Home is Where Your Boat Is: Movements within and around the Titicaca Basin (800 BC–AD 200)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Beyond Borders at the End of a Millennium: Life in the Western Andes circa 500–50 BCE" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Titicaca Basin has long been home to communities of people who navigated their highland landscape effectively. Much research has been devoted to early developments in the southern lake basin (in modern-day Bolivia) as well as later communities on the northwestern side of the lake (in modern-day Peru). However, few studies have focused on movement throughout the region, which inevitably occurred given evidence for watercraft and reliance on lacustrine resources. This paper presents new strontium isotope evidence for both long-distance and circum-lacustrine movement of peoples between 800 BC and AD 200. We emphasize how these regular movements were likely tied to familial and ritual networks that facilitated trade throughout the region. We build on previous studies of archaeological and bioarchaeological remains to argue that these networks allowed communities to navigate environmental and social changes (such as a long-term drought and establishment of new territories and settlements) without the creation of social hierarchy or increased interpersonal violence. Additionally, this case study makes it clear that people were crossing modern boundaries with regularity in the past, emphasizing the need for transnational perspectives when interpreting the Andean past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Borders at the End of a Millennium: Life in the Western Andes circa 500–50 BCE   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37986.0