Ancient Andean Political Economy 9780292764057

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Ancient Andean Political Economy

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Ancient Andean Political Economy CHARLES STANISH

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS AUSTIN

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Copyright © 1992 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 1992 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stanish, Charles, (date) Ancient Andean political economy / Charles Stanish.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-292-76526-6

1. Indians of South America—Andes Region— Politics and government. 2. Indians of South America—Andes Region—Economic conditions. 3. Indians of South America—Andes Region— Antiquities. 4. Economic anthropology—Andes Region. 5. Andes Region— Antiquities. I. Title. F2230.1.P65S74 1992 98o'.oi—dc20

91-14442

CIP ISBN 978-0-292-76405-7 (library e-book) ISBN 978-0-292-76406-4 (individual e-book)

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For my family, Charlie, Addie, and Gregg

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Contents

PREFACE

ix

i. Andean Political Economy: A Theoretical Framework i 2. A Methodology for Testing Models of Political Economy 29 3. Zonal Complementarity in the Prehispanic South Central Andes: A Review and Critique 50 4. A Test of Zonal Complementarity in the Moquegua Drainage 98 5. Summary and Conclusions 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

175

191

FIGURES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. n.

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The South Central Andes 2 Cultural Regions in the South Central Andes 51 Schematic Cross Section of Andean Ecosystems 59 Selected Chronologies in the South Central Andes 68 Moquegua Valley Settlements 84 Post-Tiwanaku Cultural Areas in the Titicaca Basin 86 The Upper Moquegua Valley 102 The Otora Valley no Chronology in the Otora Valley in Map of P-5 113 Map of Cuesta Alta (P-7) 119

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viii 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

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Contents Map of Porobaya Chica (P-4) 120 Site of Cuajone (P-8) 121 Site of Turi in Bolivia (Ryden 1957) 126 Site of Maukka Llajta (Franco and Gonzalez 1936) 126 Excavated Structures from P-8 127 Schematic Room Types in the Otora Valley 132 Map of Porobaya (P-1) 137 Map of Colana (P-2) 138 Excavated Room from Porobaya 143 Histogram of Ceramic Types from Porobaya 145 Site of Pukara Juli, Puno 159 Site of Huichajaja, Puno 160 Site of Llaquepa, Puno 161

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Contents

PREFACE

ix

i. Andean Political Economy: A Theoretical Framework i 2. A Methodology for Testing Models of Political Economy 29 3. Zonal Complementarity in the Prehispanic South Central Andes: A Review and Critique 50 4. A Test of Zonal Complementarity in the Moquegua Drainage 98 5. Summary and Conclusions 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

175

191

FIGURES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. n.

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The South Central Andes 2 Cultural Regions in the South Central Andes 51 Schematic Cross Section of Andean Ecosystems 59 Selected Chronologies in the South Central Andes 68 Moquegua Valley Settlements 84 Post-Tiwanaku Cultural Areas in the Titicaca Basin 86 The Upper Moquegua Valley 102 The Otora Valley no Chronology in the Otora Valley in Map of P-5 113 Map of Cuesta Alta (P-7) 119

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Preface

IN THE 1960s, a new theory emerged in the anthropological literature of the central Andes. First articulated by John V. Murra, this theory has since been labeled "verticality" or "zonal complementarity." The development of the theory of verticality marked a conceptual watershed in Andean studies. It provided a framework for understanding indigenous culture based upon the unique environmental and cultural characteristics of the Andes and inspired a generation of anthropologists. The verticality theory has been particularly useful in the south central Andes, the region of the Andes that was directly or indirectly under the influence of Lake Titicaca Basin cultures throughout history. Murra relied heavily on the Garci Diez Visita of 1567 for the original formulation of the verticality principles. The Visita concerned the sixteenth-century Titicaca Basin "kingdom" known as the Lupaqa. Information in the Visita suggested that the Lupaqa controlled an extensive network of colonies in lower altitudinal zones. With the widespread acceptance of zonal complementarity models and the empirical demonstration that the Lupaqa controlled colonial territories, many scholars, including Murra, projected verticality back into prehistory. Since the mid 1970s, zonal complementarity has become the dominant framework for understanding Andean society, both in the present as well as the past. The purpose of this book is to critically examine zonal complementarity as an archaeological concept. The use of concepts from political economy and "household archaeology" provide the framework for addressing the complex problems of zonal complementarity in the prehispanic Andes. This framework is illustrated in the last section of this book by a case study from the Moquegua and Puno regions in southern Peru. This book has been written under the presumption that the reader is familiar with the critical theoretical problems in contemporary

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Andean archaeology and anthropology. If not, chapters i and 3 should be read first. This can serve as an adequate introduction to the relevant models of political economy. Likewise, a working knowledge of economic anthropology, particularly the work of Karl Polanyi, would be useful. For readers unfamiliar with Polanyi's main arguments, the article by Valensi (1981), listed in the bibliography of this book, should be consulted. The book is organized as follows: Chapter 1 provides an overview of the main arguments of the book and places models of Andean exchange in the wider theoretical framework of political economy. Chapter 2 is methodological in content. It utilizes concepts of political economy and household archaeology to build a method for testing the models described in chapter 1. Chapter 3 critically reviews existing models of zonal complementarity. Chapter 4 is a case study using data from southern Peru. This chapter illustrates the concepts developed in the previous chapters. Finally, chapter 5 tries to place the book itself in a wider context. The data used in this book were collected from two separate projects. One set of data is from the Otora Valley in the Moquegua Drainage. This research project was part of my dissertation work. Results from several additional seasons of post-doctoral research are also included here. This Moquegua research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Doherty Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and two anonymous donors. The Instituto Nacional de Cultura of Lima and Puno provided permission and support for our research. In the last several years I have been working in the Titicaca Basin near the modern town of Juli. The Juli area research was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the National Science Foundation, the Heinz Trust, the Field Museum, and Ms. Patricia Dodson. I also wish to acknowledge several institutions that provided invaluable help in the course of these projects. These include the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Lima, Moquegua, and Puno; the Museo Peruano de Ciencias de la Salud; the Universidad Catolica "Santa Maria" of Arequipa; and the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno. The School of American Research in Santa Fe provided a post-doctoral writing fellowship that allowed me substantial time to work on this manuscript. Many people have provided advice, assistance and friendship throughout the course of this research. In particular, I acknowledge the help and friendship of Don S. Rice, Michael E. Moseley, and Victor Barua. I also thank Robert McCormick Adams, Luis Lumbreras,

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Preface

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Joyce Marcus, Mario Rivera, Kristen Hartzell, and Terrence Turner. Each of these individuals read earlier versions of this manuscript and provided many helpful comments. E. Christopher Hudson, Theresa May, and two anonymous reviewers from the University of Texas Press deserve many thanks. A number of other people have assisted me in the field or in the laboratory. These include Marc Bermann, Jose Chavez, Jane Buikstra, Edwin Castillo, Javier Ticona, Robert Feldman, David Jessup, Alan Kolata, Luis Watanabe, Elva Alatrista, Manuel Garcia, Edmundo de la Vega, Gloria Salinas, John Schmeid, Antonio Oquiche, Fernando Cabieses, Victor Barua, Nelson Molina, Lucy Barua, Paul Goldstein, Patricia Dodson, Lupe Andrade, Maria Cecilia Lozada, Elizabeth Johnson, Rita Basuray, Karen Wise, Brian Bauer, Liliana Huaco D., Ofelia Cayetana, Anne Zegara, Kirk Frye, Julie Realmuto, Barbara Dolan, Oscar Castillo, Oscar Ayca, Gray Graham, Milagros Ratti, and fellow curators at the Field Museum. Their help is deeply appreciated. Any errors or misinterpretations are my own responsibility.

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1. Andean Political Economy: A Theoretical Framework

FOR MORE than two millennia, the southern region of the central Andes (Figure i) was one of the great nuclear centers of New World civilization. The demographic and political core of this vast region is the Titicaca Basin, the home of one of the world's largest and highest navigable lakes. As early as 1200 B.C., complex societies were settling the fertile lakeshore and exploiting the high, open pasture lands above Lake Titicaca. By the beginning of the first millennium A.D., two complex polities, known as Pukara and Tiwanaku, had developed in the north and south sides of the basin respectively. By A.D. 900, Tiwanaku had developed into a true empire that rivaled other prehispanic New World states in power, organizational complexity, and territorial extent. The collapse of Tiwanaku provided the context in which the first historically known "kingdoms" developed three or four centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. These Aymara kingdoms, most notably the Lupaqa and Colla, were major rivals to the Inca and were subdued only after a long and bitter military and political struggle. For the Inca, the rich Titicaca Basin was the veritable "jewel in the crown" of their empire. For 2,000 years prior to the Inca conquest, the Titicaca Basin states controlled or influenced peoples throughout the south central Andes, a region that extends over 400,000 square kilometers. One of the most outstanding achievements of these Titicaca Basin polities was their ability to exploit lower ecological zones up to several hundred kilometers away. From the earliest complex societies in the region to the last prehispanic occupation of the area by the Inca empire, Titicaca Basin groups were able to secure access to these economically critical areas. The success of polities such as Pukara, Tiwanaku, Lupaqa, and Colla was due in large part to their ability to maintain access to these distant productive zones. Describing and

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Figure i. The South Central Andes explaining the origin, evolution, and collapse of these complex systems of long distance resource control stands as one of the great tasks of contemporary Andean archaeology. The cultural process whereby Andean societies control diverse ecological zones is known as "zonal complementarity" or "verticality." The term verticality derives from the fact that ecological zones in the Andes are highly dependent upon altitude. The term zonal complementarity is preferred although it is used almost synonymously with verticality. Both terms refer to the process whereby a group in one ecological zone seeks to "complement" their economy by gaining control or access to other zones.

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A Theoretical Framework

3

Verticality models have been applied to virtually every period of human occupation in the region. These models have become the unquestioned paradigm for understanding prehispanic economic and political processes throughout the southern zone of the central Andes. Yet, in spite of the popularity of zonal complementarity models, there is no coherent methodology for defining the variety of potential interzonal relationships in prehispanic contexts. This book offers a theoretical and methodological framework for testing models of zonal complementarity with archaeological data from the central Andes. These models are explicitly defined as a problem of political economy, as understood by economic and political anthropologists, comparative sociologists, and economic historians. In this book, the definition and concepts of political economy derive from the work of Karl Polanyi. Polanyi's substantivist economic anthropology has been an explicit or implicit framework in Andean ethnohistory and ethnology for decades. The two principal models of prehispanic political economy in the literature are firmly rooted in this tradition. The first tradition is that of "classic" zonal complementarity, developed originally by John Murra (1964, 1968, 1972) and expanded by a number of scholars working within this framework. The second model has been developed over three decades by Maria Rostworowski de Diez Canseco and is based upon craft specialization and exchange between independent polities. Murra's model of zonal complementarity attempts to understand Andean society based upon the altitudinal stratification of resource zones as the chief ecological characteristic and economic constraint in the central Andes. The stratification of ecological zones is one of the most prominent natural features in the Andes that has impacted indigenous life. The success of the zonal complementarity principle is due in part to the fact that it offers an understanding of Andean political, economic, and social structure in indigenous terms. The traditional verticality model is characterized by the direct control of colonial lands by independent ethnic groups or polities outside of their core region or home territory. The utilization and control of a maximum number of ecological "floors" by a unique form of colonization is central to the verticality concept. The wellknown pattern of land control that results from the operation of direct verticality mechanisms is one characterized by discontinuous "islands" which ultimately form an "archipelago" pattern over an ecologically diverse region. This pattern is explainable as an attempt to control altitudinally different ecological zones along the flanks of

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the Andes and coast. This results in a patchwork of ethnic enclaves strategically located in different, but economically "complementary," areas of agricultural production. Since the original formulation by Murra in the 1960s, verticality has evolved from a hypothetical model of colonial and prehispanic land tenure to an "ideal" which claims to be fundamental in understanding indigenous Andean cultural reality (see Fonseca 1972; Gow 1978; Valle 1970). Verticality is argued to be the economic organizing principle in almost all socio-political contexts, from small peasant communities to the Inca state; that is, the economic decisions of individuals or groups in all political contexts are structured by this uniquely Andean cultural logic. Within the theoretical framework of Karl Polanyi, indigenous production and exchange are seen as deeply embedded within the socio-political structure in which they operate. Consistent with these substantivist models of noncapitalistic economies, redistribution and reciprocity are the principal mechanisms of exchange. There is, therefore, a distinction in the literature between the original concept of verticality as a specific model of regional land tenure and the expanded concept of the verticality model as the conceptual foundation for understanding Andean cultural reality. Failure to adequately separate these two aspects of verticality has resulted in a certain degree of confusion in the literature. While the broader use of verticality as an ideal of Andean culture will be briefly addressed below, this book is principally concerned with verticality as a specific model of Andean political economy and its archaeological correlates for testing these models in prehispanic contexts. A second model of Andean political economy has been forcefully and consistently argued by Maria Rostworowski de Diez Canseco (1977, 1978). Her model is based upon the existence of commerce or trade [comercio) between independent polities. Utilizing ethnohistorical data from the large, coastal valleys of central and southern Peru, Rostworowski has documented instances of craft specialization and commodity exchange in the late prehispanic periods. Unlike Murra's model of direct colonization by home communities in different zones, Rostworowski's model is based upon some form of noncolonial exchange between autonomous polities. By relying upon exchange between politically independent groups, Rostworowski;s model is more consistent with other systems of preindustrial exchange throughout the world; that is, the "uniqueness" so characteristic of traditional zonal complementarity is not part of Rostworowski 's framework. Several contributions in the volume edited by Masuda, Shimada, and Morris (1985) have reinforced and expanded

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A Theoretical Framework

5

this exchange-based model of Andean economy as an alternative to Murra's direct colonization model. These two seemingly polar models of Andean political economy serve as a baseline for addressing the complex archaeology of the region. Prior research has identified numerous settlement and artifact types outside of their known place of manufacture throughout the south central Andes. Several models exist to explain these regional artifact distributions. The mechanisms proposed to explain these distributions range from classic colonization models to complex commodity exchange networks and alliances. Murra and Rostworowski's models, which include both exchange and colonization, are therefore sufficient to explain all instances of regional exchange known to date in the south central Andes. There are several difficulties, however, with the application of Murra's and Rostworowski's models to prehistoric data. We have yet to adequately define the material correlates of colonial or exchangebased models. In the absence of such a well-defined methodology, there is a tendency to accept either one as "correct" and seek the data to prove the model. The uncritical acceptance of either one of these models has obscured deeper issues, particularly those concerning the definition of "colony," the variation in colonial occupations in different sociopolitical and economic contexts, and the implications of zonal complementarity for models of complex state development in the region. I maintain that a false dichotomy exists in the literature between exchange models and direct colonial models. A principal theme of this book is that colonial and exchange-based models are not exclusive and competing concepts. Both models are understandable within a substantivist economic-anthropological framework and may be defined as variations of Andean zonal complementarity strategies. It would be erroneous to artificially separate and define direct-control and exchange-based models as antithetical. The intent of this book is not to dichotomize the debate in such a manner but to develop a framework capable of interpreting both of these seemingly opposing models into a single, consistent approach. In an essay concerned with prehistoric Mexico, but relevant to the discussion here, Frances Berdan criticizes scholarship of Aztec political economy as "dependent heavily" upon ideal models, or "models of ideal types" (1983: 84). In other words, in the face of lessthan-ideal data sets (i.e., living societies), prehistorians have come to rely too much upon the models themselves. These models are seen as truths to be proven instead of models to be tested and modi-

