PROYECTO MACHU LLAQTA
BACKGROUND
The Titicaca Basin of southern Peru and Bolivia has one of the richest archaeological histories in the Andes. This high, cold, semi-arid plateau between the two Andean cordilleras was first inhabited by small bands of Archaic hunter-gatherers by 5000 BC or earlier. By about 2000 BC, early farmers in the basin were living in settled villages, growing quinoa and potatoes and other tubers, and herding domesticated llamas and alpacas.
The collapse of Tiwanaku at around AD 1000 ushered in a turbulent time of political fragmentation, high levels of warfare, and new ceremonial and mortuary practices. Severe droughts afflicted the region, crippling the harvests and making people more dependent on herds. Defensive, fortified sites high on hills are testament to intense conflict.
After the Spanish conquest the Titicaca Basin remained a bustling crossroads, where even as local populations struggled to meet heavy tribute and tax burdens, native lords grew rich off of the traffic between Cuzco, Arequipa, and the great silver mines of Potosí.
the late intermediate period
This project places special emphasis on the period after Tiwanaku’s collapse, a time when, according to later Spanish chronicles, powerful realms ruled by hereditary warlords arose in the northern and western basin. These accounts have strongly shaped later scholarly impressions of Titicaca Basin societies, especially the Colla and Lupaca of the northern and western basin. Yet recent archaeological research on the Lupaca paints a picture of political fragmentation, loose confederacy, and deemphasized status differences that contrasts with the chronicles (Frye 1997; Frye and de la Vega 2005; Stanish 2003; Stanish et al. 1997).
Research on the Colla has been more limited, consisting of early non-systematic reconnaissances (e.g., Kidder 1943; Neira 1967; Tschopik 1946), Julien’s excavations at Hatuncolla (1983), and excavations at the cemetery complex of Sillustani (Ruiz 1973, 1976; Revilla and Uriarte 1985; Ayca 1995). Several recent surveys have also taken place.
Arkush’s fieldwork has investigated regional patterns of pukara (hillfort) settlement and intrasite spatial organization. Patterns of pukara placement suggest that the Colla can best be thought of as small regional polities each based around a network of hilltop forts, and probably forming larger confederacies at times. Indications of status differentiation in surface architecture are present but limited. On the surface, the Colla look very different from earlier societies of the Titicaca basin, which had used ceremonies and the dissemination of high-prestige goods to integrate dispersed communities. Proyecto Machu Llaqta was designed to investigate this question more closely.
References
Ayca Gallegos, Oscar (1995) Sillustani. Instituto de Arqueologia del Sur, Tacna, Peru
Frye, Kirk L. (1997) Political Centralization in the Altiplano Period in the Soutwestern Titicaca Basin (Appendix 2). In Archaeological Survey in the Juli-Desaguadero Region of Lake Titicaca Basin, Southern Peru, edited by Charles Stanish. Fieldiana: Anthropology Vol. 29. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Frye, Kirk L and Edmundo de la Vega (2005) The Altiplano Period in the Titicaca Basin. In Advances in Titicaca Basin Archaeology I, edited by Charles Stanish, Amanda Cohen and Mark Aldenderfer, pp. 173-184. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, UCLA, Los Angeles.
Julien, Catherine (1983) Hatunqolla: A View of Inca Rule from the Lake Titicaca Region. Series Publications in Anthropology 15. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Kidder II, Alfred (1943) Some early sites in the northern Lake Titicaca basin. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 27. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Neira Avedaño, Máximo (1967) Informe preliminar de las investigaciones arqueológicas en el Departamento de Puno. Anales del Insituto de Estudios Socio Económicos 1(1).
Revilla Becerra, Rosanna Liliana and Mauro Alberto Uriarte Paniagua (1985) Investigación arqueológica en la zona de Sillustani-sector Wakakancha-Puno. Tesis bachiller, Universidad Católica Santa Maria.
Ruiz Estrada, Arturo (1973) Las ruinas de Sillustani. Tesis de doctorado, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
Ruiz Estrada, Arturo (1976) Hallazgos de oro Sillustani (Puno). Serie Metalurgia no. 1. Publicaciones del Museo Nacional de Antropología y Arqueología, Lima.
Stanish, Charles (2003) Ancient Titicaca: The Evolution of Complex Society in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Stanish, C., E. de la Vega, L. Steadman, C. Chavez, K.L. Frye, L. Onofre, M.T. Seddon and P. Calisaya (1997) Archaeological survey in the Juli-Desaguadero region of the Lake Titicaca Basin, southern Peru. Fieldiana Anthropology 29. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Tapia Pineda, Félix (1973) Arqueología de la parcialidad de Chila. Tesis de Bachiller, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín.
Tapia Pineda, Félix(1993) Desarrollo Historico Social Preinka en la Provincia de Puno. Grupo de Arte Utaraya, Puno, Peru.
Tschopik, Marion H. (1946) Some notes on the archaeology of the Department of Puno. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 27. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, MA.
Overview Background The Site Objectives Survey Excavations Members
Overview Background The Site Objectives Survey Excavations Members