An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru
by Titu Cusi Yupanqui
"Incidence of Travel is a modern-day sequel to nineteenth-century archaeological traveler John Lloyd Stephens’s classic Incidents of Travel, a charming set of essays on adventures in the field by a talented archaeologist. This is an eloquent testimony to the challenges and rewards of today’s archaeology, which provides an entertaining backdrop to a great deal of specialized, and often frankly unexciting, research. If you’re a vicarious archaeological adventurer, this book is for you."
—Brian Fagan, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Intimate Bond
"The reader gets to experience fascinating places created mostly by ancient peoples in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia through Moore’s descriptive, clear, and engaging narratives of his travels. His stories introduce the reader to numerous archaeological sites and remains by describing what it is actually like to be there experiencing and interacting with them today. . . . The whole world would enjoy encountering South America with him as a guide."
—Maria Bruno, Dickinson College
"Jerry Moore is one of our best and most original archaeologist writers. Everyone understands archaeology as travel through time, but few researchers write about the travel through space often required to understand the past—and then to understand how ancient people themselves traveled. Incidence of Travel is a smart, funny, and enlightening journey through South America, past and present."
—William L. Fox, director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art
"Jerry D. Moore understands landscapes at a deeply personal level and shows a remarkable ability to describe them and their cultural nuances to people who might otherwise find them wholly alien. Incidence of Travel: Recent Travels in Ancient South America amply displays his whispering abilities."
—Anthropology Book Forum
In Incidence of Travel, archaeologist Jerry Moore draws on his personal experiences and historical and archaeological studies throughout South America to explore and understand the ways traditional peoples created cultural landscapes in the region. Using new narrative structures, Moore introduces readers to numerous archaeological sites and remains, describing what it is like to be in the field and sparking further reflection on what these places might have been like in the past.
From the snow-capped mountains of Colombia to the arid deserts of Peru and Chile, ancient peoples of South America built cities, formed earthen mounds, created rock art, and measured the cosmos—literally inscribing their presence and passage throughout the continent. Including experiences ranging from the terrifying to the amusing, Moore’s travels intersect with the material traces of traditional cultures. He refers to this intersection as "the incidence of travel." Braiding the tales of his own journeys with explanations of the places he visits through archaeological, anthropological, and historical contexts, Moore conveys the marvelous and intriguing complexities of prehistoric and historic peoples of South America and the ways they marked their presence on the land.
Combining travel narrative and archaeology in a series of essays—accounts of discoveries, mishaps of travel, and encounters with modern people living in ancient places—Incidence of Travel will engage any general reader, student, or scholar with interest in archaeology, anthropology, Latin American history, or storytelling.
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