Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Power Relationships and Accommodation in Frontier Regions

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to investigate the structure and function of an imperial Inka waystation and changes to the lifeways of local indigenous communities that its construction and maintenance generated. While researchers of ancient and historical human societies have long sought to understand the various forms of imperial conquest and control over incorporated subjects, there is an increasing interest in the activities of local populations within empires. Although the term "empire" is rarely used in reference to political states today, many in fact fit this definition because they consist of amalgams of ethnic groups brought together under a central control. Understanding how empires developed is difficult to obtain through analyses of written materials alone, because these tend to ignore the actions and motivations of the non-elite members of societies. However, archaeological investigations of the smaller-scale settlements brought under imperial rule can effectively begin to refine scholarly understandings of the ways in which indigenous populations resisted, grudgingly accepted, or eagerly collaborated with their imperial rulers. Archaeology thereby allows for the development of more comprehensive considerations of empires in which the activities of all social groups within imperial society, not just the most powerful individuals, may be subject to scrutiny. The project will provide ample opportunities for collaboration with international colleagues and local communities, and the collected archaeological remains will form the basis for a future museum facility within the study area. Matthew Warren, of the University of Texas at San Antonio, will carry out an archaeological research project to investigate the political and economic effects of imperial colonization in a violently disputed borderland region and the subsequent changes in social organization and activities of its indigenous inhabitants. By focusing on the varying roles of the different groups involved in a colonial frontier context, this study will help to advance theoretical understandings of the social processes at work within ancient and modern borderland regions alike. The study will be conducted in the San Isidro river valley of western Santa Cruz department, Bolivia, a former territory of the Inkas that experienced a series of invasions by peoples native to the tropical lowlands during the Andean empire's final years. The fieldwork will consist of an archaeological survey of the broader study area, excavations at the central Inka site and several ancient indigenous settlements, and an in-depth analysis of the all of the recovered archaeological materials. The resultant data will permit an examination of the efforts in which local peoples were involved following the incorporation of the area into the empire, and the extent to which they participated with the Inkas in their defense of the eastern Andean valleys against hostile invaders that represented a threat to both parties.