Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Dr. Bruce Owen

Anthropology 490.3, Fall 2003

Office: Stevenson 3007A

Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:15

Office hours: Tues 2:30-3:30, Thurs 11:45-12:45

Stevenson 2001

Email: Owenbruce@aol.com

Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory

The first Spanish conquistadores to reach the Andes wrote of cities finer than any in Spain, ruled by a monarchy seemingly like their own, that controlled more territory than any nation in Europe. But this Inka empire was not the first in the Andes. Monuments that were built while western civilization was emerging in Egypt and Mesopotamia still stand on the desert coast. Andean sculptors carved intricate reliefs while the Greeks experimented with democracy. Andean engineers designed immense canals, nobles filled tombs with stunning riches, and priests led ritual processions along dead-straight paths for miles across the desert while Rome declined and Europe sank into the Medieval doldrums. The Andean past was completely independent of the Old World's, similar in some ways and radically different in others.

This course is an introduction to the cultures of the Andean past, from the initial population of the New World through early Spanish colonial times. It is based not only on extraordinary archaeological evidence, but also on ethnohistory (the anthropologically-aware analysis of historical documents from the first century or two of Spanish rule) and on ethnography (the study of modern Andean people). These sources help us shed our culture-bound preconceptions and begin to understand what would otherwise be incomprehensible or misleading relics.

The course begins with an introduction to the Inka empire, because the historical Inka provide a model that has guided and colored much of the research on the rest of Andean prehistory. We then get a quick introduction to the landscape, ecology, and key features of traditional Andean social organization, subsistence, and belief systems that have proven to be useful aids in interpreting archaeological evidence.

Asking "what led up to the Inka state?", we begin our chronological tour through the Andean past. Beginning with the earliest sites in the New World, we examine a series of cultures and some of the questions that surround them. When did people first arrive in South America, and how did they live? What kind of society built and used the first monumental architecture in the Andes? How can the eye-witness accounts of the oracle of Pachacamac help us understand the fanged smile of the monolith in the innermost chamber of the temple at Chavín? Can a modern shaman explain the intricate designs on Moche style pottery? Why did people from the city of Wari build big, walled compounds hundreds of miles away in foreign territory, and why did the equally impressive city and provinces of Tiwanaku around Lake Titicaca, far to the south, violently collapse a few centuries later? The chronological approach will bring us back to the origins and expansion of the Inka empire, and finally its stunning conquest by Francisco Pizarro and his 180 men.

If you want to talk about the Andes, archaeology, course assignments, or anything else, please feel free to drop by during my office hours, or contact me by email.

Reading:

The syllabus indicates what you should read before each lecture, so we can discuss it in class. The readings are from two sources:

  1. The Incas and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru, (revised edition, 2001) by Michael Moseley: The textbook, available at the SSU bookstore, Amazon.com, etc.
  2. Readings on reserve: Extracts from articles and books, on reserve at the library. The readings for each class are shown on the class and reading schedule.

Readings average around 60 pages per week, varying a lot. We will discuss aspects of the readings in class, and I will also present additional material that is not included in the readings.

Assignments and their weights in grading:

15% Reading summaries. A one-paragraph summary of the main thrust of each reading item, turned in at the beginning of each class session. Since most class sessions involve two or three readings, you will usually turn in two or three paragraphs. They need not be profound critical analyses; they are simply to encourage you to read and digest the assignments. You may want to keep a copy to jog your memory during discussion. The summaries should be typed, but summaries for up to five class sessions may be handwritten to allow for occasional emergencies. I will not accept any summaries later than 15 minutes into the class session. They will be graded on a simple scale of "plus" (very good), "check" (OK), or "minus" (oops).

30% Midterm exam. Some short essays, some objective questions, some map questions.

25% Research poster. A concise research project, presented as a 17 x 22 inch poster. This is a scaled-down version of a format that is becoming popular at professional meetings. Your poster will present a subject of your choice related to the course, using text, bullet lists, headlines, illustrations, and so on, with a brief bibliography. The posters will be publicly displayed on bulletin boards outside the Anthropology department office for the last two weeks of the semester. We will discuss them in class, and material from the posters will be on the final exam. I will post an example and provide more details in class. During the semester, there will be interim deadlines for selecting a topic, turning in a proposed bibliography, and submitting a rough draft prior to making the final poster.

30% Final exam. Similar format to the midterm, emphasizing material from the second half of the course, including the research posters.

