Building Community in Coastal Deserts: Perspectives from Western South America

Abstract

Michael Moseley emphasized the importance of maritime resources to the development of social complexity in the Andean region in his theory of the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (1975), which became a central (and controversial) text in the field. This volume builds on his and others’ foundational work and asks, “how did ancient Andean coastal communities build themselves, and their identities, around their proximity to the Pacific Ocean”?