"Conflict, Conquest, and the Performance of War in Pre-Columbian America", October 14–15
Registration will become available in Spring, 2011

Dumbarton Oaks is pleased to announce the annual Pre-Columbian symposium, to be held in the Music Room of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., on Friday, October 14th and Saturday, October 15th, 2011. Please note that the symposium is a week laterthan usual this year, and it will be two full days: sessions will begin at 9 am on Friday, and conclude Saturday evening.

The presence of violent conflict and warfare is widely acknowledged throughout the Pre-Columbian Americas. A perusal of the recent literature on Pre-Columbian warfare reveals that much of the work is regionally focused or primarily concerned withthe evolution of violent conflict from formative to increasingly complex societies. Lacking, however, is a dialogue on Pre-Columbian warfare that recognizes the striking parallels in certain practices—captive taking, human sacrifice, warfare asstatecraft, violence as ritual—that occur across the hemisphere. Researchers across the Americas have marshaled the same new methodological advances—such as bioarchaeology, settlement archaeology, and GIS analysis—to tackle the problem of violentconflict, yet may not be taking advantage of the insights gained from similar studies in other parts of Latin America. This symposium will take advantage of these new trends in research by bringing together a diverse group of scholars with similarinterests in understanding warfare in the Pre-Columbian past.

The symposium is organized with Andrew Scherer (Brown University) and John Verano (Tulane University). Symposium speakers include Elizabeth Arkush (University of Pittsburgh), Luis Jaime Castillo Butters (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), Ximena Chávez Balderas (Museo del Templo Mayor & Tulane University), Gerardo Gutiérrez (University of Colorado at Boulder), Eugenia Ibarra (Universidad de Costa Rica), Takeshi Inomata (University of Arizona), Arthur Joyce (University of Colorado atBoulder), George Lau (University of East Anglia), Dennis Ogburn (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Matthew Restall (The Pennsylvania State University), J. Marla Toyne (The University of Central Florida), and Tiffiny A. Tung (Vanderbilt University). John Haldon (Princeton University) will provide concluding remarks.

Space for this event is limited, and advanced registration is required. For further information, including a registration form, please visit our website (www.doaks.org) or contact the Pre-Columbian Studies Program atDumbarton Oaks Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spam bots. Necesita activar JavaScript para visualizarla , 202-339-6440. Paper abstracts will be posted in the coming week.

More details: http://www.doaks.org/research/pre_columbian/doaks_pco_symposium_2011_10_14-15.html