Internet World Wide Web access:

You can download copies of my class notes, study guides, assignment information, and occasional supplementary information from the Anthropology 490.3 web page:

http://members.aol.com/andeanae/490f2003.htm

Disability statement:

If you have a disability and you think you may require accommodations for this class, please contact the Disabled Student Services office in Salazar 1049, phone no. 664-2677, for confidential assistance and accommodation authorization. DSS will provide you with written confirmation of your verified disability and authorize recommended accommodations. I will cooperate with any recommendations.

Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Class, Reading, and Assignment Schedule, Fall 2003

Please read the material before each lecture, so that you can follow and participate in class discussion.

1

Thur

Aug

28

Introduction: Outline of the course, syllabus, readings, class mechanics, grading, introductions

2

Tues

Sept

2

The Inka: The lens through which we see the past
  1. Moseley Ch. 1, pp. 7-23: Introduction (17 pgs)
  2. Pedro Sancho 1534 (trans. P. Means), An Account of the Conquest of Peru, pp. 153-159 (7 pgs)
  3. Cieza de Leon 1553 (trans. H. Onis), The Incas of Pedro de Cieza de León, pp. 143-149 (8 pgs)

3

Thur

Sept

4

The setting: Geography, ecology, society, and general chronology
  1. Moseley Ch. 2, pp. 24-50: Land of the Four Quarters (18 pgs of text)

4

Tues

Sept

9

Andean thought and society
  1. Moseley Ch. 3, pp. 51-85: The Inca model of statecraft (27 pgs of text)
  2. Juan Nuñez del Prado 1974, pp. 242-249: Extract from "The supernatural world of the Quechua of Southern Peru as seen from the community of Qotobamba" (8 pgs) Focus on the nature of dieties, and how they interact with people. The main concepts that may turn up elsewhere are "apu", "pago", and "Pachamama".

5

Thur

Sept

11

Peopling of the New World and early occupation
  1. Moseley Ch. 4, pp. 86-105: Colonization of the Cordillera (19 pgs of text)
  2. Thomas Dillehay 1997 "The Battle of Monte Verde", The Sciences 37(1):28-33 (6 pgs)

6

Tues

Sept

16

Seafood and the origins of farming
  1. Moseley Ch. 5, pp. 106-113: The Preceramic Foundations of Civilization (7 pgs)
  2. Richard Burger 1992, Chavín, pp. 26-33 (7 pgs of text)
  3. Heather Pringle 2001, The First Urban Center In the Americas, Science 292(5517):621-622 (1 pg text)
  4. Ruth Shady Solis, Jonathan Haas, and Winifred Creamer 2001, Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru, Science 292(5517):723-726. (4 pgs text)
  5. Daniel Sandweiss and Michael Moseley 2001, Amplifying Importance of New Research in Peru, Science 294(5547):1651-1652 (1 page text)
  6. Jonathan Haas and Winifred Creamer 2001, Response, Science 294(5547):1652-1653 (1 page text)

7

Thur

Sept

18

The Late Preceramic period: Massive monuments in simple societies

  1. Moseley Ch. 5, pp. 114-129: The Preceramic Foundations of Civilization (16 pgs)
  2. Richard Burger 1992, Chavín, pp. 33-53 (21 pgs)

8

Tues

Sept

23

The Late Preceramic period: Analogy to ethnographic Mapuche ceremonialism

  1. Tom Dillehay 1990, Mapuche ceremonial landscape, social recruitment and resource rights, World Archaeology 22(2):223-241 (17 pgs)

9

Thur

Sept

25

The Initial Period: Temple mania
  1. Moseley Ch. 6, pp. 130-158: The Initial Period (20 pgs of text)
  2. Richard Burger 1992, Chavín, pp. 57-58; 60-66 (9 pgs)

10

Tues

Sept

30

The Initial Period: The state debate

  1. Richard Burger 1992, Chavín - pp.73-75; 77-84; 87-88 (13 pgs)
  2. Sheila Pozorski and Tom Pozorski 1994, Early Andean Cities, Scientific American 270(6):66-72 (7 pgs)

11

Thur

Oct

2

The Early Horizon: Chavín de Huantar and the spread of Chavín ideas

  1. Moseley Ch. 6, pp. 158-171: The Early Horizon (14 pgs)
  2. John Rowe 1967, Form and meaning in Chavin art, pp. 72-73, 77-103 (13 pgs text)

12

Tues

Oct

7

The Early Horizon: The Pachacamac oracle analogy

  1. Miguel Estete 1534, Account of Pachacamac, pp. 81-83 (3 pgs)
  2. Cieza de Leon 1553, Description of Pachacamac, pp. 114-116 (3 pgs)
  3. Maria Rostworowski 1972, Brief essay about the Señorío of Ychma, pp. 1-8 (8 pgs)
  4. Richard Burger 1988, Unity and Heterogeneity in the Chavín Horizon, in R. Keatinge, ed., Peruvian Prehistory - pp. 111-125; 129-133; 139-143 (25 pgs)

13

Thur

Oct

9

Catch-up, discussion, and review

No additional reading.

