Mining Datasets and Weaving Diverse Contexts: A Multisite Comparison of Indigenous Forced-Labor Compounds in Colonial Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Surveillance: Seeing and Power in the Material World" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Spanish Empire drew on multiple forms of forced Indigenous labor in their American colonies during the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. In the Andes, forced Indigenous labor was used to mine silver, craft textiles, grow sugar cane, and produce wine, among many other tasks critical to the colonial economy. Crucial to this system was the ability to obtain (and retain) labor through various mechanisms, such as the mita draft, the encomienda, tribute levies, and slavery. Conditions at these compounds were often brutal, and many fled. While some compounds may have had heavy surveillance and control mechanisms, this has not been fully investigated on the ground. In this paper, we compare spatial and archaeological data from three colonial labor compounds to elucidate patterns and variations in their control, access, and surveillance. The three sites include: (1) the Obraje de Chincheros, a textile mill (1670s–1820 CE, Ayacucho, Peru); (2) Pomacocha (1681–1821 CE, Ayacucho, Peru), and (3) Trapiche Itappalluni, a silver refinery (1650–1800 CE, Puno, Peru). By combining multiple datasets, a range of labor contexts, and intra- and intersite comparisons, we interrogate the classic Foucauldian ideal, highlighting the diversity of layouts, surveillance, and architectural choices throughout this time period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Surveillance: Seeing and Power in the Material World   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38763.0