2025 Annual Ancestors Lecture Fishing Through Flux: Economic Strategies for Managing El Niño Risks in Coastal Peru

Authors

Dr. Jo Osborn, UNM Department of Anthropology

Files

Description

Thursday, February 113, 2025 @ 6:30

UNM Maxwell Museum

Hibben Center Rm 105 + Zoom

How do communities confront challenging climatic circumstances? This talk explores the development of community economic specialization at Jahuay (200 BC–AD 150), a fishing village on the Peruvian south coast where full-time maritime specialists made a living through fishing, shellfish collection, and the hunting of marine birds and mammals. These products were consumed locally and exchanged regionally. I propose complementarity between independent specialized communities exploiting distinct resources was a regional strategy that buffered against periodic scarcity and made communities more resilient to El Niño cycles.

Publication Date

Spring 2-13-2025

Recommended Citation

Osborn, Dr. Jo. "2025 Annual Ancestors Lecture Fishing Through Flux: Economic Strategies for Managing El Niño Risks in Coastal Peru." (2025). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/laii_events/451