Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Migration and Social Organization in Times of Culture Change

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

In multiple regions of the world numerous pre-Columbian state systems formed and collapsed resulting in periods of widespread socio-political upheaval. A major archaeological question is how local communities experienced and adapted to the rise and fall of regional state systems through the renegotiation of power, territory, and group identity. In this doctoral dissertation proposal researchers investigate this topic through a bioarchaeological study of one set of regional mortuary assemblages. These date between the fall of one regional empire and the rise of another. The study investigates the strategies and mechanisms the society used to either consolidate power and integrate communities during times of state expansion, or develop smaller-scale local and regional systems, and renegotiate territory and group identity during periods of state decline. The archaeological work is also significant to the contemporary regional population who retain strong cultural connections to the prehistoric group and claim them as local ancestors. The research thus contributes to community efforts to promote, protect, and preserve cultural patrimony. Through combined genetic, isotopic, and osteological analyses the researchers reconstruct aspects of kinship, community composition, migration, and group identity to understand the nature of the community and how it was impacted by the later rise of the Inca empire. Bioarchaeological analyses provide fine-grained perspectives on community and social group composition, and the lived experiences of past individuals. Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (ẟ18O) isotope analyses document past migration to determine how population movements contributed to the formation of the society, and whether later Inca influence involved extensive population relocation. Ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses reconstruct the nature of biological relatedness within and between local communities to determine the extent to which communities were interconnected via kinship. Genetic analysis also reveal whether first generation migrants associated with Inca imperial expansion were having children with local individuals, which would provide evidence of interwoven kinship networks. Finally, observations of cranial vault modification are integrated with the isotopic and genetic data to determine how this visible trait was used to communicate and display aspects of social status, kinship, or identity in the region. By integrating multiple lines of complementary evidence for how communities formed, interacted, and defined themselves, the research reconstructs how past communities and individuals experienced the effects of socio-political change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.