The Flocks of the Wamani A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Andean Nature; Chapter 3 Andean Culture; Chapter 4 The People of the Puna; Chapter 5 The Guanaco and the Llama; Chapter 6 Herd Dynamics I: The “Oliver Twist” Model; Chapter 7 Herd Dynamics II: The “Santa Claus” Model; Chapter 8 Chupa and Waytakuy; Chapter 9 Herd Dynamics III: The “Surf City” Model; Chapter 10 Herd Dynamics IV: Suñay and Adaptation; Chapter 11 Suñay and Dual Inheritance Theory; Chapter 12 Nature, Culture, and Practical Reason;

Robert G Reynolds, Kent V Flannery, Joyce Marcus