A microstratigrapic perspective on early civic and ritual architecture: a case from the Kala Uyuni site, Bolivia

Summary

This paper brings a microstratigraphic perspective to debates about the origins of sociopolitical complexity though a study of floors from nondomestic structures. Such civic and ceremonial buildings are central to models of community formation and leadership development. In the Bolivian Middle Formative Period I (800-200 BCE) communities became aggregated and expanded the range of civic architecture as populations rose. Demonstrating these trends, the Kala Uyuni site expanded and developed two sectors with notable architecture: sunken courts in the older hilltop KUAC sector, and small nondomestic enclosures in the Kala Uyuni sector, where dense occupation remains are also located. Despite differences between in architecture, microstratigraphic analyses of floors found the practice of frequent reflooring is maintained between sectors. This documents a more frequent investment in the site than that observable from standard stratigraphy. Geochemistry of flooring sequences found that construction materials are also shared between sectors. This evidence challenges the tendency to contrast architectural forms in interpretation by showing that the people who maintained these sectors conserved longstanding practices and materials. This may indicate that founding community members precipitated the shift to smaller, less accessible ritual architecture as the site expanded, thereby entrenching their social positions within the community.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology in Context: The Influence of the Geoarchaeological Career of Paul Goldberg   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage