Objects of Power and Power of Objects: Tiahuanaco Burial Assemblages in Cundisa (Copacabana, Bolivia)

Summary

This paper explores roles played by objects in forging and cementing local and state identities at a Tiahuanaco cemetery at Cundisa in Copacabana, Bolivia. The cemetery consists of 98 Tiahuanaco burials excavated by the Yaya-Mama Archaeological Project. The majority of tombs contain a single individual. Most of the complete objects associated with these burials belong to classic Tiahuanaco style of decorated pottery, but there is also another peculiar pattern of unfired clay miniatures and large pieces of broken utilitarian pottery in the same burials. I propose that this dichotomy helped to reaffirm the participation of people who buried their dead at Cundisa in the broader Tiahuanaco cultural influence sphere, while at the same time cementing and/or underlying a separate local cultural identity (Copacabana lies within the Tiahuanaco hinterland, but relatively far away from the capital). Fancy Tiahuanaco-style pottery, used in life, during the burial ceremony, and accompanying the deceased in their tombs, helped to underline or maybe even create ties with the larger Tiahuanaco polity. On the other hand, the pattern of unfired miniatures is rather unique within Tiahuanaco contexts. Hence, these objects might have played a role forging or highlighting a unique local identity of the local population.

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): 21008