Social Implications of a Maize-Free Botanical Assemblage in Early Middle Horizon Contexts at the Huaracane Site of Yahuay Alta, Middle Moquegua Valley, Peru

Summary

Analysis of the micro and macrobotanical remains from the Huaracane settlement of Yahuay Alta's early Middle Horizon (AD 550 – 800) contexts revealed no recorded signature of maize use at this site, but the presence of a variety of other agricultural remains. We know that the Tiwanaku and Wari states established colonial settlements in the Moquegua Valley in this period, and that the Tiwanaku colonial project in the middle valley focused on its excellent potential for maize agriculture. Regardless of Yahuay Alta's close proximity to Tiwanaku maize fields, the site's maize signature was silent. Importantly, sampling on living surface and midden contexts recovered no indicators of other Andean crops, typical of the Middle Horizon, e.g., potatoes, quinoa, or aji peppers. Instead, the remains of weedy greens and the root crop arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza, Ban. APIACEAE) dominated the botanical assemblages from domestic contexts. We consider the presence of the evidence together with the rest of the material culture remains to discuss Yahuay Alta's early Middle Horizon agricultural and political economy. We argue that this apparently maize-free diet was at the root of a complex Huaracane strategy that avoided cultivating and/or consuming maize to remain inconspicuous in a potentially contentious political landscape.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Like Frejoles in a Pod: Examining the Current State of Paleoethnobotany in Peru   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage