Andean Irrigation Communities: A Comparative Study of Household and Society in Ancient Peru

Summary

Households and community structures in ancient Peru were key to developing irrigation systems and reproducing a social order. Tensions between communities and within them are often written on the landscape in the form of water distribution structures and community placement. Household level strategies may also be evident in the material structure of the house and its belongings. I undertake a cross-temporal and cross-cultural study of household and community level interfaces around agricultural production from the sixth to sixteenth century Peru within a single valley. I examine changing patterns of integration through two imperial regimes (Wari and Inka) and two periods of local autonomy (Huaracane and Estuquina) to evaluate how household and community interdigitate as social circumstances change. I argue that the relationship between households, communities, and landesque capital increases in complexity as regional forces enter the stage. The picture is complicated, though, by ecological circumstances and contingency on historical precedents in the study area.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• From Households to Communities: Bridging Scales in Search of Conflict, Coalescence, and Communitas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage