Archaeology is experiencing a revival of interest in the role that interaction between societies may play
in sociopolitical evolution. Increasingly, scholars are recognizing that linkages between societies consist of
more than simple acquisition of resources and are studying the linkages in broader frameworks of political
economy and ideology. As the focus of interaction studies in many parts of the world has shifted from the
complex societies in the core to the less complex societies on their periphery, attention has turned to the effects
of center-periphery interaction on the peripheral populations (Blanton and Feinman 1984; Kohl 1987;
Shortmann and Urban 1987; Champion 1989; Chasse-Dunn and Hall 1991).
A basic assumption of many intersocietal interaction models is that interaction has significant effects
on the operation and organization of peripheral societies. It is argued that societies, in general, cannot be treated
as isolated entities with evolutionary trajectories unaffected by developments in other regions (Steponaitis
1991:194). Interaction between a prehistoric political capital and an outlying population may take many forms,
ranging from political domination by the stronger polity (through direct rule or client elites), to economic
mutualism or simple exchange. Scholars have suggested interaction itself as a causal agent for political and
economic development (Shortmann and Urban 1987; Steponaitis 1991) in the less complex society, leading to
an increase in political centralization, to political tribalization, and to shifts in economic specialization in the
peripheral society (Hassig 1985; Haselgrove 1987; Smith 1992; Stark 1990; Smith and Berdan 1992).
The proposed research will test five general hypothesis relating to center-periphery relationships by
studying interaction between the little studied prehispanic sierra/lowland populations of the Cochabamba
Valleys and the Tiwanaku state. These hypotheses will be tested by exploring diachronically the shifts in
settlement location, adaptation to subsistence resources, and overall regional political organization associated
with the appearance of Tiwanaku-style materials (ca. AD 500-700) in two ecologically contrasting regions of
Cochabamba.
While the development and operation of largest prehispanic civilizations is relatively well understood,
comparatively little is known of the consequences of interaction with these polities on outlying populations.
Research has focused on the regional strategies of the larger polities rather than their effects on the local
political and economic organization. Traditional archaeological approaches to the Tiwanaku polity are an
example of this orientation. Studies of Tiwanaku as a regional polity have largely been undertaken from the
perspective of Tiwanaku. To date these studies have been unproductive in the understanding of the nature of
Tiwanaku regional integration. They have concentrated on identifying the mechanisms of Tiwanaku control
as a part of the overall dominant strategy of a large-scale polity, and as a result, they have failed to address
the effects generated by political and economical interaction in less complex peripheral populations.
Center-periphery constructs provide powerful analytical tools for gaining new insights into the
Tiwanaku-Cochabamba relationship. At the same time, analysis of prehispanic Tiwanaku-Cochabamba
interaction will permit the refining of center-periphery constructs as predictive, explanatory models, as well
as identifying key variables in intersocietal interaction.
2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON THE EXPANSION OF THE TIWANAKU POLITY
The Tiwanaku polity dominated the South-Central Andes between ca. AD 400-1200 (Kolata 1987).
The capital site --Tiwanaku-- located on the south of Lake Titicaca in present day Bolivia, covered at its height
400 ha., with extensive monumental architecture (Bennett 1936; Ponce 1972, 1989) and a residential
population of 20-40,000. The urban concentration in the Tiwanaku core area was supported by extensive
agricultural production of highland tubers and grains in massive raised field systems (Kolata 1986, 1989).
Survey of the Tiwanaku Valley has revealed a four-tier settlement hierarchy, pattern indicative of state-directed
efforts at agricultural intensification and centralized political control (Albarracin-Jordan and Mathews 1990).
The core of the Tiwanaku polity was delimited by a set of secondary sites (e.g., Lukurmata, Pajchiri, Khonko,
Wankani) near the capital. Each of these sites contain lesser amounts of Tiwanaku-style public architecture,
including semi-subterranean temples and enclosures (Goldstein 1989; Bermann 1990; Stanish and de la Vega
n.d.).
Pottery and other objects in the distinctive Tiwanaku-style are widely distributed throughout the South-
Central Andes, from the southern coastal valleys of Peru and Chile to the lowland eastern slopes of the Andes.
