Beck 2004

Society for American Archaeology

Architecture and Polity in the Formative Lake Titicaca Basin, BoliviaAuthor(s): Robin A. Beck, Jr.Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 323-343Published by: Society for American ArchaeologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4141577Accessed: 13/10/2008 21:58

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RElPORT

ARCHITECTURE AND POLITY IN THE FORMATIVE LAKE TITICACA BASIN, BOLIVIA

Robin A. Beck, Jr.

A regional approach to public architecture offers a useful medium through which to study changes in the scale of integrative institutions. Changes in political structure are often associated with changes in the scale and complexity of public ritual space. In Bolivia's Lake Titicaca Basin, Middle Formative period (800-250 B.C.) villagers along the Taraco Peninsula built earthen platforms that visually dominated their settlements. Until recently, research on the peninsula had focused almost exclusively on the site of Chiripa, with the result that little was known of the regional context in which this site and its neighbors emerged. Now, after excavations at the contemporaneous site of Alto Pukara, the sequence of public architecture at Middle Formative communities may be viewed within a regional context. This paper evaluates the trajectory of institutional complexity along the Taraco Peninsula through a formal comparison ofpublic ritual architecture atAlto Pukara and Chiripa. Six criteria for measuring architectural variation-centrality, permanence, accessibility, visibility, scale, and

ubiquity-facilitate this comparison. Only through a regional approach can we understand the integrative role of public space in these early village societies.

Un enfoque regional a la arquitectura pablica ofrece un medio til para estudiar los cambios en la escala de las instituciones

integradoras. Los cambios en la estructura politica se encuentran frecuentemente asociados a cambios en la escala de la com-

plejidad de los espacios rituales pablicos. En la cuenca del lago de Titicaca (Bolivia), durante el periodo Formativo Medio

(800-250 a.C.), los habitantes de las aldeas de la Peninsula de Taraco construyveron plataformas de tierra que dominaban visualmente sus asentamientos. Hasta recientemente, las investigaciones en la peninsula se concentraron casi exclusivamente en el yacimiento de Chiripa y, en consecuencia, poco se conocia del contexto regional en el que surgieron tanto este como los

yacimientos vecinos. Tras las excavaciones en el yacimiento contempordneo de Alto Pukara, resulta viable el andlisis secuen- cial del contexto regional en el que se desarrolla la arquitectura pablica de estas comunidades del Formativo Medio. Este tra-

bajo evalia la trayectoria de la complejidad institucional en la Peninsula de Taraco a partir de la comparacidn formal de la

arquitectura ritual pdblica en Alto Pukara y Chiripa. Se utilizan seis criterios para medir la variacidn arquitectdnica y facil- itar su comparaci6n: centralidad, permanencia, accesibilidad, visibilidad, escala y ubicuidad.

On the southern shore of Bolivia's Lake Tit- icaca, Middle Formative period (800-250 B.C.) villagers at the archaeological site of

Chiripa built a large earthen platform that visually dominated their settlement. Atop this platform, they constructed a ritual compound of stone and adobe structures arranged around a central sunken courtyard. Archaeologists have long recognized the construction of this facility as a major development in social complexity (e.g., Bennett 1936; Chfivez 1988; Hastorf, ed. 1999; Hastorf 2003). Now, following the completion of a full coverage survey of the Taraco Peninsula (Bandy 2001), archaeologists

have data on similar platform architecture at several nearby sites. Intensive excavations conducted

by the author at one of those sites, Alto Pukara, provide comparative data on the nature of early ritual architecture in the Lake Titicaca Basin, as well as the broader Andean region. This paper addresses the key issue of whether Chiripa's architectural elaboration correlates with its role in increased

political centralization at the regional level, or whether nearby sites such as Alto Pukara exhibit similar patterns of increasing formalization.

The construction of large-scale public architecture is often considered a hallmark of complex soci-

Robin A. Beck, Jr. E Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, 3479 Faner Hall, Carbondale, IL 62901

Latin American Antiquity, 15(3), 2004, pp. 323-343

CopyrightO 2004 by the Society for American Archaeology

323

324 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 15, No. 3, 2004]

S Lake Titicaca .

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Figure 1. The Southern Lake Titicaca Basin.

eties. Public architecture represents both a sizable investment of labor pooled from multiple house- holds (Arnold 1993; Kolb 1994; Lawrence and Low 1990; Moore 1996; Peebles and Kus 1977; Price 1984; Renfrew 1973; Trigger 1990) and the materialization of complex social institutions and their ideologies (DeMarrais et al. 1996; Earle 1997). Labor demands of public architecture, together with the social negotiation usually required to build large-scale facilities in communal space, indicate the success of individual leaders or groups at forging social bonds that crosscut factional lines. The scale of such constructions also act as perma- nent, material symbols of power and can therefore shape as well as reflect the social fabric. Monu- ments and other corporate works may legitimize or reinforce the status of those individuals associated with their construction or use. Even desecrated monuments may shape interaction by legitimizing the rejection or replacement of one social order and the acceptance or imposition of another.

In the Titicaca Basin of Bolivia and Perni, the Middle Formative period witnessed the emergence of regional ideologies and their associated institutions (e.g., Chaivez 1988; Hastorf 2003; Stanish

2003). Excavations at the site of Chiripa, centrally located on Bolivia's Taraco Peninsula (Figure 1), have revealed a sequence of corporate ritual architecture that spans the Formative period (Bennett 1936; Browman 1978; Chavez 1988; Hastorf 2003; Kidder 1956). Also, at 7.5 ha, Chiripa was among the largest Formative settlements in the southern Titicaca Basin. Given its size and monumental architecture, Chiripa had previously been suggested as the likely center of a hierarchical, multicom-

munity polity or chiefdom (e.g., Stanish 1997). A recent settlement survey of the Taraco Peninsula has identified several contemporaneous sites, rang- ing in size up to 7.75 ha, with evidence of large- scale public architecture similar to that at Chiripa (Bandy 2001). One of these sites is Alto Pukara, which at 3.25 ha is in the second tier of Bandy's Middle Formative site-size hierarchy. Given this new evidence, we must reconsider the integrative scale of early political and ritual institutions, and

specifically the integrative role of public architecture, on the Taraco Peninsula. This analysis provides a key for unlocking the character of institutional complexity during the Middle For- mative period.

