Family Matters: Kinship and Community Composition during the Late Intermediate Period in Andahuaylas, Peru

Valda Black

doi:10.7273/000006315

This dissertation uses a multi-method bioarchaeological approach to understand the impact on families and communities during times of socio-political change. Here, I focus on the late prehispanic Chanka, an ethnic group that occupied the South-Central Andean highlands, which coalesced around AD 1000 following the fall of the Wari Empire. After two centuries of local conflict, the region was invaded by the Inca, leading to drastic changes in Chanka society. Using data generated from skeletal, strontium and oxygen isotopes, and ancient DNA analyses of 140 individuals at four prehispanic sites in Andahuaylas, Peru, I was able to assess social organization and inter-community interactions for the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1400, LIP) Chanka. Comparisons were made within and between sites and periods to assemble a greater understanding of what happened to the Chanka during these critical times of change. With the sites of Cachi, Ranracancha, Pucullu, and Sondor, the research examines three related questions: 1) How did kinship (based on degree of relatedness and in-migration using isotopes) structure communities during the early LIP (1000-1250 AD)?, 2) Were the cultural traits of cranial vault modification (CVM) styles associated with these kinship patterns?, and 3) How did Chanka society change in the late LIP (1250-1400 AD) when the Inca arrived in Andahuaylas? The results showed that first-generation migrants to Andahuaylas came mostly from the east, with some in-migration from the west and lower elevations. Once in Andahuaylas, they broke off into fortified hilltop communities with high degrees of violence and competition for resources, as was found in the populations at Cachi, Ranracancha, and Pucullu. The competition led to different behaviors at these sites, with marriage occurring within the site populations and the same CVM styles shared between related individuals. The kinship and community structure found at these sites (using ancient DNA and isotopes), supports the view that the Chanka remained isolated from one another during the early LIP due to a high degree of competition and were less centralized than colonial texts describe. The higher degree of isolated communities influences the strategies the Inca later emplaced on the Chanka when they invaded Andahuaylas in the late LIP (~1250-1300 AD). By the late LIP, the Inca state was expanding from Cusco and arrived in the nearby Andahuaylas region at the same time populations decreased at the study sites. Despite this, the Chanka still persisted in smaller numbers at the sites of Pucullu and Cachi according to radiocarbon dates and mortuary population sizes. For example, the research was able to trace generations of a family from the early LIP to colonization at Cachi using ancient DNA. However, the late LIP occupation at the site of Sondor showed very different patterns of occupation, with the population composed of people who were forcefully moved or migrated from areas in or around Andahuaylas based on isotopic and genetic diversity results. In one special case, a burial unit held first-generation female migrants and their local next-generation relatives. My research shows evidence of site abandonment at Sondor, but for a time, Chanka from the broader region lived together at Sondor under Inca administrative rule which was physically displayed through architecture and ceramics. Sondor is a reflection of an early Inca imperial strategy aimed at bringing isolated Chanka communities together to maintain cohesive control through less forceful means. This dissertation contributes to a greater understanding of socio-political influences on communities from an individual, family, and regional level, with an in-depth understanding not possible without the multi-method bioarchaeological approach used here. Overall, these findings confirm the persistence of the Chanka through major transitions and the structural changes that took place to achieve this.

Family Matters: Kinship and Community Composition during the Late Intermediate Period in Andahuaylas, Peru

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