Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Social Interaction and Colonialism in Peru

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Kevin J. Vaughn, Ms. Verity Whalen will conduct dissertation research to investigate the relationship between societal interaction and colonialism. She will examine ancient households and burials at Cocahuischo, a Late Nasca site on the south coast of Peru. Cocahuischo is located in the upper valley of the Tierras Blancas River, at a key geographical borderland in the Andean landscape - between the coast and the highlands. Around AD 600, Cocahuischo was a community of nearly 300 households and the center of the local valley polity. By AD 1000, the settlement had been abandoned following the collapse of the Wari state - the first Andean empire. What happened during the 400 years in between is a crucial case study in the emergence of empires. Ms. Whalen's dissertation research will develop current understandings of Wari colonialism in Nasca by examining the history of contact and interaction between the people who would become the "colonizers" and the "colonized." To do so, Ms. Whalen will draw from a number of archaeological techniques, including household archaeology, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of pottery, Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry of obsidian tools, and isotopic analysis of human skeletal remains, to track the movement of people and objects in prehistory. Although archaeological in nature the research is relevant to the present day in which similar disparities exist between adjacent political entities. Understanding such interactions provide insight into the bonds that hold states together and the forces which undermine unity. Archaeological data because of the long term perspective it can provide allows researchers to track such interactions across periods which may span multiple centuries. By investigating how regional engagements shape local community politics and emerging colonial systems, Ms. Whalen's dissertation builds from an extensive body of anthropological research and stands to contribute new insights into societal interaction and colonial encounters in both the past and present. The approach employed advocates viewing colonial encounters as the outcome of a lengthy and mutually influential process of regional interaction between indigenous and non-local groups. The research has the potential to shape how interaction is analyzed. Recent scholarship has begun to investigate the active role of indigenous groups in such encounters and how cultural traditions may become intermixed through interaction and colonialism. But such work is fraught with problems and does not really address the question - how and why do people draw from the beliefs, traditions, and symbols of others to shape their own identity and position within the community? Ms. Whalen's dissertation research will advance anthropological understandings of these issues and provide a methodological framework for addressing them by systematically analyzing pottery, non-local goods, mortuary practices, and skeletal material. This project will further Ms. Whalen's graduate training. In addition it is a collaborative effort between American and Peruvian archaeologists that will provide learning opportunities for Peruvian and American students, and engage the local communities in Nasca and the Tierras Blancas Valley. Prior collaborations with local community members in Nasca, who participated in excavations and survey on past field projects, will continue to contribute training opportunities and foster a dialogue on archaeological research and discoveries. Ms. Whalen will also present the results of this research at schools, town meetings, and museums in Nasca, working to create educational displays that will encourage archaeo-tourism and ensure that the impacts of this project reach far beyond the academic community.