Tiwanaku and Its Precursors: Recent Research and Emerging Perspectives

The Lake Titicaca Basin provides a fascinating case study for examining the prehistoric rise of complexity and archaic state development. The development of the Tiwanaku state and preceding polities involved conjunctions of regional environmental, socioeconomic, and ideological transformations. Significant social, economic, and ideological diversity characterized each major phase, indicating that the creation of inclusive domains of shared values, practices, and identities was critical to the formation of polities in the region. Tiwanaku and its precursors were, in great part, incorporative sociopolitical phenomena in which social diversity remained vital throughout their histories.     

Violence in the Atacama Desert during the Tiwanaku period: social tension?

Tiwanaku influence significantly affected the lifestyle of the prehistoric peoples of the Atacama Desert as it represented an important period of social and economic change. Such intense changes as social stratification and new religious and ideological influences have always been characterized as peaceful ones. Palaeopathological studies based on the violence‐induced traumatic lesions of 64 well‐preserved human skeletons from an excavated funerary site named Solcor‐3 have facilitated a comparison between Pre‐Tiwanaku and Tiwanaku periods. Results show an increase in violence between males represented by low‐intensity skull traumas, arrow wounds and a high mortality rate between 20 and 30 years of age during the Tiwanaku period. The interpretation of this data is contrary to the model of peaceful acceptance of the changes that followed the Tiwanaku influence into the Atacama. At least for Solcor‐3, economic and political factors should be re‐considered in order to explain the emergence of social tension during the Tiwanaku period. In the future, more detailed studies will probably help to clarify if conflicts had also extended to other sites in San Pedro de Atacama under Tiwanaku influence. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Middle Pleistocene argali (Ovis ammon antiqua) assemblages at the Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel,Pyrénées‐Orientales,France): were prehistoric hunters or carnivores responsible for their accumulation?

The argali (Ovis ammon antiqua) assemblages from the Middle Pleistocene site of the Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel, southern France) were studied in terms of zooarchaeology and taphonomy. It is possible to discern palaeobiological information lost during fossilisation, as well as the palaeoethology of the bone collector, by the observation of taphonomic details preserved on the bone assemblages. The observations leave no doubt that both humans and carnivores were involved in the accumulation of argali carcasses in the cave. In some assemblages, the type of bones found in articulation and the gnawing marks observed are characteristic of carnivores. In other levels, the intense fracturing of the major limb bones in relation to their marrow content and mineral density, and butchering marks found on specimens in the earlier levels, are in favour of human accumulation, the modalities of which are discussed. The results suggest that the degree of carnivore activity seems to have been higher in levels M, N and O than in level F. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the provenience of wood used in the manufacture of snuff trays from San Pedro de Atacama (Northern Chile)

The consumption of hallucinogenic substances is a long-standing tradition in the Americas. San Pedro de Atacama (SPA) in Northern Chile is the archaeological zone with the highest incidence of snuffing implements in the world. Snuff trays from SPA have been studied under a variety of prisms but their provenience, in particular that of the wood used in their manufacture, has not yet been addressed. The delicate nature of trays and their excellent state of preservation call for the use of non-invasive analytical methods. Wood density was used to demarcate a possible range of species and hence as a broad provenience marker, and its value determined for 169 trays from the museum at San Pedro de Atacama. The results showed that although some of the SPA snuff trays studied may have been manufactured with local wood, most of them used exogenous wood as raw material. At this point, it is not possible to ascertain the precise origin of such wood, but Bolivia and NWA appear as likely candidates. Three distinct styles have been defined for SPA trays: Tiwanaku, San Pedro, and Circumpuneño (encompassing the area around the Puna de Atacama and including SPA). The effect of style on density points to different sources of wood in Tiwanaku style trays and trays in San Pedro and Circumpuneño styles. As expected from geographically and temporally dynamic patterns of interaction of SPA with neighboring regions, diachronic differences in wood density distributions were found. Tray manufacturing technique was not dependent on wood density, suggesting that the skill of artisans and the quality of their tools allowed them to use any type of wood for their art work, independent of its complexity.     