The distribution of Tiwanaku-style artifacts exhibits a great deal of variation, with different types and
quantities of Tiwanaku-style materials occurring in different regions. The mechanisms that lead to this
distribution of Tiwanaku-style artifacts, and the wide regional variation, has long been the subject of intense
debate (Serracino 1980; Browman 1980; Mu¤oz 1983; Oakland 1985; Bermann 1990; Stanish 1992).
Four general explanations have proposed to account for the distribution of Tiwanaku style materials
in particular regions. The first explanation presents the distribution of artifacts as a result of Tiwanaku imperial
expansion outside the Titicaca Basin with colonies and conquest aimed at lowland resource extraction (Ponce
1972; Moseley et al. 1991; Cespedes 1992, pers.comm.) A second scenario proposes the growth of an
archipelago system where discontinuous territorial niches were exploited through placed colonies (Mujica 1985;
Kolata 1987; Berenguer and Dauelsberg 1989; Goldstein 1989, 1990). The third hypothesis is that Tiwanaku-
style materials spread through an altiplano or commercial mode mechanism in which Tiwanaku at head of a
trading network linked through camelid caravans (Nu¤ez and Dillehay 1979; Browman 1980, 1984; Lynch
1983, 1988). Finally, the fourth hypothesis views Tiwanaku expansion as purely ideological and/or ritual in
natures devoid of political control or colonization (Browman 1978; Wallace 1989; Kolata 1992). Based on
these particular explanations, some scholars (Berenguer et al. 1980; Byrne 1984; Browman 1985; Mujica
1988) have proposed combinations of parallel and/or sequential mechanisms used by Tiwanaku in distinct
regions, such as the "altiplanic pattern" (Mujica 1988:101-107).
Two of the above explanations have already been advanced to interpret the relations between the
Tiwanaku polity and the indigenous populations of Cochabamba: (1) that the Cochabamba region was
integrated into the Tiwanaku system through long-distance networks (Browman 1980), with Tiwanaku
materials entering the Cochabamba Valleys through pre-existing trade networks; and (2) that the Cochabamba
was colonized by Tiwanaku settlers. This hypothesis is based on comparison of Cochabamba Tiwanaku-style
artifact assemblages with possible Tiwanaku colonies in Moquegua, Peru (Goldstein 1990). Neither scenario
has been tested archaeologically.
Traditional approaches to interpreting Tiwanaku materials outside the Tiwanaku core area have also
generally been concerned with studying only Tiwanaku-style artifact distribution in order to reconstruct
Tiwanaku state strategies (Stanish 1992). There has been to date little concern with the effects of interaction
on local populations, or with viewing interaction with Tiwanaku in a local historical context. Traditional
approaches to understanding the regions distribution of Tiwanaku-style artifacts need to be complemented by
diachronic approaches that relate interaction to local political strategies of emergent elites and economic
processes.
3. THE COCHABAMBA RESEARCH AREA
The Cochabamba Valleys, situated 400 km southeast of Tiwanaku, are located on the subtropical
eastern slopes of the Bolivian Andes at an average elevation of 2700 m.s.l. They extend from west to east, over
an area of approximately 2500 kmý (Figure 1).
The Cochabamba region provides the ideal setting in which to address issues relating to center-
periphery interaction for several reasons: (1) ethnohistoric sources show that the region was actively exploited
by highland polities, such as the Aymara kingdoms, and the Inca empire, in late prehispanic times (Murra
1975; 1985a, 1985b; Wachtel 1982); (2) it is an area where a highly complex polity (Tiwanaku) would have
been interacting with less complex peripheral societies; and (3) it has long been assumed based on ethnohistoric
analogy that Cochabamba was somehow incorporated in the Tiwanaku politico-economic system (Goldstein
1989).
3.1 Cochabamba Prehistory
There has been little systematic archaeological research in Cochabamba. Several local ceramic styles
have been identified for the Formative period (Ryd‚n 1952, 1961; Byrne 1964; Brockington et al. 1985, 1986,
n.d.; Brockington and Sanzetenea 1989; see Table 1) but the chronological and geographic relationships
between these styles and subsequent traditions remain unclear. In the following period, the Tupuraya tradition
in the Central Valley (Ryd‚n 1959; Ibarra 1971), the Mojocoya tradition in the Mizque valley, the Omereque
Polychrome tradition in the Aiquile area (Anderson, pers.comm. 1992) and the two local Tiwanaku phases,
Illataco and Pi¤ami (phases Tiwanaku IV and V of the altiplano, respectively; Cespedes, pers.comm. 1992)
conform the ceramic-style scenario. The interrelationship of these styles (e.g., such as hypothesis of Tupuraya
preceding and influencing Tiwanaku in the region; Mujica, pers.comm. 1993) still need to be clarified. Virtually
nothing is known of the sociopolitical organization in the Valleys in the Formative and subsequent Tiwanaku
period. To date the lack of large centers or evidence of political integration suggests that Cochabamba
populations were organized into simpler societies --egalitarian or simple chiefdoms-- in comparison to highland
developments.
