This research studied changes in land use and settlement
patterns in Cochabamba, in the Bolivian south central Andes, in the
transition from the Early Intermediate Period (ca. A.D. 200-500) to
the Middle Horizon, a period marked by the ubiquity of Tiwanaku style
materials. It has been stated that in this latter period Cochabamba
is colonized by the Tiwanaku polity for agricultural purposes. This
observation is tested here by hypothesizing a denser Middle Horizon
occupation in areas with higher agricultural production in
Cochabamba. Survey data is evaluated against land use and settlement
patterns expected from four models of interregional interaction. The
results show that there is no change in land use strategies and only
minor shifts occur in settlement distribution during the Middle
Horizon. This data leads me to suggest that indigenous agricultural
strategies remained dominant in structuring settlement and
subsistence strategies during the Middle Horizon, despite interaction
with the Tiwanaku polity.
Resumen
La interacción regional de la entidad política
Tiwanaku durante el Horizonte Medio (500-1000 d.C.) es esencial para
la comprensión de la expansión territorial de estados
prehispánicos en los Andes. En esta investigación se ha
estudiado cambios en los patrones de asentamiento y el uso de tierras
en Cochabamba, en los Andes centro-sur de Bolivia, en la
transición del Periodo Intermedio Temprano (200-500 d.C.) al
Horizonte Medio, un periodo caracterizado por la presencia de
cerámica de estilo Tiwanaku. Se ha afirmado que en este
último periodo Cochabamba es colonizada por la entidad
política Tiwanaku para explotar recursos agrícolas de
zonas mesotérmicas. Esta observación es analizada en
este artículo con una hipótesis en la que se espera que
una ocupación humana más densa durante el Horizonte
Medio ocurra en areas con mayor productividad agrícola de
Cochabamba. La información de la prospección es
evaluada frente a los patrones de asentamiento y de uso de tierras
que se espera de cada uno de los cuatro modelos de interacción
política propuestos: subordinación política,
verticalidad, economía de bienes de prestigio, e
independencia. La ausencia de cambios en las estrategias de uso de
tierras y variaciones menores en los patrones de asentamiento del
Horizonte Medio no pueden ser sugeridos como expresión de
expansión territorial de Tiwanaku; mas aun, interacción
con Tiwanaku no genera ningún cambio que se asemeje a
estrategias de intensificación agrícola. Se postula el
modelo de independecia de las poblaciones locales para entender este
proceso de interacción. Ello implica que procesos de
organización locales fueron más importantes en
estructurar estrategias de asentamiento y explotación
agrícola que la influencia externa del altiplano. Este estudio
sugiere un nuevo tipo de interacción regional que amplia
nuestros conocimientos de las relaciones territoriales de la entidad
política Tiwanaku y de sociedades expansionistas de los Andes.
The Tiwanaku polity is considered a dominant
political entity in the south central Andes, that evolved in the
southern Lake Titicaca basin starting ca. A.D. 400-500 (Kolata 1993a;
Ponce Sanginés 1972). Its "dominance" is revealed by a broad
regional distribution of Tiwanaku style pottery and other artifacts.
As part of this pattern, the Cochabamba region has recorded a very
dense concentration of Tiwanaku style pottery.
The Cochabamba region, about 600 km southeast of Lake Titicaca, has been
suspected to be a hinterland exploited and dominated by the Tiwanaku
polity (Kolata 1993a, 1993b). However, this has been assumed rather
than archaeologically tested. Cochabamba is the most productive
region in the eastern slopes of the Andes, and as such was a prime
area for agricultural exploitation in prehistory, as confirmed by the
region's later Inka occupation (Wachtel 1982). Because of its
agricultural features, this region is ideal to analyze strategies
deployed by expansive prehistoric polities both Andean and World-wide
to interact with populations in other territories and extract
resources from them (Algaze 1993; Sinopoli 1994).
Two issues are evaluated in this study: (1) the
spatial shifts in settlement location and land use preferences
consequence of the relationships of the Cochabamba populations with
the Tiwanaku polity; and (2) the role of pre-Middle Horizon patterns
in shaping Middle Horizon agricultural strategies. The archaeological
evidence used to explore these issues is settlement location and land
use patterns. This evidence will produce a sequence of shifts in
relationships between human occupation and agricultural strategies.
This is the data used to interpret Tiwanaku-Cochabamba interaction in
the context of four suggested models of interregional
interaction.
Tiwanaku style pottery distribution is viewed
by some researchers as proof of the presence of highland populations
in Cochabamba (Kolata 1993a:269; Owen 1994; Ponce Sanginés
1972). Despite this latter view, it is useful to explore other models
that include causality of local populations as well as highland
presence in the analysis. At the same time, the use of alternative
lines of archeological evidence such as the spatial evidence explored
in this research, can reveal patterns that contrast with patterns
shown by pottery alone (cf. Flannery 1972). Therefore, a
pots-equal-political economy axiom joins the long debated
pots-equal-people assumption.
Tiwanaku in
Cochabamba
The presence of Tiwanaku style ceramics in
Cochabamba is long known (Bennett 1936; Byrne 1984; Rydén
1954, 1959). Kolata (1993a:269) writes that Cochabamba was "the focus
of intense Tiwanaku colonization," and that, "Tiwanaku directly
colonized and subsequently controlled key economic resources in
lower-lying regions, such as the Cochabamba Valley." (1992:80). This
latter interpretation is tested in this study by analyzing its land
use and settlement distribution implications. Browman, who has widely
written on the political economy of the Tiwanaku polity, suggests the
demise of Tiwanaku-Cochabamba relationships coinciding with the
collapse of the Wari polity to the north (ca.800-900; Browman
1980:109). Cochabamba had been integrated into a Tiwanaku
"federation", but detaches to develop its own resources, with no
Tiwanaku traders as middlemen. Tiwanaku then adopts the Archipelago
extraction strategy in Moquegua to compensate loss of rich Cochabamba
(Browman 1978:332; 1985). However, Browman (1997: 233) will suggest
all along the sequence, Tiwanaku interaction with Cochabamba will be
made through trade and a prestige goo economy, and not with
colonization or conquest strategies. The rich pre-Tiwanaku social
developments in Cochabamba would have been a factor in the type of
strategies implemented by highland populations. Bermann (1997:108)
also suggests an early trade link with Cochabamba, that "may have
been rooted in interaction between local elites and Tiwanaku rulers
and manifested in local adoption of Tiwanaku-style goods".
The chronological
sequences used here are based on data
produced by other researchers in several stratigraphic cuts from the
Central Valley and Mizque (Anderson and Céspedes 1994;
Brockington et al. 1987). Therefore, only the Capinota sequence is
extrapolated here from the nearby Central Valley. Data from the
Santivañez Valley mimics the sequence from the Central Valley
(Vetters, pers. comm.), suggesting that the sequence adopted for
Capinota is reliable. The sequences were used to define temporal
occupation of the recorded settlements in five broad temporal units,
based on the surface material.
