Date of Award
Fall 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Burger, Richard
Abstract
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 earliest development of these archipelagic societies can be traced to the rise of the Chavín 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 for new kinds of civic and ceremonial events. Although the people who gathered at Chavin monuments had different cultural backgrounds and geographic origins, their collective experiences forged new sorts of shared social identities that they brought back with them to far-flung Andean regions. In this way, the Chavin phenomenon created pan-Andean social identities that were materially expressed in the artistic creations 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 in the Chaupihuaranga Canyon of the east-central highlands in Pasco, Peru. At these monuments, there is abundant archaeological evidence that suggest the Chaupihuaranga Canyon played an important role in Chavin social movements vertically across the Andean slopes with easternmidland sites like Kotosh (Huánuco) and western coastal sites like Ancon (Lima), as well as horizontally along the Andean plateaus with north-central highland sites like Chavín de Huántar (Ancash) and south-central highland sites like Atalla (Huancavelica). This project employed archaeological excavations, pedestrian surveys, and satellite remote sensing to generate data on “material archipelago” patterns of interaction involving the Chaupihuaranga Canyon in antiquity. The results of this fieldwork revealed that Chawin Punta and Kunturay were particularly important ceremonial centers during 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E. when their massive stone monuments were carved into bedrock peaks overlooking the Chaupihuaranga Canyon. Stylistic data from bas-relief and tenon head stone sculptures, carved bone ritual objects, and decorated ceramic vessels have revealed that ancient people at Chawin Punta and Kunturay possessed dynamic, interregional social ties with distant sites across the Andean highlands, eastern slope midlands, Amazon lowlands, and Pacific coast. An integrated chronological scheme of ceramic phases, architectural sequences, and radiocarbon data from the excavations at Chawin Punta and Kunturay has allowed for a detailed characterization of the sociohistorical trajectory of social archipelagos through time. The chronology of the Chaupihuaranga Canyon includes: the Chaka I phase (early Initial Period, early 2nd mil. B.C.E), the Chaka II phase (middle Initial Period, mid 2nd mil. B.C.E.), the Wayra phase (late Initial Period, late 2nd & early 1st mil. B.C.E.), the Willka phase (beginning of the Early Horizon, mid 1st mil. B.C.E.), the Patak phase (end of the Early Horizon, late 1st mil B.C.E.), the Rinri phase (Early Intermediate Period, early 1st mil. C.E.), the Huertas phase (Middle Horizon, late 1st mil. C.E.), and the Waranqa phase (Late Intermediate Period & Late Horizon, early 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 ancient pottery production revealed the changing pace of innovations 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 can be hypothesized to correspond to a particular interactive social group. The material archipelago framework has allowed for a more precise description of the range of ancient interregional interaction involving the Chaupihuaranga Canyon. This research illustrates how new styles of ceramic, stone, and bone were shared across many regions, suggesting that human interaction and social innovation were closely related in the Andean past. Application of the “material archipelago” framework to study ancient Chawin Punta and Kunturay has confirmed the importance of vertical complementarity between the central Andean highlands and 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 prevalence of ancient interactions between the Chaupihuaranga Canyon and other highland and coastal regions during the 2nd and 1st mil. B.C.E. fits with Burger’s (1988) “religious archipelago” model to explain the development, consolidation, and disintegration of the Chavin phenomenon. These findings suggest that the material archipelago framework holds the potential to clarify other cases of Andean interactions, such as for the Wari and Inca in the 1st and 2nd mil. C.E.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Nicholas E., "Ancient Andean Archipelagos: Human Interaction and Social Innovation at Chawin Punta and Kunturay in the East-Central Highlands of Pasco, Peru" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 818.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/818
