Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Approaches To The Analysis Of Ethnic Interaction

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This research will examine the processes through which imperial colonists and indigenous groups negotiated their identities within ancient borderlands and colonies. Archaeology is particularly well suited for addressing issues of colonialism because artifacts can often provide visibility to members of society who may not be easily recognized in historical documents, such as low-status or subjugated peoples. While previous scholarship viewed colonialism in the context of indigenous groups adopting the culture of the colonizers, more recently they are viewed as unique contested locations where both colonizing and indigenous groups influence each other culturally through a complex exchange of ideas, traditions, and material culture. This project fills an important research gap by focusing on multiple socioeconomic within empires and how complex social interactions between colonists and local groups were manifested in the past. This research has particular relevance for the negotiation of cultural differences in regions today where dissimilar ethnic groups come into contact as a result of population movement due to conflict, politics, or economic opportunity. One form of archaeological material that provides an excellent medium for examining culture contact is cuisine. The study of ancient food practices within colonial contexts will shed light on how imperial colonists and indigenous groups modified or reaffirmed their food preferences and identities within borderlands. The research will be conducted in the central highlands of the Peru focusing on two sites from ancient Wari Empire and an indigenous site located near one of the Wari colonies. The Wari Empire expanded to cover much of modern-day Peru and incorporated a number of ethnic groups into its administration, yet there are no written records to understand who these people were. As a result, the carbonized plant data from these sites will be compared to determine the cuisine of Wari colonists and indigenous groups and examine the exchange of food preferences, production, and processing strategies between Wari colonists and indigenous peoples to identify how these different groups interacted and experienced colonization. The food preferences of colonial and indigenous groups will be reconstructed and compared through correlations between architectural space, material culture, and ancient plant remains using plant remains to highlight the ways in which these groups shared their cuisine, which will allow for a more dynamic view of colonialism in the past. This project will generate new methods for the study of ancient cuisine and culture contact and provide hands-on training and education opportunities for students.