This special issue of Expedition is published in honor of Dr. Alfred Kidder II ( 1911- 1984 ), former Curator of the American Section and Associate Director of The University Museum, as well as professor in the Department of Anthropology. Known for his contributions to South American archaeology before corning to the University of Pennsylvania in 1950, Kidder was responsible for continuing the Museum’s research involvement in the Andean area until his retirement in 1971. The first article provides a biographical review of his activities.
As a former advisee of Kidder, I had been planning a publication in dedication to him when the opportunity to do so emerged through Expedition, and I was invited by Mary Voigt to be guest editor for this Andean-focused issue. The articles included here all deal with the highlands of southern Peru and northern Bolivia, a selection in keeping with Kidder’s own direct or indirect research involvement within this region. Four articles focus on the Lake Titicaca Basin where Kidder conducted archaeological reconnaissance and excavation: two of these directly incorporate his unpublished materials (K. Chavez and Carlevato), while the other two deal with raised field agriculture (Erickson) and causeways (Julien). The remaining two articles involve the Department of Cuzco, Peru, one focusing on the expansion into Cuzco of Pucara from the Lake Titicaca Basin (S. Chavez) and the other on Inca palaces (Niles)
The articles provide new descriptive data and interpretations of cultural development in the region from the first millennium B.C. to the present. A diversity of approaches are represented: the use of historical and ethnohistorical materials; a variety of technical analyses; stylistic analysis of pottery, stone sculpture, and architecture; and the application of archaeology to the resolution of modern food production problems.
We are all richer for Kidder’s early work and that which he supervised in the area as it provided the necessary foundations for understanding the prehistory there, and directly or indirectly stimulated our own and others’ research in the region.
Karen L. Mohr Chavez Guest Editor