Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Determining Early Elite Strategies through Household Excavations in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Mark S. Aldenderfer, Elizabeth Klarich will collect data for her doctoral dissertation during the summer and fall of 2001. She will direct excavations at Pucara (200 BC- AD 400), a site located in the northwestern Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru at an elevation of 3950 masl. During the Upper Formative Period, Pucara was one of two major population centers in the Titicaca region. The site has been characterized as an early urban center, a ceremonial center, the center of a complex chiefdom, and more generally as the center of a ceramic style region. Previous archaeological research at Pucara has clarified the layout of the monumental public architecture and surrounding mound complexes, defined Classic Pukara decorated ceramics and monoliths, and located two areas of distinct residential architecture within the 1 km2 site. Within early complex societies such as Pucara, elites gain and maintain power using a number of economic, political, and social strategies. There are three major models for Pukara polity organization, each emphasizing different strategies used by elites during the Upper Formative Period. While the models have the potential to provide significant insights, each is based on only limited excavation data from the site. Consequently, it is impossible to evaluate these models without collecting additional data. The proposed excavations will be conducted in a central area of residential architecture in order to understand the organization of elite domestic economy in this early regional center. Broad, horizontal areas will be excavated in order to locate contemporaneous activity areas and determine general household organization within elite compounds. These compounds, originally located in 1939 by Alfred Kidder II, are not visible on the modern ground surface. Excavation blocks have been selected based on geophysical survey data (ground penetrating radar and cesium magnetometer) collected during the fall of 2000. Excavation data from households-- the predominant location of production, consumption, and distribution activities within preindustrial societies-- will be used to determine what type of economic, political, and ritual strategies were involved in the development and maintenance of Pukara elites. The rise of complex societies occurred independently in many parts of the world Although historical contingency played a role in shaping individual trajectories, through cross region comparison archaeologists gain insight into common underlying processes. MS Klarich's research will provide additional information on one such case. It will yield data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in training a promising young scientist.