The flocks of the Wamani
Subtitle: a study of llama herders on the punas of Ayacucho, Peru
By: Kent V. Flannery, Joyce Marcus, Robert G. Reynolds.
Contributors: Marcus, Joyce.; Reynolds, Robert G.
Publisher: Academic Press
Published: 1989
Place of publication: San Diego
Language: eng
Number of pages: 239
Subjects: Wamani Indians -- Domestic animals; Llamas -- Peru -- Ayacucho (Dept.); Indians of South America -- Peru -- Ayacucho (Dept.) -- Domestic animals; Indians of South America -- Peru -- Ayacucho (Dept.) -- Antiquities; Ayacucho (Peru : Dept.) -- Antiquities; Peru -- Antiquities
Description: Publisher description: In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 219-231.
Includes index.