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This paper addresses the impact of local perceptions of the environment, archaeological sites and of archaeologists themselves, on the ways in which we construct the past. Based on the dissimilar field experiences of two research teams we assess the power of dreams, offerings and rituals conducted to obtain permission from the mountains, the water and the ancestors to conduct excavations and surveys in the north-central highlands of Peru. These, we argue, manifest the complex articulation of geopolitical and power relations that underlie the hegemony of the positivist legacy in archaeological science and, simultaneously, offer a space for horizontal discourse with great transformative potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]