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Late Intermediate Period Plant Use at a Colla Hillfort, Puno, Peru (AD 1300–1450)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2020

BrieAnna S. Langlie Open the ORCID record for BrieAnna S. Langlie [Opens in a new window]
BrieAnna S. Langlie*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, 4400 Vestal Parkway East, Science 1, Binghamton, NY13902, USA (langlie@binghamton.edu)
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Abstract

In the Lake Titicaca Basin during the Late Intermediate period (LIP; AD 1100–1450), people's lives were overwhelmingly structured by warfare. Previous research in the region has shed light on how martial conflict between and possibly among competing ethnic groups motivated people to live in fortified villages on defensive hilltops. At the same time, there was a centuries-long drought that threatened agricultural production. Little is known about the plant use of people living in hillforts during this arduous time. Drawing on macrobotanical information collected from Ayawiri, one of the largest hillforts in the northern Titicaca Basin, I argue that the food stuffs and plants used were locally grown. Additionally, these findings indicate a possible departure from earlier symbolically charged and ritually important plant consumption practices based on the lack of imported maize. This research sheds light on how people adapted their domestic and agricultural strategies to warfare and climate change during the LIP.

La vida de las personas que habitaron la cuenca del Lago Titicaca durante el período Intermedio tardío (LIP), entre 1100 y 1450 dC, estuvo atravesada por conflictos bélicos. Investigaciones previas en la región, han puesto de manifiesto cómo los conflictos marciales entre y, posiblemente, dentro de grupos étnicos incitaron a las personas a vivir en aldeas fortificadas en las cimas de colinas. Asimismo, estudios paleoambientales indican que existió una sequía de siglos que amenazó la producción agrícola. Sin embargo, es poco lo que se conoce acerca del uso de plantas por parte de las personas que vivían en estos lugares. Con base en información macrobotánica recolectada en Ayawiri, una de las mayores montañas en el norte de la cuenca del Titicaca, se determinó que las plantas utilizadas fueron cultivadas localmente. A partir de la comparación de restos paleoetnobotánicos de este sitio con otros recuperados en sitios con cronologías más tempranas de la cuenca del Lago Titicaca, se concluye que la falta de maíz importado indica un cambio, con una carga simbólica y ritual importante, en el consumo de plantas durante el período Intermedio tardío. Estos hallazgos muestran cómo las personas adaptaron sus estrategias domésticas en un contexto signado por la guerra y el cambio climático durante el período Intermedio tardío.

Keywords

Late Intermediate periodaltiplanowarclimate changepaleoethnobotanyperíodo Intermedio tardíoaltiplanoguerracambio climáticopaleoetnobotánica
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 702 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by the Society for American Archaeology

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