Tiwanaku-style materials have been documented on the surface of sites in many parts of Cochabamba
(Fig.1). Tiwanaku-style objects have also been found in burial contexts in the Cochabamba Valleys (Ponce
1972: fig.10; Byrne 1984; Tapia 1984). Since no systematic survey has been conducted in the region yet, no
major sites have yet been found with Tiwanaku-style public architecture or only Tiwanaku-style pottery.
3.2 Areas of research
The Cochabamba Valleys comprise two main zones: (1) a montane moist forest biome on higher
elevations (3000 m.s.l. and up); and (2) montane moist forest and montane thorn steppe biomes on the valley
plains. I have defined a research area in each of these zones in order to provide comparable databases essential
to identifying important ecological/productive variables of interaction between the local Formative period
populations and the Tiwanaku polity in Cochabamba. The distinct environmental features of the two areas will
permit a better control of key variables (e.g., agricultural potential, degree of pre-existing political complexity,
distance from the core) necessary to gain insight into differential interaction between the Tiwanaku polity and
peripheral populations in relation to those variables. Each research area of approximately 200 kmý each,
recognized in my 1992 pilot season, roughly corresponds to a natural drainage, but have been arbitrarily
bounded. Visual inspection of these areas have shown evidence of prehistoric occupation of the Formative and
Tiwanaku periods.
The first research area is located immediately north of the town of Independencia, 180 km northwest
of the city of Cochabamba. It is delimited by two narrow alluvial valleys at an elevation range of 2800-3400
m. with a transitional ecology combining mesothermal and altiplano cultigens (e.g. maize, grains and tubers).
The second research area, 150 km southeast of Cochabamba, in located in the hinterland and south of the town
of Aiquile, at an elevation range of 2400-2700 m. in a drainage that leads to lowland areas. Its fully
mesothermal ecology permits the production of important non-altiplano products including maize, fruits and
coca leaves.
3.3 Ecological features in the research areas
The Independencia research area consists of narrow interandean drainages, with relatively cold
temperatures (means in the range of 6-13C), seasonal frost and dryness, and seasonal precipitation (December
through March) of 300 to 500 mm. The area is formed by steep and narrow water cuts and valleys with
seasonal springs, with alluvial terraces in the bottom. Soils are normally deep with medium to low permeability
with shallow organic sediments. The relative humidity of soils is suitable for crops such as potato, oca, ullucu,
and quinua. The steep slopes, lacking irrigation, are used today for goat pasturage and wood production.
The Aiquile research area is located in a valley-bottom mesothermal setting (mean temperatures in the
range of 13-18C) with seasonal differences in dry climate and frost period from April to October, and
precipitation (500-1000 mm) from November to March. It is a suitable area for intensive non-irrigation
agriculture of potatoes, maize, and legumes. In the dry period only frost resistent crops are cultivated through
irrigation. The plains are generally flat filled with strata of clay and sand sediments. The soils have good
retention of water of rainfall, reducing risk during maturation of crops. Arid xerofitic vegetation is combined
with patches of humid and sub-spinous vegetation.
Altiplano products that may have been flowed to the Cochabamba region are manufactured textiles,
processed wool, bronze artifacts, Tiwanaku fine pottery with special iconography, and ritual paraphernalia,
all of which are exotic goods. Mesothermal products that may have been supplied to the altiplano are maize,
coca leaves, fruits, and perhaps minerals.
4. HYPOTHESES FOR THE PROCESS OF TIWANAKU-COCHABAMBA INTERACTION
In looking at relationships between local societies and the expansive states Andean archaeologists have
generally focused on three lines of evidence: (1) intra-site residential patterns and domestic architectural styles
(Spickard 1985; Hastings 1987; Stanish 1989, 1992; Isbell 1991); (2) the distribution of imported state-style
goods and their association with local items (e.g., "provincial" pottery styles; Smith 1987; Costin and Earle
1989; D'Altroy and Bishop 1990; Hodge and Minc 1990); and (3) distribution of public architecture or
administrative/productive facilities (Morris 1971; Isbell and Schreiber 1978; D'Altroy and Hastorf 1984;
Anders 1986; D'Altroy 1992; Schreiber 1992).
