Abstract: Four Thousand Years of Andean Gold

Lecturer: Mark Aldenderfer

In this presentation I will review the ways in which golden objects were used by four cultures in the ancient Andes: the hunters and gatherers of the Titicaca basin at 2000 BC, the Chavin culture of the central Andes (900 BC), the Moche (AD 400), and the Chimu (AD 1200).  Gold first serves as a personal adornment that als has a social meaning, and through time, becomes identified with power and religious ideology.

Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic (for lay reader):

 Aldenderfer, M., N. Craig, R. Speakman, and R. Popelka-Filcoff 2008 Four-thousand year old gold artifacts from the Lake Titicaca basin, southern Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 5002-5005.