To Ana María
PREHISPANIC SETTLEMENT AND LAND-USE
IN COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA.
Alvaro Higueras-Hare, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 1996
Abstract
This is a study of the evolution of prehistoric land-use
and settlement in the Cochabamba Valleys, Bolivia, during the
Formative, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, and Late Periods.
Data on land-use and settlement data were generated through a
random settlement survey of the Capinota-Parotani and Mizque
areas of the Cochabamba region.
The local ceramic sequences of the first two periods in
Cochabamba changed dramatically in the Intermediate Period
with the widespread use of pottery in the Tiwanaku style. The
distribution of these materials has often been assumed to
represent the colonial expansion of a highland Tiwanaku empire
interested in exploiting mesothermal crops unavailable in the
imperial homeland.
If a central motive of Tiwanaku penetration into
Cochabamba was access to maize production, then Tiwanaku style
materials should be differentially associated with the best
agricultural lands. The settlement survey was designed,
therefore, to document broad changes through time in
settlement preferences for the most productive soils and
topographic zones. Given the hypothesis of Tiwanaku economic
colonization, investigation focused on exploring the
relationships between ceramic style distributions, site size
and location, and local agricultural productivity.
Analysis of the survey data revealed no differences
between the two research areas in the size of occupation
during the Intermediate Period, indicating that local
agricultural productivity was not a factor in the distribution
of Tiwanaku style materials. Nor did analysis within each
survey area indicate significant preferences for settlement on
the best agricultural lands. In each area, instead, the
strongest preference at times was for settlement in a
particular topographic zone: the piedmont zone.
The changes in settlement or land-use patterns associated
with the appearance of Tiwanaku style pottery cannot be viewed
as an expression of Tiwanaku imperialism. The results of the
survey suggest that indigenous processes were more important
in structuring settlement and subsistence that external
influences from the highlands, despite the widespread Tiwanaku
style pottery.
PREFACE
This dissertation explores the diachronic evolution of
human-land relationships from the Formative to the Late Period
in the mesothermal Cochabamba Valleys, on the eastern slopes
of the Bolivian Andes. Prior to this study, the lack of
systematic study of the distribution of Tiwanaku style
materials in Cochabamba facilitated the assumption of the
Tiwanaku state's territorial expansion into Cochabamba. My
research was motivated by a desire to test this scenario by
systematic data concerning the distribution of Tiwanaku style
materials in this important region. In this sense, the
Proyecto Expansi¢n Tiwanaku en Cochabamba was the first
attempt to systematize data on prehistoric settlements in
Cochabamba on a regional scale.
This research investigates the nature of the distribution
of Tiwanaku style materials in Cochabamba by analyzing the
spatial relationship between settlement location and
agricultural productivity through time. Chapter 1 of this
dissertation presents the central hypothesis of the research,
the antecedents on the analysis of large-scale polities in the
Andes, and, finally several interaction models developed to
interpret the land use and settlement pattern data.
Chapter 2 outlines the archaeological background of the
research: what is known of Cochabamba archaeology; and a
review of the research conducted to date on the Tiwanaku
polity. The description of the stylistic components of the
Cochabamba pottery sequence provides a framework for
establishing the chronological affiliation of the sites
recorded in the survey. I review five aspects of the Tiwanaku
polity: (1) chronological sequence; (2) occurrence of foreign
pottery in the Tiwanaku heartland; (3) settlement patterns in
the Tiwanaku Valley and other regions; (4) agricultural
potential of the heartland and the evidence for maize
consumption; and, (5) arguments for the territorial expansion
of the Tiwanaku polity.
Chapter 3 describes the environmental, hydrological, and
soil characteristics of each survey area and the potential
productive differences existing between the Capinota-Parotani
and the Mizque survey areas. Soil productivity data are the
basis for assessing the agricultural potential of each survey
area.
Chapter 4 describes the archaeological strategy I
adopted: (1) a random sampling strategy, tailored the specific
objectives of the research; (2) comparison of this strategy to
alternative survey strategies; (3) field procedures
themselves; (4) statistical analysis of the settlement and
soil data; and (5) analysis of the surface ceramic material.
Chapters 5 and 6 describe changes in settlement in each
area by chronological period. These chapters contain a: (1)
summary of settlement data (number of sites recorded, the
occupation area by period, and the estimated totals by zones
based on the sample); (2) description of the distribution of
each pottery style; and (3) statistical analysis of settlement
preferences (looking at the distribution of occupation by
topographic zone and by soil group). The final part of each of
these chapters consists of a diachronic comparison of the four
chronological periods.