I propose to test four hypotheses pertaining to important consequences of intersocietal interaction. Each
of these hypotheses are explicable in terms of larger processes of interaction between the Tiwanaku polity and
Cochabamba peripheral populations. These hypotheses center on processes of political change, political
economy (D'Altroy and Earle 1985), and ecological adaptation to the regions concerned.
4.1 Direct incorporation into Tiwanaku polity through conquest and colonization
The territorial incorporation of large regions by large-scale polities has been recognized as a common
process of the expansion of Andean polities (Lumbreras 1981; Isbell 1991; D'Altroy 1987a, 1992; Schreiber
1992). This process, generated by a strategy of direct rule, implies a high degree of control, and of high-
resource extraction from a subject region. In essence the peripheral area becomes a province of the expansive
polity, and the dominant polity administrative settlement organization is extended into the area.
If this were the case in Cochabamba, I expect it to have been accompanied by a territorial
reorganization that would create a regional administrative organization, visible as one or a few Tiwanaku
administrative and residence site(s) housing Tiwanaku elites. Other indications of this process would include
local settlement shifts in order adapt to the control strategy and/or productive conditions of the Tiwanaku
polity. I might expect, eventually, to see the presence of Tiwanaku-style public architecture (i.e., sunken
temples), comparable to second and third order sites in the highland Tiwanaku polity.
Further, I would expect to find highest percentages of Tiwanaku-style goods mostly restricted to
administrative facilities and residential areas and in largely lesser quantities in local sites that do not have
Tiwanaku occupation or access to Tiwanaku goods.
4.2 Increase in political complexity in the periphery
Studies have shown that a process of political complexization in peripheral societies can be a
consequence of interaction with more complex polities (Whitehouse and Wickens 1987). Forms of this political
complexization include the emergence of elite strata or, if these strata already exist, further empowerment of
elites through an increase of status differences in local political organization (Frankenstein and Rowlands 1978;
Gledhill 1978; Paynter 1981; D'Altroy 1987b; Dincauze and Hasentab 1989; McGuire 1989). In extreme cases
it may even lead to secondary state formation (Price 1978).
Two broad processes can result in an increase of political complexity in peripheral societies: (1) a
prestige-good economy; and, (2) a differential involvement in economic production. These may occur
independently or together. The creation of prestige-good economies is fairly common in societies located in the
fringes of states and empires. In prestige-good economies, non-local items are important in establishing and
maintaining power relationships within a population (Helms 1979). Local elites use exotic prestige-goods and
alliances to acquire or enhance their position in the local sociopolitical order (Steponaitis 1991:194). Such
goods tend to be made of exotic materials, the product of craft specialization, and often bear esoteric
decoration. Tiwanaku artifacts (pottery, textile and wood items) could have played such a role in Cochabamba
societies.
Economic centralization is another possible consequence of the intersocietal interaction because of the
potential demand by the larger society for local products. A kin-ordered and egalitarian society can be
transformed by trade demands, as its members participate differentially with the larger society, in terms of trade
or production of surplus (Earle 1991; Salomon 1985). An aspiring elite stratum may dominate the creation of
surplus and flow of goods to the larger society either by intensifying its own production, reorienting local
productive activities, or greater participation in interregional trade (becoming "middlemen").
Such effects can also be the result of either indirect rule by the state (D'Altroy 1992), or of trade
independent of political control. An indirect rule strategy is typically a low-control, and low resource extraction
strategy implemented by a dominant polity that rules through pre-existing local political hierarchies or client
elites. In cases of trade with political control restricted groups of the region would have had the capacity to
concentrate power by controlling production of goods and their exchange or distribution.
Among the principal archaeological correlates of an increase in political centralization would be the
emergence of higher order centers in the settlement organization paralleling an increase in political complexity
(cf. Kowalewski et al. 1989). In this case I would expect to see small local centers emerge from a relatively
egalitarian village pattern. Emergence of complexity is often associated with demographic aggregation at
residential site of elites. Settlement shifts may also reflect intensified production given the capacities of the soils
where the new settlements develop in order to control resource productivity. In this case I would expect that
an increase in specialization and/or control of production would result in an uneven distribution of Tiwanaku-
style artifacts or long distance trade goods, and a closer spatial association of craft-produced goods with elite
residential and site areas. Since elite strata use prestige goods to mark their own high status and reward
followers, Tiwanaku goods would constitute a smaller proportion in relation to local wares. Tiwanaku goods
would show a spatial archaeological pattern restricted to sites of the elite stratum, with a limited range of
Tiwanaku ceramic types. Such distribution of goods might have occurred in an homogeneous density in each
of the ecological strata settled.
4.3 Tribalization or breakdown of political integration in the periphery
Interaction may also lead to the opposite effect: simplification or tribalization of the local political
organization, as interaction with the larger polity undercuts pre-existing status orders. One example of this,
in the context of conquest and direct rule, has been described by Hastorf (1991). Inca conquest of the Sausa
polity resulted in the levelling of statuses of the local political hierarchies and decrease in the heterogeneity of
goods accessible to commoners and the elite. Such an effect would be caused, for instance, by direct conquest
of the region by Tiwanaku not allowing the development or dissoluting single centers of regional control. Local
elites would be incorporated into the Tiwanaku order at the lowest administrative level.
Archaeological correlates of this hypothesis would include the abandonment of first and second order
sites in the region and a proliferation of smaller sites. This could reflect shifts in settlement location and
population distribution in the region to conform an homogeneous distribution of settlement sizes in the complete
region studied with no differences between ecological strata. This effect would show in a larger proportion of
local pottery in smaller scale sites and a homogeneous but relatively low proportions and limited distribution
of Tiwanaku-style artifacts that would reflect a disappearance of non-exclusivity and restricted access to exotic
goods (i.e., equal representation at all sites of valued goods including Tiwanaku-style pottery).
4.4 Archipelago or restricted colonization of the peripheral region
This pattern has been documented ethnohistorically as a traditional means by altiplano societies
obtained lowland resources. It is characterized by direct control --through colonization-- of niches in different
ecozones in a discontinuous territory (Murra 1975, 1985a, 1985b; Dillehay 1979; Mujica et al. 1983; Stanish
1992; Raymond, n.d.). In this case, such strategy would result in the placement of Tiwanaku colonists within
a local Cochabamba population. This pattern is result of a verticality strategy on the part of the larger political
system. It has proven nearly impossible to archaeologically identify an archipelago system, or differentiate it
from regional exchange (Marcus and Silva 1988). Archaeological correlates for this effect would be existence
of an intrusive site with Tiwanaku-style, correlated with an intrasite and/or intersite variation of the pottery
assemblages, that includes local styles, so to distinguish local from non-local settlements areas. A colony would
represent a permanent presence of altiplano populations as either Tiwanaku additions to native local villages,
forming multiethnic settlements (Murra 1975, Stanish 1989), sharing territories (Saignes 1986), or building
new settlements with administrative structures (Goldstein 1989).
This archipelago strategy could be implemented without a reorganization of the regional distribution
of settlements that a full conquest strategy implies and through the possible identification of the limited
extension of the Tiwanaku control. It might imply in terms of ecological location the capacity to settle in the
most productive lands of the region in order to fulfill extraction requirements.
Material traits of this strategy (Mujica et al. 1983:97-101; Goldstein 1989:20) are a discontinuous
territorial occupation, and a multi-ethnic settlement and/or regional coexistence. I would expect most Tiwanaku
colonial settlements to be restricted to a strategic or highly productive location of the Cochabamba Valleys.
A Tiwanaku settlement or control area would be reflected with a higher proportion of imported ceramics and
residential style, or existence of pottery with local clays with a consistent Tiwanaku iconography and forms,
reflecting a close relationship maintained with the core area (Dillehay 1979; Stanish 1989). The Cochabamba
assemblages will be compared with evidence of other Tiwanaku sites, such as Omo, considered a colony in the
Moquegua Valley, or evidence of the Azapa Valley, apparently subject to another kind of interaction with
Tiwanaku (Goldstein, pers.comm. 1992).
A final alternative is that no significant changes in the Cochabamba political or economic organization
followed the interaction with the Tiwanaku polity. This scenario may be a consequence of a continuing pattern
of simple trade where exchange between Tiwanaku and Cochabamba populations occurred along pre-existing
channels for movement of goods. This interaction and exchange did not disrupt nor enhance local status orders
nor economic patterns.