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In this paper, I compare public ritual architecture recently excavated at Alto Pukara with the well-developed sequence of ritual architecture identified by previous investigations at Chiripa. To facilitate this comparison, I use six criteria identified by Moore (1996) in his important study of prehispanic ritual architecture in Perui. I summarize the Middle Formative architecture at Chiripa and the recently excavated platform architecture at Alto Pukara and then use Moore's six criteria to compare the Alto Pukara platform complex with earlier and later forms of public architecture at Chiripa. This analysis suggests that by about 400 B.C., after an extended period of community autonomy, local leaders at Chiripa transformed relations among the villages on this part of the Taraco Peninsula. This transformation likely culminated with the construction at Chiripa of the eight-sided Upper House facility and, perhaps, with one of the earliest multicommunity institutions yet identified in the southern Andes.

A Regional Settlement Approach to Public Architecture

A regional approach to the study of public ritual architecture provides a key method for investigating changes in the scale of institutional complexity (e.g., DeMarrais, et al. 1996; Earle 1997; Kolb 1994; Moore 1996; Price 1984; Trigger 1990). Moore (1996:139) offers a recent framework for evaluating the relations between monumental architecture and political organization, grounding his perspective in the idea that transformations in the nature of public architecture coincide with changes in social power. In comparing the different kinds of public architecture at Alto Pukara and Chiripa, I consider six criteria that address transformations in the form and organization of public space (Moore 1996):

1. Centrality. Centrality is the location of a structure in relation to its associated settlement; it may have a central location, a peripheral location, or it may be in an isolated area some distance from the settlement (Moore 1996:140).

2. Permanence. Permanence refers to the intended duration of a public structure; Moore (1996:139) distinguishes four categories of architectural permanence: ephemeral, episodic, gener- ational, and multigenerational.

3. Accessibility. Accessibility is the degree to which access patterns are used to control movement into and within a public space (Moore 1996:179-182; see also Bawden 1982; Conklin 1990; Kolata 1990).

4. Visibility. Visibility refers to the degree to which a structure permits or restricts public viewing of associated activities (Moore 1996:140).

5. Scale. Moore (1996:140) uses the term "scale" in reference both to the overall size of a public structure and to its size relative to other structure types. I also use this term in reference to the labor invested in a structure (e.g., Kolb 1991).

6. Ubiquity. Ubiquity refers to the distribution of contemporaneous, functionally similar public structures at different locales within a given region (Moore 1996:140).

Moore uses these variables to frame an exten- sive study of social power and public architecture in central and northern Peruni. Building on this study, I propose a similar analysis in Bolivia's southern Titicaca Basin. Moore's analysis involves a period of more than 5,900 years and an area of more than 160,000 km2. In covering this span, his research addresses a general, pan-Andean trajectory of political change. I conduct a similar analysis but address a trajectory specific to the Formative Taraco Penin- sula. While Moore notes that, for many of the cases in his study, "current data rarely are sufficient to ... evaluate these sites' positions in regional settlement systems" (1996:19), it is now possible to ini- tiate just such an evaluation of Formative sites in the southern Titicaca Basin.

Archaeology of the Formative Taraco Peninsula

The Taraco Peninsula (Figure 2) reaches into Lake

Wifiaymarka, the southern end of Lake Titicaca. It is bounded by the lake to the north, south, and west, by the Pampa Koani to the northeast, and by the Lower Tiwanaku Valley to the southeast; the relatively low Taraco Hills form the spine of the peninsula, which covers approximately 100 km2. This area is part of Bolivia's Altiplano, a high plateau that surrounds Lake Titicaca at elevations of more than 3,800 ma.s.l. Chiripa is on the northern side of the peninsula, at an elevation of 3,830 ma.s.l., and consists of a .36 ha central mound and a 7.5 ha area of Formative occupation; during the Tiwanaku


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Figure 2. Selected archaeological sites on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia.

IV-V periods (A.D. 400-1100), the site expanded to 9 ha (Bandy 1999b). Wendell C. Bennett (1936) conducted the first professional excavations at Chiripa in 1934, Portugal Zamora briefly worked at the site in 1937 (Bandy 1999a; Portugal 0. 1992; Portugal Z. 1940), Kidder directed fieldwork in 1955 (Bandy 1999a; Chaivez 1988; Kidder 1956), and Browman (1978) directed excavations at the site in 1974 and 1975. Each worked on the central mound, and each identified the structures found there as domestic houses in a sequence of superimposed, nucleated villages.

The Taraco Archaeological Project (TAP), under the direction of Christine Hastorf and Matthew Bandy (Hastorf, ed. 1999), conducted fieldwork at Chiripa over the course of four seasons-1992, 1996, 1998, and 1999-with a primary goal of investigating the development of political elaboration in the southern Titicaca Basin (Hastorf 1999a:2). As a result of this project, Chiripa is now the best-understood Middle Formative site in the entire Lake Titicaca region. As well as clarifying the central mound's stratigraphy (Bandy 1999c), TAP excavations exposed several previously unknown public structures, including the Llusco enclosure south of the mound (Paz 1999) and the Choquehuanca enclosure north of the mound (Dean and Kojan 1999). Systematic surface collections

(Bandy 1999b) revealed how Chiripa's occupa- tional history changed through time, while con- firming Chdivez's (1988) interpretation of the mound as a ceremonial zone within a much larger site. Steadman's (1999) ceramic analysis has helped to define three Early and Middle Formative phases: Early Chiripa (1500-1000 B.C.), Middle Chiripa (1000-800 B.C.), and Late Chiripa (800-250 B.C.). Calendar year dates for these phases were derived by calibrating the 28 radiocarbon dates obtained by previous projects and 40 accelerator mass spec- trometry (AMS) dates obtained by TAP (Whitehead 1999).

In 1998, under the auspices of TAP, Matthew Bandy initiated a full-coverage settlement survey of the Taraco Peninsula as a part of his doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley (Bandy 2001). The aim of Bandy's research was a "longitudinal study of settlement and demography" (2001:37) to address the development of social complexity on the Taraco Peninsula. He systemat- ically identified, collected, and demarcated the boundaries of more than 400 archaeological sites, among which were nine Middle Formative villages of at least 3.0 ha that were likely contemporaneous with the Middle Formative occupation at Chiripa (Bandy 2001:118). All of these early sites have very similar material culture inventories to those

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Figure 3. Choquehuanca sunken enclosure, Chiripa.

excavated at Chiripa, suggesting a great deal of interaction among them. Near the southeastern- most edge of the peninsula (Figure 2), William Isbell and Juan Albarracin-Jordan directed excavations at the site of Iwawi (e.g., Burkholder 1997; Isbell and Burkholder 2002); their research revealed a different series of Middle Formative ceramics than the Chiripa-related materials found on Bandy's sites, suggesting that Iwawi had less interaction with the Taraco Peninsula villages during Middle Formative times.

