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11. Map of the Upper House Level complex at Chiripa (approximately 380–250 B.C.) with excavations indicated.
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The long-term evolution of social power has often been linked to the development of regional exchange systems. Most treatments emphasize monopolies of production or distribution of high-value items. In this chapter I analyze the case of exchange in the Middle (Late Chiripa phase) and early Late Formative (Tiwanaku I phase) communities of the southe...
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Almost a decade of intensive excavations by the Kinneret Regional Project has turned Tel Kinrot into one of the major sites for the study of urban life in the southern Levant during the Early Iron Age. Its urban layout, accessibility by major trade routes, and strategic location between different spheres of cultural and political influence make Tel...
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... The village settlements, or llaqta, are composed of agropastoral infrastructure, such as terrace and canal systems and corrals, residential structures and ceremonial architecture, mortuary features, and a proliferation of portable material culture, such as pottery and painted stone discs and tablets ( Fig. 2; Menaker, 2019aMenaker, , 2019b. Llaqta were formed through communities of practice (ayllus) structured by non-state, decentralized socio-political authorities that were mediated by an economy of exchange and gift-giving (see e.g., Arkush, 2014;Bandy, 2004Bandy, , 2005Goldstein, 2015;Isbell, 1997;Kolata, 2013;Marcus, 2000;Menaker, 2019aMenaker, , 2019bSalomon, 1991;Salomon, 1995;Stanish, 1992;Tripcevich, 2007;Tripcevich, 2009a;Wernke, 2013). The Soporo pottery style, a neckless, incised vessel, marks early inhabitations in the region. ...
... Like previous investigations (Linares Málaga, 1993;Ziolkowski and Belan Franco, 2000), systematic survey in Andagua did not document any diagnostic architecture or artifacts of the Wari or Tiwanaku polities in Andagua. While some regions of the southern Andes were home to the formations of pre-Inka states, Wari and Tiwanaku, or were colonized by them (see e.g., Bandy, 2004Bandy, , 2005 Jennings et al., 2015;Jennings et al., 2021;Williams, 2001), the Wari and Tiwanaku apparently did not occupy the Andagua Valley. For example, Wari sites have D-shaped temples and monumental architecture (Cook, 2001;Schreiber, 2005;Williams, 2001) and Tiwanaku sites have sunken courts, mounds, and other large lithic monuments (Stanish and Vranich, 2013;Williams et al., 2007;Williams, 2001). ...
The Andagua Valley in the Department of Arequipa of southern Peru has only recently seen systematic archaeological investigations, revealing ancient agricultural communities that, despite apparent
geographic isolation, were integrated economically with the wider Andean world. Portable x-ray fluorescence analysis of 137 obsidian artifacts recovered from sites in the lower Andagua Valley identifies the transfer of obsidian from Peru’s three largest sources, with >90% of the analyzed artifacts coming from the Alca-1 source northwest of the valley. In addition to Alca-1 obsidian, small amounts of obsidian from the distant sources of Chivay and Quispisisa appeared in distinct contexts associated with local pre-Inka occupations,
corresponding with the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Periods (600 – 1000 and 1000 – 1400 Common Era). Obsidian from the Alca-4 and Alca-5 sources, originating on the adjacent plateau, was also transported to Andagua during these periods, possibly continuing under Inka imperial expansion after 1400 CE.
Because there is no archaeological evidence of either Wari or Tiwanaku states in the lower Andagua Valley, the probable mechanisms of obsidian transfer include direct or down-the-line exchange between plateau-based camelid pastoralists and valley farmers. Therefore, at least some long-distance obsidian transfers in southern Peru were carried out without direct oversight from Wari or Tiwanaku, though these transfers may have been facilitated by region-scale economic integration during the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Period. Tracing the distribution of obsidian in the Andagua Valley highlights both intra-valley and inter-zonal relationships between the Valley of the Volcanoes and specific areas of the high-elevation Andean plateau while illuminating dynamic economic and social connections along the central Andes in the pre-Hispanic past.
