Anna K. Guengerich

This study investigates the probable provenance of the volcanic stones utilized in the production of Tiwanaku stone sculptures of human-animal hybrids (chachapumas), highlighting the strategic and ideological importance of raw material acquisition during the Middle Horizon Period. The analysis indicates that the stone compositions of the chachapumas are geochemically compatible with chemical signatures from two distinct volcanic sources: basaltic rocks from the Copacabana Peninsula (Tiquina Straits) and andesitic rocks from the area between Mount Ccapia and Juli. The results support the idea that this type of sculptures was crafted using both distant materials and stones from sacred locations, suggesting the cosmological and political power of Tiwanaku as a telluric state. The research emphasizes the difficulties in identifying fine-grained volcanic rocks and the synergistic application of bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis in provenance studies. Despite analytical constraints, this work offers valuable insights into the material culture and the ideological dimensions of Tiwanaku’s expansive reach, underscoring the importance of sacred geographies in the formation of a powerful, cosmopolitan polity.

In the archaeological tradition of what is today Peru, studies of sedentary agricultural groups have accorded a minor role to the analysis of stone tools relative to other suites of material culture. Here, we illustrate the value of such lithic collections via a case study of settlement sites from the Chachapoyas region of northern Peru (AD 300–1500). This study demonstrates the potential of methods such as use-wear microscopy and raw material analysis to address questions of theoretical interest to archaeologists studying sedentary society, such as subsistence, household behavior, and ceremonial practices. A set of generalized linear models of the spatial distribution of volcanic stone indicates that lithic raw material acquisition at these ceramic period sites was likely embedded in other activities. In addition, we examine an unusual set of limestone and carbonate-patinated artifacts that suggest that lithic procurement and selection were informed and strategic, if not conforming to expected technological priorities. We suggest that, by taking the potential value of lithic artifacts into consideration from project design through field collection and assemblage sampling, researchers can minimize biases that may otherwise limit the value of lithic assemblages.
En la tradición arqueológica de lo que hoy es Perú, los estudios sobre los agricultores sedentarios han otorgado un papel menor al análisis de las herramientas de piedra en comparación con otros tipos de cultura material. Aquí, proveemos un ejemplo del valor de esta categoría de objetos líticos. Presentamos un estudio de asentamientos de la región de Chachapoyas en el norte de Perú (dC 300-1500), el cual demuestra el potencial de métodos como microdesgaste y el análisis de la adquisición de roca para abordar cuestiones como subsistencia, la práctica doméstica, y la práctica ceremonial, todo de los cuales son de interés teórico para el estudio de sociedades sedentarias. Un conjunto de modelos lineares generalizados de la distribución espacial de piedra volcánica demuestra que la adquisición de material lítico fue integrada en otras actividades diarias. Adicionalmente, examinamos un grupo de artefactos de caliza y los patinado con carbonato calizalos cuales sugieren que la adquisición y la selección de material lítico fue estratégico, aunque no se conformaba con las prioridades tecnológicas esperadas. Planteamos que los investigadores pueden minimizar los prácticos metodológicos que perjudicaran el valor posible de los ensamblajes líticos si tengan en cuenta el valor potencial de los objetos líticos en el diseño de los proyectos y en los trabajos de campo.

From pre-Columbian times until today, monolithic stone sculptures have constituted the public face of Tiwanaku. Researchers, however, have nearly exclusively focused on the sculptural class that we term "presentation monoliths": anthropomorphic lithic beings that hold a chicha goblet in one hand and a snuff tablet in the other. Here, we direct attention to a complementary set of sculptures we designate "extended-arm monoliths," focusing specifically on a sculpture known as the Suñawa Monolith. We argue that the Suñawa, together with its likely companion sculpture, the Pachakama, was one of several monoliths that belonged to this class, which constituted figures positioned to guard or accompany presentation monoliths. Accordingly, the iconography of the Suñawa Monolith depicts themes of sacrificial violence and vegetative generation. We suggest that Tiwanaku monumental sculpture encompassed an entire "society" of animate, differentiated, transacting monoliths that included not just presentation figures but also other beings, including attendant extended-arm monoliths.

Understanding how publics were constituted in specific socio-historical settings is critical to understanding political practice in past societies. Yet the persistent use of terms such as “public space” and “public architecture” belies the influence of binary models of public and private life that still impact understandings of domestic life and residential architecture. I argue that the continued influence of these models results from the notion that publics in pre-industrial societies were produced primarily through large gatherings associated with standardized kinds of places such as plazas and monuments. This paper, in contrast, takes advantage of the exceptionally well-preserved site complex of Tambillo in Eastern Peru in order to explore how the material qualities of architecture, rather than its spatial layout, mediate the production of publics. I consider how three different modes of engagement with domestic architecture in particular—construction, discourse, and affiliation—generated multiple, diverse publics among the communities of Tambillo. This example demonstrates the variety of ways in which built environments create publics and underscores the need to acknowledge the role of domestic architecture within a broader ecology of the built environment as a whole.

Chachapoya societies that lived on the forested eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru between A.D. 1000 and 1450 remain largely absent from broader narratives of the Andean Late Intermediate period (LIP). This paper argues that environmentally deterministic frameworks and lingering Inka biases have led scholars to problematically isolate Chachapoyans from their highland contemporaries. This work reviews three aspects of Chachapoya built environments—settlement patterning, internal organization, and architectural style—in order to provide a baseline for comparison with other regions. Chachapoyas shared a pattern of hilltop settlement locations with nearly all of the highlands, which suggests that its inhabitants faced the same shared factors that prompted changes in settlement organization on a massive scale in this region during the LIP. At the same time, comparison of Chachapoya built environments with others of the northern, central, and southern highlands highlights the considerable diversity within and between regions. This demonstrates that Chachapoyas is best interpreted as simply one of many regions that were characterized by distinctive spatlalltles and architectural forms. These reflected locally specific cultural practices and social institutions. Including Chachapoyas and other regions of the Eastern Andes in accounts of the LIP underscores the diversity and dynamism that characterized this period of significant change in Andean history.

•Peru’s Chachapoyas region is characterized by elaborate residential buildings.•300 Houses were studied at the Chachapoya settlement site of Monte Viudo.•The interiors of seven houses from AD800–1450 were excavated.•Analysis privileged the study of variability and material features of residences.•Elites and non-elites worked agentively within traditional architectural canons to create status and social position. The Chachapoyas region of northern Peru was home to one of the most elaborate, but little studied, traditions of residential architecture in the prehispanic Andes. This paper examines the ways in which individual and group decision-making, social and political circumstances, and physical environments articulated to shape the material features of circular stone houses at the settlement site of Monte Viudo. In particular, it emphasizes the process of house construction and the role of human agency. Data is based on excavation of seven residential buildings, combined with mapping and recording of features of all structures at Monte Viudo. Taking advantage of the site’s excellent preservation, special attention is paid to the material attributes of residential buildings as a source of information complementary to spatial organization.