Rethinking the central Andean co-tradition

Regional groupings of cultures have played important roles in South American anthropology, both in its culture history and in the interpretative models employed by social scientists investigating indigenous cultures, past and present. It is also clear that anthropological and archaeological interpretations were shaped by the information available (and not available) at key moments, as when the Handbook of South American Indians was edited, or the conference reappraising Peruvian archaeologywas convened (see Bennett 1948a). It is equally apparent that arbitrary biases such as modern boundaries, and the nationalisms that accompany them, have influenced the way anthropologists have though about the culture areas in South America, including the Central Andes.