Research
objectives
Kolata (1993a, 1993b) stated that Tiwanaku
colonization of Cochabamba was aimed at acquiring agricultural
resources such as maize. Therefore, one factor for differences in the
density of Middle Horizon settlement occupation within Cochabamba
would be agricultural potential. If this is true, the location of
Middle Horizon occupation, bearing Tiwanaku style materials, should
correlate with areas of higher agricultural productivity in the
region. In addition, within each area where occupation of this period
is found, settlements should correlate with soils of higher
agricultural potential. At this latter smaller spatial scale, there
should be, if not a one-to-one correlation of best soils and
individual settlement location, at least a close spatial correlation
between both variables. Thus, settlement near good soils is as
important as settlement on good soils (Hastorf 1993:140; Stanish
1994). However, site location patterns at any given period is also
measured in comparison to a previous period. In this case, Middle
Horizon settlement distribution on or near good soils would be less
significant, and would fail to show agricultural intensification, if
it repeats location patterns (i.e., no site shifts) or occupation
size (i.e., no occupation size growth) recorded in the Early
Intermediate Period. Shifts in agricultural patterns have been
documented in the Juli-Pomata region where Stanish (1994:table 1)
recorded agricultural intensification in the Middle Horizon by
settlement shifts, and increase in occupation both on and close to
the most productive soils.
Following the hypothesis, agricultural
potential is tested as one factor for shaping Middle Horizon
occupation in the region. However, other factors, such as political
strategies, pre-existing patterns of local development, or distance
from the altiplano, are known to shape spatial distribution of
settlements and overall occupation of a region. In effect, regional
data on settlement sequences (Hastorf 1993; Schreiber 1992) or data
allowing comparison of strategies by different large-scale polities
(Browman 1970; D'Altroy 1992; Earle et al. 1987; Hastorf 1993) show
that agricultural factors alone are less important to define
strategies to occupy a region. For example, in the agriculturally
rich Mantaro Valley, the Middle Horizon Wari occupation (Browman
1970) and the later Inka occupation (D'Altroy 1992; Hastorf 1993)
occur in mutually exclusive zones of the valley. In the Inka case,
productivity of the Yanamarca Valley seems to be a deciding factor
for concentrating its occupation, given that Late Intermediate Period
settlements occur in the whole valley (Browman 1970:map 11; Hastorf
1993). In contrast, the first phase of Middle Horizon settlement
concentrates in the southern end of the valley where is located the
densest Early Intermediate Period 3 occupation (Browman 1970:map 8).
In a contrary case, despite wide-scale Middle Horizon agricultural
intensification in the Carhuarazo Valley, Inka occupation is far less
important (Schreiber 1992).
Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this
research is to explore specifically patterns related to agricultural
factors. The correlates for the four models proposed below, which
represent different political and economic motives, emphasize
archaeological evidence of settlement location and land
use.
Areas of
research
A survey program was set in the Capinota Valley
and the Mizque Valley in the Cochabamba region to test the hypothesis of Middle Horizon focusing
settlement on the most productive lands. These areas were chosen for
their differences in ecological conditions and in agricultural
potential, their size, by which the survey areas could encompass a
significant portion of the drainage, the documented surface evidence
for Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon occupation, and
their accessibility for study because of their non-urban setting and
low population density.
The Mizque Valley has a higher agricultural potential than
Capinota. Both valleys have similar precipitation and temperature
patterns, with 600 mm per year and 17° annual average,
respectively. However, they differ in the amount of good alluvial
soils available for agriculture, in the quality of soils within the
piedmont zone, and, more importantly, in the availability of water
year-round (e.g., note five rivers flowing into Mizque's main valley.
In sum, Mizque has a larger total of all three variables. Given these
ecological conditions, a higher density of Middle Horizon occupation
is expected in the Mizque area, despite Mizque's greater distance
from the altiplano.
For the analysis of land
use, the survey areas were divided in three zones of good, medium and
poor soils for agricultural use. These are characterized as
"water-table" and flooding land, marginal flooding and
canal-irrigable land, and dry farming to grazing lands, respectively
(Nicholas 1989). The three zones were collapsed from FAO's
seven-category division, which is based principally on water
availability, and other factors such as salinity, acidity, drainage,
and slope (CIDRE 1987, 1988). Therefore, current soil productivity
data is used to provide a relative measure of prehistoric soil
quality (Feinman and Nicholas 1990; Hastorf 1993; Kirkby 1973;
Nicholas 1989). If used to produce relative estimates with error
ranges this data is very useful for assessing prehistoric
productivity. Additionally, the spatial analysis explored site
location patterns with respect to topography. Both areas were
divided, then, based on elevation and vegetation features, into
alluvial plain, piedmont, and mountain zones.
Models for
interregional interaction
Settlement and land use patterns are tested
against four models of interregional interaction. The first model is
political subordination, and implies direct control of the region by
highland populations (D'Altroy 1992; Hassig 1985). The second is
exploitation under a verticality system on a large scale, or
archipelago (Mujica 1985; Murra 1972, 1985a; Salomon 1985). The third
model is one of a prestige-good economy that generates an increase in
the economic complexity of local groups (Schortmann 1989; Helms
1979). Finally, the last model is one of independence, in which very
little change occurs in the agricultural strategies of the Middle
Horizon with respect to the Early Intermediate Period.
These models are not all new in the Andes, and
have been proposed for the interaction of other large-scale polities
with provincial populations (D'Altroy 1992; Owen 1994; Schreiber
1987, 1992). Another important contribution is the "nested hierarchy"
model to reassesses political "centralization" of Tiwanaku's core
area rather as a set of local independent polities in the core
(Albarracín-Jordan 1992; McAndrews et al. 1997). This model is
not included in this research, since no data was produced to build
the settlement hierarchy needed. However, it has provoking
implications for a more detailed understanding of regional
interaction by the Tiwanaku "state", or rather, for interaction
managed by the local political units of the core area.
Only recently are local conditions and local
populations part of the equation in a relationship that was conceived
of as a one-way affair (Bermann 1993, 1994; Costin and Earle 1989;
D'Altroy and Earle 1985; Graffam 1992; Hastorf 1991, 1993; Janusek
1994; Morris 1972; Schreiber 1992). This perspective allows the
possibility that local developments could have played a primary role
in regional organization, and could have been, in part, responsible
for the outcome of the process of interaction (Bermann 1994). Thus,
avoiding interpretation of recorded patterns solely in function of
the politics of the dominant polity. In this research, the first two
models consider a causality effect emanating from interaction with
the Tiwanaku polity, and two of the models proposed, prestige-good
and independence models, emphasize patterns that could have been
generated by a degree of local organization.
