Obrajes Regional Archaeological Project (ORAP) 2010 Archaeological Field School
The Obrajes Regional Archaeological Project is a multi-year fieldwork project designed to reconstruct long-term changes in settlement patterns, demographic densities, and community interaction on various scales. Obrajes is an indigenous Quechua village in the region on the edge of the Bolivian altiplano (the high, flat plains of the southern Andes that lie between the two chains of the Andean mountain range), in the department of Oruro. Just to the east of the Obrajes region are the eastern cordillera that plunges down into the Cochabamba lowlands, and the Bolivian A5azon beyond that. Dr Beaule has conducted research in this region since 2005. She and her students live in a rented house in the community, and work closely with men and women hired from both Obrajes and villages further back in the Obrajes river valley. Local community members are very friendly, warmly welcoming us each year, and going out of their way to include us in family and community gatherings.
