Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Agricultural Intensification and the Emergence of Complex Societies on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. David Browman, Maria Bruno will investigate the process of agricultural intensification and it role in the development of early polities during the Formative Period (1500 B.C. - A.D. 500) on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia. The Taraco Peninsula is located in on the southern shores of the Lake Titicaca Basin in the Andean South America and previous archaeological investigations here suggest that the first regional polity, the Taraco Peninsula Polity, emerged c. 250 B.C. Clarifying the development of such early regional polities is necessary for understanding the emergence of the basin's first state-level society, Tiwanaku, c. A.D. 500. Several researchers suggest that increased agricultural production played a central role in the development of these early polities and the Tiwanaku state. It is hypothesized that emerging elites created an economic surplus by orchestrating the increased production of agricultural goods. Current understanding of agricultural intensification in the Lake Titicaca Basin, however, is based only on studies of settlement patterns, stone tool use, and paleoethnobotanical analysis of crop plants. Although these studies document increasing agricultural production throughout the Formative, available data sets are too coarse-grained to verify postulated links between changes in agricultural production and concomitant socio-political developments. Bruno proposes to resolve this issue by conducting an ethnobotanical study of present- day agricultural practices on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia. This study will aid in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological plant remains from two Formative period sites, Kala Uyuni and Yanapata, from the same region. Through 13 months of ethnobotanical fieldwork among Aymara communities on the Taraco Peninsula, including interviews, participation in agricultural activities, and farmer-guided plant collections, Bruno will create a comparative floral collection that reflects local agricultural production. The ethnographically derived comparative collection will not only provide data necessary for the identification of archaeological plant taxa, but also will furnish corollary data on human activities that create observable patterns in plant morphology and ecology. These data will aid in the analysis of archaeological plant remains recovered from the Taraco Archaeological Project's excavations at Kala Uyuni and Yanapata, directed by Drs. Christine Hastorf and Matthew Bandy. Using a combination of paleoethnobotanical analytical techniques, Bruno will track the frequency of all plant taxa through time across different archaeological contexts. In particular, crops and weedy plant taxa will be analyzed to elucidate the timing and character of Formative period agricultural intensification. AMS dating of carbonized plant remains will allow precise comparison of agricultural change with documented climatic and socio-political changes. This integrative approach will permit Bruno to clarify the role of agricultural intensification in the development of the Taraco Peninsula Polity, as well as contribute to more general anthropological theories of agricultural intensification and the emergence of complex societies.