Each model has specific correlates for the
following variables: (1) regional distribution of settlements (i.e.,
to define significant differences in the settlement occupation size
between both areas in the Early Intermediate Period and Middle
Horizon); (2) shifts in settlement location between both periods in
each area; (3) shifts in settlement occupation size within each area;
and (4) settlement-soil relationships (i.e., establishing preferences
for settling certain soil or topographic zones within each survey
area).
Modeling settlement and land use correlates attempts to produce clear-cut
differences for patterns of each model.
However, data must be evaluated against the set of correlates for the
four variables of each model, and not against single variables. There
are similarities in the correlates for a single variable between two
models. For example, a same correlate of no shifts in settlement
location within a settled area for both the prestige-good economy
model and the independence model. However, in the former model growth
in occupation size would be generated by a few settlements,
reflecting a trend towards complexity of economic
organization.
A single model might be appropriate for
"explaining" land use and settlement patterns for both survey areas.
Alternatively, as originally predicted, if Tiwanaku relationships in
Mizque were greater than in Capinota, or of a special character,
explanation might require different models for each survey area.
Models can be neatly defined on paper. However, there is a fine line
between them depending on the quality of the archaeological evidence
obtained, and variation in the features of political organization.
D'Altroy (1992) has indicated a broad range of variation in political
organization oscillating between the opposing direct control and
indirect control strategies. Yet, building models are a useful tool
for producing comparative studies in archaeology.
Political
subordination model
The political subordination model expects
incorporation of Cochabamba populations into the Tiwanaku realm
through direct political and territorial control. Mechanisms for
territorial incorporation in the Andes range from strategies of
military coercion to reciprocity forms (Morris 1985), or most
certainly, in large-scale territorial states, a combination of these
latter two strategies.
A key feature in territorial control is the
implementation of a strategy of high resource extraction (e.g.,
intensification of agricultural production; D'Altroy 1987:6; Hassig
1985). This should be accompanied by implementing the core's
administration features, detectable in architecture, into the
subjugated area (Goldstein 1989; 1993; Schreiber 1992: 28). This
model should result in a sharp reorganization of settlements to
facilitate resource extraction, and to break up, or use, local
political structures (Hastorf 1993; Schreiber 1992). Although
settlement will also be shaped by factors other than the state's
concerns of extraction, it is expected that direct control would be
followed by evidence of increased surplus mobilization, through the
spread of agricultural technologies or the movement of populations to
areas with higher potential for surplus extraction.
Archaeological correlates for this model are:
(1) shifts in land use and settlement patterns to concentrate
occupation on a restricted but very -or most- productive land in the
region; (2) a reorganization in site distribution in the settled
area, possibly with identification of sites bearing features of
Tiwanaku style public architecture (e.g., sunken temples); (3) a
significant growth in the size of occupation with respect to the
previous period in the settled area; and (4) new sites within the
area are not necessarily on the best soils, since the model implies a
total control of the area.
Judging by archaeological cases recorded in the
Andes, such an extreme form of political interaction will be readily
visible archaeologically. An example is the Wari conquest of the
Carhuarazo Valley, and the accompanying settlement shifts in the
Willka phase, when much of the valley was terraced (Schreiber
1992:260). The state-directed emphasis on maize production led to the
movement of villages from higher elevations to lower elevations and
the kichwa zone. Similar disjunctions in settlement could be
described for the Inka conquest of the Mantaro Valley and Cochabamba
(D'Altroy 1992; Hastorf 1991; Wachtel 1982).
Verticality Model
Vertical exploitation is a key model in studies
of interregional interaction in Andean prehistory (Conrad and Rice
1989; Dillehay 1979; Hastings 1987; Raymond 1992; Stanish 1989, 1992;
Van Buren 1996). The strategy of verticality has been documented
ethnohistorically in highland populations as a mechanism for
obtaining lowland resources (Murra 1972). This subsistence strategy
consists in the "simultaneous control by a single ethnic group of
several geographically dispersed ecological tiers" (Murra 1985a:3).
This model is defined at different spatial and political scales
(Murra 1972, 1985b), as well as different economic features (Salomon
1985).
The regional scale of the interaction process
studied here requires consideration of the archipelago strategy,
instead of the other variants of single-valley scale verticality
(Murra 1972). There are three important differences in the present
regional analysis of verticality for the Cochabamba region. First,
verticality is evaluated at a regional scale combined with three
other models and not alone. A regional approach to verticality was
made in the Upper Moquegua Valley for the Late Intermediate Period
(Stanish 1989, 1992). However, for the Middle Moquegua Valley, Middle
Horizon interpretation of vertical organization was based only on
data from the sites of Omo and Chen Chen (Goldstein 1989). Second,
this research explores land use, occupation size shifts, and spatial
distribution of settlements as alternative lines of evidence to
pottery and architecture (Marcus and Silva 1988; Stanish 1989). The
evidence used here explores the essence of the concept of verticality
by addressing agricultural productivity, crucial to the functioning
of the strategy. Finally, the high agricultural capacity and less
land circumscription make of Cochabamba a drastically more productive
ecological setting than the regions where ethnohistoric cases for
archipelagos were made (Murra 1972). Therefore, different settlement
strategies adopted by foreign colonial populations in Cochabamba
should make a new case study for the variability in archipelago
verticality.
Stanish (1992:43) distinguishes several scales
of archipelago colonies. The largest scale is one in which different
regions --even small individual valleys within a larger drainage such
as Cochabamba-- are controlled by different ethnic groups, leading to
a pattern of differences among settlement systems. At a smaller
scale, ethnically distinct colonies will be visible in a defined
area. And at the smallest scale, "multiethnicity [...] within an
individual settlement," would be characterized by distinct and
discrete barrios (Stanish 1992:44). Architectural styles and pottery
assemblages were used by Stanish to define distinct settlements in a
region or discrete barrios in a settlement. In this research, a new
consistent set of correlates to identify "ethnic" heterogeneity
(Stanish 1992:45), in the form of agricultural strategies, is made
with land use, occupation size shifts, and spatial distribution of
settlements.
The vertical archipelago strategy was expected
to generate a distribution of productive enclaves, especially in, but
not limited to, Mizque, the area with the highest agricultural
potential. The spatial patterns for expected in this situation are:
(1) occupation by new populations of several areas, expecting a
larger occupation size in richer regions; (2) no shifts in the
location of local settlements, but new locations chosen by new
foreign settlements. If shared, settlements would stay in the
location of local sites; (3) growth in occupation size resulting from
the introduction of new foreign sites, whereas size of local sites
remains constant. There is an overall growth in occupation size in
both areas; and (4) new foreign sites should be concentrated on or
near the most productive soils, with or without local sites on the
same soils.