Tiwanaku trade patterns in southern Peru

This paper provides data and analysis from an intensive settlement survey in the southwestern Titicaca Basin. This research was designed to assess the nature of Tiwanaku (AD 600–1100) long-distance trade. The survey area was placed between the prehistoric urban capital of Tiwanaku and its primary colony in Moquegua, a valley located on the Pacific watershed approximately 325 km away. The survey was specifically placed in an area where GIS analysis indicated a least-cost transit route between Tiwanaku and Moquegua. Field adjustments to the survey area were made based upon informant data about the historic location of caravan routes. The results of the survey indicate that there is a light but virtually continuous string of Tiwanaku occupation along the trails and roads in the area sampled between Tiwanaku and Moquegua. However, in contrast to the later Inca (AD 1450–1532) period pattern, Tiwanaku did not maintain way stations or build any kind of formal road system. The data indicate that Tiwanaku had indeed relied upon camelid caravans utilizing the least-cost pathways, but it did so in a more decentralized and informal way than the later Inca state.     

Tawantinsuyu Integration of the Chillon Valley,Peru: A Case of Inca Geo-Political Mastery

Abstract

Archeological and ethno-historical data from the coastal, transitional, and lower sierra variants of the Chillon Valley, Central Coast of Peru, have led to a new understanding of the nature of Inca political and economic control of one subjugated region. The data reveal that the region was settled unevenly by the Cuzqueños; a more intensive state occupation of the lower sierra is indicated. It is suggested that control of the valley was managed by choice from a geographical-political locus in the highland zone because of certain cultural and environmental circumstances in each valley variant that posed advantages and disadvantages for state operations. Major sites yielding evidence of integration into the Inca state are discussed within the context of such a settlement pattern.     

Computed tomography study of snuff trays from San Pedro de Atacama (Northern Chile)

Wooden snuff trays from San Pedro de Atacama (SPA) in northern Chile are objects of particular museological value. Computed tomography (CT), a non-destructive analytical technique useful in the analysis of archaeological objects in which physical tampering is not desirable, was used to study provenience of wood, quality of craftmanship, taphonomic processes and nature of gemstone inlays in a group of snuff trays. While wood used in the manufacture of trays was mostly exogenous to SPA, gemstones used in inlays were likely of local origin. These findings support the active exchange of goods proposed for the south-central Andes region. Several features revealed in the trays support the view that craftsmen producing them were skillful artisans.     

Relax,Don’t Do It: A Future for Archaeological Monitoring

Preservation in situ and the monitoring of archaeological sites have become important themes since the acceptance and implementation of the Valletta Treaty. In the last few decades, our knowledge of degradation processes has increased manyfold, and a range of techniques have been tested and applied for use in both assessment and monitoring. Despite these successes, all is not well. First, we have little notion of the speed of the decay processes involved. This makes it difficult to distinguish between acute and protracted degradation. Apart from that, many assessments and subsequent monitoring projects rely (too?) heavily on complex and costly specialist technology. For any future preservation — in situ — projects low-tech observations together with best estimates of decay rates and archaeological site information should be combined to make an accurate assessment of the effects of decay on the archaeological record. Monitoring for preservation purposes is only appropriate if (1) decay processes occur within a relevant and measurable time scale, and (2) if mitigating actions can be taken or preservation ex situ can be performed (i.e. a rescue excavation) if significant degradation takes place.     

Infant taphonomy

In almost all living creatures, in Primates as well as in seventeenth–eighteenth century human populations, a high infant mortality is the rule; therefore, the scarcity of children's bones in cemeteries is suspicious from a demographic point of view. Though possible in some cases, sociological causes appear less important than the peculiar behaviour of infants' bones in the tomb. This paper examines the physico-chemical properties of infants' bones and their consequences for the preservation of archaeological samples; it proposes a new way of approaching distributions at death in the past. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

Systematics and palaeobiology of some Cambrian hyoliths from Guizhou,China, and Nevada,USA