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fied. Instead of testing a particular model, one is simply assumed to be correct and is subsequently identified in prehispanic contexts. Models are accepted a priori and "proven" with these less-than-ideal data sets. As Berdan says, the root cause of many of the problems in the study of Aztec economy lies not with the models themselves, but with the questions asked and the potentialities of prehistoric and historic data. Berdan aptly points out that instead of asking "which of the exchange principles dominate," we must ask "how do the many variables involved in the economic system interact, influence one another, interplay in a fashion so that the system works?" (1983:85). There is an important lesson to be learned from this discussion for Andeanists. In the first instance, if we have learned nothing else from economic anthropology in the last several decades, it is that the economy in any society is a fluid, adaptable, and changing set of institutional and individual relationships within and between societies. The existence of empirically documented cases of both direct vertical control as well as specialized labor and commodity exchange should alert us to the fact that no single pan-Andean model of political economy will adequately explain the processes characteristic of all archaeological sequences (see Murra 1985b). It is necessary to employ a theoretical framework and to construct a methodology capable of testing a whole range of potential models of political and economic integration in a variety of geographical and temporal contexts. The two existing models of Murra and Rostworowski provide this flexibility. What we lack is an integrated conceptual framework that incorporates each perspective and a consistent methodology for testing them with archaeological data. The controversy surrounding models of prehispanic Andean political economy is not whether indigenous populations sought to secure access to differing production zones. Even at a global level, it would be difficult to find any society without external exchange between, or control of, ecologically distinct areas. The debate centers on four broad questions: 1) the uniqueness of the verticality "ideal" relative to the rest of the world; 2) the nature of the mechanisms of interzonal exchange (colony versus exchange); 3) the historical time depth of direct control and/or other exchange mechanisms (sixteenth century or earlier); and 4) the socio-political context in which these exchange mechanisms operate and can be maintained. In regard to the first of these questions, this book does not "test" the verticality ideal. Previous ethnohistorical and ethnological research has demonstrated that this is indeed a useful means of understanding indigenous Andean society. In this sense, this book accepts

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A Theoretical Framework

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the nonbehaviorist premise that non-Western and noncapitalist societies operate under differing cultural perceptions and values. Differing cultural perceptions and values differentially structure human behavior. Economic behavior is no exception. The verticality ideal can therefore be considered as a model of indigenous cultural perception and behavior. In the abstract, the concept does not simply equate the more specific mechanisms of direct land control and interzonal exchange. In his original formulation of the model, Murra recognized only direct colonization by the home community as the means of securing access to geographically separate ecological zones. Consequently there has been until recently a tendency to equate the verticality ideal with this particular mechanism of interzonal exchange. As I try to make explicit below, equating the verticality ideal with specific mechanisms of direct control is not valid. In contrast to colonization, or direct control as it will be referred to here, a number of indirect mechanisms have since been recognized by students working firmly within Murra;s original framework. Some examples of these indirect mechanisms include kin-based barter exchange, long-distance exchange, elite alliances, market exchange and nonkin barter exchange. I argue that all of these mechanisms are meaningfully understood with the verticality principle as an attempt by Andean populations to secure access to products outside of their home area; that is, exchange and colonization represent alternative ways of complementing local economies with nonlocal goods. While some of these indirect mechanisms are the result of Spanish influence (almost certainly price-fixing markets, for instance), others most likely represent prehispanic mechanisms of exchange. Both direct and indirect mechanisms of complementarity must therefore be incorporated into models of indigenous political economy. These indirect mechanisms, in effect, are examples of Rostworowski's specialization and exchange model. In other words, both Murra and Rostworowski's ideal types of political-economic systems, each of which are consistent with Andean perceptions of their social and environmental setting, are understood in the broadest sense as adaptations to vertically distributed lifezones. The perception of geography is uniquely Andean in this sense, but the strategies utilized by indigenous peoples to construct viable political economies range from the uniquely Andean (colonies) to the more common nonmarket exchange mechanisms. These two polar extremes—direct control and indirect exchange—plus all of the intermediary political and economic relationships that combine elements of each, were strategies used by prehispanic populations to cope with changing

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political, economic, and social landscapes through time. In short, zonal complementarity involved both direct control and indirect vertical-exchange systems. We must therefore view Andean political economy as one embedded within the indigenous cultural logic of verticality, but also possessing the flexibility implied in the distinction of direct versus indirect control. This allows us to deal effectively with the last three questions which define the contemporary debate on Andean political economy: the nature of zonal complementarity mechanisms, their historical time depth, and their socio-political concomitants. Developing a theoretical and methodological framework to address these three questions will be the goal of this book. Defining regional economic and political relationships in prehistoric contexts is no easy task. It has long been recognized that the primary methodological problem for archaeological research in the south central Andes lies in explicitly defining tests of these verticality models (Mujica 1985: n i ; Mujica, Rivera, and Lynch 1983: 97-99)- I n the pursuit to discover altiplano colonies in the south central Andes, Andeanists have relied upon what I term "artifactbased" methodologies (see Stanish 1989b). Colonies are defined simply on the basis of a similarity between artifacts and/or particular artifact assemblages from sites in different ecological zones; that is, colonial relationships are postulated for sites in different areas when there are similar artifacts, such as Tiwanaku textiles or ceramics on the western coastal valleys. As I will demonstrate in chapter 3, this method is inadequate for understanding the complex nature and dynamics of political and economic relationships in the region. Such an artifact-based methodology risks the same problems noted by Berdan for Aztec scholarship. One begins by accepting a particular economic mechanism a priori, then one finds some artifacts that are nonlocal in a site. The conclusion is inevitably consistent with the theoretical bias. Instead of defining the complexities inherent in regional political economies, a distributional pattern is merely isolated at best, or a bias is confirmed at worst. We must not stop at isolating the particular pattern of artifact type distribution in an area. We must define the complex political and economic relationships between the settlements that produced that distribution in the first place. In place of these artifact-based approaches, this book offers a contextual one. We clearly must go beyond the simple recognition of nonlocal materials as positive indications of direct-control strategies.

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A Theoretical Framework

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Any number of alternative exchange relationships could theoretically provide similar artifact distributions. It is necessary to develop explicit tests of models that distinguish between direct, indirect, and nonvertical economic exchange. These tests must be built around a contextual methodology. We have to test several competing models of political economy, not prove our favored ones. The methodology offered here relies on the distinction between domestic and nondomestic contexts in an archaeologically defined household. Domestic contexts are represented by kitchen middens, nonelite residential structures, storage structures, and the like. These are the areas where everyday activities take place. Nondomestic contexts, in contrast, are represented by tombs, sections of elite residence, corporate architecture, and other nonresidential structures. I will demonstrate in Chapter 2 that artifacts found in domestic contexts tend to reflect the resident population much better than those found in nondomestic contexts. Nondomestic contexts, on the other hand, tend to reflect the operation of exchange and/or alliance systems. In support of this distinction it will be demonstrated that high-valued, exotic goods that result from trade, barter, and/or other types of indirect exchange are found disproportionately in nondomestic areas. Given this distinction, the applicability of differentiating between direct-control and indirect-exchange mechanisms is obvious. The correspondence or dissimilarity between domestic and nondomestic contexts of two or more sites in different ecological zones provides a means of defining the "ethnic" relationship between these sites. It therefore allows us to distinguish between direct colonization and indirect-exchange mechanisms. The literature in which this domestic/nondomestic dichotomy is best understood derives from contemporary anthropological research on nonmarket economies. The economic dimension of the household concept in ethnology will be modified and utilized as a means of defining the domestic and nondomestic components in archaeological settlements. I will argue that existing models of Andean political economy presuppose that the household is the fundamental cultural unit through which mechanisms of reciprocity, redistribution, and nonmarket exchange operated. These mechanisms are similar to those first defined in an explicit manner by Karl Polanyi for preindustrial economies. While a pan-Andean model is impossible given the variability in political and economic organization, a consistent and widely applicable methodological framework is both possible and necessary. The success of such a framework requires the development of archaeological correlates of zonal complemen-

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tarity not simply in terms of the geographical distribution of artifacts, but as a political-economic model consistent with contemporary theory. This methodological and theoretical framework will be applied to a body of data from the Otora Valley of the Moquegua Drainage of southern Peru. Additional data from recent research in the Titicaca Basin will also be used. The Moquegua region is an ideal area to test models of zonal complementarity. It was explicitly mentioned in the Garci Diez de San Miguel Visita of 1567 as an area of colonial holdings by the Titicaca Basin state known as the Lupaqa // kingdom ,/ (reino). This document also served as a primary source of data for John Murra's original formulation of the verticality model. The 17 prehispanic sites in the Otora Valley span a period of approximately 500 years. The earliest occupation is represented by a site that dates to the immediate post-Tiwanaku period. The latest phase is represented by an Inca occupation. Within this half-millennium of prehispanic human occupation, several distinct cultural phases have been identified. The methodological and theoretical framework developed here will be utilized to characterize the nature of the regional political economy of each phase and serve as a basis for reinterpreting zonal complementarity models in the final chapters of this book. Political Economy: A Framework for Archaeological Research in the South Central Andes In its most specific historical sense, "political economy" refers to an academic discipline that developed out of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century European capitalism. Although the term was first used as early as the seventeenth century by Antoine de Montchrestien (1575-1621) and elaborated by later economists (Onimode 1985: 26), it is customary to point to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations as the beginning of the modern discipline of political economy. Smith's groundbreaking work, published two generations before Darwin's The Origin of Species, represents one of the first modern, scientific studies of economy and society. Smith's monograph, plus the later works of Ricardo, Hume, and Mill, among others, developed theories of capitalist economy based on the now-familiar concepts of rent, labor, capital, profit, exchange, production, and the like. These studies of capitalist economies constitute what is now referred to as "classic political economy." A political economic perspective implies a wide range of theoreti-

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cal frameworks ranging from those of the classic writers of the nineteenth century to contemporary Marxist and nonecological anthropological theory. The one common element that unites the varied political economic perspectives is a focus on the production, distribution, and exchange of wealth. The concept of "wealth" is to political economy what the concept of "adaptation" is to evolutionary anthropologists. It is the underlying concept from which all theory derives. Political economy, with its focus on wealth, is an excellent framework for understanding models of zonal complementarity in the central Andes. Both Murra's and Rostworowski's models focus on the production and exchange of wealth in specific socio-political and ecological contexts. It is precisely this theoretical framework that provides the best means of modeling the complex processes of regional exchange in the region. One of the most significant contributions to political economy in anthropology is the work of the economic historian and anthropologist Karl Polanyi. Polanyi's theories were developed over decades and have served as the implicit or explicit principle guiding research on indigenous Andean political economy. Polanyi's framework successfully incorporated both peasant and nonmarket subsistence economies by proposing several mechanisms of economic integration. These are the now-classic economic mechanisms of reciprocity, redistribution, and exchange. These mechanisms incorporated a number of very different societies under a single theoretical framework. This framework is the most powerful tool for understanding Andean political economy because the mechanisms proposed by Polanyi also encompass those suggested for models of zonal complementarity throughout the central Andes. The Substantivist Economic Anthropology of Karl Polanyi The work of Karl Polanyi stands as one of the milestones in the study of noncapitalist economies.1 Polanyi's concepts developed in a larger intellectual context that included the work of the great anthropologist B. Malinowski ([1922] 1961). Malinowski's contributions were central in countering the classical nineteenth-century notion of a universal rationality in economic behavior. In many ways, Malinowski can justifiably be seen as the father of the substantivist 1

One of the best discussions of Polanyi's central concepts may be found in Valensi (1981).

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approach in economic anthropology. Polanyi, however, was the economic historian who formalized its concepts and placed it in a wider intellectual context. Borrowing from Malinowski, Polanyi developed his concept of economic "embeddedness." The primitive economy for Polanyi was conceived of as submerged in social relations, "a mere function of social organization" (Dalton 1968b: 7). "Embeddedness" became the essential theoretical underpinning of a substantivist approach. Polanyi defined four ideal economic systems: market exchange, reciprocity, redistribution, and the household. The first three were seen as the basis of primitive and Western economies up to the end of the feudal period in Europe. The household, in turn, was ultimately viewed as a form of redistribution and therefore rejected as an independent economic type (Dalton 1968a: i ; 1968b: 308). Redistribution implies the existence of a politically powerful central authority in society. This authority appropriates economic resources, a process characterized by politically defined obligations: "disbursements by governments are determined by political decision" (Dalton 1968b: xxxv). Economic exchange in redistributive systems is mediated exclusively by the political sphere. Such an economic system implies a political hierarchy that is, in fact, a necessary condition for its proper functioning: In early societies integration happens, as a rule, through the redistribution of goods from a center or through reciprocation between the corresponding members of symmetrical groups. The goods may be appropriated for distribution by peasant or chief, by temple or palace, by lord or village headman, through physical storage or through the mere collecting of rights of disposal of the goods. Both the deliveries to, and the awards from, the center are largely assessed as a function of a person's status, and the actual allocation happens through administrative decision. (Polanyi from Dalton 1968b: 308, emphasis added) Polanyi's concepts of redistribution and reciprocity imply that the economic process is circumscribed by noneconomic factors. These processes would include exchange, consumption, and production. In the case of redistribution, the elite, or their agents, determine levels of economic activity above the household. Tax and tribute are the traditional mechanisms used to raise nonelite productivity above subsistence levels. In contrast to redistribution, reciprocity does not imply a political hierarchy. Rather, it involves a series of symmetrical obligations be-

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tween social groups or individuals of more or less equal status. Economic exchange takes place as a series of equitable transactions in which a central authority plays little or no part: "Reciprocity, as between kin or neighborhood groups, may link individual partners or comprise a whole sequence of symmetrical situations 'in turn'" (Polanyi from Dalton 1968b: 308). As with redistribution, production levels are determined by factors other than market demand. The third major type of economic system in Polanyi's framework was one based upon price-fixing markets. Through market exchange, commodity prices are determined by the classic mechanism of supply and demand. A price-fixing market also serves as an exchange mechanism allocating scarce goods. For Polanyi, the development of market systems is a recent phenomenon, confined to the emergence of Western industrial capitalism (Polanyi 1944). He recognized the existence of marketplaces in non-Western, preindustrial contexts (such as the ancient Near East and the Aztec economy), but argued that the key mechanism of the price-fixing market "system," in which major aspects of human subsistence are commoditized, were uniquely Western and a concomitant of nineteenth-century industrialization. A critical aspect of Polanyi's theoretical framework of particular relevance to Andeanists is the association of barter and "exchange" with market systems: A third way of integrating the economy is by exchange or barter. To have an integrative effect, this pattern needs the instrumentality of price-making markets, as in nineteenth-century society where a supply-demand-price mechanism produced integrative prices. The mere presence of market elements or even of nonprice-making markets in a peasants7 and craftsmen's society does not produce an exchange-patterned economy. (Polanyi in Dalton 1968b: 308, emphasis added) This is an important theoretical position that is incompletely developed in Polanyi's work. In some instances, he was unambiguous in separating market from exchange: "Although market institutions, therefore, are exchange institutions, market and exchange are not co-terminous" (1968: 170, emphasis original). On the other hand, the implication that for exchange to be dominant in an economy (i.e., have an integrating effect), some form of price-fixing market mechanism had to exist, was always present in his theoretical framework. "Market exchange" and "trade" therefore, in the substantivist tradition of Polanyi, represent two fundamentally different concepts. Economies in which market mechanisms dominate are character-