Middle Formative Architecture at Chiripa Over the past 70 years, three major types of public architecture have been identified in Middle For- mative (Late Chiripa) contexts at Chiripa: on- and off-platform sunken courts or enclosures; on-platform structures referred to collectively as the Lower House complex; and the monumental, on-platform Upper House complex. In the following three sec-

tions, I describe each of these architectural forms and discuss their timing at Chiripa.

Sunken Enclosures. Since 1992, TAP has fully defined two off-mound enclosures at Chiripa- Choquehuanca (Paz 1999) and Llusco (Dean and Kojan 1999)-and has excavated portions of two others. The Choquehuanca enclosure (Figure 3) dates to the Middle Chiripa phase (1000-800 B.C.), making it the earliest example of public architecture yet excavated in the Titicaca Basin (Bandy 2001:99). It measures 14 x 13 m. Llusco dates to early in the Late Chiripa phase (800-400 B.C.) and measures approximately 13 x 11 m. Both enclosures consist of vertical cuts excavated into sterile subsoil that were subsequently faced with unmodified cobbles and adobe, although the aboveground height of their walls is unknown (Paz 1999). Both structures were trapezoidal in plan with prepared floors; the Choquehuanca enclosure was also dis- tinguished by its plastered and painted walls and a


stone-lined niche in the center of its east wall, while Llusco had a stone-lined, stone-capped drainage canal that extended away from its northwest corner. Neither enclosure had evidence of associated aboveground structures, though TAP archaeologists excavated several walls and surfaces just to the east of Choquehuanca. Also, the partially excavated Quispe enclosure had an inner room that appears to have had free-standing walls.

Most members of TAP interpret these structures as public ritual spaces (e.g., Bandy 2001; Hastorf 1999b; Roddick 2002). Choquehuanca and Llusco both had clean, prepared floors, and Llusco had a relatively high frequency of decorated pottery and ceramic trumpet fragments (Paz 1999). Also, Rod- dick (2002) recently completed an attribute analysis of ceramics from the partially excavated Late Chiripa Quispe enclosure, and concludes on the basis of ceramic data that it was probably a locus of specialized ritual activity. However, Mathews (1992) and Albarracin-Jordan (1992, 1996) each excavated a Formative period enclosure in the nearby Tiwanaku Valley (at T'ijini Pata and at Allkamari, respectively), and each suggested that their respective enclosure served communal domestic purposes; Paz (1999) and Dean and Kojan (1999) note that people may also have performed domestic tasks in and around the enclosures at Chiripa. Roddick (2002:47; see also Hastorf 2003) proposes what seems to be a sound interpretation of these structures, referring to Quispe as a "designated serving space" for group gatherings.

Lower House Complex. The term "Lower Houses" refers to the earliest structures yet identified in Chiripa's earthen mound stratigraphy and therefore represents the earliest form of raised public architecture in the Titicaca Basin. Based on excavations conducted by Kidder in 1955 (1956) and TAP in 1996 (Bandy 1999c), there seems to be some variation in the forms of Lower House architecture at Chiripa. Kidder, with his field supervi- sor William Coe, found a pair of Lower House structures, referred to as House Sub-i and House Sub-2, along the west side of the platform. These structures were situated under the famous Upper Houses in the platform's stratigraphy, and a carbon sample from immediately above the original floor surface of House Sub-2 yielded a mean calibrated date of 769 B.C. At the one sigma level, however, this date falls into a broad plateau of the radiocar-

bon calibration curve that produces unusually large error ranges, in this case 809-412 B.C. (Hastorf et al. 1997:61; Whitehead 1999). As the Upper Houses were built about 400 B.C., based on calibrated dates outside this calibration plateau, it is safe to assume that the Lower Houses were buried by the Upper House foundations just prior to 400 B.C. (e.g., Bandy 1999c).

Houses Sub-i and Sub-2 were single-walled and separated from one another, unlike the double- walled, interconnected Upper Houses (Chdivez 1988:23). Both structures were built of cobbles, though it is possible that adobes were also used in their demolished upper courses. Their walls were thick and cobble-faced on the interior and exterior sides, and the space between faces was filled with mud, cobbles, and gravel. Coe found a narrow niche 53 cm long, 35 cm wide, and at least 66 cm high in the northwest corner of House Sub-2; the base of the niche coincided with the structure floor, and both niche and floor were plastered with yellow clay (Chavez 1988:23). Additional niches may have existed within House Sub-2, but Coe exposed less than one-quarter of this structure. No data on the

presence of niches are available for House Sub-1. By the time of Kidder's excavations, this structure had been largely demolished-save for a single wall-by the construction of a tennis court for the neighboring hacienda. Finally, a red clay floor extended at least 4 m east of House Sub-1 (Chaivez 1988:23). As there is little evidence that this floor was part of a sunken court, it was likely an outdoor activity area associated with Lower House structures.

In 1996, TAP cleaned and recorded a 17 m profile along the southern third of the platform's eastern face, and Bandy located and excavated portions of three Formative structures exposed in this profile (Bandy 1999c). As these structures were stratigraphically beneath the Upper Houses, he referred to them as Lower Houses (Bandy 1999c:43), though they exhibited more variation in architectural style than the Lower Houses defined by Kid- der and Coe at Chiripa 1955. Bandy's Lower Houses consisted of three superimposed buildings that calibrated AMS dates indicate were built and demolished during the early Late Chiripa phase, ca. 800-400 B.C. (Bandy 1999c:45). Each of these buildings-ASD-13, ASD-14, and ASD-15 had plastered walls and floors of yellow clay like Kid-

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3

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Figure 4. Hypothetical reconstruction of Upper House complex at Chiripa, with sunken court at center.

der's Lower Houses, but one (ASD-14) had adobe walls with little or no stone (Bandy 1999c:45).

Bandy's Lower Houses were stacked one on top of another-as an old structure was torn down, a new one was built in its place. Also, most of the floors in these buildings were resurfaced multiple times. Bandy notes that before such resurfacings took place, the old floor surface was usually covered by a thin lens of fill on which a fire was kin- dled; he argues that burning events are "elements of a standardized ritual practice associated with the closing, or 'killing,' of an old floor, and the ... opening of another" (Bandy 1999c:45). After the burning event was over, a new yellow clay surface was prepared. This ritual cycle of filling, burning, and reflooring was repeated at least eight times in Bandy's sequence of buildings, suggesting that, at least in this section of the platform, "the Lower

House Level was not constructed in a single, large- scale event [like the Upper Houses], but rather accu- mulated gradually through continuous use" (Bandy 1999c:45). In sum, we understand less about the architecture of the Lower House structures than we do about any of the other types of corporate architecture at Chiripa. This is largely due to the fact that these structures are so deep-often 2 m or more- in the stratigraphy of the mound. What seems clear is that the Lower Houses were all demolished around 400 B.C. to make way for the Upper House complex.

