Browsing by Autor "Alexander Herrera"

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An exploration of using large language models to integrate farmer behaviour into an agricultural systems model of the Peruvian Andes
(2024) Joy Singarayer; Richard Bailey; Patrick McGuire; Francisco Araujo- Ferreira; Nicholas Branch; Fernando González; Diana Santos Shupingahua; Douglas B. Walsh; Alexander Herrera; Andrew J. Wade
The implications of climate change on agro-pastoral farming systems in the Peruvian Andes are not fully understood. There is already a significant impact on agricultural productivity from current climate variability and extreme weather in the region. This is exacerbated by chronic poverty in many rural areas and the need for improved government-led strategic planning. Tools to assist with policy planning for climate change adaptations that achieve environmental and social resilience are vital, and these require collaboration with rural communities to incorporate the complexities of behavioural responses to climate change, market dynamics, and policy shifts in agricultural and water management.&#160;In this study we further develop a recent agricultural systems model (the TELLUS model; Pilditch et al., in review). The model is an agent-based simulation focussed on the behaviour of interacting populations of individual farming agents. TELLUS offers the opportunity to analyse the impact of interventions/policies in light of key scenarios and conditions of interest, with potential to uncover unforeseen emergent behaviours within farming systems (e.g., tipping points, amplifiers, system adaptations) and potential unintended consequences of scenarios and policies (e.g., increasing in equalities; increased system fragility). A difficulty in applying such models to specific case studies is in choosing valid parameter values, especially for model behaviour associated with human behaviour and decision-making.Our work over recent years includes extensive fieldwork in the Cordillera Negra and Cordillera Blanca, involving interviews and workshops with farming communities, and collaboration with regional NGOs. These interactions have been instrumental in understanding local challenges and priorities. The challenge in terms of modelling this system is turning information gained from qualitative methods (e.g. interviews) into parameter values for the model. Our novel approach is to assess the extent to which modern AI systems, specifically, Large Language Models (LLMs) can help perform this task. &#160;We leverage the reasoning abilities of LLMs to directly estimate relevant model parameters from automated interview transcription/translations. We will discuss the extent to which this integration has aided the creation of a TELLUS model tuned specifically to the Peruvian Andes context. Our approach will hopefully serve as a novel tool, combining empirical research, community involvement, and advanced computational modelling, to explore future climate scenarios and the potential effects of policy interventions.
Ancash. Arqueología, antropología e historia del paisaje. Introducción al dossier
(2017) Alexander Herrera; Carolina Orsini
Introducción al dossier
Brian S. Bauer (ed.). Kasapata and the Archaic period of the Cuzco valley (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monograph 57). x+142 pages, 60 illustrations, 39 tables. 2007. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA; 978-1-931745-35-2 hardback £28.
(Cambridge University Press, 2008) Alexander Herrera
Brian S. Bauer (ed.). Kasapata and the Archaic period of the Cuzco valley (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monograph 57). x+142 pages, 60 illustrations, 39 tables. 2007. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA; 978-1-931745-35-2 hardback £28. - Volume 82 Issue 317
Heritage Tourism, Identity and Development in Peru
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2013) Alexander Herrera
Indigenous Technologies, Archaeology, and Rural Development in the Andes
(2015) Alexander Herrera
This chapter addresses the deployment of selected material elements of indigenous technology in rural development projects inspired by archaeological understandings of raised fields, terraces, and reservoirs in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru during the 1980s and 1990s, and asks if and how applied archaeology may help mitigate the negative effects of capitalist expansion. By distinguishing intentions, practices, and consequences of development it identifies applied archaeology as immersed in development policies. Through interviews with agronomists, archaeologists, and campesino farmers, technical errors in past rehabilitation projects are identified and socio-theoretical weaknesses discussed. As a second wave of indigenous technology-inspired projects aims to bolster adaptations to climate change, the chapter highlights the significance and broader importance of the traditions that uphold communal organization, water management, and territorial aspirations, as well as agrobiodiversity.
La Serpiente de Oro y los inkas: la ocupación inka en el alto Marañón y el puerto balsero de Pogtán
(Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2003) Alexander Herrera
El reflejo material de la identidad del Estado inka en el bajo río Yanamayo se discute en contraposición a aquel de la identidad local, para este caso denominada Marañón, sobre la base de patrones de asentamiento arqueológicos en el bajo río Yanamayo. La distribución de la arquitectura productiva, administrativa y mortuoria tanto inka como marañón en la Yunga fluvial y, especialmente, en las inmediaciones del puerto balsero de Pogtán, indican estrategias diferentes para reclamar derechos de propiedad y de usufructo sobre los oasis de Yunga interandina, así como sobre el cruce del río Marañón.La arquitectura inka se distribuye a lo largo del Qapaq Naani, así como en un ramal secundario, descrito aquí por primera vez. El "Yanamayo Yunga Naani" vincula la zona de Conchucos central (departamento de Ancash) con Huacrachuco y la Cordillera Oriental (departamento de Huánuco). Se plantea que la distribución tanto de la arquitectura marañón del Periodo Intermedio Tardío y del Horizonte Tardío es el resultado de una larga trayectoria de desarrollo histórico regional, que recibió el impacto de la expansión inka.