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ized by profit and risk to the traders. Trade-based systems, in contrast, were designed to satisfy material needs through administered exchange of goods without risk to the traders. There is no "profit" in the market sense of the term. All earnings by the traders are through previously established levels of payment (Valensi 1981: 5-6). In market systems, however, prices are set by supply and demand. This determines the direction of the flow of goods and ultimately the allocation of goods to individuals. Price also sets the level of profit achieved in the exchange process and will profoundly affect production as producers adapt to changing market climates. Administered trade is qualitatively different from market trade and operates in a radically different social and political context. This concept of administered trade is critical for understanding the nature of Andean exchange. This is because it is precisely this type of exchange that characterized prehispanic "comercio." There simply is no evidence that trade in the central Andes involved any type of market mechanism. Unlike Mesoamerica or even the northern Andes where examples of price-fixing markets and merchants can be found (e.g., Salomon 1977/78), virtually all cases of central Andean exchange are most profitably understood as types of administered trade. As I will argue below, all cases of "indirect vertically" in the central Andes, as well as virtually all cases of craft specialization and exchange, represent nonmarket trade systems in the sense first developed by Polanyi. In administered trade-based systems, values are determined by a political authority, the nature of which is highly variable crossculturally. The major historical example used by Polanyi was the eighteenth century West African kingdom of Dahomey. Here the elite set prices "according to a system of equivalencies which established a relatively stable relation between the various products to be exchanged" (Valensi 1981: 6). Profit is not the overriding goal of this type of exchange; it therefore has only a minimal and indirect effect on the behavior of the producers. Implicit in Polanyi's model is the notion that true market systems require the presence of price-fixing barter or exchange mechanisms. This relationship between markets and price-fixing mechanisms is not problematic. Market systems obviously require formalized exchange mechanisms and norms as well as a system of equivalencies or money. What is more important for Andeanists is the implication that can occasionally be found in Polanyi's work: that the reverse of this relationship was also true. This is the assumption that barter and exchange necessarily imply the existence of price-fixing market systems to establish equivalencies between commodities and ser-

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vices. The implication is that just as markets require price-fixing exchange mechanisms, any type of exchange mechanism necessarily implies the existence of markets. Polanyi's work has profoundly affected the development of the concept of zonal complementarity in the Andes. The substantivist approach of Karl Polanyi serves as the implicit or explicit conceptual base of most studies of Andean prehispanic and early colonial economy (Mayer 1982: i ; Wachtel 1981). Murra, for instance, explicitly recognized the importance of reciprocity and redistribution in Andean economies and the contribution of Polanyi to his own efforts. The early recognition from ethnohistorical and ethnological research that price-fixing markets were absent in the central Andes has led a number of authors to implicitly maintain a structural linkage between exchange and markets. The result is that barter and exchange mechanisms were argued to be either absent, a postconquest phenomenon, or of relative unimportance in indigenous Andean economies. It is precisely this linkage that so strongly influenced the nature of the early verticality model. As proposed explicitly by Murra and his students, direct control via colonization was argued to be the exclusive mechanism of zonal complementarity based upon redistribution and reciprocity. Market exchange was not found in the prehispanic Andes. This aspect of Andean zonal complementarity will be discussed at greater length in the following chapter. Reciprocity, redistribution, and nonmarket trade are the institutional means by which indigenous Andean economies operate. All evidence points to the overriding fact that true market systems did not operate in the central Andes, as they did in central Mexico and in a number of complex societies of the Old World. Exchange did exist on a massive and pervasive scale, however, and the concept of administered trade is the superior means of understanding this phenomenon in the prehispanic central Andes. Trade existed, but it was not one based upon market principles. Virtually all cases of trade were administered by some corporate group, constituted along sociological (kinship) or political lines. Given the overriding importance of reciprocity, redistribution, and administered trade in the prehispanic central Andean economies, the substantivist approach of Polanyi and his students provides a superior anthropological framework for understanding their complex and decidedly non-Western nature. The key difficulty for archaeological applications of this framework is methodological: How can we test substantivist models of Andean economy for the study of prehispanic systems that lack historical documents?

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I propose the use of the "archaeological" household as a means of dealing with this problem. The household, as the basic unit of economic production, consumption, exchange, and surplus appropriation, operated in virtually all levels of preindustrial, non-Western, and Western precapitalist society. It is also a unit of organization that the archaeologist is capable of recovering, analyzing, and comparing. Most significantly, the household is the fundamental unit in each of Polanyi's nonmarket economic mechanisms. The accumulated ethnological research on peasant and subsistence economies further suggests that the household unit is central to their organization. In the Andes as well, contemporary and historically known peasant societies conform to this general pattern in which the household dominates in social relationships, political organization, and the economy. The household is the ideal category for unravelling the complex nature of indigenous central Andean political economies. Reciprocity, Redistribution, and Exchange: The Centricity of the Household in Economic Process Households have recently become the focus of extensive theoretical and empirical research in anthropology, stimulated in large part by the publication of Chayanov's (1966) Theory of Peasant Economy (Laslett 1972; Netting 1982; Sahlins 1972). The household is generally defined in socio-economic terms as an autonomous unit of production, exchange, and consumption usually integrated by real or Active kinship. It is important to clearly distinguish between the twin concepts of family and household. These two terms are occasionally used interchangeably (e.g., Laslett 1972), a practice which has resulted in some ambiguity in the literature. The use of these two terms reflects, in fact, two dramatically different emphases in the history and ethnology of domestic groups. One emphasis is the sociological relationships that make up and define the domestic group. These include patterns of descent, inheritance, and kinship reckoning. The use of the term family implies such a sociological emphasis. A second emphasis centers on the economic structure and function of the domestic group. In simplest terms, the household is fundamentally an economic concept whereas family refers to relationships that bind individuals into an emically recognizable social unit. Members of a single household may not necessarily belong to the same family and members of a single family may not necessarily co-reside. Both concepts are distinct components of the domestic group:

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The familial dimension of the domestic group is distinguished from the household dimension. The former is their source in culturally defined relations of birth, adoption, and marriage, regardless of whether those who are so linked live together or engage in any shared tasks. The household dimension of the domestic group, on the contrary, is defined by shared tasks of production and/or consumption, regardless of whether its members are linked by kinship or marriage or are coresident. (Carter 1984: 45) In a definitive article on domestic groups, Bender has argued that the related concepts of family, domestic function and co-residentiality represent "three distinct social phenomena" that must be analytically separated (Bender 1967: 499). Bender points out that there exist numerous instances in the ethnographic literature where families neither cooperate economically nor live together. In other instances, in contrast, these three phenomena are all found in a single domestic unit. In the stereotypical image of rural European peasant society, for instance, the family, domestic labor groups, and residence are more or less synonymous. That is, the economic activities of an autonomous and co-residential, nuclear or slightly modified nuclear family group are structured by kinship organization. An entire family is housed under a single roof or roofs (involving one to several actual structures). Nonkin group members may be present, but they are rare and do not significantly contribute to the household economy. At an empirical level, there is considerable cross-cultural variation from this European ideal. This variation is due to a number of factors such as political organization, demographic imbalances, and the like. A household may consist of unrelated persons, such as slaves, retainers, or employed labor. From an economic perspective, these nonrelated individuals are critical in defining the relationships of production, consumption, and exchange, and are a major source of variation for the composition of domestic units worldwide. The variation in household types is very important for the archaeologist. As one of the key institutions in any society and as the basic economic unit, household organization is highly sensitive to cultural factors. Social organization, for instance, is reflected in household type (Haviland 1988). Household change through time reflects corresponding changes in social and political organization of that society. As a result, the household provides an excellent opportunity to model changes in nonmaterial aspects of cultures in archaeological contexts.

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The Primacy of the Household in Andean Indigenous Society In this and the following sections, I will address two related issues. First, it will be demonstrated that the basic social and economic unit of contemporary peasant society—the household—also structured prehispanic central Andean society. Secondly, I will offer a contextual methodology capable of testing models of Andean political economy based upon the household. Household organization varies throughout the Andes. The causes of this variation are numerous and beyond the scope of this book. What is significant for the archaeologist is that the variation is largely culturally determined. Distinct ethnic groups, the primary variable in zonal complementarity models, may therefore be defined from a methodology that is based on a workable concept of the household. Any number of Andean ethnographies could be quoted that refer to the household in traditional and peasant societies as the fundamental economic unit. Brush's research in a peasant community near Cajamarca, for instance, was prefaced with the axiomatic statement that: "The household is the basic economic unit of production and consumption. . . . This household unit is where the most important and clearly defined bonds between kinsmen exist" (Brush !977 : !36). In the Quechua-speaking community of Alccavitoria, in the Department of Cuzco, Custred makes a similar argument that the household is central in peasant society: As the basic production and consumption unit in peasant society, the household is also the basic managerial unit where factors of need and resource availability are assessed and where the crucial subsistence decisions are made. In studying peasant economics, therefore, and in designing models of peasant economic decision-making, one must focus on this central social unit. (Custred 1977: 128) Even in ritual, the household dominates: "Another indication of the basic importance of the household is the ritual burning of offerings . . . we observe that these activities are the responsibility solely of the peasant household" (Custred 1977: 128). Mayer notes that "the basic units of production, distribution, and consumption are households" in a Quechua-speaking village in the Department of Pasco (Mayer 1977: 60). Moving south to the Colla (Qolla) in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolton indicates that: "The household is by far the most important social and economic unit among the Qolla" (1977: 220). Finally, K. Spalding, citing historical

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and archaeological data, argues that the primacy of the household antedates European influence in the Andes: The basic productive unit in local Andean society that emerges from myths and historical records, as well as archaeological materials, is the household. Archaeological surveys in the central Andes point strongly to a residence pattern of relatively small household units. . . . In the region of Huarochiri, virtually all the sites that have been dated to the period just before and during the Inca expansion and that contain remains not totally destroyed and scattered reveal a pattern of relatively small, one-room house foundations, usually of stone. . . . The evidence, then, suggests strongly that the basic working unit of the society was the household. And we can further posit. . . that the household was composed of a limited number of people differentiated by age and sex. (Spalding 1984: 24) In Andean peasant society today, the dominant household type is composed of small nuclear families characterized by bilateral descent and inheritance. In an earlier article I have suggested that there are certain problems in uncritically presupposing this household organizational type to be prehispanic (Stanish 1989b: 18). The imposition of European political ideologies and economic policies in the nineteenth century strongly favored the nuclear family unit over any other social and economic organization. In particular, Bolivar's liberal reforms consciously sought to break traditional communal authority structures vested in the ayllu and create economically "autonomous 7 ' peasant households. Concomitantly, legal reforms giving women the right to inherit and pass on property strengthened bilateral, autonomous households relative to the more complex patrilateral and patrilineal systems that were essential components of ayllu organization (see Hickman and Stuart 1977). The intrusion of a monetary, capitalist economy alongside a traditional one has also contributed to the predominance of independent households in the Andes, as well as the rest of the world. The capacity to accumulate wealth outside of the indigenous economy, plus the enhanced legal status of women as property holders, permitted the nuclear family to become an independent entity participating in a national economy well beyond the control of the local community aboriginally vested in the ayllu. A corollary to the development of a monetary economy is the need for relatively inexpensive, semipermanent labor. The development of price-fixing markets and wage labor was more effective in

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creating independent peasant households than the extensive Liberal political and social reforms of the nineteenth century The rupture of traditional authority structures and the economic security that it provided served to marginalize large segments of the indigenous population. With the help of a Liberal economic policy, this "free" labor effectively organized into independent family units, a cultural phenomenon that parallels the process of "peasantization" throughout the developing world (e.g., see Bradby 1975). While this process was certainly uneven throughout the Andes, virtually all indigenous populations were affected at some level by the dominance of encroaching world capitalist and mercantile systems. In spite of these external influences favoring small household units, there is little data to suggest that the basic domestic residential and work unit in nonstate contexts was larger than an extended family of more than a dozen members. Mayer's ethnohistorical reconstruction of pre-Toledo households near Huanuco constitutes some of the best evidence that nuclear and/or small extended families were the norm in the prehispanic central Andes. The Yacha household was defined as "a residential unit, with a house, crop storage, and cooking facilities" (Mayer 1982: 31). The evidence presented by Culagovski (1978) corroborates this conclusion. He provides census data that indicate average domestic unit sizes between 4.4 and 4.8 individuals (1978: 218) in the early Colonial period. He also suggests that this pattern was prehispanic. Mayer concludes that the household was the central economic, social, and political unit of the community. It was not only the basic consumptive unit, but was the reservoir of labor used in a variety of productive activities such as agriculture, herding, craft production, construction, etc. The household was also the recruitment locus of community or state labor. Goody's (1972) compilation of mean family size of traditional agricultural production units in Africa and Asia suggests that households vary cross-culturally, and that more complex organizations beyond the nuclear family exist. But his data also indicate that there is a rigid demographic upper limit to the basic production unit. The mean sizes range from 1.8 to 11.9. In the Andes, mean household sizes in peasant communities tend toward the lower end of this range (e.g., Bolton and Mayer 1977; Culagovski 1978: 218). One essential point of Goody's article as well as that deduced from the Andean data, is that co-residential agricultural production units in premarket and market societies are demographically small, with a total population of fifteen representing an exceedingly high theoretical upper limit. Mean sizes cluster around five to eight individuals.

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If we accept this pattern as cross-culturally valid, the implications for archaeological research are obvious: The smallest economic units in prehispanic society are restricted to approximately four to ten individuals. Such an observation provides a baseline for the identification of co-residential work units [households in the sense used here) in archaeological contexts and argues that the domestic group is restricted in mean population levels. This is not to downplay the importance of the Spanish impact on indigenous Andean society. As with other agrarian populations faced with encroaching international economies (mercantile or true market) throughout the world, the effects of Colonial and Republican influence on the indigenous Andean economy and society were severe. Liberal reforms weakened the communal authorities and probably served to decrease the mean size of the household. Market forces dramatically altered the relationship between the smallest producing units and the larger socio-economic and political context in which they operated. In contrast, the traditional economic unit of production, consumption, exchange, tax, and mit'a obligations is, and was, the household. Indigenous mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution are centralized in the household. With the intrusion of modern capitalist world economies in the Andes, the centrality of the household was maintained or perhaps even reinforced. Contemporary peasantry who produce for the market also maintain the household as the basic economic unit of consumption, production, and exchange. There is little question that the nuclear or modified extendedfamily household is the dominant form of domestic organization in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Andean peasant society. In utilizing such a concept that has been developed from postconquest historical or ethnographic sources for interpreting archaeological materials, we must control for the structural changes that have occurred throughout the centuries of interaction between the Andean household and its larger historical and cultural context. Like rural societies integrated with capitalist economies throughout the world, the Andean peasantry is characterized by small, largely autonomous, bilateral domestic households. We cannot presume that this organization characterized all prehispanic societies as well. On the contrary, it is more likely that Colonial and Republican political, economic, and social environments served to homogenize indigenous forms of corporate organization at the local level. The significance for testing models of zonal complementarity is profound. In the absence of pan-Andean social and economic pressures characteristic of market systems, we can hypothesize a greater

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diversity in household organization in the prehispanic past within the limits defined above. This diversity may be assumed to reflect ethnic differences, consistent with substantivist economic anthropological theory; that is, the basic unit of agriculturally based Andean society has always been the household. Spanish Colonial Period changes however were responsible for reducing the variability within these units. These changes are partly responsible for the homogeneity in household types today. The heterogeneity of the past can be utilized to define ethnic differences in archaeological contexts. By focusing on the household as the principal analytical unit, one of the essential variables of zonal complementarity models— ethnicity—may be controlled. If the household is the basic unit of Andean society, what was the role of the ayllul In reviewing the literature we can find similar (and therefore paradoxical) statements emphasizing the central importance of ayllu organization as well. Alberti and Mayer, for instance, refer to the ayllu as the "fundamental nucleus of Andean society" (Alberti and Mayer 1974a: 16) and Spalding, quoted above in reference to the pivotal role of the household, states four pages later that: "The ayllu, formed of a number of lineages regulated internally by an ethic of sharing and cooperation, can be viewed as the basic political as well as productive unit of Andean society" (Spalding 1984: 28). This contradiction in the literature is resolved if one views the ayllu as fundamentally a social and political phenomenon, whereas the household is the most basic economic unit. Both are fundamental to social organization but each structures a different area of individual behavior. An ayllu is, of course, integrated and defined by kinship. It further functions as a land-management unit, as the basic unit of political organization, particularly vis-a-vis outside or higher authorities and as the fundamental unit of ritual responsibility. There are, of course, economic dimensions to the ayllu which include facilitating or organizing economic cooperation, regulating resource sharing between households, and land redistribution. The ayllu is not, and was not, however, "one big household" that corresponded to the primordial extended family, a concept favored by nineteenthcentury evolutionists and a few contemporary doctrinaire Marxists. The overwhelming evidence suggests that a household organization was the fundamental economic work unit which underlay the ayllu organization. In traditional Andean society, the ayllus were probably more important in structuring social and political relationships before the

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advent of Colonial market systems and nineteenth-century Liberal reforms which broke communal authority in favor of the smaller, bilateral household. Liberal legal reforms that promoted individual ownership of land and made it alienable weakened ayllu authority. Furthermore, the existence of regional markets allowed for both an outlet of surplus production by the household as well as a means of superseding local authorities for access to goods. This further served to strengthen the independence of the bilateral household relative to the community at large represented by the ayllu. It is quite accurate that before the impact of European economic and legal policies, the ayllu served as a powerful socio-political institution which derived its power from its titular control over communal lands. These lands, however, were possessed in usufruct and worked by individual households, not by the ayllu itself. Although the ayllu held the lands in common for its entire membership, sharing of resources and economic cooperation were limited to periods of stress, tribute exactions to external political authorities, ritual responsibilities, and a variety of reciprocal obligations between kin. The vast majority of economic behavior was centered in the household unit. Redistribution, Reciprocity, and Exchange in the Andes The relations existing between the center and the peripheral islands were those that are called reciprocity and redistribution in economic anthropology. This means that the domestic units devoted exclusively to the herding of camelids in the puna, to the cultivation of maize or the gathering of wanu on the coast, to timber or the harvest of coca in the yungas did not lose their rights to tuber and quinua producing lands in the center. Such rights were claimed and exercised through kinship ties maintained and periodically reaffirmed ceremonially in the settlements of origin. (Murra 1985b: 16) We have seen above that empirical studies of traditional Andean society strongly suggest that the household is central to the economy. At a theoretical level, the role of the household is even more significant because the three principal means of nonmarket economic integration in the Andes, reciprocity, redistribution, and exchange, are organized through the household. The economic behavior of individuals in traditional Andean society is only understood as part of the larger organizational unit of the household. The theory of sub-

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stantivist economic anthropology and the empirical patterns of Andean socio-economic organization meet common ground in the analytical category of the household. In the Andean literature, there has been a strong bias in favor of substantivist approaches in studies of prehispanic economy (Wachtel 1981). This is due, as noted above, to the early recognition that price-fixing market systems were absent in Andean indigenous economies. The dominant mechanism of exchange is either a symmetrical reciprocity based on kinship structures or an asymmetrical one based upon redistribution. Redistribution may be seen as a structural transformation of reciprocity in that political authorities manipulate traditional symmetrical relationships into unequal ones, setting up an economic system in which resources flow disproportionally to an elite group. Reciprocity and redistribution operated in all levels of Andean society, from the small, folk village to the imperial state. As one moves through different socio-political levels, this fundamental "structural relationship" undergoes any number of transformations. At the village level, a complex web of reciprocal, symmetrical obligations between households dominates social and economic life. At more complex socio-political levels, asymmetrical economic relationships between households of different social status develop along these traditional structures. Fonseca's (1974) discussion of the waje waje system is an example of symmetrical reciprocity at a folk-village level. The waje or tuma "is the person that received a service of another, and therefore, is considered to be in debt to the latter" (Fonseca 1974:87). Under this system, the exchanged services or goods must be equivalent in value and, if possible, should be identical. There is an "attempt to balance the exchange of services"(ibid). This demands that the individuals participating in this exchange are of equal social and economic status. In contrast to the balanced reciprocity of the waje waje system, another traditional form of exchange—minka—is characterized by an asymmetrical economic relationship. This exchange is conducted among persons of differing socio-economic or ritual status. Usually, a peasant of lower status provides labor service in return for meals, a daily wage (jornal), and a share of the goods grown or manufactured. Fonseca distinguishes between four types of minka depending upon the social context of the exchange. These include minka exchange for a community leader responsible for a cargo, in-law (son and daughter) service to kin, minka between women of unequal status for patronal fiestas, and direct agricultural labor provided to wealthy

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peasants. When the status of the dominant individual is constituted along political lines, we may properly speak of redistribution in the sense originally defined by Polanyi. In the minka system, when one household suffers a temporary scarcity of resources, they are invited by another household (particularly by peasants in other ecological zones) as minkakuna. They are lodged and provided meals in return for agricultural labor. At the end of the harvest, part of the produce is redistributed to the minkakuna. Such a process is particularly common between sierra and puna dwellers during potato harvests. This is a relationship that develops exclusively between households and there is no communal sanction on the individual receiving minka labor to redistribute all of the produce. The level of "payment" is determined by the "goodwill" of the landowner which is, of course, subject to a variety of informal social constraints. This process, incidentally, provides an insight into the dynamics of elite formation in traditional Andean society. By taking advantage of ecological fluctuations and by manipulating traditional value systems, a landowner possessing a stable productive base can become richer than other peasants. Within the context of a national market system, this economic asymmetry may be maintained outside traditional social and political constraints. According to Fonseca (1974), prehispanic Andean icumka-peasant relationships were essentially structured by the minka system. With the European invasion, the indigenous political authorities lost power and the minka declined in importance as an economic institution. This process is analogous to the decline of ayllu authority in favor of household organization at a local level. As with the ayllu, the authority of indigenous elite who manipulated traditional minka relationships was replaced by other forms of political and economic authorities. The economic relationships in waje waje and minka are described in individual terms, i.e., that individuals owe service to other individuals. Although these relationships are generally spoken of in individual terms (reflecting, most likely, a Euro-American cultural bias), the economic implications extend to the complete household unit, including all of its members. The relationships are not between individuals within a community but between households. This is true even if the impact of an individual obligation on other members of the household is indirect. Even if a single person enters into a waje waje obligation, for instance, it is the entire household membership that ultimately has to reciprocate, either directly with their own labor or indirectly as they increase their own production to compensate for the missing individual absent to repay

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the obligation. This last point cannot be overemphasized: the economic relationships implied by the mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution are meaningful only in terms of a household's organization and not as relationships between individuals. Mayer, for instance, illustrates this essential socio-economic fact that the pre-Toledoan household in Yacha was the fundamental unit through which mechanisms of reciprocity were mediated: The household was also a node and center of a complex web of reciprocal exchange flowing into and out of it (Alberti and Mayer 1974). Labor services, goods, gifts, ceremonial exchanges, and so on were the expressions of a complex network of kinship and social and political obligations that linked the household to others, to the rest of the community, and to the larger social world. (Mayer 1982: 31) That the traditional systems of reciprocity and redistribution are structured through households and not individuals is abundantly clear in the case of reciprocal relationships between relatively equal households in noncomplex socio-political contexts. In more complex contexts as well, where asymmetrical relationships of redistribution are the norm, individual households still predominate as the primary organizing feature. The organization of communal labor, for instance, is based upon household labor contributions. In her analysis of highland kinship and reciprocity, B. J. Isbell notes that the political authorities required labor donations from each household, and not as a per capita corvee: This all important fertility rite is preceded by four days of communal labor supervised by the highest barrio authorities, the two alcalde varayoq. The first day is occupied by a total canvass of the barrios to inform all households that they must supply one male for one day's labor for the actual cleaning of the dual irrigation system. Failure to attend one of the three communal work days results in a ten soles fine. The two alcaldes are responsible for supervising the work and collecting the fines. (Isbell 1977: 88) Mayer and Zamalloa observe a similar type of community labor in the village of Tangor, Department of Pasco where the household is the central organization for recruiting laborers and distributing work duties: "We understand the domestic unit to be a family group (a pair and their children) that organizes production, distribution, and consumption independently from other domestic groups, and

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that which is considered by the communal authorities to be one (unit) in demanding labor and money for tasks and communal quotas" (Mayer and Zamalloa 1974:76, n. 1). Even at the most complex socio-political level, that of the Inca empire, the basic tax unit was the traditional household. The decimal system of imperial administration was ultimately made up of individual tributaries of a married couple and their household (D'Altroy 1987: 87-92; Julien 1982: 123). It was not based upon individuals. Even if they were spoken of in such terms (adult males, for instance), they really referred to a taxpaying unit of a male and female plus sibling and/or kin dependents: And last but not least, the household was a unit of account in the tribute system. The basic accounting unit was the married man . . . Although, technically, several levels of accounting existed in the encomienda . . . . the assignments stopped at the level of the household. Indirectly and in a very real sense this individual assignment implied the economic backing the household's organizational capacity in order to be able to produce tribute . . . Not only the relations of production but of reproduction came to rest within the tributary's household. (Mayer 1982: 32) In sum, the available data suggest that the household is, and has been, the primary economic unit of central Andean society. The ayllu, in contrast, was the dominant social and political institution at the village level. Prehispanic central Andean society was characterized by the dominance of both the ayllu and household, involving a host of intertwined social, ritual, economic, and political relationships and obligations. As the ayllu organization was weakened by Spanish and Republican changes, local governmental structures assumed its political functions while the individual households and market systems have absorbed its few economic aspects, such as landownership, resource distribution, etc. The ayllu still remains an important social phenomenon, defining kinship relations, ritual obligations and, by virtue of its kin structure, serves to define the nature and level of cooperation during periods when household labor pools are insufficient in economically marginal societies (Mayer and Zamalloa 1974). The evolution of indigenous central Andean society during the Colonial and Republican periods reflects the breakdown of these aboriginal economic systems. This process was characterized by a change in the economy that was formerly part of a larger cultural order, to a peasant system in which classical nineteenth-century

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Liberal conceptions of the autonomy of the economy, polity, and society, were actualized. This complex process of peasantization may be seen as a response to the intrusion of markets and an expanding national and world capitalist and mercantile economy. In classical Liberal economics, the basic economic "unit" is the individual who engages in voluntary economic behavior. In theory, he or she "trucks and barters" goods or services in a neutral environment. In contrast, in nonmarket systems where redistribution, reciprocity, and administered trade dominate the economic process, the smallest fundamental unit is the household. Contemporary models of Andean political economy are based upon Polanyi's three types of nonmarket economic integration. Each of these economic mechanisms (reciprocity, redistribution, or administered trade) are predicated upon a type of household organization for their proper functioning. They may be spoken of in terms of individuals, but in the Andes at least, empirical studies indicate that households act as the basic unit of economic behavior. Reciprocal obligations, for instance, impact not just the obligated individual, but his or her entire domestic work unit. This impact may be direct or indirect, but it nonetheless is intelligible only as an obligation on the complete domestic unit. Redistributive relationships involving political hierarchies are also mediated through domestic units. The most relevant example in this instance is the Inca state that organized mit'a obligations by households (Julien 1982; Murra 1982). In spite of the apparent strengthened role of the household in central Andean society with the encroachment of market systems and Liberal economic policies, there are no data to suggest that it has not always been the principal economic unit of indigenous culture. Even embedded within an ayllu organization, the household remained the paramount and most basic economic institution in traditional society. Given its centrality, both empirically in Andean society and theoretically in models of nonmarket political economy, the household is the most appropriate analytical unit for testing models of zonal complementarity in the central Andes.

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2. A Methodology for Testing Models of Political Economy

A Critique of Artifact-Based Approaches virtually all archaeological interpretations of political economy in the south central Andes have relied upon stylistic comparisons of artifacts between differing settlements. The contexts in which the items are recovered, however, are rarely defined. Objects recovered from tombs, middens, house floors, and the like are given equal analytical value. Reliance on artifacts from sites without controlling for the contexts in which they are found is what I refer to as an "artifact-based" methodology. The fundamental weakness in artifact-based methodologies is that similar empirical patterns can be interpreted to support either direct-control or indirect-verticality models. These methodologies risk the danger discussed in the introductory chapter in which ideal models are presumed a priori, and the data are merely used to prove favored interpretations. A simple example would be the discovery of Tiwanaku artifacts on a coastal site in northern Chile or southern Peru. If one accepts a direct-control model a priori, then an interpretation of the site as a Tiwanaku colony is a reasonable conclusion. It can also be argued, however, that the Tiwanaku state was engaged in extensive exchange throughout the region and that the objects were merely part of this exchange system. Their regional distribution would simply reflect the operation of indirectexchange systems. The relative quantity of Tiwanaku materials discovered at the particular settlement can therefore be interpreted to support both direct and indirect models. A high frequency of decorated Tiwanaku wares could indicate a colonial presence or could just as easily be interpreted as an index of the intensity of interregional exchange. Without a rigidly defined methodology capable of discriminating between direct and indirect strategies, an artifactbased methodology merely permits the archaeologist to interpret the data to conform to preconceived theory. TO DATE,

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The most distinctive and ethnically variable artifacts are ceramic finewares and other highly valued items such as wooden snuff trays, decorated textiles, and metal objects. In general, these artifacts have been recovered from tomb excavations, an archaeological context generally rich in high-status goods. The use of these high-status artifacts from funerary contexts raises a serious problem. The degree that similarities between such objects reflects true ethnic similarities between settlements remains highly problematic. A critical methodological assumption rarely challenged is the degree that funerary or other nondomestic items reflect the ethnicity of the settlements in which they are found; that is, are the grave goods from a cemetery generally manufactured by the resident population of the site? In some instances, this is an appropriate assumption. In other instances, however, this assumption is not valid. It is more reasonable to presume that the majority of items found in contexts such as tombs, i.e., contexts of extraordinary ritual or ceremonial significance, were not manufactured by the resident population of the site. These would include such contexts as tombs, ceremonial areas, and other nondomestic areas of a settlement. Any number of archaeological examples from the south central Andes illustrate the fact that artifacts from nondomestic areas do not adequately represent the ethnicity of the resident population. In many cases, artifact assemblages from cemeteries are characterized by an enormous variability in style. This is due to the fact that burials are loci of ritual and symbolic importance and the artifacts interred with the dead are of high symbolic and/or economic value. Exotic items are usually of particularly high value and tend to be found disproportionally in funerary contexts. The use of funerary goods to characterize the resident population is therefore unacceptable. Simply put, in many cases the high-valued artifacts found in tombs are not likely to have been manufactured by the ethnic group of which that person was a member. Rather, they are oftentimes exotic items of high value interred with the deceased. Attempts to characterize the resident population of a site strictly from the associated grave goods are therefore generally erroneous. This proposition is supported when artifact assemblages from cemeteries are analyzed. In the south central Andes at least, artifacts assemblages generally contain a tremendous variety of iconographic styles all of which could not have been made by the same resident population. Focacci's excavations (1982) of the site of Playa Miller in northern Chile, for instance, discovered numerous types of stylistically distinct artifacts that are so varied that they could not possibly have

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been manufactured by the same population. In a single cemetery the following styles were on ceramic, gourd, and textiles: Cabuza, Tiwanaku, Sobraya, San Miguel, Maitas, Maitas-Chiribaya, Chiribaya, Chilpe, Gentilar, Charcollo, Taltape, and Pocoma. Certainly, some of this variation is chronological. Some of these styles are contemporary with Tiwanaku and others are later in date. Likewise, there may be problems with the typologies that unrealistically split styles,however, many of these styles overlap in time and are at least partially contemporary. It would be highly unlikely if all of these styles were manufactured by the resident population at Playa Miller. Rather, the more logical and parsimonious explanation is that a number of nonlocal, high-status artifacts from a variety of distinct ethnic groups were interred with the dead at Playa Miller. The twelve different ceramic styles do not represent twelve distinct ethnic groups in space and time. Rather, their coexistence in a single cemetery represents the operation of complex exchange and alliance processes in the region during the Tiwanaku and post-Tiwanaku periods. Excavations on a late prehistoric site from northwest Argentina provide additional confirmation of this pattern and illustrate another: that the nondomestic component in sites differs dramatically from the domestic component and that the former tends to contain considerably more exotic pieces. These constitute an excellent example for illustrating the difference between domestic and nondomestic contexts. In their excavations of the post-Tiwanaku, preInca site of Tastil in Northwest Argentina, Cigliano and his team (1973) found that 66 percent of whole funerary vessels were nonlocal whereas only 15 percent of those found in domestic contexts were exotic. This is a tremendous difference in artifact patterning that is only explainable by a single variable: the context in which the artifacts were found. Even more striking, when their sample size was substantially increased to include all ceramic fragments, less than 2 percent of identifiable sherds from domestic midden excavations were nonlocal (Pollard 1984). Imagine two models of Tastil regional political-economic relationships developed exclusively from each of these contexts. Given the predominance of direct verticality models in the literature and the perceived need to define distinct ethnic groups, a model based solely upon tomb lots would certainly emphasize either multiethnicity of the settlement or suggest a use of the cemetery by noncontemporary and/or ethnically distinct populations. Presuming that the tomb-lot data reflected the relative percentages of ceramic types on the site as a whole, as is implicitly or explicitly done with the artifact-based approaches in the south central Andes, an interpretation of syn-

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chronic multiethnicity or diachronic ethnic replacement would be perfectly consistent with the data; that is, each distinct style could be associated with a different ethnic group. Since several styles could be isolated in the assemblage of artifacts, a logical conclusion would be that each of those were the product of a different ethnic group. A classic case of settlement-level multiethnicity could be proposed. If, on the other hand, only the objects in the domestic component of the site were utilized, a picture of marked ethnic homogeneity would emerge. Again, if the domestic context artifacts were presumed to be representative of the site as a whole, the ceramic assemblage would be presented as extremely consistent, falling into a restricted number of homogeneous and well-defined types. A model of Tastil regional political economy would most likely be characterized by an emphasis on in situ growth and lack of intersettlement networks. Synchronic interpretations would emphasize the lack of ethnic diversity. Diachronic interpretations would fail to detect any substantial political or economic change through time. The empirical pattern suggested by the data presented here is striking. The nondomestic component, in this case represented by the cemetery excavations, generally differs from residential areas in quantity and variety of nonlocal, finely made objects. Corroborating data for this distinction between domestic and nondomestic contexts are found in the Peruvian altiplano. In his survey of the Lupaqa zone in the Titicaca Basin, Hyslop's observations of the distribution of surface artifacts on altiplano macrosettlement pattern sites are particularly appropriate: "It is also significant that the surface fragments from habitation areas are undecorated. This suggests that the decorated Altiplano ceramic types such as Allita Amaya, Kollau, and Mollo were used only in burials (Lumbreras, personal communication, 197 5). In fact, the decorated Mollo and Allita Amaya ceramic types have been found only in burials'7 (Hyslop 1976: 117). In this instance, Kollau (Collao) and Mollo are exotic wares known to originate in neighboring areas associated with distinct ethnic groups (Hyslop 1976; Tschopik 1946). The implication here is obvious: as with the Tastil data, there is a marked difference between artifactual remains on the site as a function of location. The major variable is the function of the site area (domestic versus nondomestic) where the cemetery areas (nondomestic component) contain proportionally more exotics than the habitation (domestic) zones. Excavation results from an Inca period cemetery in northern Chile apparently conform to this pattern as well. Focacci (1981) discovered

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that approximately 56 percent of identifiable ceramics in tombs from the site of Alto Ramirez were Inca influenced, an intrusive style in the Azapa Valley. While no quantitative data are presented for the domestic area of the site, this figure is very high. It suggests that a disproportional occurrence of nonlocal styles characterized the nondomestic component of this Late Horizon settlement. Evidence, therefore, suggests that nondomestic and domestic contexts on the same site differ in significant ways in terms of the content and nature of associated artifacts. Given the relatively higher frequency of exotic artifacts found in nondomestic contexts in general, and tombs in particular, we may assume that such contexts reflect the operation of interregional exchange mechanisms far more than domestic areas. As such, the decorative styles of artifacts found in nondomestic contexts do not generally correlate to the resident population but tend to be imports from neighboring or distant groups. The implication is that data sets composed principally of tomb lots tend to reinforce interpretations of cultural replacements even when such models are not warranted by complementary data. Furthermore, data sets that are composed principally of domestic objects reinforce interpretations of cultural continuity. As demonstrated below, the Otora data support this observation. As with Tastil, where less than 2 percent of the total sherd assemblage was nonlocal, less than 1 percent of all identifiable sherds found in domestic contexts on the main pre-Inca, post-Tiwanaku site in Otora were identified as nonlocal. In contrast, almost 20 percent of whole vessels found in tombs were exotic. It is important to note here that whole vessels in domestic contexts were never recovered. Only sherds incorporated in fill and middens were found. Likewise, the quantity of sherds in tombs was very low. Sherds in domestic contexts were the most common artifact and whole vessels in tombs were most common in this context. Therefore, the comparison of the two contexts with these criteria is as valid as can be permitted. Why this pattern is found on sites in the south central Andes is beyond the scope of this book. What is significant is that the pattern does indeed exist; habitation and other domestic areas are more "conservative" in terms of the quantity and variety of exotic artifacts that they contain. The domestic areas have lower percentages of exotics and their artifact assemblages, in terms of style, are more consistent, tend to be less decorated, and are less variable than the nondomestic component. The goods that were used and circulated in domestic areas are those of everyday use. These domestic objects

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were most likely manufactured by the population living on the settlement. This empirically established pattern supports the assumption that artifacts discovered in domestic contexts are superior in defining the resident population of the site. If other settlements in the prehispanic south central Andes were characterized by such differences between domestic and nondomestic contexts in terms of their artifact contents, models of cultural process based heavily upon tomb excavations may be justifiably questioned as being biased in favor of direct colonization and ethnic replacement. It is my contention that most models of regional political economy in the region in fact, have been based overwhelmingly on data recovered from such nondomestic contexts. Colonizations and/or wholesale migrations of populations have been argued with data almost exclusively from such contexts. While migrations, colonizations, and ethnic replacements have undoubtedly occurred in the prehistory of the south central Andes, we will achieve a more accurate characterization of large-scale regional cultural processes only if we control for both domestic and nondomestic contexts. The essential point here is that models of zonal complementarity cannot be properly tested solely by artifact style comparisons between settlements. A contextual approach involving a broad range of data is necessary to test complex models of Andean political economy. Independent data sets from a variety of contexts clearly provide a superior means of assessing models of regional political and economic interaction. The next question that logically follows is: what methodological framework incorporates both domestic and nondomestic contexts and furthermore is meaningful vis-a-vis existent models of zonal complementarity? I propose that a household archaeology provides precisely that framework. Defining the Basic Co-residential Economic Unit in Archaeological Contexts A household-based research strategy provides one of the most powerful methodological approaches in contemporary archaeological research. In recent years, archaeological and ethno-archaeological research has increasingly focused on the household (Wilk and Rathje 1982). Household archaeology is a powerful approach because the household is both a valid analytical category as well as a culturally meaningful social unit. That is, in the jargon of cultural anthropology, it is etically useful and emically meaningful in most cultural contexts. As Wilk and Rathje note, it is at the household level in

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which people and groups directly articulate with economic and ecological processes. It is also the social unit most relevant to subsistence (1982: 618). The household concept is not just a valid analytical category but a culturally recognized (emic) unit in the central Andes as well. The Inca state, for instance, organized mit'a labor by households. Similar examples from less complex socio-political contexts also indicate the emic validity of the household as an organizational unit. We have also demonstrated that the principal theoretical mechanisms utilized for understanding the non-market economic systems characteristic of the central Andes operated at the household level; that is, the basic unit of economic activity in redistributive, reciprocal, and nonmarket exchange systems is the household. In this sense, the emic category of the household and the etic category used to study these systems converge at a critical theoretical juncture. We can now turn our attention to the methodological utility of the household in testing models of zonal complementarity. One of the principal contributions of the recent "household archaeology" literature centers on the methodological proposition that the household is a cultural feature definable in a number of archaeological contexts. In complex, sedentary societies, defining the household (or at least the primary co-residential group—see below) is methodologically feasible. The household as an analytical unit, for instance, has been used by Flannery et al. (1976) and Flannery and Marcus (1983) in the Oaxaca Valley of southern Mexico. By defining entire household areas and judiciously sampling a number of domestic units, analyses at village and regional levels were made possible precisely because of the comparable nature of the data. By focusing on the changing nature of the household cluster (that includes separate architectural features such as burials, storage structures, and ancillary rooms) the analyses were able to define the development of increasingly complex levels of socio-political organization throughout the Oaxaca Valley. The household, in both archaeological and ethnological usages, is a very complex concept. We cannot simply assume that households can be readily defined on archaeological settlements. The complexities inherent in any anthropological concept such as the household require us to rigidly define it for the particular use for which it is intended. In this book, the use of the term household implies strictly an economic focus. Its use, in fact, is analogous to that of Polanyi in that the term implied a form of economic integration. It is this latter economic emphasis that will provide the methodological frame-

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work for addressing zonal complementarity in the south central Andes and which will be the focus of this book. We have seen above that kinship relationships, co-residentiality and domestic functions do not necessarily coexist within the single household unit (Bender 1967). In utilizing the household concept strictly in its economic dimension, however, the problem of co-residentiality for the archaeologist is not a significant problem. In other words, we are not trying to define sociological or reproductive units (families) that may live in different households on the settlement, or even in different settlements altogether. For our purposes here, we are simply trying to isolate and compare the principal residence of co-residential work units. This allows us to define domestic and nondomestic contexts in the broadest and most useful sense. On nucleated, geographically distinct sites where most of the agricultural land is near residences, this problem is even less acute because virtually all domestic activities take place close to the site. We can therefore presume that Andean households are not multiresidential, an assumption supported by the majority of ethnographic research (see Wilk and Rathje 1982 for data from outside of the Andes). The major problem in using the household concept in archaeology, therefore, is the degree that co-residentiality and economic work units correlate. Cross-culturally, it is certainly true that family and co-residentiality do not absolutely correlate (Bender 1967; Goody 1972; Wilk and Rathje 1982); that is, the residential patterns of nuclear or extended families, in virtually all cultural contexts, are highly variable. In contrast, agricultural work units do tend to coreside. In fact, a review of the ethnographic literature indicates very few documented instances where individual domestic work units in peasant or subsistence economies do not co-reside at least part of the agricultural year in the same structure or house compound (Goody 1972). This is particularly true for the Andes. The converse, however, does not demonstrate so tight a correlation. Bender (1967) and Goody (1972) point out some cases in which co-residing individuals do not work together or act as an economic unit. In spite of this variability, Goody goes on to emphasize that in agricultural societies the dwelling unit, the reproductive unit, and the economic unit "tend to be closely linked together" whereas "in industrial societies these are quite distinct" (Goody 1972). Ethnographic and ethnohistoric studies of Andean domestic life indicate that individuals in traditional Andean agrarian societies who form domestic economic units tend to co-reside. While exceptions to this general rule undoubtedly occur, the vast majority of domestic units described in the literature follow this pattern (e.g., see

