Connecting Archaeological Legacies, Memory, and Communities in the Northern Peruvian Andes

Archaeology in the Northern Peruvian Andes is not only about the past—it is about how memory continues to live in bodies, territories, and everyday practices. In this talk, I draw on more than a decade of research and community-based work in Cajamarca. I examine urban and community-centered archaeological projects developed in collaboration with local governments and residents, highlighting how archaeological practice participates in the construction of local and regional identities. I also explore my collaborative work with master artisan weavers and other knowledge keepers, foregrounding textiles and embodied practices as critical modes of transmitting memory, knowledge, and identity beyond written archives. I argue for an archaeology grounded in practice—one that seeks to challenge hierarchies of knowledge by recognizing community expertise as central to research, interpretation, identity-making, and shared authority.