... The Middle Formative Chiripa community was among the largest in the southern Lake Titicaca region (Bandy, 2001(Bandy, , 2004a, and enjoyed access to a wide range of food stuffs, luxury goods, and imports (Bandy, 2004b;Browman, 1989;Chávez Mohr, 1988;Hastorf, 2003;Hastorf et al., 2008;Moore et al., 1999). While there are sunken courts built across the landscape during this time, the stepped platform mound at Chiripa is a unique locale in this region. ...
In this study, we assess competing interpretations of a burnt ceremonial structure from the terminal Middle Formative period (ca. 300–100 BCE) by analyzing the stepped platform mound at Chiripa, Bolivia, through a systematic reconstruction of the fire that destroyed it. We developed a model of potential fire pathways, their social contexts, and material indicators. Our approach contrasts incipient fires from accident or arson to planned fires initiated for functional or social ends. We assessed these pathways for the Chiripa mound fire through experimental, geoarchaeological, faunal, and botanical data. Experiments were aimed at deducing the temperature, duration, and oxidation conditions of the fire. The fire temperature and duration were approximated from geoarchaeological analyses of construction materials in comparison with controls, and thermal alteration of faunal bone. Fuels were reconstructed through paleoethnobotanical analysis of charred remains from discrete areas within the burnt structure. We conclude that an intentional fire burned the structures on the Chiripa mound to temperatures of 700 °C or higher under oxidizing conditions for several hours. The pattern of heat-altered materials recovered would have required a substantial supplemental fuel load. At the 3840 masl elevation of Chiripa, the effective control of a high temperature oxidizing fire demonstrates technical expertise in fire management. Our findings indicate the fire appears intentional, likely a ritual event. We believe the structures were burned to facilitate a socio-political change during a period of social transition at the end of the Middle Formative period in Bolivia.
... It is likely that a large number of agricultural and potentially residential areas around ceremonial centers located in the lake basin (e.g., Lukurmata) were impacted by this transgression, with the exception of the Tiwanaku capital (Tiahuanaco), which is located farther inland. Such a transgression could also have shifted the trade routes of the llama caravan to the Yungas along the western shores of Lake Titicaca through Tiahuanaco (59). The coincident major increase in population (60)(61)(62), together with the restructuring of Tiahuanaco and the development of the agropastoral landscape, including raised field systems (13,18,42,63), suggests that this event influenced a migration of human populations, from previously occupied flooded regions, to cities located on higher ground. ...
Holocene climate in the high tropical Andes was characterized by both gradual and abrupt changes, which disrupted the hydrological cycle and impacted landscapes and societies. High-resolution paleoenvironmental records are essential to contextualize archaeological data and to evaluate the sociopolitical response of ancient societies to environmental variability. Middle-to-Late Holocene water levels in Lake Titicaca were reevaluated through a transfer function model based on measurements of organic carbon stable isotopes, combined with high-resolution profiles of other geochemical variables and paleoshoreline indicators. Our reconstruction indicates that following a prolonged low stand during the Middle Holocene (4000 to 2400 BCE), lake level rose rapidly ~15 m by 1800 BCE, and then increased another 3 to 6 m in a series of steps, attaining the highest values after ~1600 CE. The largest lake-level increases coincided with major sociopolitical changes reported by archaeologists. In particular, at the end of the Formative Period (500 CE), a major lake-level rise inundated large shoreline areas and forced populations to migrate to higher elevation, likely contributing to the emergence of the Tiwanaku culture.
... Ingatambo became the principal center of the Huancabamba Valley (Yamamoto, 2007) and transformed from a local center to an important center, like a 'gateway community' (Hirth, 1978) and/or 'transit community' (Bandy, 2005). It served as a geopolitically important site for helping to facilitate the reliable interregional flow of goods, taking advantage of its geographic and strategic location in the interregional socioeconomic/political networks (Yamamoto, 2013). ...
This article describes the changing regional and interregional entanglements in northern Peru during the Middle and Late Formative Periods from a diachronic perspective. Comparing the available archaeological data from major or ‘core’ ceremonial centers such as Kuntur Wasi and Pacopampa, and the contemporaneous center at Ingatambo, located in the northern ‘frontier,’ it seems reasonable to divide the diachronic process of interactions in northern Peru into three distinct phases to better understand its complexities. From this perspective, northern Peru around 1200 BC can be considered as an aggregate of local spheres (at the level of a valley or basin), with each of the local spheres pertaining to the emerging ceremonial centers. However, a major change seems to have occurred around 1000 BC, as regional and interregional interaction became more active in the northern highlands, and regional spheres seem to have expanded in number and geographic scale. Ceremonial centers such as Kuntur Wasi and Pacopampa formed regional-scale spheres beyond a geographically specific area. Around 800 BC, radical socioeconomic changes occurred in the Central Andes, and northern Peru was integrated into a pan-regional network covering the whole of the Central Andes, which overlay the northern interaction spheres developed by important centers such as Kuntur Wasi and Pacopampa. In this context, it seems important to focus on the site of Ingatambo, which is located at a unique geopolitical point where multiple spheres overlap and interact with the two core centers of Kuntur Wasi and Pacopampa simultaneously. Ingatambo formed and maintained its own regional sphere independent of these two centers through its connection with the far north coast and tropical lowlands.
... Esta piedra semipreciosa fue utilizada en la fabricación de cuentas con las que se manufacturaron collares, pulseras, colgantes y otros adornos. En la extensa región andina, existen menciones de collares y cuentas manufacturadas en sodalita desde Colombia, Ecuador y Perú, hasta Bolivia, norte de Chile y el noroeste de Argentina, asignables a diversos períodos (Alba 1943;Bandy 2005;Boman 1908;Browman 1998;Fernández y Menzel 1978;López Campeny 2012;Rosen 1990;Ventura 1991;Ventura y Scambato 2013;Westfall et al. 2010;Zeballos-Velásquez et al. 2020). En los Andes Centro Sur, los adornos de sodalita eran indicativos de status social alto (Makowski 2002) y su identificación en contextos funerarios, a veces, asociada con otros minerales como turquesa y crisocola, revela cuán preciada era esa materia prima. ...
... Su nombre deriva de Taranaki, una región de Nueva Zelanda donde fue descripto por primera vez en 1866 (3) . Se forma bajo condiciones ácidas (pH<7) y húmedas a partir de la interacción entre las soluciones fosfáticas, resultantes de la degradación del guano -de aves o de quirópteros-acumulado en cuevas o de la disolución de la matriz mineral de huesos u otras sustancias orgánicas de origen animal, y el potasio, el sodio, el aluminio y el hierro derivados de sedimentos argiláceos o del sustrato rocoso (Classicgems.Net 2004Fiore y Laviano 1991;Mineral Data Publishing 2001-2005Murray y Dietrich 1956). Es común encontrar taranakita en ambientes de cuevas húmedas habitadas por murciélagos, aunque también se la ha ubicado en lugares costeros húmedos ocupados por colonias de aves (Landis y Craw 2003;Pereira et al. 2013;Tatur y Keck 1990). ...
... La mayoría de los investigadores mencionan que se requieren 'condiciones de humedad' para que se forme taranakita Fiore y Laviano 1991;Queffelec et al. 2018;Tatur y Keck 1990;Vidal Romaní et al. 2010, entre otros). Sin embargo, en algunos artículos se ha expresado que la formación de taranakita requiere condiciones de 'humedad perenne' (Landis y Craw 2003;Mineral Data Publishing 2001-2005, lo cual se interpreta como un requerimiento sine qua non para su formación. Ciertamente, se necesita humedad mientras ocurre todo el proceso de formación de taranakita, un mineral altamente hidratado. ...
This paper presents the characterization of 1088 beads from museum collections and field collections from the eastern val leys of northern Salta, Argentina. Beads made of tuff, slate, glass, malacological material, and minerals were identified. 27 beads were analyzed through sem-edx and xrd revealing turquoise, sodalite and opal, and their previous classifications were modified from geochemical data and macroscopic observa tion. Finally, potential lithic, malacological, and foreign supply sources were assessed.
... La concreción de las negociaciones y el intercambio activan la economía, tanto de los grupos que producen excedentes como de aquéllos que son núcleos receptores y redistribuidores. Un ejemplo de esto es desarrollado por Bandy (2004) quien contrasta información medioambiental con el auge y caída de los sitios de Chiripa (periodo Formativo) y Tiwanaku (periodo Medio) en el sector sur del Lago Titicaca, donde un cambio notable en los niveles del lago permitió la modificación de la ruta longitudinal trasladando su eje unos 13 km más al sur, quedando con ello fuera el primer sitio de la ruta, potenciando así su abandono. ...
Perforated objects are part of the elements that illustrate the exchange activities in the Atacama Desert, and in the South-Central Andes area more widely. This can be noted in the raw materials that support those objects and which come from diverse regions, far from the contexts where they have been found. Through a typological analysis focused on the morpho-functional aspects and on the identifcation of raw materials of sets of perforated objects from different sites of the Formative period (1500 BC-500 AC) in the areas of Quillagua (Calate CH-2 y CH-3), Loa Medio (Talabre 26, Chorrillos, Topater) and Salar de Atacama (Tulan 54), it has been verified that most of them were manufactured in shells from the Pacific coast and the Argentine Northwest (ANW), followed by copper ore pieces obtained from local sources. These places of origin, some of them very far from the sites, allow us to hypothesize and reflect on the ways the perforated objects were exchanged, considering their symbolic and social status in their deposit contexts. It is believed that this constitutes an advancement in the evaluation of the way these objects contribute to the construction and negotiation of embodied identities that also extend into the landscape and the territory.
... Esta piedra semipreciosa fue utilizada en la fabricación de cuentas con las que se manufacturaron collares, pulseras, colgantes y otros adornos. En la extensa región andina, existen menciones de collares y cuentas manufacturadas en sodalita desde Colombia, Ecuador y Perú, hasta Bolivia, norte de Chile y el noroeste de Argentina, asignables a diversos períodos (Alba 1943;Bandy 2005;Boman 1908;Browman 1998;Fernández y Menzel 1978;López Campeny 2012;Rosen 1990;Ventura 1991;Ventura y Scambato 2013;Westfall et al. 2010;Zeballos-Velásquez et al. 2020). En los Andes Centro Sur, los adornos de sodalita eran indicativos de status social alto (Makowski 2002) y su identificación en contextos funerarios, a veces, asociada con otros minerales como turquesa y crisocola, revela cuán preciada era esa materia prima. ...
... Su nombre deriva de Taranaki, una región de Nueva Zelanda donde fue descripto por primera vez en 1866 (3) . Se forma bajo condiciones ácidas (pH<7) y húmedas a partir de la interacción entre las soluciones fosfáticas, resultantes de la degradación del guano -de aves o de quirópteros-acumulado en cuevas o de la disolución de la matriz mineral de huesos u otras sustancias orgánicas de origen animal, y el potasio, el sodio, el aluminio y el hierro derivados de sedimentos argiláceos o del sustrato rocoso (Classicgems.Net 2004Fiore y Laviano 1991;Mineral Data Publishing 2001-2005Murray y Dietrich 1956). Es común encontrar taranakita en ambientes de cuevas húmedas habitadas por murciélagos, aunque también se la ha ubicado en lugares costeros húmedos ocupados por colonias de aves (Landis y Craw 2003;Pereira et al. 2013;Tatur y Keck 1990). ...
... La mayoría de los investigadores mencionan que se requieren 'condiciones de humedad' para que se forme taranakita Fiore y Laviano 1991;Queffelec et al. 2018;Tatur y Keck 1990;Vidal Romaní et al. 2010, entre otros). Sin embargo, en algunos artículos se ha expresado que la formación de taranakita requiere condiciones de 'humedad perenne' (Landis y Craw 2003;Mineral Data Publishing 2001-2005, lo cual se interpreta como un requerimiento sine qua non para su formación. Ciertamente, se necesita humedad mientras ocurre todo el proceso de formación de taranakita, un mineral altamente hidratado. ...
Algunas cuentas de sodalita azul recuperadas en contexto arqueológico muestran evidencias de meteorización química y formación de taranakita autigénica, un fosfato secundario originado como resultado de procesos diagenéticos actuantes sobre material óseo y sobre el feldespatoide alcalino sodalita. Este mineral azul fue muy valorado por los pueblos antiguos; con él se manufacturaron cuentas que fueron utilizadas en la producción de collares, pulseras y en otros variados adornos, sólo accesibles a los grupos de elite. Muchos de estos artículos de lujo habrían sido recuperados en enterratorios de sitios prehispánicos ubicados en las Sierras Orientales de Salta, Argentina. En este manuscrito, se postulan y describen los agentes, los procesos y los efectos que podrían modificar el quimismo del mineral sodalita, la materia prima utilizada antiguamente en la confección de objetos de prestigio. ///
Some blue sodalite beads recovered in archaeological context show evidences of chemical weathering and authigenic taranakita formation, a secondary phosphate originated as a result of diagenetic processes intervening on bone material and sodium feldspathoid. Blue minerals like sodalite were highly appreciated by ancient people; this mineral was used in the manufacture of beads to make ornaments such as necklaces and bracelets, only accessible to elite groups. Many of these luxury items would come from pre-Hispanic burial contexts located on the eastern slope of Sierras Orientales, Salta, Argentina. The agents, processes and geochemical effects that could modify the sodalite raw material are postulated and described.
... En la prehistoria del norte de Chile, la circulación de objetos alejados de su origen ha sido utilizada desde hace décadas como uno de los principales argumentos que sustentan la idea de una intensa interacción con poblaciones de diferentes regiones de lo que se ha denominado "subárea circumpuneña", siendo las principales el noroeste argentino y el sur de Bolivia (Tarragó 1974(Tarragó , 1989Núñez 1984Núñez , 2007Estévez y Bermann 1996;Llagostera 1996;Bandy 2005;Núñez et al. 2005Núñez et al. , 2006Núñez y Santoro 2011). ...
... En casi toda la secuencia cronológica de nuestra área de estudio se observa la presencia de objetos que fueron transportados y distribuidos en circuitos de intercambio, entre ellos algunos con la finalidad de ser entregados a destinatarios que se los apropiaron según necesidades sociales y/o políticas, cumpliendo su cometido en rituales y ceremonias (Tartusi y Núñez Regueiro 1993;Ange-lo y Capriles 2004;Núñez et al. 2005). Los bienes que fueron intercambiados en el período Formativo son de diversa naturaleza y van desde objetos sin formatización, como semillas de maíz, ají, valvas de moluscos y materias primas como el mineral de cobre, hasta "objetos con valor agregado" o formatizados, como cuentas de collar, vasijas y metales (Núñez y Dillehay 1979;Núñez 1984Núñez , 2007Hastorf 2001;Bandy 2005;Núñez y Santoro 2011). Ante esta diversidad no es posible pensar que todos estos objetos tuvieron un valor equivalente o superior a otros objetos no intercambiados. ...
... Parece más notorio que el aumento de Strophocheilus avanzada la fase Tilocalar podría relacionarse también con significados derivados del contexto social que los mantuvo como objetos circulantes. En particular, la creciente consolidación de sociedades complejas en la subárea circumpuneña(Llagostera 1996; Hastorf 2003;Núñez et al. 2005;Bandy 2005), especialmente aquellas ubicadas al norte y oriente de quebrada Tulan, habría producido interacciones de mayor interés con grupos sociopolíticamente semejantes(Soto 2009). En este caso, nos referimos a sociedades en donde la obtención y producción de bienes para el ritual y el intercambio constituyeron actividades que concentraron gran cantidad de recursos físicos e intelectuales. ...
Amongst the assemblage of goods that circulated across the South Central Andes are molluscs or malacological remains, both complete and modified (e.g. beads and pendants). This study analyses the taxonomy, technology and distribution of these goods in the sites Tulan 54, 85 and 122 from the Tilocalar phase in order to access their function and meanings in ritual contexts, as well as their uses as exchange goods. Our analysis points to both spatial and contextual differentiation between Argopecten purpuratus, a Pacific Ocean bivalve, and Strophocheilus oblongus, a gastropod from the Argentinian neotropics. This difference is interpreted in light of other archaeological and ethnographical contexts with high symbolic meaning. Thus, we attempt to contribute to the understanding of this period of emerging social differences and transformation of subsistence modes in the Salar de Atacama.
... Finally, the Masked Trogon is a very colorful species that almost certainly was transported to Chiripa from lower elevations. A long-distance trade network operated prehistorically throughout the Andean highlands, involving such materials as obsidian (Brooks et al. 1997, Burger et al. 2000, marine shell (Bawden 2004, Bandy 2005, Vaughn 2006) and plants (Torres et al. 1991). Live individuals or feathered carcasses (with bones) of brightly colored extralocal birds may have been part of this trade network. ...
From excavations at the Formative period (3,500 to 900 years old) Chiripa archaeological site on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian altiplano (elev. 3,820 m), we identified 664 bones that represent 41 extant species of birds. Approximately 80% of the bones are from aquatic species such as coots, grebes, ducks, cormorants, and flamingos. Ten species from the bone sample (a grebe Podiceps occipitalis, cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus, goose Chloephaga melanoptera, duck Lophonetta specularoides, falcon Falco peregrinus, coots Fulica gigantea and F. leucoptera, dove Metriopelia aymara, owl Asio flammeus, and trogon Trogon personatus) were not recorded during rigorous bird surveys at Chiripa and elsewhere on the Taraco Peninsula in June-July 1996. One of these species (Trogon personatus) inhabits humid montane forest below 3,400 m elevation, and thus probably was transported by people to Chiripa from distances >80 km away. Each of the other nine species except Fulica leucoptera are known to occur regularly within the Titicaca Basin. The prehistoric data support the hypothesis that the regional composition of most continental Neotropical bird communities, in spite of many local range fluctuations, has been fairly stable over the past several millennia, a period of minor climate change compared to that of glacial-interglacial transitions. A challenge to researchers is to tease out the possible causes of local distributional changes in Neotropical birds, including an evaluation of how prehistoric people may have affected the presence and relative abundance of certain species. Received 3 September 2014. Accepted 27 February 2015.
... New centres replaced their Middle Formative predecessors and were often located further away from Lake Titicaca and nearby rivers. These centres exercised a wider political influence and their development was driven in part by the increasing importance of llama caravans, which circulated animals, people, objects and ideas regionally and inter-regionally (Browman 1978;Núñez Atencio & Dillehay 1995[1979; Bandy 2005). How did the social importance of the dead change during this time of increased mobility and population fluctuation? ...
Disposal of the dead in early societies frequently involved multiple stages of ritual and processing. At Khonkho Wankane in the Andes quicklime was used to reduce corpses to bones in a special circular structure at the centre of the site. The quicklime was obtained from solid white blocks of calcium oxide and was then mixed with water and applied to disarticulated body parts. A few plaster-covered bones were recovered from the structure but most had been removed from the site, possibly by itinerant llama caravans. Thus, Khonkho Wankane was a ritual centre to which the dead were brought for processing and then removed for final burial elsewhere.