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Mayer 1982). Given this proposition, the key for defining comparable domestic and nondomestic components for testing zonal complementarity models lies in detecting the basic, co-residential, agricultural work and habitation unit in any site or settlement system. In the interest of grammatical simplicity, I will simply refer to this as the "household," recognizing that this term implies a considerably greater cross-cultural variation than that embodied in the term "coresidential agriculture work and habitational unit." Furthermore, it is recognized that co-residentiality has been demonstrated not to correlate absolutely with economic work units or domestic units in peasant society. In contemporary Andean peasant society for instance, the bilateral nuclear family is the basic co-residential economic unit. Other variations are possible, all of which constitute forms of household organization. Accepting this caveat, we can speak of the "archaeological household," the principal aim being the control of domestic and non-domestic contexts on a site. The recent contribution by Ashmore and Wilk (1988) offers a definition of the household that parallels the one utilized here. They define the "coresidential group" primarily as a locus of social activities, particularly economic ones. The emphasis is on activity areas in archaeology, while sociological principles of descent, kinship, etc. are not deemed critical. The "household," in contrast, is defined as a "social unit, specifically the group of people that shares in a maximum definable number of activities . . ." (1988: 6). In this sense, the co-residential domestic unit as utilized in this book is equivalent to Ashmore and Wilk's co-residential group. The principal methodological problem facing a successful household-based archaeology is to define the co-residential domestic unit in archaeological contexts. The key for the field identification of this unit is to isolate similar architectural and artifactual patterns among structures or groups of structures. In the first instance, we may justifiably presume that individual households in any archaeological context will be spatially segregated. Independent socioeconomic units in Andean peasant agricultural societies simply do not, as a general rule, co-reside in the same house compound. This holds true for agglutinated settlements as well, where the individual domestic units are separated only by structure walls. While agglutinated sites are more difficult to deal with archaeologically, the coresidential units are still separate. The total number of architecturally distinct structure groups, therefore, can serve as a sampling universe. Each co-residential economic unit should have the material correlates of all recoverable domestic activities such as hearths, storage,

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sleeping areas, and so on. This pattern of similar domestic activities should repeat itself in each of the units. Most likely, the household will be composed of more than one physical structure. This may require an extensive sample of individual structures to define household patterning at the settlement level. In the case of autonomous, nuclear family household units, we would expect a limited number of structures per household with similar architectural and artifactual patterns to be repeated numerous times throughout the settlement. Modern Andean peasant hamlets provide the best analogy in this case. Where the organization is more complex than nuclear family units, we expect correspondingly more complex architectural patterning. Hypothetically, for an equal number of people as in the example above, there should be fewer complete groups. Furthermore the domestic activity loci should be distributed over a greater range of structure types as household complexity increases. There have been, unfortunately, few attempts at defining households in archaeological contexts in the central Andes. An exception is Bawden's (1982) excavations and analysis at Galindo in the Moche Valley. His interpretation serves as a successful attempt to define the basic co-residential units on the site. Three domestic activity areas (cooking, storage, and "salas") were found in numerous excavated structures. This pattern was repeated in various rooms that otherwise differed in size, quality of construction, and regularity. Bawden comments that "the general consistency of composition of individual units, irrespective of location and apparent class differences, denotes the presence of strict residential patterns..." (Bawden 1982: 178). These "strict" patterns, are, in effect, the archaeological indicators of the basic, co-residential economic unit. Like societies around the world, there is a fair amount of variation around this common pattern. Yet, the definition of this basic pattern allows for the classification of various architectural structures into household units. Once the archaeological household is defined on the settlement, the various domestic and associated nondomestic contexts can be controlled and utilized to test models of cultural process. Household Archaeology: A Contextual Methodology An axiom of substantive economic anthropology is that the household, as an economic unit, is deeply embedded within, and functions through, a larger social, political, and ideological structure. This is the theoretical underpinning of household archaeology. This has

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also been a central theme in Andean peasant studies. The discussions above have also demonstrated that the household is a fundamental cultural unit in studying Andean prehispanic society. It is both emically meaningful and analytically useful. If we accept these two presuppositions—that the household is indeed an analytically useful and culturally valid category and that it is embedded in wider social and political structures—then the household is also a potential indicator of ethnic differences; that is, the composition of the household as well as its various material correlates should reflect cultural differences between ethnic groups. Direct control of different ecological zones is central to the classic models of vertically Chapter i demonstrated that this "archipelago model" is based upon reciprocal or redistributive mechanisms. In direct-control models both the core and peripheral territories are ethnically similar; that is, direct-control models are predicated upon colonial land holdings populated by individuals ethnically similar to those in the core territory. The economic relationships that bind core and periphery are either reciprocal, as in the case of folk-village level societies, or are redistributive, as found in the case of more complex societies where asymmetrical socio-economic relationships are found. Indirect control, on the other hand, necessarily implies an economic relationship integrated by a form of nonmarket exchange between politically independent populations. Classic Andean mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution would not operate here. Instead, a type of administered trade relationship between autonomous groups will characterize an indirect-control system. I have argued elsewhere (Stanish 1989b) that the household is the most appropriate unit of archaeological analysis for ethnically differentiating populations in the prehispanic south central Andes. I will repeat some of the essential points of the argument here. Organizing the data according to domestic and nondomestic contexts allows us to incorporate a number of material features from each settlement. This method does not give undue emphasis to any particular class of artifact, such as decorated ceramics or funerary goods. The use of the household also organizes the data set around the principal activity locus of the resident population. Exotic artifacts and other material remains influenced by regional art and/or architectural styles such as ceremonial areas, elite residences, etc. have considerably less weight in defining the ethnic affiliation of the resident population. A focus on the household also provides standardized analytical

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units across time and space. It permits us to define the domestic component of any settlement and compare it to any other site with a commensurate unit. Architecture, storage practices, funerary styles, nondomestic artifacts, and any other material element of the household, may be "ethnically sensitive" and transform as the ethnic composition of a settlement changes. Changes in the nature and configuration of such elements are generally definable by traditional archaeological methods and serve as the basis for testing verticality models. Multiethnic settlements or ethnically different sites may therefore be defined with a household-based methodology as well. Archaeologically, the household may be composed of one or more contiguous or noncontiguous physical structures of differential function. The household includes all domestic activities (and their material correlates) as well as nondomestic activities which may be materially reflected in household contexts. It is the optimal unit of analysis capable of differentiating settlements. The definition of ethnic or cultural affiliation of prehispanic settlements must be approached by separating the archaeological materials into domestic or nondomestic contexts. For analytical purposes, we can simply define the material correlates of subsistence production, consumption, and exchange as the domestic component of the archaeological household. Archaeological contexts and features would include habitations, kitchen areas, middens, storage areas, agricultural constructions, and all activity areas associated with economic activities of everyday life. Artifact classes associated with the domestic component include plainware or utilitarian ceramics, grinding stones, most food refuse, utilitarian textiles, basketry, and so on. The nondomestic component includes those activities beyond the immediate needs of social and biological reproduction of the community. It is represented by archaeological contexts such as cemeteries, elite residences, ceremonial areas, and the like. Nondomestic artifact classes include decorated ceramics, elite residential architecture, exotic goods, nonlocal or rare food items, petroglyphs, nonutilitarian objects such as wooden spoons, rape tablets, bone tubes, keros, and any artifacts associated with nondomestic areas on the site. The testing of zonal complementarity models ultimately involves the comparison of two or more sites to define their relationship. The artifact-based methodologies that currently dominate the archaeological literature are inadequate. They allow investigators to draw conclusions of regional political-economic interaction from similari-

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ties in artifact classes between sites without controlling for the context in which the items are discovered. The mere presence of an exotic artifact on a site does not necessarily prove it to be a colony. Rather, the nature of that relationship, whether it be a direct, indirect, or no vertical control relationship, must be defined on the basis of artifact assemblages from both domestic and nondomestic contexts. A contextual methodology, as opposed to an artifact-based one, allows us to control a greater range of data and define relationships between sites with much greater precision. Archaeological Implications of Zonal Complementarity Models The implications of verticality models are numerous and complex. In some instances (Mujica, Rivera, and Lynch 1983; Mujica 1985) these implications have been explicitly defined but not in terms of the distinction between domestic and nondomestic contexts. In the following section, I will summarize the archaeological correlates of zonal complementarity models. I will then propose test implications for direct and indirect vertical control based upon the archaeological household. (1) Nonlocal Artifacts from Complementary Zones in Both Domestic and Nondomestic Contexts. The most obvious result of the operation of zonal complementarity mechanisms in an individual site would be the existence of nonlocal artifacts in a settlement. The occurrence of these artifacts is expected in both direct and indirectverticality mechanisms. Failure to discover any indication of contact with complementary zones immediately suggests that no vertical relationship existed. As I have continually emphasized above, however, the mere presence of nonlocal artifacts on a site does not support either direct or indirect models. The type of nonlocal artifacts permits the definition, on a gross level, of the zones where vertical relationships were operating. Once the presence or absence of exotics is determined, the analysis can proceed to the following variables. (2) CorelColony Similarities or Differences. There are three potential relationships between settlements in different ecological zones in the Andes: direct vertical control via colonization, indirect vertical control via exchange strategies, and no complementary economic relationship. Classic zonal complementarity models are based upon the control of different ecological tiers through colonies. These colonies are ethnically identical to the home territory. The economic relationship between the colony and core territory is integrated through reciprocity and/or redistribution, depending upon

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the level of socio-political complexity of the home territory. In direct colonization, the ethnic composition of the core territory and colony are theoretically identical. Certainly at the folk-village level, there should be little distinction between sites that are linked together through a vertical-control relationship, apart from that impacted by local ecological conditions. Such a relationship, that of direct control of a colony by a core territory, should be characterized by similarities in both the domestic and nondomestic components of archaeological households; that is, actual direct control via colonization involves the linkage of the domestic economy between colonial and core territories. This is expected because it is the domestic component of a settlement that is the most representative of the resident population. The nondomestic component, in contrast, contains items that are the most ethnically sensitive,- therefore, if both the domestic and nondomestic components are similar, this is a strong indication of a true direct control relationship. A model of zonal complementarity based upon a core territory-colony system (i.e., direct control) is supported. The more complex form of zonal complementarity is the indirect control of different ecological tiers through a form of nonmarket exchange. The test implications in terms of core/colony relationships are dramatically different than in direct-control models. I have argued above that all examples of exchange in the prehispanic central Andes involve a form of administered trade or barter as understood by the classic work of Karl Polanyi. In this type of verticality, the settlements that maintain the zonal complementarity relationship are politically and ethnically distinct. As with direct-control models, the initial step in testing for an indirect exchange relationship is to determine if, in fact, interzonal linkages existed as detected by the presence of exotic artifacts. Again, stylistic comparisons of artifacts are used. In contrast to direct control, we expect profound differences in the domestic component of each site because it is this archaeological context that reflects the ethnicity of the resident populations. The nondomestic component should share similar artifact types, particularly high-status artifacts or items which contain ritual significance. This is due to the fact that the nondomestic component reflects the operation of regional and interregional alliance and exchange networks significantly more than does the domestic component of the site. This is particularly true of elite areas (where exotic goods serve to validate status) and funerary contexts, where items loaded with symbolic meaning are often found. If indirect zonal complementarity mechanisms operated between

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two or more settlements, we expect to see artifacts associated with the exchange partners in the nondomestic component of the tested sites. A major test implication of indirect control, therefore, is a significant difference in the domestic component of the exchanging settlements (different ethnicity of resident population) and similarities in the nondomestic areas (exchange of goods and ritually or symbolically significant items between exchange partners). One of the most significant implications of dividing archaeological data into domestic and nondomestic contexts is that the analytical meaning of an artifact varies according to the context in which it is found. In other words, the same artifact found in different contexts has different test implications vis-a-vis models of zonal complementarity. For instance, objects found consistently in domestic contexts imply the use of that artifact class in everyday use. If this class of artifacts is found consistently in domestic contexts in two different settlements, then some form of direct colonial relationship is suggested. The same class of objects consistently found in nondomestic contexts, in contrast, indicate a higher symbolic value for this class of artifact relative to others on the settlement. If that higher value is due to the fact that the object class is exotic and if it only occurs in nondomestic contexts, then indirect vertical exchange models are supported. (3) Discontinuous Territoriality. A distinctive component of the direct-verticality mechanism discussed in the previous chapter is the notion of "discontinuous territoriality" or dominio salpicado (Ramirez 1985; Shimada 1985). Ethnic boundaries are not continuous, but are fluid and sporadically distributed over complementary ecological zones. Western concepts of well-defined ethnic frontiers do not coincide with this Andean model of political geography. The importance for archaeology, of course, is obvious. Most models of prehistoric settlement systems tend to conceptualize boundaries as spatially segregated. Zonal complementarity, therefore, demands that archaeological models be able to deal with noncontiguous political-geographical systems. A regional settlement heterogeneity, therefore, is a major test implication of direct verticality. With a series of ethnically distinct settlements spread over a landscape strategically located to exploit complementary ecological zones, we expect a variety of different settlement types in the same region. The existence of local populations provides for even greater complexity. This heterogeneity is theoretically possible at three levels however, an important distinction not often made in the literature. In the case of the Chillon Valley, as outlined by Murra in his classic

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discussion of direct vertically, individual sites vary within a single valley. This is most likely in a valley such as Chillon, a large drainage with enormous agricultural potential. In this instance, there were three distinct ethnic groups exploiting the same valley living in distinct and separate communities. The south central Andean sierras, on the other hand, are characterized by smaller zones of irrigable land between vast tracts of unproductive desert. Numerous stream bifurcations above 1500 meters or so produce small pockets of inhabitable areas, often no more than a few dozen hectares in extent. This geographical feature hypothetically fosters a second type of regional settlement heterogeneity. In this instance, the difference is between settlement systems in each valley; that is, each small valley will be controlled by a distinct ethnic group. Sites do not differ within a valley; rather several sites in a single valley taken collectively differ between settlement systems in other valleys. This second type of regional settlement distribution for direct-verticality models remains hypothetical at the present time, but it must be considered as a testable proposition for research in the western coastal valleys and sierras. For direct control at both a regional and valley-wide level, we expect differences between sites of the same period in all inhabited areas of the region. This would be implied from the hypothetical multiethnicity of the colonial settlements as stated in the zonal complementarity model described above. The opposite would be the existence of a widespread, archaeologically similar settlement type that cannot be anticipated in a direct colonial model. Once again, the household provides the superior methodological tool to discriminate between settlements either in the same valley or over a wider geographical area. In the same manner that domestic and nondomestic contexts of the household are compared between two or more hypothesized vertically linked settlements, sites in the same region can be compared. An analysis of the household characteristics from sites in an area permits the investigator to define a relatively homogeneous settlement system or one characterized by a heterogeneity in internal composition between sites in the region. A third type of multiethnicity occurs within an individual settlement as opposed to one between sites or valleys. Such a site would contain discrete, internally differentiated multiethnic areas. In this instance, a single site is populated by ethnically distinct groups in individual "barrios" or separate divisions. As with the other two types, this remains hypothetical. In these cases, a single site contains groups of people from different regions. Such a process would

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result in a true multiethnic settlement. Like the other types of hypothetical multiethnicity, this can be tested with a contextual methodology. In such a settlement, we would expect dramatic differences between households, household clusters, or barrios on the settlement itself; that is, we should be able to define distinctive domestic architecture, artifact patterns, etc. between sectors of the site. In the introductory chapter I also defined two types of colonies in zonal complementarity models. These two types differ as a function of the socio-political status of the home community that establishes the colony. In complex socio-political contexts, colonies are inferior to the home community. Colonists have the status of yanacona or servile populations. At the folk-village level, in contrast, colonists are the social and political equals of the home community. Likewise, as outlined in Chapter i, the mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution bind these colonial and home territories into single, Andean communities. The degree that the economic systems of the core territory are reproduced in an Andean colony remains untested in archaeological contexts; that is, do the colonies of a hierarchical state also include an elite and nonelite? Or, are these colonies smaller and composed strictly of yanacona who produce for a nonresident elite? Do the retainer populations rotate in a mit'a-like system or are they permanently resident? In any case, the use of a contextual methodology can help define such relationships within and between separate communities. If there are significant differences between households on a single site that indicate a greater labor input to a restricted elite group, then we can properly speak of a hierarchically organized settlement. If, however, architecture, access to high status items, and so on are not different between households, then we can interpret the settlement as one organized without significant social and/or political hierarchies. This distinction is critical in defining both the nature of the hypothesized colonial settlement and the organizational capacity of the home territory. For direct-control models, we expect a regional, local, or site-level heterogeneity. For indirect-control models, in contrast, we expect contemporary sites in the same region to show considerably less differences in the archaeological indices. This would be due to the lack of multiethnicity of the settlements; that is, in indirect-control systems we expect a regional settlement homogeneity. Under such a system, we should be able to identify a discrete "culture area" definable by a relatively consistent set of archaeological indicators. An example here would be the senorios of Huarco, Lunahuana, Mala,

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and Chincha on the Peruvian coast 130 kilometers south of Lima. Marcus (1987a) excavated at the Huarco polity and comments that it was "bordered" by these other three polities and "openly exchanged" with Lunahuana (1987a: 1). It is instructive that she can speak of discrete territories associated with individual polities. Such a geographical pattern conforms more closely to traditional political boundaries and significantly differs from the dominio salpicado, characteristic of archipelago states in direct-control models. In this case, we can test the various sites in a particular area to determine if the associated households are similar or different. A series of archipelago-states in a region would be characterized by a corresponding series of ethnic enclaves. A homogeneous settlement system in any region, however, would indicate a noncolonial pattern expected in indirect-control models. If the domestic and nondomestic components of all contemporary sites in a region are similar, therefore, this would be a positive test for indirect zonal complementarity relationships; that is, we would not have regional, settlement, or site-level heterogeneity. In contrast, if the domestic component of households on contemporary sites differ, then we have identified ethnic enclaves and the operation of direct-control mechanisms. (4) Disjunctive Cultural Development. The three types of hypothetical settlement heterogeneity based upon ethnicity outlined above are the archaeological correlates of direct colonization at a synchronic level. From a diachronic perspective, we expect discontinuities in cultural historical sequences for direct control due to different "waves" of colonizations by different ethnic groups in any particular region. This aspect of direct complementarity has received little attention in the literature. It is clear, however, that we cannot expect that the verticality strategies employed by Andean peoples were static or frozen in time and space as the synchronic bias of ethnohistoric documents often encourages. As Frank Salomon notes: By widening our view to examine diverse alternatives, and by deepening the archaeological record, we become increasingly aware that by "complementarity" we should not understand a permanent essence of Andean societies, but a collective project continually renewed through processes of adjustment, mobilization, innovation, and conflict. Systems earlier imagined on the plane of synchrony as durable adaptations begin to appear as phases or emergents within long historic transitions. (Salomon 1985: 521)

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Cultural historical discontinuities therefore constitute a fourth criterion for direct colonization. In this instance, the use of the household is analogous to the testing of settlement heterogeneity except that households from sites in different time periods are compared. In other words, the investigator defines a particular household type in any phase and compares it to other noncontemporary sites in the area. If substantial differences are noted, then a change in the resident population is indicated from one period to the next. It is therefore necessary to add a diachronic dimension to an archaeological test of zonal complementarity. This is accomplished by establishing the criterion of "disjunctive cultural development/' In an independent, noncolonial settlement system we would expect an even cultural development and evolution over a period of time. Evolutionary change is understood to be cumulative—the result of numerous small changes through time. Archaeologically, we should be able to detect material antecedents in earlier settlements. Autochthonous cultural evolution by an independent settlement system should be characterized by a nondisjunctive development in which the genetic relationships between earlier and later sites should be evidenced in various classes of artifacts. In contrast, where direct colonization operated, we expect significant differences between noncontemporary (as well as contemporary) sites in the area. In the case of a single multiethnic settlement, we should see differences in both the site itself as well as with earlier and later sites in the region. For colonial populations, we expect a disjunctive cultural historical sequence with the nature and composition of the colonial settlements directly tied to external polities. We would expect intrusive colonial expansions when external polities attained a level of organizational capacity adequate to maintain such colonies. We expect a colonial settlement to be either pioneering populations in any area or to replace or coexist with local sites. If a prior, indigenous population already existed, we would expect significant differences within or between contemporary sites due to the multiethnic nature of the occupation. In indirect-control models, we do not expect diachronic discontinuity. On the contrary, settlement systems should be characterized by relatively even evolutionary sequences through time. This is due to the fact that the site or sites in an area tested are not colonial extensions of external polities but are independent ones engaged in some form of exchange. The resident population does not change through time or is replaced by new ethnic intrusions by different colonial groups. The essential methodological problem is to differenti-

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ate multiethnic sites, valleys, or regions in both space (synchronic) and time (diachronic). This is why the use of a household methodology is so critical. (5) Agricultural Production Systems. A fifth variable of the operation of zonal complementarity models centers on the nature of the agricultural system of the settlements. In the example of Chillon used by Murra, each ethnically distinct settlement controlled its own agricultural land. Agricultural land-use technology is therefore another variable that may be useful in defining zonal complementarity strategies. Agrarian engineering and land use is an essential component of the domestic economy of any society. In general, these are conditioned by noncultural factors and would initially not appear to be very useful for defining zonal complementarity relationships. The degree to which a population can alter its land use practices and technologies is indeed limited; that is, the ecology of a region largely defines the limits, potential, and feasibility of any particular agrarian strategy. Agrarian land use and technology is therefore not a variable one would expect to be sensitive to ethnic differences in archaeological contexts. Certain agricultural strategies utilized by settlements, however, may suggest the existence of different ethnic populations; that is, within the strict limits of the local ecology, some variation may be explainable by cultural factors. Nonecological factors often affect agricultural systems in such a manner that the most efficient use of land, water, and technology is not utilized. Defensive considerations, for instance, may force populations into less than optimal regions and away from the most productive land. The placement of canals and utilization of water sources may also be prescribed by cultural factors. In the case of a multiethnic valley, for instance, it must be determined if distinct ethnic populations shared a single canal or fields or if separate canal systems were constructed for each settlement. In assessing zonal complementarity strategies, therefore, it is critical to define whether there exist different and noncompetitive agricultural strategies in a single valley or region. Should substantially different agricultural engineering strategies characterize a contemporary group of settlements, a multiethnic cultural context is indicated. In a noncolonial context (indirect exchange) one major cultural factor which impacts agriculture—water and land use rights—is not significant. In a region controlled by a single ethnic group or polity, there is no need to protect natural resources against other ethnic groups. Land use strategies may be impacted by other cultural factors, such as defensive considerations, strategic control of access

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routes, etc., but the effect of competing polities or ethnic groups will not be archaeologically evident in the use of subsistence level agricultural resources. While this is the only variable that is not amenable to an analysis at the household level, it is of sufficient importance to be indicated in any test of zonal complementarity strategies in the south central Andes. In sum, the patterns associated with the operation of direct vertical-control strategies in central Andean societies include the presence of exotic artifacts, settlement heterogeneity, discontinuity in historical sequences, core/colony territory relationships, discontinuous settlement boundaries, and possible differences in agricultural strategies. For indirect mechanisms based upon administered or nonmarket trade, the presence of exotic artifacts, a homogeneous settlement type with contiguous political and/or ethnic boundaries, continuous evolutionary change in any archaeological sequence, and agricultural production consistent with maximization principles are expected. To test models of zonal complementarity in an area with many sites, the following procedure must be followed. First, all of the sites of all periods must be described and placed in a secure regional chronological framework. The criteria used for dating each site must be outlined in detail. Next, the household type for each site and period must be defined based upon architectural and excavation data. With the available data, evidence for contact with other ecological zones must be assessed; that is, is there any evidence for a vertical economic relationship, whether direct or indirect? With these basic data, the criteria defined in this chapter can then be tested: a comparison of the domestic component with potential colonizers or contemporary sites in the region, a test of settlement heterogeneity or homogeneity, a comparison of sites in sequential periods to define historical continuities or discontinuities, and a comparison of the agricultural land use and technology. These data permit a test of zonal complementarity with a contextual approach based upon the household.

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3. Zonal Complementarity in the Prehispanic South Central Andes: A Review and Critique

the large and productive Lake Titicaca Basin, the south central Andean region includes parts of the four modern nations of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. It covers an area of almost 400,000 square kilometers. The region is characterized by an ecological diversity unsurpassed in South America including snowcapped peaks, lowland tropical forests, wind-swept high altitude plains, and arid coastal valleys. At the outset, it is necessary to define the south central Andes and to differentiate it from the central Andes as a whole. Following the criteria established by the National (Chile) Colloquium of Archaeology I1979) (i n Aldunate and Castro 1981), the south central Andes contains five subregions that extend from Sicauni in the central highlands, east to Cochabamba, southeast to Jujuy, and south to Chanaral (see Figures 1 and 2). Given this extreme ecological and topographical variability found throughout the central Andes as a whole, using simple geographical criteria to define boundaries for a region within it is too arbitrary. Defining such frontiers is even more difficult given the nature of political boundaries as understood in zonal complementarity models; that is, Andean political geography is often not continuous. Concrete boundaries are often impossible to define given the archipelago distribution of territories in direct-control models. It is therefore necessary to select additional criteria for defining the region. A major theme of this book is that the most successful criteria for addressing the prehistory of the region are political and economic ones as understood within the general framework of zonal complementarity. Given this focus, a definition of the region based upon cultural criteria is most appropriate, particularly given the absence of any major geographical features separating distinctive zones. The south central Andes is therefore defined in cultural terms DOMINATED BY

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Figure 2. Cultural Regions in the South Central Andes

as that area directly impacted by the Lake Titicaca Basin polities through time. This, of course, implies fluid and unstable geographical boundaries relative to the particular time period in question. From this cultural historical perspective, the "core" area would be those regions which have been subject to repeated influences from the Titicaca Basin throughout prehistory. Using maximum areal extent of any Titicaca Basin polity in prehistory, the Tiwanaku Expansive period, this area would include the circum-Titicaca Basin from approximately the Rio Palca in the north to Oruro in the south, the coastal valleys from Arequipa in the north, to the 25 th latitude in the south, southeast into northwest Argentina and east into the

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Bolivian lowlands. By using these cultural criteria, the boundaries of the region roughly coincide with those established by the National Colloquium. From as early as iooo B.C., there is a continual pattern of complex Titacaca Basin polities extending their influence into the lower altitudes. This pattern was repeated in a number of different cultural contexts and time periods, ranging from imperial states to small, regional polities. In spite of the dearth of archaeological data, for example, the known geographical distributions of Upper Formative and core-Tiwanaku influences coincide surprisingly well, even though the densities of occupation and nature of those regional political economies varied greatly. The fact that the geographical distribution of related sites of such differing cultures as Chiripa, Pukara, and Expansive Tiwanaku seems to follow similar patterns of expansion suggests that there are underlying factors welding the south central Andes into an integrated and distinctive cultural region. The constancy with which this area has been colonized or influenced by the various Titicaca Basin polities through time suggests the existence of noncultural and nonhistorical factors that have structured the distribution of settlements in the region. These factors have greatly impacted zonal complementarity strategies through time. These factors must be controlled before we can properly address zonal complementarity in the south central Andes. It is not coincidental that all of the major, complex polities in this region were centered in the Titicaca Basin. The factors responsible for the dominance of the Titicaca Basin and the integration of the south central Andes in different cultural landscapes and time periods include ecological, economic, and regional political ones. I suggest four factors which have impacted the regional political and economic organization of south central Andean societies through time. These are: i) agricultural productivity of the Titicaca Basin, 2) vertical distribution of lifezones, 3) existence of competing polities to the north of the basin, and 4) camelid producing capacities of the Titicaca Basin region. (1) Productivity of the Titicaca Basin. It is ironic that one of the poorest areas in two of the principal Andean republics today (Peru and Bolivia) was one of the richest in prehistory. From the perspective of prehispanic economic organization and technological capacities, the Titicaca Basin is one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the Andes. Throughout prehistory, the Titicaca Basin has been one of a very few demographic and political centers in the Andes. This is due precisely to the rich ecological capacity to support

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agricultural plant and pastoral economies. This excellent agricultural base supported correspondingly complex and powerful polities. Rain-fed highland agricultural economies based upon potatoes, quinoa, other tubers, grains, and camelids were stable, productive and expandable (Lumbreras 1974a). The balanced reliance on both plant agricultural and animal husbandry provided a mixed economy highly resilient to climatic fluctuations or other ecological stresses. The lake itself also provided an important additional economic resource virtually unknown in the rest of the Andes. In the last decade or so, the work of Clark Erickson (1987) and Kolata (1986, 1989) has led to a new understanding of the productive capacity of the Titicaca Basin, both on the Peruvian and Bolivian sides. These researchers have documented the existence of vast areas of raised fields, also known as camellones (Spanish), suka kollu (Aymara), or waru waru (Quechua). Kolata (1986) has demonstrated that the fields found in the Pampa Koani zone of Bolivia, located roughly in the ethnohistorically known Pacajes region, are most likely associated with the intensive Tiwanaku occupations along the flanks of the hills bordering the field systems. Erickson's work, however, suggests a much greater time depth for the Peruvian fields, arguing that they were pre-Tiwanaku in date (Erickson 1987). Likewise, while no field systems have been directly associated with post-Tiwanaku settlements in the basin, suka kollu are listed in Bertonio's Aymara Dictionary. This reference raises the possibility that they were still in existence in the Spanish Colonial period. Recent research in the Juli region in the Titicaca Basin has also located substantial raised-field areas on the Have Pampa (Stanish et al. 1991). These fields are associated with substantial Formative and Tiwanaku period settlements. The settlement pattern appears to conform to that discovered in the north lake basin by Erickson. Raised field agriculture requires extensive areas of inundated or periodically inundated and flat, marshy land. The Titicaca Basin, of course, provides precisely this topographical condition. Not surprisingly, relict field systems are found throughout the lake edge in the north and south, and probably on the eastern side as well. These conditions are not found in any other area of the south central Andes except in the swampy lowlands (Llanos de Mojo) in Bolivia (see Denevan 1966). Raised fields are highly productive. The lake itself provides nonsaline water and runoff can be captured off of the bordering quebradas perhaps mitigating the effects of progressive salinization. The raised fields actually create a superb, artificial ecosystem enhancing the thermal properties of the planting surfaces and localizing and

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capturing a nutrient-cycling system (Kolata and Graffam 1987). A fodder plant (alga) grows between the fields and is used today to feed cattle and presumably could have been a major source of camelid feed. Since construction of these highland fields is only possible in the Titicaca Basin (on the lake itself as well as in some riverine environments, such as the Rio Desaguadero) they serve as a major factor in the enhanced productivity of the region relative to the rest of the south central Andes. Another intensive agricultural practice is possible in the Titicaca Basin. This is known as qocha agriculture, and involves the use of small depressions or lakes in the Titicaca Basin. Jorge Flores Ochoa and Percy Paz Flores (1983) have discussed the contemporary use of qocha. Today, qocha are used by modern farmers to grow potatoes, qafiiwa, quinoaf and other altiplano crops. They are also used for grazing animals. These small, but highly productive catchments are widely distributed throughout the Peruvian and Bolivian puna. Qocha constitute another important feature of the altiplano landscape possibly exploited by prehispanic populations in the Titicaca Basin which served to enhance agricultural productivity. The resilient nature of the Titicaca Basin subsistence base contrasted sharply with lower sierra and coastal economies, which were subject to considerably greater productive constraints and ecological uncertainties. These productive stresses include periodic El Nino disasters (Moseley 1978) particularly on the coastal agricultural systems, drought or long-term climatic oscillations, and progressive agricultural contraction (Moseley 1978; Stanish 1987). While longterm or progressive drought would affect all areas equally, the existence of the lake provided a permanent water source not available on such a scale in the rest of the Andes. This is particularly relevant in light of the existence of raised-field systems which can be reconstructed along the lakeshore as water levels recede. The terrace agricultural systems on the western slopes and coastal valleys, in contrast, are much less resilient. After a fairly rigid minimum level is reached, lowered water availability forces wholesale abandonment of major field segments (Stanish 1987). It is ironic that the economic and ecological factors which gave the Titicaca Basin such a prominent place in the prehispanic past are incompatible with the demands of the modern capitalist economy. Camelid products such as wool and meat, plus fish and tubers, the staples of the Titicaca Basin economy, are not profitable commodities in today's markets. The geographical isolation of the basin from port facilities and lack of exploitable minerals have also served to impoverish the region relative to the rest of Peru and Bolivia.

