The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation

Research Group Leader: Dr. Christian Mader1

PhD Researchers: Claire Conrad2, Tamia Viteri Toledo3

Student Assistant: Hanna Schubert4

‎ArchDepth
© ‎BCDSS
Cover Boletín de Arqueología_34.png
© Boletín de Arqueología PUCP

Recent Special Issue edited by the ArchDepth Research Group

Mader, C., Viteri Toledo, T., Conrad, C., Schubert, H. (Invited Editors), 2024. Arqueología de las dependencias en América Latina: parte 1. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 34. 

Find the articles here5.

Cover Boletín de Arqueología_35
© Boletín de Arqueología PUCP

Recent Special Issue edited by the ArchDepth Research Group

Mader, C., Viteri Toledo, T., Conrad, C. & Schubert, H. (Invited Editors), 2024. Arqueología de las dependencias en América Latina: parte 2. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 35. 

Find the articles here6.

News

New Article by Christian Mader7
Congratulations to BCDSS researcher and coordinator of the Research Group "The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation," Christian Mader, who, together with Katerina Ragkou, published an article in the journal Frontiers in Human Dynamics!Their research emphasizes that markets are not simply a matter of existing or not; rather, they manifest in diverse forms. Byzantium’s coin-based economy and the Andes’ networked exchanges both exhibit “market-like” features, albeit in very different ways. By approaching markets as a spectrum rather than a binary, their work captures the richness and variety of economic interactions across societies.
New Article by Christian Mader8
New Article by BCDSS Researcher and Coordinator of the Research Group "The Archaeology of Dependency (ArchDepth): Resources, Power and Status Differentiation," Dr. Christian Mader:  "Mapping and Geospatial Analysis of Ancient Terrace Agricultural Systems in Lucanas Province, Peruvian Andes, Based on Satellite Imagery, High-Resolution DSMs, and Field Surveys" (Geoarchaeology, Volume 40, Issue 2).
New Podcast with Christian Mader9
Listen to the latest episode of Auf den Spuren alter Kulturen, a podcast series produced by the Marburg Center for the Ancient World (MCAW), in which BCDSS Research Group Leader Christian Mader discusses pre-Columbian studies, an integrative research approach to ancient agricultural terraces, and dependency. 

An archaeology of dependency – as an academic field of study – does not exist so far. In archaeology and related disciplines, systems of strong dependency have been mostly investigated in the form of slavery during Classical Antiquity in the Greco-Roman world. Consequently, there is no general concept yet, which allows to analyze types of asymmetrical dependency in pre-industrial societies, especially from a comparative view.

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© C. Mader

Current State of Research and Approach

The Research Group sets up the methodological and theoretical framework for the examination of asymmetrical dependencies in archaeology. The key of this holistic approach lies in the concept of resource dependency, comprising resources and humans, and in consulting several lines of archaeological evidence, which are combined and serve as control values to each other. Resource dependencies imply two significant sorts of strong structural dependency within a larger ecological and sociopolitical setting.

The first sort concerns the dependency between resources and people, which is the basis for the second sort, the dependency between people. In contrast to associated concepts, such as inequality, status differentiation, and social stratification, which describe rather conditions, resource dependency is a more dynamic idea, stressing the structural relations of distinct actors in these asymmetrical conditions. Furthermore, the concept reveals that also asymmetrical modes of dependency are mutual.

In order to obtain a reliable picture of resource dependencies in the past, various lines of archaeological evidence must be followed and associated with each other. For the determination of resources, social stratification, and strong asymmetrical dependency in the archaeological record, this Research Group explores material culture principally along three lines of evidence.

The Research Group Will Focus on the Following Three Lines of Archaeological Evidence

  1. the analysis of landscapes, architecture, and households,
  2. the analysis of artifacts and ecofacts, and
  3. the analysis of funerary contexts.

In cases in which written records are at hand, these sources are also considered.

Map of South America showing the study areas of the trans-Andean ArchDepth Research Group.
© BCDSS

Along these three interconnected lines of evidence the ArchDepth Research Group takes a trans-Andean-Amazonian perspective through three case studies: Tamia Viteri Toledo's project in Ecuador's Napo River Basin on the eastern flank of the Andes, Claire Conrad's project in the Vilcabamba region around the archaeological site of Vitkos in the Peruvian highlands, and Christian Mader's project in Peru's northern Nasca Drainage around the contemporary town of Palpa on the western flank of the Andes.

Past events

  • International Conference Archaeologies of Dependency in Latin America, September 7-8, 2023.


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