In Chapter 7, synchronic and diachronic comparisons are
made between the Capinota-Parotani and Mizque survey areas in
general and by chronological period. Then, my findings on land
use and settlement data are compared to the predicted patterns
of the four models of interaction proposed in Chapter 1.
Finally, the Cochabamba Intermediate Period settlement
patterns are considered in the context of large-scale
expansive polities in the South-Central Andes region.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many individuals and institutions allowed me to reach
this stage of my professional career. I wish to mention and
thank them all. The H.J. Heinz Endowment supported Latin
American archaeologists graduate studies at the University of
Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, Drs. James B. Richardson III,
Robert D. Drennan, and the principal advisor of this
dissertation, Marc Bermann, have provided invaluable and
constant advice and support. Helaine Silvermann has provided
enthusiastic support all these years.
In Peru, Franklin Pease, Elías Mujica and Idilio
Santillana, were pivotal to my undergraduate years. In
addition, Elías Mujica has been extremely supportive of the
research pursued in Cochabamba. Izumi Shimada, who included me
in his project, provided my first and essential fieldwork
experience.
The human group I found at the University of Pittsburgh
made of my years at Pitt a very productive experience. My
fellow U.S. and Latin American colleagues provided a
outstanding context for study and friendship. First, Cristiana
Barreto and Kurt Von Mettenheim, and Susana de los Heros,
whose friendship and support were of immense help these years.
My fellow students Liliam Arvelo, María Auxiliadora Cordero,
Carlos Fitzgerald, and Cristiana, shared personal
archaeological experiences and with them the tensions of the
third-year were overcome. Ruth Fauman-Fichman, Gonzalo
Jaramillo, Carl Langebaek, Rodrigo Liendo, María Concepci¢n
Obregón, Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, Calogero Santoro, Rob Kruger,
David Anderson, and John Rose have been of great support
during several stages of my graduate study.
The financial support of the research was provided by
four institutions. The Tinker Foundation, through the Center
for Latin American Studies of the University of Pittsburgh,
allowed a preliminary trip to Cochabamba, and provided travel
funds for the research. The Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research (Grant 5628), the National Science
Foundation (SBR-9312906), and the Organization of American
States (OAS) provided the funds for the field research. I wish
to thank the officers of each of these institutions for their
essential support.
In Cochabamba I wish to extend my thanks to the staff of
the Museo Arqueológico of the Universidad de San Sim¢n: David
Pereira, Director, and Angelina Muñoz, Ramón Sanzetenea, and
Ricardo Céspedes. They supported the project and cooperated in
every possible way by extending the required permits and
facilitating other administrative tasks. Ricardo Céspedes, who
co-directed the project, was an excellent partner during the
fieldwork. When not in the field, he and his family were good
friends to Ana Maria and I. Juan Carlos Blanco and Javier
Gonzales helped me in ceramic analysis. Two excellent groups
of local workers helped us in the pedestrian tasks of the
survey in Capinota-Parotani and Mizque.
In Capinota-Parotani, Marcelo Tonnazolli and the staff of
the Escuela Agro-Técnica of Itapaya provided shelter and
healthy fresh meals from their farm. I wish to thank their
hospitality and the support of the Ciudad de Los Niños and the
Italian International Cooperation. In Mizque, Don Pascual,
Hilda, and Zulma, and their families provided room and board
for the crew. In Cochabamba, a few friends, out of the
archaeological realm, were of great support: Marinés and
Daniel Nash, and Mike and Aida West.
Back in the United States I wish to thank the staff of
the State Museum of Pennsylvannia in Harrisburg: Steve Warfel,
Mark McConaughy, and Janet Johnson, who allowed ne to use
their library and facilities to produce a major portion of
this dissertation.
But foremost, I thank Ana Maria Boza for her support all
the years spent together. Her presence in Cochabamba, during
part of the season, was of invaluable help to the field and
laboratory work. And I wish to thank the encouragement made by
every member of my family during my graduate years. Finally,
thanks to those who wrote "A Fool on the Hill", a tune which
made our pedestrian tasks somewhat easier.
Copyright (c) 1998-99, Alvaro Higueras. Derechos Reservados/All rights
reserved.
Please send comments on content and presentation to
URL of this document:
http://www.tiwanakuarcheo.net/3_phd/abst.html
Revised: 29 May 1999