Dissertation: Core and Periphery Relations in the South Central Andes: The Impact of the Tiwanaku State on the Central Valley, Cochabamba, Bolivia

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Under the direction of Dr. Katharina Schreiber, MS Karen Anderson will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. The goal of her research is to understand how early state-level societies extended their power and integrated outlying areas with the administrative and political core. To gain insight into the processes which gave rise to such entities from it is extremely difficult to use historic data because road systems, developed forms of writing and other technologies which facilitate rapid and efficient communication and transportation of goods were lacking. Therefore one is forced to rely on the archaeological record. Although the Andean region is best known for the Inca empire which was observed and later destroyed by the Spanish, this in fact was the last in a series of such entities. Between AD 400 and 1100 AD a Tiwanaku predecessor was based in highland Bolivia and extended its influence into both the Pacific coastal lowlands and the flanks of the Amazon to the East. Archaeologists wish to understand how these hinterland regions were integrated into the Tiwanaku core and research to date suggests that no one single model applies. MS. Anderson will examine this question in the fertile Cochabamba Valley which is located at a mid-altitude level to the East. She has posited a series of models which may explain the relationship between periphery and core and these range from direct control through no control at all. She has also specified the expected archaeological correlates for each. Based on prior exploratory work in the Valley MS Anderson shall now conduct a total survey of ca. 200 sq. km. to locate sites, map them and collect diagnostic ceramic material. She will also conduct small scale excavations.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into the processes which led to the rise of the state and the integrating mechanisms which early states employed. Because Tiwanaku has been treated by many archaeologists as a test case, the data she collects will be a interest to many researchers. Finally this project will assist in training a promising young archaeologist.