Sun, H., Babcock, L.E., Peng, J. &; Kastigar, J.M., July 2016. Systematics and palaeobiology of some Cambrian hyoliths from Guizhou, China, and Nevada, USA. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Hyoliths constitute one of the most important groups of early biomineralized metazoans. Abundant hyolith specimens, comprising both hyolithides and orthothecides, from the Balang Formation (Cambrian Stage 4), Guizhou, China, and the Poleta Formation (Cambrian Stages 3–4), Pioche Formation (Stages 4–5) and Emigrant Formation (Stages 4–5) Nevada, USA, add to the early Palaeozoic record of hyoliths from South China and Laurentia, and provide new taxonomic, taphonomic and palaeoecologic information about this group. Hyoliths from the Balang Formation include the hyolithides ‘Ambrolinevitus’ maximus Jiang, 1982, Galicornus seeneus? Val’kov, 1975 Val’kov, A.K., 1975. Biostratigrafiya i khiolity kembriya severovostoka Sibirskoe platformy [Cambrian biostratigraphy and hyoliths of the northeastern Siberian Platform]. Akademiya Nauka SSSR, Moscow, 139 pp. (in Russian) [Google Scholar], Haplophrentis reesei Babcock &; Robison, 1988 Babcock, L.E. &; Robison, R.A., 1988. Taxonomy and paleobiology of some Middle Cambrian Scenella (Cnidaria) and hyolithids (Mollusca) from western North America. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Paper 121, 1–22. [Google Scholar], ‘Linevitus’ guizhouensis sp. nov., Meitanovitus guanyindongensis Qian, 1978 Qian, Y., 1978. The Early Cambrian hyolithids in central and southwest China and their stratigraphical significance. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica Memoir 11, 1–38. (in Chinese with English abstract) [Google Scholar], undetermined forms, and undetermined orthothecides. Hyoliths from Nevada include the hyolithides Haplophrentis carinatus (Matthew, 1899 Matthew, G.F., 1899. Studies on Cambrian faunas, No. 3—Upper Cambrian fauna of Mount Stephen, British Columbia—the trilobites and worms. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Series 2, 5, 39–66. [Google Scholar]), Nevadotheca whitei (Resser, 1938 Resser, C.E., 1938. Fourth contribution to the study of Cambrian fossils. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 97(10), 1–43. [Google Scholar]), an undetermined form, and undetermined orthothecides. In the Balang Formation, eocrinoids have been found attached to hyolithide conchs, which supports the view that hyolithides were benthic animals.

Haijing Sun* [hjsun1987@163.com], Resources and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, PR China; Loren E. Babcock? corresponding author [babcockloren@gmail.com], School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Jin Peng corresponding author [gzpengjin@126.com], Resources and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, PR China; Jessica M. Kastigar [kastigar.2@osu.edu], School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. *Also affiliated with Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China. ?Also affiliated with Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden.     

Phytolith taphonomy and distributions in archeological sediments from Panama

This paper presents the results of research into the nature, distribution and significance of phytoliths in archeological sediments from Panama. Four sites are investigated that span a time period dated by radiocarbon from 6600 BC to AD 500, and which encompass a range of human adaptations and ecological settings. The strengths and limitations of phytolith analysis are evaluated in relation to a diverse set of paleoecological issues. The results indicate that Panamanian archeological deposits contribute silicified structures from a large number of plant taxa. Phytoliths appear to be horizontally and vertically stable after deposition. There are problems in human paleoecology, such as the evolution of root cropping systems, that are not amenable to study with phytolith data. However, a considerable amount of information can be generated about some components of prehistoric seed cropping systems, wild plant usage, and landforms.     

Through the Glass Darkly: Prehispanic Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia

Recent discovery of the major geological sources of Central Andean obsidian permits a new understanding of the patterns of obsidian procurement and exchange by the Prehispanic societies of southern Peru and northern Bolivia. Based on the trace element analysis of obsidian artifacts from 160 archaeological sites, it can be established that the two major deposits of obsidian were being exploited by 9400 BP, and that volcanic glass was being transported over long distances throughout Andean prehistory. Inhabitants of the Cuzco region acquired most obsidian from the Alca source in central Arequipa, while those in the high plateau surrounding Lake Titicaca obtained most obsidian from the Chivay source in southern Arequipa. Obsidian evidence suggests close ties between the Cuzco and Circum-Titicaca regions throughout prehistory, except during the Middle Horizon (ca. 1400–1050 BP), when the expansion of the Huari and Tiahuanaco states disrupted this pattern.     

Preserving the Status Quo: Britain,the United States,and Bolivian Tin, 1946–56

This article analyses the relationship between Britain, the United States, and Bolivia in the context of the tin nexus after the Second World War. While the connection between Britain and Bolivia was long-standing - Bolivian tin had been shipped to Britain since the nineteenth century - it extended far beyond simple bilateralism. Such was the intricate web of connections in the global tin industry that any rupture in the Anglo-Bolivian relationship would have fundamental ramifications on the equilibrium of the industry, and, in turn, Britain's predominant position within it. The United States had overtly challenged Britain's dominance during the Second World War by constructing a smelter to be supplied by Bolivian ores. Despite the financial exigencies of the post-war period, the profound upheavals in the domestic Bolivian tin industry, and the contentious, destabilising tin-procurement policy pursued by the United States, Britain was determined to confront this threat. By actively seeking to preserve its long-term contract for Bolivian tin, Britain was able to maintain its predominance in the post-war global tin industry. At the same time, Bolivia deftly utilised Anglo-American rivalry to ensure more than one outlet for its most critical export commodity.