Highland groups would have sought to establish
colonies in the areas of highest agricultural potential. Naturally,
this might have been difficult under certain local conditions. The
"multiethnic" settlements documented for some archipelago systems
represent one cooperative solution for sharing access to desired
lands. A pattern in which sites with Middle Horizon were independent
and limited to lesser quality soils might indicate that highland
populations were unable to set up colonies on the richest
soils.
In the few cases where a Tiwanaku colonial
strategy has been reconstructed, the inference has been that Tiwanaku
colonists were, in fact, able to gain residence on the best lands. In
the Moquegua Valley, the large Tiwanaku site of Omo and subsidiary
communities are overlooking the best agricultural lands in the valley
(Goldstein 1989:238). Little previous local settlement is signaled
for the same area and there is, up to now, limited evidence of other
Tiwanaku sites in the surrounding areas. A similar argument has been
advanced for the Azapa Valley, where Tiwanaku colonies represented a
marked shift in settlement location. "Es claro," wrote Mujica et al.
(1983:103), "que la población Tiwanaku inicia la
explotación de microzonas anteriormente no utilizadas por los
pobladores locales como especialmente las partes medias de los
valles." This is not the case in Cochabamba. There is local human
occupation settled in both areas during the Early Intermediate
Period.
Prestige-good
economy model
Increasing political complexity in peripheral
societies has been observed to be a common consequence of interaction
with more complex polities. The increase in complexity takes the form
of the emergence of an elite stratum or, if this stratum already
exists, further empowerment of elites through an increase of status
through the operation of a prestige-good economy (D'Altroy 1987;
Gledhill 1988; McGuire 1989; Paynter 1981). This model would imply
Middle Horizon interaction with highland populations (Browman 1984b).
In prestige-good economies, non-local items are
critical to establishing, maintaining, or enhancing power
relationships within a population (Costin and Earle 1989; Helms 1979;
Oakland 1993; Paynter 1981; Schortmann 1989). Such goods are
typically exotic materials, products of craft specialization, and may
bear esoteric decoration. This is a model, then, that relies
principally on the identification of "exotic" goods amid local or
standard artifact assemblages. Because of the dominance and
widespread distribution of Tiwanaku style materials shadowing local
styles, there is nothing exotic to this assemblage in the region (cf.
Alconini 1993). Granted, pottery is the most common material
documented until now bearing Tiwanaku style in the region. However,
Oakland (1985) analyzed textile samples from Cochabamba and suggested
their highland origin.
This model explains, based on several artifacts
types present, but pottery, the interaction between Tiwanaku and San
Pedro de Atacama (Browman 1984b; Nuñez and Dillehay 1979;
Oakland 1992). This process is then possible between Tiwanaku and
Cochabamba. Furthermore, it could be identified with spatial data
given that in many complex societies, the power and privilege of
elites is based on domination of economic processes, including
agricultural production (Earle 1991). A set of correlates with the
spatial evidence emphasized in this research is presented for this
model.
This economic organization could be identified
through the following features of land use and settlement patterns:
(1) occupation of several areas with little attention to soil
productivity; (2) no shifts in settlement location; (3) growth in
occupation size of local settlements occurs in a few settlements.
Overall, we might expect growth in settled areas, although a less
pronounced growth that the one implied by foundation of sites or site
enlargement in "multiethnic" settlements of the archipelago model;
and (4) sites are not necessarily located on the most productive
soils since control of each area would be achieved by paramount sites
(which in this research are not identified in a hierarchy of
settlements). The overall site distribution would follow previous
Early Intermediate Period distribution.
Independence model
The final model proposed is, simply put, that
the nature of interaction between Tiwanaku and the Cochabamba
populations may not have been such as to lead to shifts in
subsistence strategies or settlement patterns, shifts that were
aimed, in the Middle Horizon, at intensifying agricultural production
. It is very possible that this "non-result" may be manifesting more
complex and fine-grained relationships between Andean communities,
such as interaction managed by the smaller political unities of the
nested hierarchies model (Albarracín-Jordan 1996; cf. Mayer
1985; Salomon 1985). The term "independence" is chosen in contrast to
an autochthonous model proposed by Saignes (1986) for
ethnohistorically-documented relationships between economic groups
and the organization of vertical space among communities.
In this model, Middle Horizon settlement
generated little changes in land use strategies or shifts in
settlement location. The archaeological correlates of this model are:
(1) occupation of several areas, mostly the same as in the Early
Intermediate Period, and with no particular correlation with the most
productive zones; (2) no shifts in settlement distribution, as site
location follows previous patterns; (3) no significant growth in site
occupation size in comparison to the Early Intermediate Period; and
(4) no change in soil location or in soil preference, if this latter
pattern occurs in the previous period Early Intermediate
Period.
Research design
Regional settlement survey is recognized as a
powerful tool for investigating how humans settled, exploited, and
managed a region (Blanton et al. 1981, 1982; Drennan et al. 1985,
1991; Johnson 1977; Kowalewski 1990; Parsons 1972; Paynter 1983;
Wilson 1988). Survey data was critical for evaluating the
archaeological correlates described for the models in the previous
section. This research adopted a random sample survey strategy (Nance
1983; Read 1986; Whalen 1990). A sampling strategy permitted a
coverage of a large area and a record of comparable data sets from
two survey areas. A comparative analysis of two areas was needed to
define differences in human occupation depending on agricultural
potential in the Middle Horizon in Cochabamba. Therefore, patterns of
settlement hierarchy for these models (Johnson 1981), obtained with
so-called "full-coverage" surveys (Kowalewski 1990), are not
evaluated here.
Two survey areas of 200 km² were set in
Capinota and in Mizque.
A survey area this size encompassed in both valleys all
three type of soil (i.e., good, medium and poor soils), and all three
topographic zones (i.e., alluvial, piedmont, and mountain zones).
Despite the general expectations for settlement location (e.g., sites
are likely to occur along water sources like rivers or seasonally
watered quebradas) the survey area included by design lands outside
the alluvial zone to provide a complete picture of regional
settlement distribution.
A grid oriented north-south divided each survey
area into a 250x250 m grid or 6.25 ha. square units. The size of the
survey quadrat was defined after a preliminary assessment of average
site size in the survey areas. Every type of site was recorded, such
as occupation sites, cemeteries, isolated burial sites, and
agricultural works associated to a site. Size
of settlement was defined by surface artifact scatter and
architectural and construction features. Total size of all sites
found in the quadrat sample was recorded even if a site exceeded the
arbitrary boundaries of the quadrat. However, only the area of the
fraction of a site within quadrat boundaries (i.e., .35 ha that
corresponds to one-third of the site within the quadrat) is used for
the aggregate figure of occupation size by period, and, to estimate
total occupation size by period in each survey area (Nance 1983).
Occupation size in hectares by period is more meaningful than a
simple count of sites for our purpose of comparing settlement
sequences. The sum of site fractions within quadrats produces is the
statistical number of sites, usually smaller than the actual number
of settlements recorded.
The number of quadrats to be surveyed in each
area was calculated based on an preliminary assessment of three sites
per km², with an estimated standard deviation 1.5 sites, and a
desired error range of not more than .5 sites at the 99% confidence
level. This produced a figure of 60 sites needed in the sample.
Therefore, with an mean of .1875 site per survey quadrat (60 sites
divided by 3200 quadrats in a survey area), 318.5 survey quadrats, or
320 by rounding up, needed to be surveyed. Oddly enough, this made a
total area of 20 km² surveyed, or 10.0%, of the survey area.
This figure of 10% surveyed stands in contrast to the same proportion
often taken, with no clear reasoning, as a "good" sample to
survey.
Settlement preferences are determined by
comparing percentages of human occupation in each soil and
topographic zone (i.e., 12% of the alluvial zone is occupied), rather
than using the distribution of human occupation in, say, each soil
zone (i.e., 27% of the occupation is on good soils). The percentage
of occupation is calculated by dividing the estimate of total
occupation size in each zone by the total size of a zone in the
survey area (and multiplying by 100). This relative figure is needed
because of the different size each soil and topographic zone have in
each survey area (i.e., a 23% and 45% occupation of the alluvial
plain zone in Capinota and Mizque, respectively, is a meaningful
difference only if this topographic zone has the same size in both
areas. Since it does not, I rather compare a 2% and 3% of the same
topographic zone occupied in each survey area, indicating very
similar use of the alluvial zone). This procedure is also used for
comparisons of occupation within each survey area (e.g., comparing
percentage of occupation of alluvial plain, piedmont, and mountain).
A 95% confidence level error range is attached to the estimates of
occupation size by period, and to the percentage of occupation of a
single soil or topographic zone to compare the patterns between and
within survey areas.
Preference for a particular zone would be
determined by (1) a larger percentage of occupation in one particular
zone, and (2) a 95% confidence level error range for that same zone
that did not overlap with the lower occupation percentage means of
the two zones. Comparison of means and error ranges for a single
variable in a temporal sequence is useful to measure significant or
"abrupt", or non-significant differences through time. Concluding
abrupt or subtle changes or continuity from the data at any
confidence level is, however, a decision of the researcher (cf.
Bermann 1997).
@The field survey produced different results
than expected. Mainly, the expected statistical total of 60 sites to
be recorded was not attained; in other words, I overestimated the
figures used for setting the number of quadrats to survey, and a
larger sample would have been needed. Therefore, statistical
estimates on the collected data are made at a 95% confidence level,
instead of the 99% level set at the start. For example, 49 sites were
recorded in the Capinota survey area, which correspond, adding up
site fractions within quadrats, to a total of 35.04 sites. For the
Mizque survey area, a total of 40 sites, made 18.22 sites for the
statistical analysis, mostly because site sizes in this area were
much larger, and hence a smaller fraction of the site was recorded in
a quadrat.
Despite this shortcoming, the survey data has
provided systematic and comparable evidence to understand the spatial
shifts in settlement location and land use during the Middle Horizon
in two areas of the Cochabamba region. The data in the following
section describes the recorded settlement data, and its relationship
to soil and topography factors.
The Capinota sequence
The survey recorded 13
settlements occupied in the Early Intermediate Period in Capinota,
and a statistical number of 6.98 sites (see Research strategy), with an occupation size of 17.7 ha. The sample obtained
yields an estimate of 157.7±95.4 ha of total occupation size for
the period in the survey area. This period in Capinota is marked by
settlements with the local Tupuraya and
Mojocoya pottery styles. Tupuraya
materials dominate in 97% of the settlement size recorded for this
period. The densest occupation for this period is at sites 10, 16,
43, 44 and 48 (Figure), which total 9.27 ha.
Settlement in this period often occurs in
multi-component sites. Site 10, Sites 16 (with Tupuraya material
ranging from 6% to 48% in the collections) and 44 (ranging from 9% to
38%), and the mainly Tiwanaku burial site 42 (with Tupuraya
percentages from 4% to 14%), are sites with both Tupuraya and
Tiwanaku style materials. In other words, two of the largest
Tupuraya-bearing sites, sites 16 and 44, will have Middle Horizon
settlement. Tiwanaku style materials, however, will not be limited to
"Tupuraya" sites and will occur exclusively at two new sites in the
following period.
Early Intermediate Period occupation is
concentrated on the least productive or poor soils (61% of the
occupation size), followed by occupation of medium and good soils
(21.5% and 17% of the total occupation size, respectively;
Table 1). Comparison of the percentages of
occupation of each zone reveals no significant difference, at the 95%
confidence level, in the occupation of the three soil zones
(Graph). Note that the error range for medium soils overlaps the
mean percentage for the two other soil zones. Therefore, preference
cannot be suggested for the occupation of any of the three soil zones
in the Early Intermediate Period.
More than half of Early Intermediate Period
settlement, or 54% of the total occupation size, is in the piedmont
zone. The occupation size of the alluvial zone is very similar to the
mountain zone occupation, with 22% and 24%, respectively
(Table 2). Comparison between the percentage
occupied in each topographic zone indicates no difference, at the 95%
confidence level, between the occupation of the three zones (Graph).
In effect, the error range of the occupation percentage of the
alluvial zone overlaps the percentage of piedmont and mountain zones.
No preference can be suggested, therefore, for any topographic zone
in the settlement of the Early Intermediate Period.
In the Capinota survey area, unlike the Mizque
survey area, the piedmont zone is dominated by poor soils. Therefore,
settlement in the piedmont here entailed occupation of the least
productive soils. Yet, neither the bulk of the settlement occupation
size in the piedmont zone or on poor soils reflects a settlement
preference in the Early Intermediate Period.
Twelve Middle Horizon
settlements were recorded in Capinota, totaling a statistical number
of 7.9 sites, with an occupation size of 17.3 ha. The total
occupation size for the period is estimated at 159.9±99.7 ha.
Occupation of the Middle Horizon is marked by Tiwanaku style pottery,
and the local Omereque, and Gray Ware style assemblages (
Figure; Rydén 1959). Omereque and Gray Ware materials
occur in the same sites as the Tiwanaku style; only the latter
material is found alone. Human occupation bearing Tiwanaku style
material was recorded in all 12 Middle Horizon sites, where this
style dominates with more than 90% of the pottery collected. Low
percentages of Omereque style material were recorded at three sites
(with an average of 3.5%), and Gray Ware material is found at four
sites ranging from 10 to 20%. These two styles co-occur with Tiwanaku
style material in sites with burial evidence.
Tiwanaku style materials are concentrated at
seven principal sites (7, 10, 11, 16, 40, 42 and 44; Figure)
representing 74% of the Middle Horizon occupation size.
Site 11, a meseta-like site overlooking a river bed, and Site 7, an
isolated small burial site, are the only two sites with exclusive
Tiwanaku style occupation. Site 10, a low mound on the alluvial plain
resembling highland Tiwanaku mounds, had Early Intermediate Period
occupation.
Tiwanaku style remains are highly dominant at
site 42, a large cemetery, ranging from 27% to 75% of the total
assemblage. Most of the rest of the collections is made of Gray Ware
and large Sauces-type urns (Ibarra Grasso 1965) used for burial.
Similarly, at site 44, which had an important Tupuraya style
occupation, Tiwanaku style materials make up 33% to 85% of the
collections. Sites 11, 16, and 44 are the largest domestic
settlements with Tiwanaku style materials.
Middle Horizon settlement is split between poor
soils, with 77.5%, and medium soils, with 17.75% of the total 17.3 ha
of occupation. The additional .83 ha on good soils represents Site 10
(Table 1). The differences between the percentage
of occupation for the estimated totals of each soil zone are not
significant at the 95% confidence level (Graph).
Therefore, no preference for settling any soil zone is
indicated.
The five principal Tiwanaku occupations are
distributed in three groups: Site 10 is located in the good soils
zone, Site 42 is located in the lower piedmont zone in medium soils,
and finally, Sites 7, 11, 44 and 16 are located on the poor soils
zone. Sites of this latter group are adjacent to the alluvial plain
and residents would have had easy access to richer soils. The
advantage is clear here of being near good soils, except for Site 11
where access to good soils meant crossing the Tapacari River.
However, this is a pattern of site location that occurred already in
the Early Intermediate Period.
Most Middle Horizon occupation is in the
piedmont zone, with 88% of the total 17.3 ha of occupation
(Table 2). Comparison of the occupation
percentage estimates reveals a significant difference, at the 95%
confidence level, in occupation of the piedmont zone (
Graph). Thus, a preference for the piedmont is documented for
the Middle Horizon, where are located four of the five principal
sites of this period. Only Site 10, the platform mound site, is
located on the alluvial plain. All the piedmont locations are
adjacent to the alluvial plain zone, except for Site 11.
In sum, the land use and settlement patterns in
the Capinota survey area failed to meet our expectations of finding a
preference for settlement on the best soils in the Middle Horizon.
And in the transition to the Middle Horizon, there is almost no
change in the settlement occupation size, despite two new Middle
Horizon sites, as was expected if residents were maximizing maize
exploitation. This might suggest that Early Intermediate Period and,
more importantly, Middle Horizon inhabitants were uninterested in
expanding productive capacity. The preference for settling the
piedmont zone in the Middle Horizon, which follows a large but not
preferential piedmont occupation in the previous period, is not
tantamount to settlement on the best soils. Hence, the pattern of the
Middle Horizon does not represent a drastic shift with respect to the
Early Intermediate Period. But location near good soils would not
have precluded ready access to good agricultural plots. The strategy
of settling in piedmont, is on the other hand, a way to avoid
extensive settlement flooding. Even supposing that the observed
location of settlements near good soils in Capinota validates one of
the expected relationships between settlement and soils, comparison
of other variables between the Early Intermediate Period and the
Middle Horizon (e.g., no growth in occupation size) indicate another
scenario. These results will be discussed after describing the Mizque
sequence.
Mizque Sequence
A total of 14 sites where
recorded for the Early Intermediate Period in Mizque, and a
statistical number of 5.15 sites with an occupation size of 53.8 ha.
The total estimated occupation size based on the sample is
487.2±324.4 ha for this period. The Early Intermediate Period
pottery assemblage is dominated by the Tupuraya style, followed by
Sauces, Gray Ware, and Mojocoya styles (Ibarra Grasso 1965; Walter
1966). Tupuraya pottery is found in 62% of the occupation size
recorded for the period. These styles, however, co-occur in the same
settlements. For example, Grey Ware pottery is usually found with
Tupuraya material, Tupuraya and Sauces co-occur in five sites, and
Mojocoya is found in two sites with Sauces and Tupuraya material
(Figure).
In Mizque, settlement on good soils is only
slightly larger that settlement on poor soils; occupation on both
zones is 82% of the total settlement size (Table
3). The percentages of occupation of each soil zone show no significant differences
at the 95% confidence level in this period (Graph). Therefore,
the data show no preference for settlement on
any soil zone. The occupation size for good soils is heavily
influenced by the size of sites 13 and 14, which make up roughly 40%
of the occupation on this soil zone. Settlements in less productive
soil zones show evidence of agricultural intensification, such as
site 34, located on medium soils of the piedmont zone.
Settlement on the piedmont zone amounts to 44.7
ha, or 83% of the total occupation, whereas occupation of the
alluvial and mountain zones is lower, with 15% and 2% of the total
occupation, respectively (Table 4). Comparing the percentages of
occupation of these zones reveals a significantly larger occupation
of the piedmont zone (at the 95% confidence level) suggesting a
preference for settlement in that topographic zone (Graph).
Preference for settling the piedmont zone
implies in Mizque settling a good portion of good soil plots. The
most common setting for settlements during this period was in the
lower piedmont zone on the south bank of the Mizque River. A
proportion of 97% of Tupuraya occupation (and Grey Ware occupation),
and all but one Sauces occupation are in this setting. Therefore,
settlements in this period are settling the most productive soils of
the valley.
The survey recorded ten
settlements for the Middle Horizon, producing a statistical number of
4.24 sites, and 40.9 ha in total occupation size. An estimated
occupation size of 365.9±259.1 ha has been calculated from the
sample. Middle Horizon occupation is marked by Tiwanaku style,
Omereque style and, to a lesser extent, Gray Ware style pottery.
Pottery of these three styles have been documented as co-occurring in
burials but not in domestic contexts (Rydén 1959; Walter
1966).
Tiwanaku style pottery represents about 60% of
the total occupation, followed by Gray Ware assemblage with 29% of
the occupation, and 11% for the Omereque assemblage. Tiwanaku style
materials were found at nine sites, but only in Sites 13 and 30 do
they surpass a proportion of 20% of the assemblage (
Figure; adjacent Site 26 is the Late Period Lakatambo site).
Omereque materials occur at seven sites, including Sites 13 and 30,
and have their highest proportion of 18% only in these latter two
sites. Grey Ware style pottery was recorded at three sites, including
13 and 30, averaging 13% of the assemblage.
All the Middle Horizon sites recorded are
multi-component sites. There is not a site which had exclusive, or
new, occupation with Tiwanaku style pottery. Rather, Tiwanaku style
remains were found at sites which also had local Early Intermediate
styles, Sauces, Tupuraya and Grey ware, and the Omereque style. Sites
13 and 30 are the only ones with all four pottery styles, along with
the highest proportions of Tiwanaku style material in Mizque. The
densest concentration of Middle Horizon occupation occurs at sites
13, 15, and 30, which make up 57% of the occupation size for the
period.