Upper House Complex. The Chiripa mound is best known for its Middle Formative, Upper House structures (400-250 B.C.), a compound of 14 rec- tangular, thatch-roofed buildings with double walls of cobbles and adobes, arranged in a trapezoid around a central sunken courtyard (Figure 4). This


platform complex, first identified by Bennett (1936), has since been excavated or tested by every professional archaeological project at Chiripa (Bandy 1999a, 1999c; Browman 1978; Chaivez 1988; Kidder 1956; Portugal 0. 1992; Portugal Z. 1940). Together, these projects have fully or partially excavated seven of the 14 buildings in the complex. The Upper Houses are characterized by decorative wall painting, prepared clay floors, and between-wall bins that Karen Chavez (1988:19) defined as ritual storage facilities. Access into and within the Upper House complex was controlled on three levels: all buildings shared conjoined walls, and passage into the complex was limited to two openings on the north and south sides; access to individual structures was restricted by stone door sills and small entryways; and access to each interior bin was managed by a small, ornate window (Chavez 1988:20). Narrow slots in the door of each structure indicate the use of sliding doors to further manage entry and exit.

Bennett (1936:428,432-433) excavated 13 burials under the central floor of the large corner structure designated House 2; no burials, however, were located under the floor of the side structure, House 1 (1936:426). Most House 2 burials (n = 8) were pits marked by stone lining, stone covering, or both. Significantly, seven of these stone-marked graves were associated with children or infants; five adult graves in the structure lacked any form of stone lining or covering. While gold, copper, lapis, and shell goods were found in several of these graves, only one adult burial-the central interment in the structure and the only adult with a stone-marked pit- had such elaborate, nonlocal materials. These House 2 data indicate that children and infants in the structures often received different mortuary treatment than adults. Disarticulated adult human skeletal remains are quite common in the Upper House-level fills (Bennett 1936), suggesting that at least some adult remains were preserved in aboveground contexts, perhaps as bundles (Hastorf 2003). Bandy (2001:133) suggests that each structure was linked to a different constituent group, and that variability in grave goods from different structures may indicate status differentiation.

Fire destroyed the Upper House complex in approximately 250 B.C., but it is unclear whether this event was a ritual act similar to the burning events between Lower House floors (Bandy 1999c),

or whether it was a violent act linked to the emergence of Kala Uyuni, a site on the southwest edge of the Taraco Peninsula that grew to 15 ha during the Late Formative period (Bandy 2001:162). Shortly after this episode, Chiripa's platform was enlarged into an actual mound faced with cut stone, and a large sunken court of imported stone was built in its center. Bandy (2001:118) suggests that the burning of the Upper Houses signaled the end of the Middle Formative on the Taraco Peninsula

Middle Formative Architecture at Alto Pukara

The site of Alto Pukara, measuring 3.25 ha and located about 4 km east of Chiripa (Figure 5), offers an important opportunity to study changes in the scale of Formative ritual and political institutions. The Alto Pukara platform is smaller than Chiripa's mound, measuring 33 m east-west by 30 m north- south and rising to a maximum height of about 3 m above the surrounding terraces. Excavations conducted at Alto Pukara in 2000 and 2001 exposed 72 m2 of its earthen platform (Figure 6).

The excavations at Alto Pukara (Figure 7) revealed a modest ritual facility consisting of two well-preserved chambers located on opposite sides of the platform on the same north-south axis. These excavations indicate that the platform itself was originally characterized by a split-level construction, with the southern chamber, Structure 1, occu- pying an upper terrace approximately 60 cm higher than the northern, lower terrace upon which Struc- ture 2 was built. An associated outdoor activity area, on the upper terrace just north of Structure 1, was marked by several superimposed red clay floors. Unlike the Chiripa mound, which saw heavy use during Tiwanaku times, the Alto Pukara platform is largely undisturbed by post-Formative deposits. On the basis of architectural style and contemporaneous AMS dates (Table 1), I suggest that the Alto Pukara structures are of the same regional tradition as the Lower Houses at Chiripa. As less is known of Chiripa's Lower Houses than any of the other major types of ritual architecture at that site, I provide here a detailed description of the Lower House-style complex at Alto Pukara.

Lower House-Style Complex. Structure 1 (Fig- ure 8), located on the southern side of the platform, measured 5.2 m north-south by 4.2 m east-west, and was oriented 10? east of magnetic north-the same approximate orientation as the broad terraces

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Figure 9. Plan view, Structure 2 (ASD 6) and associated contexts, Alto Pukara.

that surround the platform. Its walls were single- course and cobble-faced on both the interior and exterior sides, and the space between facings was filled with mud, gravel, and cobbles. The walls were quite thick, averaging 80 cm, and were preserved to a height of 85 cm. A 90-cm-wide doorway was located in the east wall, slightly off-center to the south. Structure I had two niches, one in each comer of the west wall, opposite the door; at least one, and probably both, extended down to the floor of the structure.

Structure 2 (Figure 9), on the platform's north side, measured 5.4 m north-south by 4.8 m east- west. While we defined all four walls of Structure 1, we only defined two walls and three corners of Structure 2; these excavations were sufficient, however, to estimate the building's overall size. The walls of Structure 2 were oriented precisely to the cardinal directions, but otherwise showed an architectural style nearly identical to that of Structure 1: a single-wall construction with corner niches that extended down to the floor of the structure; cobble-faced interior and exterior sides; a 90-cm-wide

entryway placed slightly off-center to the south; and walls that averaged 80 cm in thickness. The walls of Structure 2 were preserved to a height of 110 cm. Structures 1 and 2 thus seem to be contemporaneous, chamber-style structures built to similar architectural specifications and according to the same techniques, but with variability in both niche location and doorway placement.