Las kancha circulares: espacios de interacción social en la sierra norte del Perú
(Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2005) Alexander Herrera
Este trabajo aborda el papel activo y cambiante de las kancha de planta circular, estructuras públicas organizadas en torno a un patio abierto y que son comunes en la sierra norcentral del Perú. Se discuten la distribución y cronología de este tipo de monumentos a partir de las investigaciones a escala regional y local en la región de Los Conchucos y la parte media del Callejón de Huaylas. El enfoque en su emplazamiento en el paisaje y la estructura del espacio interno, ligado al análisis de los restos de cerámica hallados en las excavaciones realizadas en el sitio de Gotushjirka (distrito de San Nicolás, provincia de Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald, región Áncash), revela que se trata de espacios diseñados para crear un impresionante sentido de “liminalidad”, estrechamente vinculado con prácticas mortuorias. La remodelación de kancha circulares según un plano ortogonal, detectada en dos sitios de la Cordillera Blanca —Kishwar (distrito deYanama, provincia de Yungay) y Keushu (distrito y provincia de Yungay)— suscita interrogantes acerca de trayectorias sociohistóricas disímiles a nivel subregional.
Multilingualism on the North Coast of Peru: An Archaeological Perspective on Quingnam, Muchik, and Quechua Toponyms from the Nepeña Valley and its Headwaters
(2016) Alexander Herrera
This paper presents and explores names of places pertaining to the southern Yunga languages – Muchik or Quingnam – from the valley of Nepeña (Ancash, Peru). Toponyms include possible Quechua-Yunga compounds and, possibly Muchik-Quingnam hybrids. Their regional distribution is described and their temporal placement discussed. Archaeological data patterning, the location of sacred waka places, routes of interregional interaction and political developments are described. Enduring multilingualism – coupled with established oracular shrines – is put forward as an alternative to language replacement theories.
Paisajes del desarrollo: la ecología de las tecnologías andinas
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2009) Alexander Herrera; Maurizio Alì
The abandonment of indigenous and traditional ways of relating to the landscape and making use of the environment are historically tied, since the epoch of conquest, to the imposition of development models that respond to foreign demands. Social scientists have variously integrated the concept of development as an analytical tool, with differing foci and applications, despite a broader and persistent tendency to relate the idea chiefly to economic growth and eschew social progress. This paper critically addresses the theoretical implications of an ecological approach to the recovery of indigenous technologies in the Andean area, on the basis of experiences in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Its objective is to learn from past mistakes and recast the recovery of indigenous technologies as an effective strategy to articulate viable alternatives for local communities in the fields of agriculture, herding and agroforestry.
Presentación. Arte prehispánico, arte indígena y arqueología: nodos y contornos de un campo de estudio
(Universidad de Los Andes, 2019) Alexander Herrera
“Terms of Engagement,” A WAC Drama in Multiple Acts and Scenes: Acts Three Through Five and a Call for Public Discussion
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2012) Julie Hollowell; Alexander Herrera
The Process is the Outcome
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2007) Alexander Herrera; Julie Hollowell
Turismo patrimonial, identidad y desarrollo en el Perú
(2017) Alexander Herrera
Los vínculos entre la arqueología, la industria del turismo y los procesos identitarios se discuten, en este trabajo, en los contextos gemelos del desarrollo económico y social en el Perú. Se enfatiza el papel de los arqueólogos en el proceso de patrimonialización y se muestra cómo este papel trasciende la generación de narrativas acerca del pasado. El artículo identifica el lugar de lo indígena en la mitología nacional como un legado histórico que dificulta las interacciones entre arqueólogos y poblaciones campesinas. Las políticas enfocadas en la gestión de los restos materiales del pasado precolonial para el turismo tienden a cosificar pasados enajenados. Los incipientes intentos por atizar esta industria utilizando los restos arqueológicos que bordean la laguna de Keushu (Yungay) y aquellos en la cabecera del Llullán (Awkismarka o Pueblo Viejo de Huandoy) son indicadores de los peligros y posibilidades de una práctica arqueológica con principios éticos que permita desarrollar estrategias comunitarias en la sierra de Ancash.
What Happened at the First Meeting of the World Archaeological Congress Committee of Ethics?
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2007) Alexander Herrera
Why dig looted tombs? Two examples and some answers from Keushu (Ancash highlands, Peru)
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2010) Karina Gerdau-Radonić; Alexander Herrera
Le pillage de sépultures des sites archéologiques andins est principalement le résultat d’une longue tradition dans le commerce d’antiquités associé à la politique du XVIIe siècle « d’extirper les idolâtries » en luttant contre le culte des ancêtres et en détruisant les dépôts mortuaires. En surface, ces dépôts funéraires présentent souvent d’abondants restes désarticulés et déplacés et une absence apparente de mobilier funéraire. Quelles informations peuvent espérer obtenir de ces contextes les chercheurs ? Dans le but de mesurer les possibilités méthodologiques et les limites interprétatives des études centrées sur ce genre de contexte, nous avons fouillé deux tombes plurielles dans le site de Keushu (district et province de Yungay, Ancash, Pérou; c. 2000 avant J.-C. à 1600 après J.-C.), riche de plusieurs dizaines de sépultures, souvent construites en abri-sousroche, et toutes apparemment perturbées par du pillage récent. Le premier dépôt funéraire, dans le secteur cérémoniel, a fourni des informations sur quatre individus. Le deuxième, dans le secteur résidentiel et mortuaire, renfermait 70 sujets (adultes et immatures). Ici, nous présentons et discutons les données recueillies, et nous suggérons que des fouilles conjointes entre des archéologues et des anthropologues peuvent, à la fois, permettre de déceler les traces de pratiques funéraires, caractériser biologiquement les populations passées et aider à différencier les processus postdépositionnels ainsi que les diverses pratiques de pillage.