article
Tiwanaku settlement systems: the integration of nested hierarchies in the lower Tiwanaku valley
Latin American antiquity : a journal of the Society for American Archaeology • 7 (3) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 183-210
By: Albarracín-Jordán, Juan.
Abstract
Albarracin-Jordan used the archaeological data from a 100 percent pedestrian survey of the lower Tiwanaku Valley and ethnohistoric and ethnographic data especially on AYLLU and MARKA, to study settlement patterns. The lower valley was broken into seven microenvironmental zones and a nearest-neighbor analysis was performed. Albarracin-Jordan found that raised field agriculture occurred mainly in the northern section of the valley with terraces and QOCHA (minibasins) in the southern section of the valley. He also found a settlement hierarchy occurs with secondary sites regularly spaced and with tertiary sites clustered around the secondary sites, etc. Albarracin-Jordan proposes the settlement pattern in the Tiwanaku Valley was , 'an integrated system of various social units with local political hierachies capable of mobilizing their own population in the diverse agricultural tasks….Thus, the technological knowledge, per se, of raised field, terrace, and qocha construction…was not in the hands of an urban elite and their hydraulic engineers.' (page 204-205). The author found and discusses sites in the lower Tiwanaku Valley dating from the Formative through the Postclassic periods (3500 B.P. to 900 B.P. or 1500 B.C. to 1100 A.D.). Only the material that pertians to the Classic and Postclassic periods were marked for Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) codes.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2003
- Region
- South America
- Sub Region
- Central Andes
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Sarah Berry ; 2002
- Field Date
- not specified
- Coverage Date
- 1900 BP - 900 BP (100 A.D.-1100 A.D.)
- Coverage Place
- lower Tiwanaku Valley; Bolivia
- Notes
- Juan Albarracín-Jordán
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 206-210)
- LCCN
- 91649207
- LCSH
- Indians of South America--Antiquities