Excavations inside and immediately outside the

entryway area of Structure 1 revealed a sequence of four well-prepared brown clay floors or resur-

facings (Figure 10, from earliest to latest, exterior/interior: A-123/A-128; A-118/A-126; A-46/A-47; A-33/A-34). Outside the entrance, these surfaces sloped down sharply to the east-- further evidence of the upper terrace upon which Structure 1 stood. The earliest entry associated with this building proved to be its most complex and

well-prepared surface, consisting of a 10-cm-high cobble threshold in the doorway (Figure 10:A-122), a cobble sill that rose 15 cm above the threshold to demarcate interior and exterior space (Figure 10:A- 121), and a densely graveled approach to the door


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Figure 10. South wall profile, Structure 1 (ASD 2) entryway, Alto Pukara.

(Figure 10:A-123). Structure 2 also had a cobble threshold in its doorway and a graveled approach to the door, but unlike Structure 1, it was never resurfaced.

When Structure l's original entryway was resurfaced, the new floor buried the cobble threshold under clean brown clay (Figure 10:A-1 18), but continued to use the same sill. Later, before the second floor was resurfaced, a red sandstone grinding slab fragment was placed on it immediately between the two edges of the doorway (Figure 11:A-116); this slab was surrounded by red pigment. At Chiripa, grinding slabs were often used as burial capstones (Blom and Bandy 1999), and I suggest that this slab placed in the entry of Struc- ture 1 represents the ritual burial of the second floor prior to resurfacing. The third surface outside Struc- ture 1 (Figure 10:A-46) was also marked by a graveled approach to the entry, as well as preserved patches of a yellow wash over the brown clay floor. Unlike the earlier entryways associated with Struc- ture 1, this third entry made no material break between interior and exterior space; rather, there was a continuous surface that sloped upward from the exterior to the interior of the building. The final floor surface (Figure 10:A-33) also lacked a clear distinction between interior and exterior space. We recovered few artifacts from these floors and their associated organic deposits, suggesting that a limited range of activities took place within the structure.

Excavations in the interior northeast corner of Structure 1 revealed a large oval fire basin measuring 1.3 m north-south by 80 cm east-west (Fig- ure 8:A-32). Although we lacked sufficient time to completely excavate this feature during the 2001

field season, very few artifacts were associated with its ashy and heavily fired lenses. We did recover burned fish bones from flotation samples, but there were less than 15 mg of quinoa seeds and seed

fragments in the 20 liters of floated soil. We exposed the southeast corner of an earlier fire basin under A-32, suggesting that performances involving fire took place in the structure throughout its use-his-

tory. Ash deposits were not restricted to the basins, but were also found on the surrounding floor surfaces. If the basins were used to consume burnt

offerings, then it is possible that ritual specialists used the floor surfaces for similar kinds of activities. Bonnier (1997:127) provides such an inter-

pretation of ash deposits on the floors of Mito-style chambers in the Central Highlands of Perui.

Stratigraphic data indicate that Structure 1's ritual use life ended with a sequence of intentional

closing events. Following a final burning event that

produced a large quantity of ash and burned soil in the structure's northeast corner, the fire basin was

deliberately capped with a small pile of cobbles. Next, a layer of soil was spread across the interior floor surface, probably to protect the floor, after which the building was filled with a thick layer of cobbles (Figure 10:A- 15). Much of this fill derived from people intentionally pushing the upper walls of the building inward, then spreading the result-

ing rubble across the protective layer of soil. There is no evidence of roof fall or burned roofing debris in this event sequence, suggesting that the roof was

intentionally dismantled prior to the capping of the floor. I suggest that this sequence of events represents the ritual entombment of Structure l's final surface, much the same as the ritual practice of

temple entombment associated with Mito-style

REPORTS 335

A-128

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ASDA-116 -2 ASD 2 (A-73)

A-1 16 ASD 2

A-122

not excavated to floors o A-123

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Figure 11. Plan view, Structure 1 (ASD 2) entryway, Alto Pukara.

chambers in the central highlands of Perni (Bonnier 1997:138-139; Izumi and Terada 1972:100). We do not yet have sufficient data to describe the full sequence of Structure 2's ritual closing, but it was also filled with cobbles that probably derived from the dismantling of its upper walls.

Excavations in the area north of Structure 1 revealed an outdoor zone characterized by a series of superimposed red clay floors. Like the floors associated with the entryway area of Structure 1, these red floors were also covered by organic lenses containing few artifacts.

One of the most important features excavated in this area was a slab-covered burial placed at the

northwest corner of Structure 1 (Figure 12). The stone slab covering this burial, like the fire basin in Structure 1, was capped by a pile of unmodified cobbles. Significantly, the red sandstone slab was placed at an azimuth of approximately 280 degrees, the same orientation as Structure 1. This shared orientation, together with their close proximity, indicates a clear association between Structure 1 and Burial 1. Lifting the stone revealed an organic material, possibly reed matting, that covered a single adult, sex indeterminate, placed in a shallow pit. The bones of the skull, including the mandible, were covered with a powdered red pigment, probably ground hematite, and the only artifact included


280?

azimuth

20 cm

bone powder

( -

crushed bone red pigment

20 cm

Figure 12. Top: Plan view, Burial 1 slab (A-38); Bottom: Burial 1 pit and cut (A-39/40), Alto Pukara.

in the burial was a red-painted but otherwise unmodified flat cobble placed over the skull. Based on the condition of the skeleton-which mainly consisted of the long bones, the cranium, and the mandible-and the fact that pigment had been applied directly to the bones, I suggest that this was a secondary burial, perhaps of an important person associated with Structure 1.

Charred Chenopodium sp. seeds from the earliest organic deposits (Figure 10:A-120) outside the entryway of Structure 1 yielded a mean cali-

brated date of 789 B.C., with a one sigma range of 798-672 B.C. (Table 1). Seeds from the fire basin

(Figure 8:A-32) in the northeast comer of Struc- ture 1 yielded a mean calibrated date of 447 B.C., as did seeds from the layer of protective soil over the final floor. While both of these later samples fall into the wide carbon plateau at the one sigma level (Whitehead 1999), from about 760-405 B.C., it is clear that the building was closed prior to 400 B.C. A fourth date came from wood charcoal on the second of three red clay floors in the area north of Structure 1, and yielded a mean calibrated date of 613 B.C. (Table 1), but its one sigma range also falls within the carbon plateau. Chenopod seeds from fill outside the doorway of Structure 2 yielded a mean calibrated date of 637 B.C. In sum, Alto Pukara's platform architecture was built near the

very beginning of the Late Chiripa phase, ca. 800 B.C., and was probably closed between 450-400 B.C.