Middle Horizon occupation declines from 53.8 ha
in the Early Intermediate Period to 40.9 ha. The number of
settlements occupied is also reduced from 14 to 12. However, these
differences, compared with the estimated total occupation size for
each area, are not significant at a 95% confidence level
(Graph). What is more relevant in this transition is a trend
toward settlement aggregation into sites 13 and 30. This aggregation
is not limited to the occupation of Tiwanaku style ceramics, although
this style is dominant in the collections; the densest occupation of
the two local pottery groups is also at those two sites.
As in the Early Intermediate Period, the bulk
of Middle Horizon occupation was on the most productive soils, with
44.7% of the occupation, or 18.3 ha, on good soils (
Table 3). Occupation of medium and poor soils
constituted 24.8 and 30.5% of the remaining occupation size,
respectively. However, the percentage of occupation of good soils
zone is not significantly different, at the 95% confidence level,
from occupation in the other two soil zones (Graph).
But, as occurred during the previous period, the
settlement focus in the piedmont zone led to an occupation of good
soil plots.
In fact, a very high 98.5% of the Middle
Horizon occupation size of our sample is in the piedmont zone, while
the remaining 1.5% is located in the alluvial zone (
Table 4). No sites were found in the mountain
zone. Comparison of the percentages of occupation shows that the
difference in the higher proportion of occupation in the piedmont
zone is significant at the 95% confidence level. There is, then, a
preference for occupying the piedmont zone. This pattern of
topographic distribution seems to be a continuation of a trend
initiated in the Early Intermediate Period. Site 13, Condadillo, one
of the two most important Middle Horizon sites, is on good soil plots
in the lower piedmont zone. Settlement at Site 30 is located on poor
soils and in the piedmont zone, but close to the alluvial plain. Two
other sites, sites 14 and 15, with a smaller occupation of this
period (with less than 15% of Middle Horizon pottery) are also
located on lower piedmont spots close to the river bed (
Figure).
In sum, a significant spatial evidence in
Mizque is the preference for settling the piedmont topographic zone
in the Early Intermediate Period and in the Middle Horizon.
Occupation by soil zones did not reveal any preference patterns. The
conditions of the Mizque Valley with large portions of good soils in
the piedmont zone, imply that, indirectly, the preference for that
zone in Middle Horizon could be suggested as a pattern for settling
good soil zones. But this pattern does not start in the Middle
Horizon, and is rather a continuation of a settlement strategy of the
Early Intermediate Period. This Middle Horizon pattern would have
been more relevant if, in addition to following similar location
patterns, there had been significant growth in occupation size (e.g.,
there is a decrease in occupation size) or foundation of new
settlements. Unlike the patterns in Capinota, soil productivity would
have been a factor more important than topography, when a fairly
productive piedmont zone is settled.
The pottery distribution patterns documented in
both survey areas show that Tiwanaku style materials are largely
found on sites originally established during the Early Intermediate
Period. Therefore, there is little evidence in the sample to suggest
foundation of new and exclusive Middle Horizon sites with Tiwanaku
style material. Site 11 in Capinota is the only exception. In
addition, there is no exclusive occupations bearing local pottery in
either survey area during the Middle Horizon. In fact, there is
little pottery of the local Omereque style in Capinota, except at
Site 42, the Tiwanaku burial site.
A significant observation on both spatial and
pottery patterns in Mizque is settlement aggregation showing
occupation with Tiwanaku style and local style materials at the same
two sites. Neither of these two style groups occur alone at any site.
A dominant Tiwanaku style assemblage coexists with Omereque and Grey
Ware pottery. Not surprisingly, this observation confirms the
overwhelming presence of the Tiwanaku style in Cochabamba's Middle
Horizon. The two "multiethnic" sites in Mizque show a pattern of
population aggregation that would be expected in the archipelago
verticality model, although it contrasts with the spatial correlates
for the same model. However, the dominant presence of Tiwanaku style
pottery vs. local styles is not a common expectation of this model.
Mizque's case shows a Tiwanaku style that is not fully dominant in
the area.
Discussion
The spatial data on land use and settlement
distribution obtained in the Capinota and Mizque sub-valleys of
Cochabamba suggest that Middle Horizon spatial organization can be
best explained by the independence model. As expected, this choice is
not as clear cut as desired. Land use and settlement data is hard to
match with patterns of spatial distribution of pottery produced in
this research. Although, the spatial patterns used here do not match
the expectations for the vertical archipelago or prestige-good model,
pottery patterns alone might reveal some affinities to these
interaction models.
The spatial data offers a panorama where a
process of interaction emanating from the Tiwanaku polity was much
less important in the spatial organization of the region than
previously thought. Little external impact could be suggested on
Middle Horizon spatial organization because local Early Intermediate
Period settlement location and land use patterns endure during the
Middle Horizon. These Middle Horizon patterns do not reflect
agricultural intensification in either survey area, an implication of
the hypothesis of the direct exploitation of Cochabamba resources by
the Tiwanaku polity. The patterns do, however, reflect a settlement
distribution that favors exploitation of the best soils in Mizque in
the Middle Horizon. But again, that pattern was already present in
the region and hence does not represent a significant shift in
agricultural strategy.
The results obtained here are only the start in
our understanding of the political organization of the Cochabamba
region in the Middle Horizon. In fact, the results of the spatial
analysis refer only to patterns of agricultural exploitation. These
results allow me to strongly suggest that Middle Horizon interaction
with Cochabamba did not generate an increase of agricultural
production at the request of the Tiwanaku core, nor was settlement
focusing on the richest area studied here. A
comparison of the estimated occupation sizes calculated for each
period shows no difference in the size of Middle Horizon settlement
between the Capinota and Mizque survey areas. Mizque had a
significantly larger occupation size only during the Early
Intermediate Period. During the Middle Horizon, for which a
settlement concentration on most productive areas was hypothesized,
the advantages of the Mizque survey area did not lead to a
significantly larger occupation size than in Capinota. Therefore, a
difference in agricultural potential in the two regions analyzed here
is not adequate to explain the distribution of Middle Horizon
occupation.
Similarly, room for variation in the modeled
correlates must remain open for future analysis. Indeed, the use of
the proposed interaction models based only on spatial evidence
requires caution. The evidence examined seems to suggest that
Tiwanaku colonies, direct political control, or local development of
elite economies linked with highland economic networks, were less
likely outcomes of the interaction between Cochabamba and the
Tiwanaku polity. However, two observations made on other than spatial
evidence should be pursued: the "multiethnic" settlements in Mizque
and the foundation of a new Middle Horizon habitation settlement in
Capinota.
