Rituals of the Past: Prehispanic and Colonial Case Studies in Andean Archaeology

This excellent and thought-provoking volume begins with a brief description of the annual Virgen del Carmen ritual in Ancash, Peru. The opening vignette illustrates the contributors’ fundamental message: ritual should be interpreted as “more than ritual for its own sake” (Rosenfeld and Bautista 2017: 9). In Rituals of the Past, the editors have brought together an impressive group of senior and emerging scholars of Andean South America. Bookended by an introduction that provides a concise summary of the theoretical lenses that have been applied to the anthropological study of ritual and by a thoughtful concluding discussion by Jerry D. Moore, the ten case studies encompass significant temporal range and methodological scope. Largely chronologically ordered, they begin with John W. Rick’s overview of ritual spaces at Chavin de Huantar as early as 1200 BC and end with Hendrik Van Gijseghem and Verity H. Whalen’s fascinating discussion of contemporary toponyms...