Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Role Of Frontiers In The Spatial Organization Of Traditional Societies

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Elizabeth Arkush, Co-P.I. Patrick Mullins, will use National Science Foundation support to expand understandings of the evolution of political power in frontier zones. Frontiers are universally important in representing the spatial limits of modern and ancient states but can change considerably over time: from ambiguous and permeable to rigidly controlled and divisive. But how may political power on frontiers evolve over time and what factors may lead to different outcomes? Focusing on frontier conflict through defensive architecture, this study contributes to understandings of the long-term consequences of fortifications and border walls along political frontiers. Additionally, a landscape perspective highlights the importance of certain natural (i.e. mineral deposits, water sources, farmland) and human-made (i.e. canals, trade routes, population centers) features in determining where political power may be expressed or contested on the landscape. By shedding light on long-term causes and consequences of frontier political involvement and conflict, this project resonates well with some particular challenges faced by many modern states, like the US, in border maintenance and military action. The results and data from this project will be available in the Comparative Archaeological Database for open-access use by the broader scientific community and will be a key part of a larger regional digitization initiative called the Moche Valley Ancient Settlement Database. Finally, following a collaborative research program, this project will train Peruvian and American students in several new archaeological techniques (i.e. aerial drone mapping) while actively integrating local people with the practice of archaeological research during several workshops and public presentations of the survey results. Through archaeological survey of the Upper Moche Valley frontier in northern Peru, this project compares the frontiers of two sequential polities, the Southern Moche State (AD 200-900) and the Chimu Empire (AD 900-1470), in order to understand how political power may evolve in frontier landscapes. Although the Chimu arguably rose from the ashes of the Moche in the lower valley, the Southern Moche State was an earlier "first-generation" polity with far more indirect methods of rule than the centralized and expansive Chimu. As their eastern frontier, the Upper Moche Valley was attractive to both polities, crucially providing canal intakes and an exchange corridor with the metal-rich highlands. Meanwhile, a plethora of prehistoric forts and defensively located or walled towns in the region point towards it being a highly contested frontier. But how did the Moche and Chimu frontiers differ in this region? And how did the involvement of these states in the frontier evolve over time? This project will address these questions by highlighting the interacting roles of (1) the qualities of a state itself, (2) the intensity and organization of frontier conflict, and (3) the use of natural and human-made landscape features. Project methodology integrates traditional full-coverage survey and controlled surface collection with cutting-edge aerial imagery and 3-D site models attained through quad-copter drone mapping. Combined into a geographic database these data will be used to reconstruct regional settlement, political boundaries, and defensive networks to understand the evolution of the Upper Moche frontier.