Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: "Proyecto Omo: Social Differentiation and Mortuary Variability at the Provincial Tiwanaku Site Omo M10 (Moquegua, Peru)"

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Paul S. Goldstein, Sarah Baitzel will analyze and compare burial contexts associated with the high-altitude Tiwanaku culture (A.D. 500-1000), one of the earliest expansive states to arise in the South American Andes. The burials were excavated in 2010-2011 at the site of Omo M10, a Tiwanaku colony located in the Moquegua Valley of Southern Peru on the western slopes of the Andes. Although the work focuses on a single prehistoric culture its intellectual relevance is broad and has present day relevance because it provides insight into the mechanisms through which members of diverse ethnic identities were able to integrate into a unified social group. Being the only Tiwanaku colonial settlement with a temple, the Omo M10 site occupied an important role in the region as a religious or administrative center. The spatial separation of burials into 13 cemeteries located around the temple forms the basis for this comparative research. By testing whether patterns in the distribution of grave offerings and mourning activities correspond with the spatial sectoring of cemeteries, this project will investigate in what ways this reflected the social order of Tiwanaku colonial society. The uniquely large and well-preserved burial sample from Omo M10 will allow Ms. Baitzel to investigate funerary rituals in their entirety, ranging from more traditional materials like human remains and pottery to rare preserved cloth and food items. Understanding how individuals formed and maintained their social identity as members both of ethnic kin groups and participants in newly emerging states plays a central role in the study of early complex societies. Mortuary archaeology offers two distinct advantages for this investigation: it directly links material evidence of funerary activities to the deceased individuals. In addition, it focuses on a period of social crisis, during which the death of a community member requires mourners to reaffirm and public assert and display their affiliation. Accordingly, this research contributes to Tiwanaku and Andean archaeology a new perspective of how rituals created and maintained different identities social relations; the results will also present a comparative case study for similar research on complex societies around the world. The combination of a quantitative, material-oriented methodology and a theoretical focus on social practice, ritual and identity formation bridges divided and diverging schools of thought in the field of mortuary archaeology. This research will have a broader impact both at the local and international level. The data resulting from this research will provide a comparative sample and database that will serve as a resource for future investigations, and will form the basis of several upcoming doctoral dissertation projects in the U.S. The proposed analyses bring together specialists and students from U.S. (University of Florida, Arizona State University) and Peruvian institutions (Universidad Cayetano Heredia, Lima) to provide opportunities for collaboration and training. The resulting publications written for peer-reviewed journals and a public audience will be made available to local institutions and libraries in English and Spanish; presentations of the research will be directed towards academic audiences in the U.S., Peru and Chile, as well as the general public in Moquegua. Special emphasis will be placed on disseminating this research to the public through local institutions and media to advance understanding of the region's prehistory and to raise awareness about conservation of cultural patrimony.