I suggest that Structures 1 and 2 at Alto Pukara are of the same architectural style as the Lower Houses Kidder (1956) and Coe (Chavez 1988) excavated at Chiripa in 1955; they also are similar to the structures TAP exposed in profile in 1996. Like the Lower Houses, Alto Pukara Structures 1 and 2 were single-walled, lacked storage bins, and were separated from one another, unlike the double-walled, interconnected Upper House structures. At both sites, this style of architecture was marked

by thick walls, cobble-faced on both the interior and exterior, with the space between faces filled with mud, cobbles, and gravel. The burning events that

accompanied resurfacing episodes in Bandy's Lower Houses are likewise mirrored in the final

burning event that preceded Structure l's ritual burial at Alto Pukara. More striking, the narrow niche in Coe's House Sub-2 exhibits the same architectural style as the niches defined in Alto Pukara Structures 1 and 2. The red clay surface Coe

exposed east of House Sub- 1 at Chiripa is also very similar to the red patios we identified north of Struc- ture 1 at Alto Pukara. Perhaps most compelling are the radiocarbon dates, which indicate contempo- raneity between Chiripa's Lower House Level and the platform complex at Alto Pukara. I suggest that this is the earliest known regional style of platform architecture in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, though its distribution may have been restricted to the Taraco Peninsula.

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Table 1. Alto Pukara AMS Samples.

Mean Calibrated 1-sigma 2-sigma Radiocarbon Standard

Lab No. Age range range Age Error 613C Material

Structure 1 (ASD 2) and associated contexts AA48010 447 B.C. 763-402 B.C. 796-386 B.C. 2463 75 -23.2 Chenopodium sp. AA48009 447 B.C. 758-407 B.C. 763-401 B.C. 2461 37 -24.2 Chenopodium sp. AA48007 613 B.C. 763-407 B.C. 793-398 B.C. 2480 59 -28.2 wood charcoal AA48008 1760 B.C. 1882-1689 B.C. 1950-1619 B.C. 3495 68 -24.5 Chenopodium sp. AA48011 789 B.C. 798-672 B.C. 805-542 B.C. 2583 41 -23.2 Chenopodium sp.

Structure 2 (ASD 6) and associated contexts AA54256 637 B.C. 777-414 B.C. 795-405 B.C. 2486 48 -19.1 Chenopodium sp. Note: All samples arranged stratigraphically within structures and associated contexts. All samples prepared at the University of Arizona's NSF AMS Facility. All calibrations performed with Calib rev. 4.3 (Stuiver and Reimer 1993).

A Regional Approach to Middle Formative Architecture

I have described three types of Middle Formative public architecture on the Taraco Peninsula: off- mound sunken enclosures at Chiripa; the Lower House-style structures at Chiripa and Alto Pukara; and the Upper House complex at Chiripa. These architectural forms follow a clear chronological sequence, with the sunken enclosures appearing first, followed by the Lower House-style platform structures, and finally by the Upper House complex (Hastorf 2003). I will turn now to consider these structures and their sequence in reference to the six variables (Moore 1996) outlined at the beginning of this article. This analysis addresses whether Chiripa's architectural elaboration correlates with increased regional centralization, or whether sites such as Alto Pukara display similar patterns of increasing formalization.

Centrality. Off-mound sunken enclosures excavated at Chiripa exhibit low settlement centrality. Although each of these structures may have been central with respect to the living space of a partic- ular corporate group (e.g., Dean and Kojan 1999), they exhibit low centrality with respect to the settlement as a whole. The construction of an earthen platform therefore seems to have been a pivotal event in the history of Middle Formative settlements, indicating both substantially greater demands on labor and the intensified social negotiations required to build a large-scale facility in communal space. Bandy's (2001) recent settlement survey of the Taraco Peninsula has documented evidence of these platforms at no fewer than eight

sites with major Middle Formative components, and in each case the platform sits near the highest part of the site; as previously noted, such platforms visually dominated their communities. In this respect, both kinds of platform architecture identified at Chiripa and at Alto Pukara-the Lower House-style structures and the Upper Houses- exhibit greater centrality than off-mound sunken enclosures like Choquehuanca and Llusco. There is thus a trend toward greater centrality in public constructions over the course of the Middle For- mative period.

Permanence. All three forms of public architecture reported in Middle Formative contexts exhibit a high degree of permanence and were probably multigenerational structures, to use Moore's (1996:139) term, though the platform architecture exhibits greater permanence than the off-mound sunken enclosures. Each sunken enclosure at Chiripa, while lined with stone and clearly intended for long-term use, was filled with midden debris after its abandonment. Once filled, these enclosures would no longer have had as visible a role in the everyday lives of the people who continued to live around them, nor would they have played as significant a role as platforms in long-term social relationships and negotiations among the various constituencies that made up these settlements. Plat- forms, unlike enclosures, tended to become per- manent parts of the social landscape, once constructed, and subsequent alterations to their form and content would have required further labor investment and widespread social consent. Plat- form construction transformed the nature of architectural permanence along the Taraco Peninsula,


and even today, most of these platforms remain highly visible, named points of reference on the local landscape (Bandy 2001).

Accessibility. The sunken enclosures at Chiripa appear to have had few architectural impediments to access, particularly within the structures, though social restrictions on use and access almost certainly existed. No clear entryway has been identified in the Choquehuanca enclosure, but Paz (1999) suggests that Llusco was entered by way of a narrow access in the northwest corner, alongside the drainage canal. Neither enclosure exhibits evidence of internal partitioning, save for the niche in the eastern corner of Choquehuanca, but even this feature has no surviving architectural impediments to access. A small stone building may have stood on the interior surface of the Quispe enclosure (Rod- dick 2002), but it is not sufficiently intact to deter- mine its accessibility.

Use of access patterns to control movement into and within public spaces developed dramatically with the construction of earthen platforms and their associated ritual complexes. One could only approach the Lower House-style buildings at Alto Pukara and Chiripa by first climbing their respective platforms. People entered the Alto Pukara buildings by approaching (probably single-file) along a graveled surface to the entryway, stepping up onto a threshold in the doorway, then stepping over a cobblestone sill and down to the interior surface of the building. The corner niches within these structures exhibited no architectural restrictions on access, however, and in this regard they are similar to the niche that TAP excavated in the Choque- huanca enclosure. Coe's excavations within House Sub-2 at Chiripa suggest a similar partitioning of interior space, and the corner niche that he excavated exhibited no physical evidence of restricted access.

Architectural control over access to public space reached its height (i.e., accessibility reached its nadir) with the construction of the monumental Upper House complex. As already discussed, access into and within this complex was controlled on three levels: access to the complex, access to the structures, and access to the bins in each structure. There was a total of 14 Upper House structures: each of the six structures on the east and west sides of the compound, and all four of the larger corner structures, shared their side walls with adjoining

buildings; the four structures on the north and south sides of the platform shared only one wall with an

adjoining corner structure (Figure 4). This organization permitted only two entries into the com-

pound, one each on the north and south sides of the

platform. Access to each building was restricted by stone door sills and small doorways that were almost certainly derived from Lower House-style entryways such as those at Alto Pukara. A narrow slot in the entry of each structure suggests that slid-

ing doors were also used to control access. Finally, a small ornate window managed access to each interior bin. In sum, the relative accessibility of

public space decreased through Middle Formative times, as use of access patterns created ever more restricted areas in the architecture of this period.

Visibility. Although public architecture became

progressively more visible during the Middle For- mative period, the ritual activities performed within became progressively less visible and an inverse

relationship emerged. I suggest an analytical distinction between a structure's architectural visibil-

ity and the associated visibility of performance. Sunken enclosures, for example, were marked by low architectural visibility from even relatively nearby sectors of their settlements. Any performance taking place within an enclosure, however, would have had high visibility both for persons viewing from inside the structure and for those

watching from nearby. Again, it is safe to assume that there were social restrictions on the proper use of enclosures, but there seems to have been little effort either to make such architecture highly visible or to restrict visibility of associated performances and activities.

The platform architecture at Chiripa and Alto Pukara exhibits both high architectural visibility and low visibility of performance. As architectural

partitions within both the Lower House-style and

Upper House complexes created ever more limita- tions on accessibility, they also decreased the vis-

ibility of any activities performed inside. Only persons standing on top of platforms could have witnessed performances taking place on the red patios associated with Structure 1 at Alto Pukara and House Sub-2 at Chiripa, and only those persons actually inside the buildings or standing just outside their doorways would have been able to witness performances taking place within the structures. The Upper House complex created additional

REPORTS 339

restrictions on the visibility of interior activities, while at the same time providing increased visibility for the platform's public architecture. In sum, as corporate architecture came to dominate the visible surroundings of people living in these early villages, greater restrictions emerged with respect to the visibility of activities taking place inside these complexes. Like Hastorf (2003), I suggest that fewer people had sanction to witness and partici- pate in ritual events performed atop the platforms than participated in such activities within the enclosures. Likewise, I suggest that fewer people had sanction to view ritual activities inside the platform buildings than had access to their associated outdoor patios or sunken courts.

Scale. By any standard of measurement, the scale of corporate architecture increased during the Middle Formative period. Not only did the people of these villages construct ever larger and more elaborate monuments, but they also pooled their labor into projects that were progressively more unified. The sequence of Middle Formative public architecture along the Taraco Peninsula, from off- mound sunken enclosures to the Upper House complex, indicates both an increased labor investment in corporate projects and a more tightly focused-- perhaps even centralized-administration of that labor. Any of the sunken enclosures at Chiripa probably could have been built over a period of several weeks by an extended household or family group, working with little or no input from other corporate groups. Platform construction required both labor investment and social consent beyond that available to any single constituent group, but Lower House-style buildings on top of the initial platform stages could have been constructed by their immediate constituencies, with architectural style arrived at by ritual mandate and general consensus. Sub- sequent alterations to an individual structure probably would not have required labor beyond that available to its immediate constituency.

The Upper House complex poses a different problem. Because each structure within the complex shared at least one wall with an adjoining structure, the complex must have been constructed as a single unit. While Lower House-style structures at Alto Pukara and Chiripa could have been built by work groups laboring independently of one another, construction of the Upper House complex required close cooperation between workers

laboring on adjoining structures. All Upper Houses also exhibit nearly identical partitioning of their interior spaces, unlike the Lower House-style structures that exhibit greater internal variability. Fur- thermore, subsequent alteration to any Upper House building-particularly to the exterior (e.g., painting walls and resurfacing floors)-probably would have impinged upon adjoining structures; thus, any material alterations would likely have involved multiple structures. Taken together, these details strongly suggest that the planning, construction, and maintenance of the Upper House

compound required labor organization on a scale

significantly more concerted and centralized than that required for earlier public facilities.

Ubiquity. It is difficult to assess the ubiquity of off-mound sunken enclosures along the Taraco

Peninsula-archaeologists have, as yet, only excavated such structures at Chiripa. It is reasonable to

suggest, however, that sunken enclosures display a high degree of ubiquity both within and between

villages. Four enclosures have been identified and

fully or partially defined at Chiripa: Choquehuanca, Llusco, Quispe, and Alejo (Bandy 2001; Hastorf, ed. 1999; Paz 1999; Roddick 2002:5-6). While it is clear that Choquehuanca, which dates to the Mid- dle Chiripa phase, was abandoned before the others were built, Llusco, Quispe, and Alejo all date to Late Chiripa times and may have been fully or

partially contemporary with each other and with the construction and use of the Lower House platform architecture. Thus, multiple off-mound enclosures

may have been in use simultaneously by different

groups at this site during the Late Chiripa phase (Hastorf 2003). It is also highly likely that this form of architecture was ubiquitous at the wider scale of the Taraco Peninsula. As noted, for example, Math- ews (1992) and Albarracin-Jordan (1992, 1996) each excavated a Formative enclosure at roughly contemporaneous sites in the Tiwanaku Valley; Bandy (2001), using evidence such as surface

topography, standing stone sculpture, and preserved stone facing, has now identified possible enclosures at other sites on the Taraco Peninsula. In sum, each Middle Formative village on the Taraco Penin- sula likely had at least one, and perhaps several, off-mound enclosures, with each contemporaneous enclosure probably serving a distinct constituent group.

Bandy's (2001) settlement survey indicates that


earthen platforms mark most Middle Formative settlements along the Taraco Peninsula. As I have noted, Alto Pukara measured 3.25 ha at this time, making it one of the smallest such villages along the peninsula. Chiripa, which grew to 7.5 ha during this same period, was one of four evenly spaced settlements that measured at least 6.5 ha. Alto Pukara and Chiripa both have platforms, and both have Lower House-style architecture dating to the early Late Chiripa phase, 800-400 B.C. This suggests that most villages on the Taraco Peninsula, large and small, built Lower House-style platform architecture near the beginning of the Middle For- mative period. Around 400 B.C., people at Alto Pukara ritually closed and buried their Lower House-style platform structures. Chiripa's Lower House structures were demolished at about the same time, then buried underneath the Upper House compound. Significantly, nothing comparable to the Upper House complex was ever constructed on the Alto Pukara platform, which saw relatively little use after the burial of its Structures 1 and 2. Thus, the Upper House complex at Chiripa represents an architectural style that clearly was not ubiquitous at every village along the Taraco Peninsula. Fur- thermore, smaller villages near Chiripa, such as Alto Pukara, retired their own platform architecture when the Upper House complex was built.

