On Thursday, February 13 at 6:30 PM, Dr. Jo Osborn, Visiting Assistant Professor, will present the Maxwell Museum 2025 Annual Ancestors LectureFishing Through Flux: Economic Strategies for Managing El Niño Risks in Coastal Peru in Hibben 105 and via Zoom.  

Abstract

How do communities confront challenging climatic circumstances? This talk explores the development of community economic specialization at Jahuay (200 BC–AD 150), a fishing village on the Peruvian south coast where full time maritime specialists made a living through fishing, shellfish collection, and the hunting of marine birds and mammals. These products were consumed locally and exchanged regionally. Dr. Osborn proposes complementarity between independent specialized communities exploiting distinct resources was a regional strategy that buffered against periodic scarcity and made communities more resilient to El Niño cycles.

This talk is hosted by the UNM Maxwell Museum, UNM Department of Anthropology, and UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute.