Dissertation

Ancient Andean Archipelagos: Human Interaction and Social Innovation at Chawin Punta and Kunturay in the East-Central Highlands of Pasco, Peru

Brown, Nicholas E

2022

Overview

This dissertation studies the dynamic relationship between interaction and innovation in ancient Peru, where archipelagos of social movement developed among groups of people living in distant regions of the Central Andes and Amazon. The early development of these archipelagic societies can be traced to the rise of the Chavin phenomenon in the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E., when monumental platforms and plazas were built across the Andes to accommodate large gatherings of people who interacted in civic and ceremonial events. Although the people who gathered at Chavin monuments had different historical backgrounds and geographic origins, their collective experiences forged new kinds of shared social identities that they brought back to their far-flung homelands. In this way, participants in the Chavin phenomenon created unprecedented, pan-Andean social movements that were materially visible in their artwork inspired by the idiosyncratic styles and symbols of Chavin monuments. The present investigation focuses on the dual case study of Chawin Punta and Kunturay as neighboring mountaintop monuments overlooking the Chaupihuaranga Canyon in the east-central highlands of Pasco, Peru. Here, abundant archaeological evidence suggests the Chaupihuaranga Canyon played a key role in Chavin social movements. Archaeological excavations, pedestrian surveys, and satellite remote sensing have all generated data on ancient patterns of human interaction involving the Chaupihuaranga Canyon during pre-Hispanic times. This fieldwork revealed that Chawin Punta and Kunturay were particularly important ceremonial centers during 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E. when massive stone monuments were built into their bedrock peaks.Stylistic data from bas-relief and tenon head stone sculptures, carved bone ritual objects, and decorated ceramic vessels revealed that ancient people at Chawin Punta and Kunturay possessed dynamic, interregional social ties with many distant sites: down the Andean slopes with eastern midland sites like Kotosh, Shillacoto, Jancao, and Cave of the Owls (Huánuco); into the Amazon lowlands of Tutishcainyo (Ucayali); along the western Pacific lowlands with north coast Cupisnique (La Libertad), north-central coast Casma (Áncash), central coast Ancon-Supe (Lima), and south coast Paracas (Ica); and along the Andean plateaus with north-central highland sites like Chavín de Huántar, Huaricoto (Áncash), and Pacopampa (Cajamarca), as well as south-central highland sites like San Blas (Junín), Atalla (Huancavelica) and Campanayuq Rumi (Ayacucho). An integrated chronological scheme of ceramic phases, architectural sequences, and radiocarbon data from the excavations at Chawin Punta and Kunturay allowed for a detailed characterization of the sociohistorical trajectory of the Chaupihuaranga Canyon through time. This regional chronology includes: Chaka I (early Initial Period, early 2nd mil. B.C.E), Chaka II (middle Initial Period, mid 2nd mil. B.C.E.), Wayra (late Initial Period, late 2nd & early 1st mil. B.C.E.), Willka (beginning of the Early Horizon, mid 1st mil. B.C.E.), Patak (end of the Early Horizon, late 1st mil B.C.E.), Rinri (Early Intermediate Period, early 1st mil. C.E.), Huertas (Middle Horizon, late 1st mil. C.E.), and Waranqa (Late Intermediate Period & Late Horizon, early to mid 2nd mil. C.E.).Social innovation in the Chaupihuaranga Canyon was assessed through the remains of ceramics found at Chawin Punta and Kunturay. A chaîne operatoire analysis of the techniques and style choices involved in ancient pottery production revealed the changing pace of innovation through time. Human interaction was characterized at Chawin Punta and Kunturay using the novel conceptual apparatus of the “material archipelago,” in which the distribution of similar material remains at coeval archaeological sites in different regions are hypothesized to correspond to an interactive social group. Based on Andean social theories from ethnohistory, the material archipelago framework allowed for a more precise description of the range of ancient interregional interactions involving the Chaupihuaranga Canyon. This research has illustrated how new styles of ceramic, stone, and bone artworks were widely shared across many regions, suggesting that human interaction and social innovation were closely related in the early Andean past.Application of the “material archipelago” framework to study ancient Chawin Punta and Kunturay has confirmed the enduring importance of vertical complementarity between the central Andean highlands, eastern slope midlands and Amazonian lowlands, supporting the pre-Hispanic application of Murra’s (1972) “vertical archipelago” model to explain sociohistorical dynamics in east-central Peru. Moreover, the diversity range of interactions between the Chaupihuaranga Canyon and other highland and coastal regions during the 2nd and 1st mil. B.C.E. supports Burger’s (1988) “religious archipelago” model to explain the development of the Chavin phenomenon. These findings suggest that the material archipelago framework has the potential to clarify other pre-Hispanic cases of pan-Andean interaction, such as the Wari phenomenon or Inca Tawantinsuyu.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Ancient history / Archaeology / Latin American Studies
• ISBN: 9798368475288