Libations and Meat: A View of the Construction of Social Capital in Tiwanaku Residential Spaces through Ceramics and Faunal Material

Summary

In the latter part of the Middle Horizon (A.D. 800-1000) previously unoccupied areas around the megalithic ceremonial core of Tiwanaku came under settlement. A reorganization of space within the core coupled with the influx of new urban residents drawn to the site of Tiwanaku from the surrounding areas by the variety of social, economic, and ritual interactional opportunities meant that newly built households and neighborhoods further away from the monuments became the loci of quotidian activity. Experiencing population density never before achieved in this area of the Andes, families constructed their physical shelters as they built their interdependent social networks. This paper examines ceramic and faunal remains that suggests that feasting in one such household context, Muru Ut Pata, was perhaps more intense and integral an activity to building and maintaining social capital than in elite contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21994