In addition, in the methodological arena, the
validity of spatial shifts and occupation growth to interpret
transition in spatial patterns and political organization models
should earn further testing. It is possible, but highly unlikely
based on other case studies, and regardless of the type of political
organization emanating from the highlands towards Cochabamba, that no
changes were produced in the spatial organization of the studied
areas. In other words, it would be unusual in Andean studies that the
organization seen in Capinota, with one single small new site, little
growth in occupation size, and no shifts in location patterns, could
be reflecting a political subordination organization. More
substantial changes were expected in spatial organization deriving
from the political subordination model. On the other hand, even if
independent ayllus were heading the interaction process we would
still expect to see some changes in settlement and land use
patterns.
In Capinota, Site 11 is a new Middle Horizon
and Site 7 is an isolated Tiwanaku burial site. However, Capinota
sites hardly generated any growth in Middle Horizon occupation size.
Therefore, this change essentially represents a shift in settlement
distribution rather than a demographic expansion. Foundation of one
habitation site of 2.5 ha is in itself far from sufficient to argue
that interaction Capinota could resulted in a political subordination
system in the area. More substantial new sites producing a larger
increase in occupation size were expected. Indeed, the scale of
settlement growth recorded in Capinota is not remotely as dramatic as
witnessed in other cases of imperial conquest: Moquegua by the
Tiwanaku polity (Goldstein 1989, 1993); Carhuarazo by the Wari polity
(Schreiber 1987, 1992); Cochabamba (Wachtel 1982), and the Mantaro
Valley by the Inka empire (D'Altroy 1992; Hastorf 1993).
It has been signaled that some regional
Tiwanaku settlement sequences do not show important shifts between
periods, as for example in the Tiwanaku Valley after the Formative
Period (Albarracín-Jordan 1992; Mathews 1992). That is,
settlement patterns in the Tiwanaku Period maintain previous
patterns, showing a low key decision making system emanating from the
site of Tiwanaku to its immediate hinterland. Rather, a tradition of
small-scale independent polities would have been maintained with
endurance of basic land use and settlement patterns. In this case,
similar site location patterns would be functioning in a loose
political organization of the Formative Period and in a "centralized"
or cult-unified organization of the Middle Horizon (Bermann 1997).
Future analysis should show if this same type of subtle transition
might have been occurring in Cochabamba under the independence model,
where political organization could change with no detectable shifts
in land use or settlement patterns. For instance, Middle Horizon
occupation maintains previous levels of agricultural production, but
political organization has changed from the Early Intermediate
Period.
Analysis of other archaeological evidence can
provide additional leads to this methodological problem. Even if
pottery patterns were not set up for analysis --where patterns favor
the political subordination model – the evidence obtained in the two
"multiethnic" settlements in the Mizque survey area, and smaller
similar cases in Capinota, cannot be ignored. They represent an
example of "ethnic" coexistence of artifacts in shared settlements
that is theoretically characteristic of the vertical archipelago or
the prestige-good model. A difference with the vertical archipelago
model is that the proportions of Tiwanaku style materials are much
higher that what would be expected from colonies settling amid local
populations, in which the former style would be outnumbered by much
denser local styles. This pattern could match with the prestige-good
model, if the Tiwanaku style pottery is not the exotic good, but
rather textiles, wooden artifacts or metals bearing that style, or in
the unlikely scenario that the "local" styles are the exotic products
given their small percentage in the assemblage.
In addition, the spatial evidence is showing
little focus on agricultural intensification in the form deployed by
an archipelago strategy. First, it was expected that distribution of
settlement in both areas would not be different in a region with
little circumscription as Cochabamba. Then, preference for settling
the piedmont in Mizque, given the soil composition of the region, can
be interpreted as a preference for settling on the best soils in the
valley. Then, as expected within a survey area, Middle Horizon
occupation favors the best agricultural spots in the richest survey
area. However, Middle Horizon settlement follows a trend already
established in the Early Intermediate Period and, in addition, does
not produce any evidence of intensification of agriculture as
expected. Similarly, the preference for piedmont settlement in the
Capinota survey area during the Middle Horizon represents an
enlargement of piedmont settlement in the previous period, but in
Capinota there are no soil advantages by settling this
zone.
The decrease in occupation size in Mizque is
another reason why the preference Middle Horizon settlement on good
soils in Mizque can hardly be suggested as evidence of
intensification of agricultural exploitation. In the decrease from
53.8 ha to 40.9 ha occupation of good soils is reduced and occupation
of medium soils is slightly increased. Human occupation size in
Capinota has a slight decrease from 17.7 ha in the Early Intermediate
Period to 17.3 ha in the Middle Horizon. In this transition,
settlement moves from good soils to poor soils. This occupation
relocation is an indicator of agriculture emphasis, as good soils are
cleared. However, the change is not significant as the estimate for
occupation of poor soils in the Middle Horizon is almost identical to
the one in the Early Intermediate Period (
Table 1). The lack of growth in occupation size
in Mizque or Capinota cannot be a result of limited resources in the
valley. In both areas, Late Period occupation size will have very
significant growth with respect to the Middle Horizon (Higueras
1996). An explanation for Mizque's decrease in occupation in this
latter period could be that distance for the altiplano is combined
with a pattern of settling in areas more productive than Mizque
itself.
Concluding this research by suggesting the
independence model could be a disappointing "non-result" in the
context of many paradigms popular in Andean archaeology. However,
finding that the appearance and distribution of Tiwanaku style
materials was not concomitant with changes in settlement and land use
(at least as I am approaching them) would open a door to more
meaningful and powerful explanatory approaches in the future, when
all evidence available could be explained by a finer model of
political organization. As a first step in understanding the long
term evolutionary trajectory of Cochabamba populations, this research
does not support the important role ascribed to the Tiwanaku polity.
Choosing the independence model calls into question not only Kolata's
hypothesis, but other models that see interaction with Tiwanaku as a
prime-mover in causing cultural change. One of the obvious
implications of this result is that the distribution of Tiwanaku
style materials, which is a very significant phenomenon, and by
extension, the distribution of any rather loose pottery style, are,
alone, a poor basis from which to reconstruct issues of regional
interaction and societal development, in comparison, say, to
settlement and land use patterns.
Acknowledgments.
The 1993-94 phase of the Proyecto Arqueológico
Expansión Tiwanaku en Cochabamba was co-directed by Mr.
Ricardo Céspedes, researcher at the Museo Arqueológico
de la Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba, and the
author. A Postdoctoral fellowship at the American Museum of Natural
History, New York, allowed me to prepare this paper. Financial
support for the research was provided by the Tinker Foundation,
through the Center for Latin American Studies of the University of
Pittsburgh, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
(#5628), the National Science Foundation (SBR-9312906), and the
Organization of American States. I wish to thank Marc Bermann, Robert
D. Drennan, and James B. Richardson III, members of my dissertation
committee, the Howard Heinz Foundation, and the staff of the
Cochabamba museum for their support. Five anonymous reviewers
provided crucial comments to this paper. Charmaine Steinberg provided
useful editorial advice. Any inadequacies in this paper are, however,
of my own responsibility.
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