The archaeological correlates for this scenario would include an homogeneous vertical and horizontal
distribution of Tiwanaku-style goods in low to medium proportions in relation to the local material, indicating
access at the household level of both utilitarian and exotic goods. Tiwanaku materials might also show an
exponential decrease in frequencies as distance from the site of Tiwanaku (trade fall-off, Renfrew 1975).
5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
A stratified sample settlement survey, a random sampling surface collection, and limited test pits will
answer a set of three principal basic questions:
(1) What is the nature of the Formative (Pre-Tiwanaku) settlement pattern, site location with respect to
ecological strata, variability in site types), and adaptive processes (i.e., clustering of particular activities in
different environmental strata)?;
(2) What types of Tiwanaku-style goods appear in each of the research zones, and how are they distributed
between sites and within each ecological strata? How do they compare to other regions assemblages?
(3) What change(s) in demographic organization, adaptations, and economic and productive activities followed
the appearance of the Tiwanaku-style materials? To what extent are such changes indicative of shifts in
political and economic organization?
The proposed stratified sampling survey will have three objectives: (1) to document the range and
location of settlements; (2) to assess the spatial and temporal relationship of settlements to particular resource
zones and agricultural productive potential (Steponaitis 1981); and (3) to document the intersite distribution
of ceramics-style preferences and craft-goods in the research areas.
The consequent analysis of settlement organization for each period will be based on: (1) size/area of
occupation as a measure of the relative importance of each settlement; (2) the presence and absence, and
relative quantity of administrative architecture; (3) the distribution of imported pottery and other prestige
goods; and (4) the location of sites and features of agricultural technology as terracing and canals in relation
to ecological and topographical characteristics. The comparison of the scenarios of each period before and after
the establishment of interregional interactive strategies with Tiwanaku will allow us me to monitor the
development of land-use patterns and as well as relative demographic shifts based on area of occupation
(Sanders et al. 1979; Kowalewski et al. 1989).
A random sampling surface collection of pottery from sites will allow me to (1) map the spatial
distribution of pottery-style preferences within each site; (2) compare intersite distribution of ceramic
assemblages within and between the research areas; (3) monitor stylistic changes in local assemblages; and (4)
estimate the area of occupation and density of settlements by chronological period and environmental stratum.
Catchment analysis will be carried out to address the question of productive capacities of the
documented sites. Catchment analysis assumes that land use will be affected or related to distance from
settlements (Vita-Finzi and Higgs 1970; Brumfiel 1976). The use of a Geographical Information Systems
software will aid in the measurements of land area suitable for agriculture around each site, and comparison
of settlement distribution with types, amount, and quality of different types of productive zones.
6. FIELDWORK
The data sets required to address the above research questions will be generated through: (1) a
stratified sampling pedestrian survey of the two research areas; (2) a random sampling surface collection at
each site recorded; and (3) a limited number of test pits in randomly selected sites.
1. As Kintigh has noted, the issue in survey is often whether to sample a large area, or fully cover a more
reduced one (1990:239) and therefore address the data with the potential interpretative constraints of each
method. Given the need to examine man-land relationships and artifacts distributions at the regional level I have
opted for a stratified random sampling survey that will allow me to obtain a large and robust database
combined with a more extensive area coverage (Whalen 1990).
Probabilistic sampling in an archaeological survey has been characterized as an ideal method for
obtaining an accurate --and succinct-- dataset adequate to make general inferences concerning a larger universe
through statistical analysis. The large number of "observations" provided by this strategy (vs. one sample unit
in the full survey) will help to narrow the error range of the estimations (and interpretations) made on the
sample population surveyed.
A sampling strategy will not result in a sample that contains every possible level of settlement
hierarchy, limiting my ability to elaborate on regional site hierarchies (Johnson 1981; Crumley 1979; Evans
and Gould 1982). Kowalewski and Fish (1990:5) have noted that sampling strategies are better suited to predict
settlement distribution of simpler societies (with less site variation), and to generate data on environmental
location and extraction activities. As Whalen (1990) notes, however, this is not truly a problem intrinsic to
sampling since the principal purpose of sampling is to target the bulk of a population.
