Persis Banvard Clarkson

Preliminary abstract: The Caravan Archaeologies Workshop brings together scholars actively investigating the identities and uses of caravan routes employed in the past, present and future. While prior conferences and publications have largely focused on Old or New World caravan strategies, Caravan Archaeologies seeks to find or dispute common methodological and theoretical ground from disparate geographical regions with ancient and historical caravan routes. The landscapes through which caravaners traveled were mediated through campsites, offerings, imagery, and navigation aids, all of which reflected the social identities of the travelers. An ongoing threat to the preservation of caravan trails and associated cultural remains through urban and industrial expansion, unregulated tourism and deliberate destruction requires immediate global attention to identify, record and preserve these ancient legacies. Pica, Chile, is an ideal location to gather a small dedicated group of scholars to examine and debate the past, present and future of cultures associated with desert roads. Pica,a major Andean node for llama caravans and travelers as early as 2000 BC., remained a caravan crossroads well into the 20th century. Pica is also where the scholarly study of Andean caravans and material culture ‘began’ in 1842 when John Blake (1843) noted ground drawings and accompanying caravan trails there.