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These unfortunate economic circumstances serve to give a grossly inaccurate impression of the real wealth of the Titicaca region in prehispanic, indigenous terms. The basin was, in fact, one of the richest areas in the New World before the arrival of the Spaniards. The productive and resilient agricultural capacity of the Titicaca Basin is the primary underlying factor responsible for the dominance of the Titicaca Basin in south central Andean prehistory. (2) Vertical Distribution of Resource Zones outside the Titicaca Basin Proper. The demographic and political center of the prehispanic Andes south of Cuzco was the Titicaca Basin. The polities that developed in this area characteristically expanded their influence to the lower ecological zones. A second underlying factor integrating the south central Andes as a distinct cultural region is the vertical distribution of resource zones (Murra 1964, 1968). Such an ecological and geographical situation forces settlements to control distant lower areas in order to diversify their economic base. For the stable, agriculturally based Titicaca Basin populations, access to lower ecological zones was organizationally feasible and a major impetus for expansion. The southern Peruvian and northern Chilean coastal valleys, as well as the humid lowlands of Bolivia and the highlands of northwest Argentina, provided precisely that mosaic of complementary ecological zones necessary for diversifying their economies. As indicated below, there seems to be little evidence for any major colonization of the Titicaca Basin by lowland polities. The general "direction" of colonization patterns is from the demographically large basin area into the western coastal valleys and eastern lowlands. Exceptions to this pattern probably include the control of peripheral Titicaca Basin puna grazing lands by lower sierra populations, an interzonal relationship similar to that described by Murra (1972, 1975) for the Chupaychu, or the Q'ero as reported by Webster (1971).

If we accept the proposition that the existence of a "complementary" economy is essential to the survival of the community itself, then the expansion into these zones was an absolute necessity. Titicaca Basin polities pushed south and west into areas of low demographic potential. There was little expansion north of Sicuani (200 kilometers from the lake) whereas Expansive Tiwanaku sites are found as far south as San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. One underlying factor in the expansion to lower valleys was the need to create complementary economies. The particular regional distribution of Titicaca Basin settlements toward the south and west, and not to the north, can be explained by political factors. (3) Existence of Competing Polities to the North. The area of ex-

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pansion by Titicaca Basin polities was unquestionably toward the south, west, and southwest. There was virtually no expansion north of the circum-Titicaca Basin proper throughout the history of the south central Andes even though comparable ecological mosaics and economic opportunities existed in these areas as well. Given the enormous demographic capacity of the Titicaca Basin polities, expansion in any direction was organizationally feasible. Looking at the map of the region, which of course reflects the area of peak Titicaca Basin political influence, there is a marked lopsidedness to the shape of the region relative to the basin. This decidedly south and westward expansion therefore demands explanation. The major factor in the particular geographical spread of Titicaca Basin polities through time is due to the presence of competing polities to the north of the lake and relative absence of such settlements to the south. Since the earliest known agricultural settlements in the Titicaca Basin were established, there have always been northern competing populations, particularly in the Vilcanota and Ayacucho valleys. These, like the Titicaca Basin itself, were major demographic and political centers of prehispanic Peru. Complex cultural histories in these areas, in fact, are contemporary or even antedate those found in the Titicaca Basin itself. The Vilcanota and Ayacucho valleys were home to expansionist states in prehistory, most notably Wari and Inca. This political barrier seems to have worked both ways. There was some Wari expansion into the south central Andes, most notably in Arequipa and in the Moquegua Valley as evidenced by the major site of Cerro Baul (Lumbreras, Mujica, and Vera 1982). Compared to other regions to the north, however, Wari influence was minimal (see Isbell 1987; Schreiber 1987). Even Inca expansion into the Titicaca Basin required major diplomatic and military efforts against the powerful Lupaqa and Colla, the dominant indigenous polities in the region during the Late Intermediate period. In short, this political barrier to the north greatly restricted the capacity of Titicaca Basin polities to expand and serves to explain the massive southward distribution of their colonies or allied settlements. This regional political feature of the central Andes is a third factor which helped define the geographical limits of Titicaca Basin influence and the south central Andes as a cultural area. (4) Camelid Production in the Titicaca Basin. The tremendous capacity to support large numbers of camelids is a well known feature of the altiplano ecosystem. This is the final distinguishing characteristic of the south central Andean region that has played such a prominent part in the evolution of complex societies (e.g., Lynch

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1983). Camelids served both as a primary protein source and as pack animals capable of carrying considerable weight. At the time of the Garci Diez de San Miguel Visita of 1567 [1964], the Lupaqa elite were said to have had herds numbering into the tens of thousands (Murra 1968) and we may justifiably presume that prehispanic levels were at least the same and probably much higher. The control of these huge camelid reserves provided a major economic advantage to the Titicaca Basin populations. In particular, the ability to pack large loads over enormous distances with llama caravans was a critical factor in the establishment of colonies or exchange relationships with complementary zones insuring that these zonal-specific resources could be readily moved. The economic importance of the Titicaca Basin was further enhanced by the use of camelids as meat sources. Camelid meat can be dried and preserved as chark'i and is an easily transportable and durable commodity. Camelid wool, of course, was also a major commodity. Unlike the north coast of Peru, there is little archaeological evidence for the pasturing of camelids on a large scale on the south central Andean coast. The possibility of camelid raising in coastal environments has been forcefully argued by Izumi Shimada for the north coast (1982). A few prehispanic sites in northern Chile have corrals (e.g., Cerro Sombrero), associated with residential zones, but these are rare. There are no sites below 1,500 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l) with corrals in the Moquegua Drainage, for instance, and there are none reported by Trimborn (1975) or Kleeman (1975, 1981) for the Sama Valley. Rostworowski, however, has published ethnohistoric evidence of camelid grazing on the extensive lomas in the area, particularly the Buitera lomas of the Moquegua Valley (Rostworowski 1981). The degree to which camelids were pastured on the south central Andean coast in prehistory remains a subject of debate, but the evidence to date would suggest that it was minimal at best. Archaeological middens in virtually all Tiwanaku and postTiwanaku sites investigated in the Moquegua Drainage, including the coast, contain enormous quantities of butchered camelid bone. This indicates that camelid meat was a major portion of the prehispanic diet. Given the minimal evidence of camelid grazing in the lower altitudes, it is most likely that the primary grazing areas were in the Altiplano, particularly the Titicaca Basin. Given the importance of camelids in the prehispanic economies, the Titicaca Basin, as the principal area of camelid production in the entire region, was at a tremendous economic advantage over its neighbors, a fact which

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contributed to its demographic and political dominance throughout prehistory. These four features—vertical distribution of lifezones, agricultural potential of the Lake Titicaca Basin, competing polities to the north, and the vast reserves of camelids in the altiplano—were the environmental and political context in which 3,000 years of agriculturally based societies in the south central Andes defined areas of influence and welded the region into an integrated cultural area. Large, stable Titicaca Basin populations maintaining vast camelid herds dominated interzonal colonization or exchange south and westward into areas of low density settlements avoiding major political competitors. It would be inaccurate to overs tress the degree of interaction of the entire region for which these four factors were responsible (there were, in fact, periods of relative political fragmentation and isolation); however, any explanation of zonal complementarity in the south central Andes must be framed within the constraints and opportunities presented by the unique political and economic environment. Ecological Zones in the South Central Andes Any classification of the natural environment is necessarily arbitrary. Its purpose is to simplify a complex mosaic of microenvironments with regard to a particular problem. The following classification is based on the economic potential of the various regions of the south central Andes relevant to the zonal complementarity strategies in prehispanic contexts. The classification offered here is relevant to the economic and socio-political levels of complexity represented by the late-prehispanic polities in the south central Andes. A classification of the ecosystem appropriate for Archaic period hunters and collectors, for instance, is not appropriate for technologically sophisticated agriculturalists engaged in long-distance exchange or colonization. This classification is based upon the nature of zonal complementarity in the region. It is also important to recognize that any classification into ecological types is necessarily static, and fails to capture the fluid nature of Andean ecozones. As Shimada notes, conventional characterizations of the coast, selva, and sierra are being replaced with perspectives of "overlapping and oscillating interaction spheres and complex ecosystems, each with changing ecological niches and habitats" (1982: 139). While this is undoubtedly true, such perspectives make any discussion of broad ecosystemic relationships, as im-

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Figure 3. Schematic Cross Section of Andean Ecosystems

plied in the zonal complementarity models, a virtual impossibility. While conventional typologies will necessarily obscure more subtle cultural relationships, they still remain very useful for defining broader, regional processes of interest to us here. I therefore offer the following conventional typology of ecological zones in the region. Five ecological zones are the fundamental components of the south central Andean environment in which economic production and vertical exchange may be meaningfully understood: (1) the Titicaca Basin proper, (2) the puna outside of the basin, (3) the sierra below 3,500 meters, (4) the coastal valleys, and (5) the eastern lowlands (Figure 3). Dividing the area into more microenvironments would be analytically inaccurate from the perspective of economic production and exchange as implied in zonal complementarity models. The five zones, in fact, already overlap for some classes of products (e.g., maize, cotton, and aji which can grow on the coast and the sierra) and the use of more categories would force interpretation of vertical economic relationships where there is no differential production between settlements. If we artificially put two or more sites that are engaged in some form of exchange into different ecological zones that in fact are not ecologically very different, models of "vertical" exchange may be "confirmed" when it would not otherwise be considered an example of zonal complementarity. The converse, of course, is also true. Either the lumping of econiches or the imposi-

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tion of a greater complexity on an ecosystem than is actually warranted, will obscure subtle economic and political relationships between sites and settlement systems. Titicaca Basin Proper The Titicaca Basin ecosystem is dominated by one of the highest and largest freshwater lakes in the world. The more than 8,000 square kilometers of water measures approximately 150 kilometers x 75 kilometers in dimension and is located at an altitude of 3,800 m.a.s.l. making it the highest navigable lake in the world. There are two annual seasons in the basin—a summer or wet season from November to March and a winter dry season from April to October. The ecological and geographical work of Pulgar (1946) divides the altiplano into two regions called the puna and the suni or jalka. The latter area falls between 3,500 and 4,100 m.a.s.l. and is the major zone of plant domestication. The puna, on the other hand, is located above the limits of plant agriculture and is characterized by extensive grasslands where vast herds of alpaca and llama are pastured. Hyslop's archaeological and ecological survey data from the Lupaqa area to the southwest of the lake confirm the utility of Pulgar's classification (Hyslop 1976: 53). In general, the most productive land nearer to the lake is characterized by higher annual rainfalls and higher average temperatures (see Tosi i960; ONERN 1976). The land further from the lake shore (which is also progressively higher and drier) is more suited for pasture. The productive staples of the Titicaca Basin were camelids and tubers. The potato can be stored as freeze-dried chuno and camelid meat is prepared and kept as chark'i. Other important agricultural plants include oca, olluco, quinoa, canagua, and mashwa. The lake itself produces fish, as well as ducks, geese, flamingos, and industrial plants, particularly totora reeds (Hyslop 1976: 61). Maize is grown in rare and restricted areas of the lake, where a combination of ecological factors elevates ambient temperatures. This maize had ceremonial importance in the Inca state but can not be considered a major dietary source for most of the population. Natural endemic mammalian fauna in the basin, apart from llama and alpaca, is sparse and consists of vicuna and guanaco, rodents, foxes, deer, and puma. The major meat source in the basin was unquestionably camelid. The Garci Diez de San Miguel Visita of 1567 gives us a clue as to which Titicaca Basin products were most significant in the indigenous vertical economic exchange. In discussing aspects of interregional exchange, Garci Diez states that: "each year the majority

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of indians go [from Chuquito] to Sama, Moquegua, Capinota and Cuzco . . . for maize, aji and other staples that do not grow in this province and from which they barter cattle, cloth, wool and charqui, which is dried meat and dried fish from the lake" (Garci Diez [1567] 1964: 208). It is no coincidence that the five products that Garci Diez lists— cattle (camelids), cloth, wool, chark'i, and dried fish—are those products that the Titicaca Basin ecosystem is uniquely capable of producing. Equally important in the vertical economic equation however, were the products not available in the Titicaca Basin— maize, coca, marine fish, guano, aji, cotton, fruits, and vegetables. These latter goods were obtained in the lower elevations. The Puna Region outside of the Titicaca Basin Outside of the Titicaca Basin, the area above 3,500 m.a.s.l. is generally considered marginal to both prehispanic agriculture and the modern economy. Today, it is mainly exploited by small populations of camelid herders who live in small, dispersed hamlets or individual households. The zone corresponds to Pulgar's (1946) puna region characterized by coarse grasses (ichu), low rainfall, and low average annual temperatures. In areas distant from Lake Titicaca, the puna is economically important as the area of camelid pasture for lowland communities. Small groups of herders maintain several residences throughout the grasslands moving their herds in a semiseasonal transhumance to exploit the unproductive ecosystem. Today, the economy of the pun a pastoralists is based upon some sort of exchange relationship with the lower sierra communities. This pattern of pim