Conclusions

Throughout the Formative period, public architecture on the Taraco Peninsula came to exhibit greater degrees of architectural centrality, permanence, scale, and visibility. During this same time, architectural accessibility, visibility of performance, and ubiquity all decreased. This pattern, I suggest, is associated with a trend from architectural spaces intended for public, open performances to spaces intended for restricted, closed events. The breach between the more open and more restricted kinds of architectural space emerged following the construction of the first platform complexes near the

beginning of Middle Formative times. Off-mound sunken enclosures at Chiripa are the best cases of the former open arrangements, but the larger, more restricted platform complexes did retain some relatively open architectural spaces, such as the patio surfaces outside Lower House-style architecture at Alto Pukara and Chiripa, and the sunken court in

the center of the Upper House complex. The small, closed chambers built atop these platforms, however, restricted both the number of ritual partici- pants and the size of any audience.

At the same time that many people were likely denied access to the innermost sanctums, ritual architecture came to dominate the landscape of

everyday village life. Analysis suggests that as such architecture commanded the spatial organization and visual geography of each settlement, fewer vil-

lagers actually had access to this realm of ritual

activity. In sum, this architectural analysis indicates increasing status differentiation on the Mid- dle Formative Taraco Peninsula, both within and between settlements.

Bandy (2001) suggests that, prior to 800 B.C., new villages along the Taraco Peninsula were founded as old ones fissioned. By the beginning of Middle Formative times, however, the Taraco Peninsula had filled, and fissioning was no longer as feasible or attractive a strategy for dealing with intra-settlement conflict and stress. At this time vil-

lagers began to build the first platform complexes that served as foci for communal ritual; that is, each

village seems to have been ritually and politically autonomous. I suggest that these early platform complexes formally materialized social relation-

ships among different intra-village constituencies, marking the birth of a novel institution, the Mid- dle Formative community. Platform construction seems to have been associated with scalar stress

(Bandy 2001), both between neighboring villages and between different constituencies in the same settlement. Platforms and their ideologies offered

villagers a novel means of reconciling the antagonisms that reared up among neighbors, particularly antagonisms associated with use-rights to the lakeshore's suddenly finite-and undoubtedly con- tested-lacustrine resources and agricultural zones.

Around 400 B.C., the platform chambers at Alto Pukara were ritually closed, and those at Chiripa were buried beneath a new style of platform architecture, the Upper Houses. Although there are cer-

tainly architectural continuities from the earlier chambers to the new complex, it is clear that the construction of this eight-sided facility, with a sunken court and 14 inter-connected rooms, represents a greater degree of architectural and social elaboration. It is also significant that the villagers of Alto Pukara built no analogue to the Upper

REPORTS 341

House complex atop their own platform. I suggest that by about 400 B.C., Chiripa's leaders had for- malized ritual and political relations among communities on this section of the Taraco Peninsula (Bandy 2001:156). This process culminated with the construction of the Upper House complex and, perhaps, with the peninsula's earliest identified multicommunity institution. The orderly and care- ful entombment of Structure 1 at Alto Pukara suggests that the events associated with this consolidation were persuasive rather than coercive. It seems likely, too, that Upper House-style complexes were not restricted to Chiripa, but rather that each of the four larger sites from this time may have had monumental compounds similar to that built atop Chiripa's platform. Any ritual and political authority exerted by Chiripa was probably limited to the smaller villages in its immediate vicinity, such as Alto Pukara.

I suggest that two architectural developments- the initial spread of earthen platforms and the construction of the Upper Houses-each heralded institutional transformations in the nature of Mid- dle Formative society. If platform complexes emerged after the peninsula had gradually filled with closely spaced villages, hindering factional cleavage and the founding of new settlements, then the expansion of large villages such as Chiripa may have been linked to another important change along the peninsula. Around 450 B.C., lake levels in the southern Titicaca Basin fell to some 16-18 m below their modern average, with the result that the relatively shallow southern portion of the lake, Lake Wifiaymarka, became almost completely dry at this time (Abbott et al. 1997:179; Bandy 2001: 136-140). Soon thereafter, the Upper Houses replaced Lower House-style architecture at Chiripa, and the platform architecture at Alto Pukara was ritually sealed. Bandy (2001:137-140) suggests that this drying of the lake would have radically altered the subsistence and political economies of sites on the peninsula, reducing opportunities for fishing, opening new grazing lands on areas previously inundated by the lake, and creating new opportunities for inter-regional exchange. Although it remains to be seen which of these, or other, chal- lenges proved most important to the development of regional institutions after 450 B.C., this development clearly reorganized the ritual world of villagers living along the Taraco Peninsula. Like the

emergence of formal communities around 800 B.C., it too brought about a major reorganization of public ritual space.

Acknowledgments. I would like to thank James Brown, Timothy Earle, Christine Hastorf, Matthew Bandy, William Isbell, Suzanne Fish, Andrew Roddick, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on early drafts of this article. The Alto Pukara excavations were only possible because of the generosity of the Taraco Archaeological Project; I am very grateful to Christine Hastorf and Matthew Bandy for their advice, help, and encouragement through all phases of my work; to William Whitehead, Maria Bruno, and Andrew Roddick for their help in the field; and to Lee Steadman and Katherine Moore for advice on ceramic and faunal analysis. Thanks to Victor Plaza Martinez, my representative from the Unidad Nacional de Arqueologia de Bolivia, for his skill and friendship, and to Elizabeth Klarich for all of her help, patience, and perspective. Thanks also to my excavation and flotation maestros: Facundo Llusco, Felipe "Papi" Choque, Franz Choque, Alejandro Quispe, Alfredo Quispe, Victor Tarqui, Faustino Quispe, Felipe Quispe, Timoteo Lacofiia, and Genero Calisaya, and to the people of Kala Kala and Chiripa. Pedro Diaz del Rio translated the abstract into Spanish. Excavations at Alto Pukara and subsequent analy- ses were funded by the National Science Foundation (Dissertation Improvement Grant BCS-0002438), the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Gr. 6652), The Graduate School of Northwestern University, and Northwestern University's Friends of Anthropology.

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Received June 31, 2003; Accepted October 13, 2003; Revised February 27, 2004.

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