Water Management, Pastoralism and Settlement Shifts in the Andean Apolobamba Region

Summary

The qochas of the high-altitude Bolivian Apolobamba Puna region had a pivotal importance in the local agropastoral economies. Fed by snow melt and inner water sources, the qochas formed a complex hydrological system along the rich marshes. Although we do not know their origins, some of these qochas were modified during the Late Intermediate period, and a network of canals expanded in order to accommodate increasingly specialized pastoralism. Later the Inka arrival prompted specialized agriculture and pastoralism in the hands of increasingly diverse ethnic groups. We explore these changes by comparing the shifts in the size and settlement distribution around the qochas, and the symbiotic relations maintained between farming and pastoral communities along the ecological spectrum. This information will be useful to assess the different forms of social integration that such groups maintained, the archaeological evidence of ayllu-like organizations, and the importance of qocha systems in the reorganization of the landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20513