The settlement survey strategy of this research will start with a stratification of the two 200 kmý
regions according to ecological/topographic zones (e.g. grassland higher slopes; shrub-like medium slopes, and
riverine alluvial plain) related to the productive potential of each strata. This procedure guarantees that
measures related to topographical and ecological features associated with the site or sites within the quadrat
may be documented (Read 1986). Based on my preliminary assessments of site sizes and densities, I will divide
the strata in square quadrats (4 ha in size), and select a random sample of these quadrats to be surveyed. A
sample size of 200 quadrats to be drawn per each strata (an overall sample fraction of .12) is a sample (N=600;
ca. 24 kmý) larger than the sample required to speak with a high degree of precision and confidence of the data
(95% confidence level). Sites/artifacts encountered outside the survey area will be recorded but will not be
considered in the inferences made of our cluster samples of artifacts. I have allotted three teams of three
persons each to cover 3 quadrats per team/day)during a 70-75 day period of work in each research area. This
estimate includes the execution of the stratified surface collection of artifacts. In the process of surveying the
drawed units in the field I expect to encounter occasional problems for recording some of them in private lands;
the sampled population will be accordingly replaced each of these cases.
Prior to survey I will: (1) define in the maps the definitive boundaries on the drainage areas to survey;
(2) define the ecological/ topographic strata of the research areas; (3) superpose a north-south grid (4 ha
quadrats) to the survey areas; (4) draw randomly the sample of quadrats to survey; and (5) prepare plates based
on topographic maps (1:10,000 scale) for the recording of the spatial limits of the artifact scatters and a precise
location of sherd collection lots. The extension of a site will be defined by a surface scatter of sherds and/or
architectural features; however, sites are not expected to conform to preconceived categories such as hamlets
since they may well be representative of single structures, representing isolated homesteads in a dispersed
settlement pattern (Drennan 1985).
Survey members will walk in parallel transects with intensity of 20 meters apart in each quadrat. Site
data forms and sketch maps will be produced for each site. Instrument maps will be produced for large sites,
or those with visible architectural features. Observations of specific architectural features or subsurface
features visible will be noted for the determination of types of sites and its chronological association. The
degree of disturbance generated by modern plowing, looting, slope erosion and other factors affecting the
visibility of each site will also be recorded.
2. A systematic surface artifact collection will consider the complete extension of sites to ensure uniform
coverage. Collection units of 2 x 2 m. aligned in a N-S site grid will provide a sample of the density and types
of the artifacts on surface (Redman 1974; Plog 1986). Subsequent analysis of artifact collections will have
three basic goals: (1) to establish the variation and range of pottery in use at each site; (2) to provide through
seriation a chronological determination of cultural occupation of sites; and (3) to compare functions and
activity areas of each site.
3. A limited number of randomly located test pits (5 test pits in each research area) will be placed randomly
in selected sites. These will be important: (1) in obtaining data for a more refined chronology and establish finer
diachronic comparisons of settlement patterns and monitor possible stages in the interactive process; and, (2)
in analyzing surface-subsurface artifact relations in order to evaluate the reliability of surface-gathered
information. The 1x1 m test pits will be excavated in natural stratigraphic layers with control levels of 10 cm.
Soils will be sieved in a 1/4" mesh. Soil samples from each level will be kept for flotation to obtain heavy and
light botanical remains of the area to be analyzed by the staff of the Cochabamba Museum.
5. Laboratory analysis in Cochabamba will concentrate on gathering the qualitative, quantitative, and locational
data of artifacts, their diversity and proportions indexes, and their diachronic changes. Relative proportions
and distribution of artifacts based on typological traits including paste, form, and stylistic attributes will allow
the definition of ranges of spatial overlap and non-overlap of Formative and Tiwanaku pottery types. Tiwanaku
pottery analysis from habitational areas of the Tiwanaku site and in the Valley of Moquegua (Goldstein 1990)
will allow a comparative analysis with survey collections. The laboratory analysis in Pittsburgh will
concentrate on elaboration of maps of settlement distributions, and analysis of the spatial distribution of
artifacts in relation to ecological/topographical features with a GIS and statisical packages.
7. FIELD LOGISTICS
This research will have support of the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropol¢gicas y Arqueol¢gicas and
Museo de Arqueolog¡a of the Universidad Mayor de San Sim¢n of Cochabamba. The project was discussed
with Cochabamba authorities during the pilot season in 1992. The research permission has been granted as of
November 1992. Mr. R. Cespedes, member of the Museum, will act as co-director and will participate actively
in this project.
The survey stage will be undertaken with Mr. R. Cespedes, one archaeology student of the Universidad
San Andres in La Paz, and five local participants. The laboratory stage, assisted by two persons, will be set
in Cochabamba in space provided by the Museum of Cochabamba. The site recording forms, the surface
artifact collections and excavation material obtained in the research will be stored in the Museum in order to
be available to local and foreign scholars.
8. PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE
This problem-oriented archaeological research of the settlement dynamics in Cochabamba in the
transition between the Formative and Tiwanaku period aims to the understanding of the interregional interactive
process between the Tiwanaku polity and the Cochabamba populations. It will be useful case study of interest
to a broad range of scholars in the South-Central Andes and elsewhere by providing a long-overdue diachronic
perspective on the interaction of the large-scale Tiwanaku polity and small-scale populations. It will also
provide new insights in the processes of adaptation and cultural evolution in areas marginal to the nuclear
development of large-scale polities. Tiwanaku's interaction with different populations has only been
superficially addressed (Lumbreras 1974, 1981; Berenguer 1978; Isbell 1983; Kolata 1983). The proposed
research will assess the Cochabamba's regional integration in the Tiwanaku state based on the material effects
in the periphery, and evaluate Tiwanaku's possible role as a catalyst in political and economic development of
the Cochabamba Valleys populations.
Interaction between large expansive states and peripheral areas have been traditionally analyzed in
order to understand the strategies of political control or economic exploitation used by the large polities. Recent
core-periphery approaches have brought recognition and equal importance to the extent to which these
strategies are determined by pre-existing local conditions, the strategies of local populations and elites, and
effects of interaction on local populations. In the Andes, the local effects of interaction processes have seldom
been considered in terms of the local populations cultural evolutionary trajectory. Pre-existing local political
and economic conditions have only been recognized as a cause in the variability in the regional distribution of
imperial structures and artifacts in Andean polities (Menzel 1959; Morris 1972; Earle at al. 1987; Schreiber
1987, 1992; Hastorf 1990; D'Altroy 1992). This research emphasizes a thorough analysis of the half of the
process pertaining to local populations.
The analysis of the Tiwanaku-Cochabamba intersocietal interaction will also provide a set of empirical
data from which to evaluate the often uncritical use of analogies based on Inca analogs to "explain" the
Tiwanaku artifact distribution in the periphery. My research should also help to reassess the common
assumption that holds Andean "verticality" to be the "ideal" --if not only-- strategy pursued by highland polities
in acquiring lowland resources by providing a preliminary test of the time depth of this assumption. Tiwanaku
vertical interaction with lowland populations has been mostly assumed. Rejection of specific hypotheses will
allow scholars to make an empirically based assessment of Tiwanaku-Cochabamba [periphery] interaction in
a historical/diachronic context.
In summary, the proposed research in the Cochabamba Valleys will achieve the following contributions
to South-Central Andean archaeology:
(1) Provide a systematic ceramic chronology and inventory of Formative and Tiwanaku archaeological
materials in Cochabamba;
(2) Provide a systematic diachronic investigation of the settlement dynamics in the transition from the
Formative to period of Tiwanaku-style material presence in Cochabamba (ca. AD 500-700);
(3) Assess how such interaction is experienced at the level of local sociopolitical and economic organization,
and monitor the nature of the Tiwanaku polity in a local peripheral context; and,
(4) To add a specific and useful case study contribution for Andean studies of large-scale polities by providing
comparative information on a particular process of Tiwanaku interregional interaction, and enhance our
understanding of the most important prehistoric polity in the South-Central Andes.
9. RESEARCH SCHEDULE
The research is planned for a 12-month field season, from September 1993 through August 1994:
1) 15 September-7 October: Cochabamba. Administrative details; examination of aerial photography and
preparation of the survey maps;
2) 8 October-11 February: Independencia zone. Survey, surface collections, and mapping of selected sites;
preliminary artifact analysis of sherd collections and spatial density distributions; excavation of test pits;
3) 15 February-21 June: Aiquile zone. Same tasks as in previous zone;
4) 25 June-14 September: Cochabamba. Laboratory analysis: artifact processing (weights, counts, drawings,
context documentation, and typological analysis of sherd collection lots).