Early State Expansion and Multiethnic Coexistence in the Ancient Andes

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Paul Goldstein and a team of graduate and undergraduate students will conduct archaeological survey in the Moquegua Valley, Peru. Both accounts by Spanish explorers as well as archaeological data suggest that this valley exerted an influence disproportionate to its size. Although this oasis is set in one of the world's driest deserts, irrigation has long permitted year-round cultivation of crops that are not available at higher elevations. Spanish historic documents state that colonists from highland polities with centers as much as 200 kilometers to the East sent settlers to the valley's middle elevations to cultivate maize, peppers and cotton to send back to their homelands. Dr. Goldstein and his team wish to determine how far this pattern extends back in time. Three factors play major roles in the culture history of Peru. First, the country is characterized by strong altitudinal zonation and environments change rapidly from arid coastland desert, through mid latitudes, high Andean plateau and finally tropical eastern Amazonian lowland. Secondly, the archaeological record indicates the presence of strong regional traditions which continue for thousands of years in time. Finally, the a series of empires, of which the Inca was the most recent, emerged to consolidate large portions of Bolivia and Peru. Archaeologists wish to understand how these factors interacted. How did local traditions maintain at least a modicum of independence under a series of larger centralized regimes? How were empires and smaller groups organized to take advantage of the resources which different altitudinal zones offered? The Moquegua Valley, because of its clear bounded nature and its rich resources offers an excellent venue to study such questions. Dr. Goldstein has conducted research in the region for several years and data indicate the imprint of all major empire expansions as well as a strong local tradition. He wishes to determine the types of interactions which occurred and believes that a multi-ethnic (live and let live) model best applies. With National Science Foundation support he will conduct one additional field season of work. He will complete a full scale survey of the valley and update a maps of sites and other cultural features. Surface material will be collected and on the basis of ceramics both date and cultural affiliation will be determined. Radiocarbon dates will provide absolute ages. On this basis it will then be possible to reconstruct cultural interactions over time. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into the social organization of a early state level societies in a heterogeneous environmental context. It will yield data of interest to many archaeologists and provide training to both undergraduate and graduate students.