Tiwanaku colonization in historical context – Directed, Diasporic or Daisy chain? Evidence from Moquegua, Locumba, Azapa

Summary

The expansion of Tiwanaku civilization is the earliest example of large-scale demographic colonization under an Andean state. Between the 7th to 11 centuries CE, household, mortuary and settlement archaeology attest to large migrant populations of altiplano Tiwanaku cultural affiliation who established permanent residence and governance in the western oasis valleys of Moquegua, Locumba, Sama, Caplina and Azapa. However the regional historical context of this demographic colonization is not resolved. What does the dating, diversity and distribution of Tiwanaku settlement tell us about the timing, point(s) of origin, and direction of Tiwanaku expansion? Was there “state colonization”, socially engineered and mobilized through the intervention of one mediating center, as with Inca mitmaquna? Was the process entirely diasporic, with each Tiwanaku colonial stream the direct enclave of a distinct source community? Or did Tiwanaku colonization “daisy chain” over time, from initial provinces like that of Moquegua to secondary and tertiary colonies in a peripatetic refugee resettlement process that outlasted the state itself? New systematic survey data from the key intermediate Locumba valley (2015-16) are compared with settlement patterns from full coverage pedestrian surveys of the Moquegua (1993-98) and Azapa (1991-92) valleys to shed new light on the regional history of Tiwanaku colonization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Colonial Encounters in the Prehispanic Andes

Keywords

Spatial Coverage