The Archaeology of Wak'asTamara L. BrayLabel: University Press of ColoradoDescription: In this edited volume Andean wak'as—idols statues sacred places images and oratories—play a central role in understanding Andean social philosophies cosmologies materialities temporalities and constructions of personhood. Top Andean scholars from a variety of disciplines cross regional theoretical and material boundaries in their chapters offering innovative methods and theoretical frameworks for interpreting the cultural particulars of Andean ontologies and notions of the sacred.Wak'as were understood as agentive nonhuman persons within many Andean communities and were fundamental to conceptions of place alimentation fertility identity and memory and the political construction of ecology and life cycles. The ethnohistoric record indicates that wak'as were thought to speak hear and communicate both among themselves and with humans. In their capacity as nonhuman persons they shared familial relations with members of the community for instance young women were wed to local wak'as made of stone and wak'as had sons and daughters who were identified as the mummified remains of the community's revered ancestors.Integrating linguistic ethnohistoric ethnographic and archaeological data The Archaeology of Wak'as advances our understanding of the nature and culture of wak'as and contributes to the larger theoretical discussions on the meaning and role of–the sacred in ancient contexts.
