient protection of biodiversity in a minimum of well-managed areas could be achieved, if efforts were concentrated in highlands near the proposed Pleistocene woodland refuges: 55% of all endemic and 67% of all threatened and near-threatened landbirds of the high Andean zone of Peru and Bolivia were recorded within three 10 x 10 km study plots near Cochabamba in Bolivia and east of Abancay and on the east slope of Cordillera Blanca in Peru. The biological basis for the efficiency of this approach is discussed.Los páramos y punas Andinas pueden haber estado densamente poblados de bosques, principalmente dePolylepis, pero el impacto humano ha causado una distribución muy esparcida de este habitat. Debido a la fragmentatión del habitat, muchos pájaros especializados al bosque, ahora muestran distribuciones rudimentales. La diferenciación de las espeties en la zona dePolylepisse dió en Perú y Bolivia durante períodos climáticos fríos/aridos, al igual que los refúgios de bosques dominados porPolylepisfueron aislados de la zona húmeda cis-Andina y de la zone chaqueña en Bolivia. Se podría lograr una protección efitiente de la biodiversidad en un mínimo de áreas bien manejadas, si se concentrasen los esfuerzos en las sierras cerca de los refúgios propuestos de bosque Pleistocenico. Así es, que un 55% de los pájaros endémicos y 67% de todos los especies en peligro de extintión de la zona alto-Andina de Perú y Bolivia fueron registrados dentro de tres áreas de estudio de 10 × 10 km, cerca de Cochabamba en Bolivia, y al sureste de Abancay y en la vertiente oriental de la Cordillera Blanca en Perú. El artículo diserta los processos básicos.

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