14

Tues

Oct

14

Midterm exam

15

Thur

Oct

16

The Early Intermediate Period: the Moche

  1. Moseley Ch. 7, pp 172-196: The Early Intermediate Period (15 pgs text)

16

Tues

Oct

21

The Early Intermediate Period: What did the Moche rulers rule?

  1. Garth Bawden 1996, The Moche - pp. 184-191; 219-238; 258-262 (33 pgs)
  2. Claude Chapdelaine 2002, Out in the Streets of Moche, in W. Isbell and H. Silverman, eds., Andean Archaeology I, Variations in Sociopolitical Organization, pp. 53-83 (27 pgs text)

17

Thur

Oct

23

The Early Intermediate Period: Eduardo the curandero and Moche iconography

* Poster topic due.

  1. Christopher Donnan 1978, Moche Art of Perú, pp. 124-173 (20 pgs text)
  2. Garth Bawden 1996, The Moche - pp. 78-86; 111-115; 134-138 (19 pgs)

18

Tues

Oct

28

The Early Intermediate Period: Nazca geoglyphs and the empty city

  1. Moseley Ch. 7, pp. 196-206: The Early Intermediate Period (10 pgs)
  2. Helaine Silverman 1988, Cahuachi: Non-Urban Cultural Complexity on the South Coast of Peru, Journal of Field Archaeology 15(4):403-430 (28 pgs)
  3. Johan Reinhard 1988, The Nazca Lines, Water, and Mountains: An Ethnoarchaeological Study, in Saunders and Montmollin, eds., Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, BAR 421(ii):363-414 (22 pgs of text)

19

Thur

Oct

30

The Middle Horizon in the South: Tiwanaku, an altiplano agrarian state

  1. Moseley Ch. 7, pp. 207-222: The Early Intermediate Period (6 pgs)
  2. Moseley Ch. 8, pp. 223-230, 238-243: The Middle Horizon (13 pgs text)
  3. Alan Kolata 1982, Tiwanaku, Portrait of an Andean Civilization, Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin 53(8):13-28 (16 pgs)
  4. Charles Stanish 2002, Tiwanaku Political Economy, in W. Isbell and H. Silverman, eds., Andean Archaeology I, Variations in Sociopolitical Organization, pp. 180-198 (13 pgs text)

20

Tues

Nov

4

The Middle Horizon in the North: Wari, a flash of empire

* Poster draft bibliography due. I will return it with comments.

  1. Moseley Ch. 7, pp. 206-208: The Early Intermediate Period (3 pgs)
  2. Moseley Ch. 8, pp. 230-238: The Middle Horizon (9 pgs)
  3. Katharina Schreiber 1987, From state to empire: the expansion of Wari outside the Ayacucho Basin, in J. Haas, S. Pozorski, and T. Pozorski, eds., The Origins and Development of the Andean State, pp. 91-96 (6 pgs)
  4. Katharina Schreiber 1987, Conquest and consolidation: A comparison of the Wari and Inka occupations of a highland Peruvian Valley, American Antiquity 52(2):266-284 (19 pgs)
  5. Optional: Katharina Schreiber 1992, Wari Imparialism in Middle Horizon Peru, pp. 266-283 (18 pgs)

21

Thur

Nov

6

The Middle Horizon: What caused the collapse of Tiwanaku?

  1. Charles Ortloff and Alan Kolata 1993, Climate and Collapse: Agro-Ecological Perspectives on the Decline of the Tiwanaku State, Journal of Archaeological Science 20:195-221 (27 pgs) [Just skim this - it is probably wrong!]
  2. Patrick Ryan Williams 2002, Rethinking disaster-induced collapse in the demise of the Andean highland states: Wari and Tiwanaku, World Archaeology 33(3):361-374. (11 pgs text)
  3. Bruce Owen (in press), Distant Colonies And Explosive Collapse: The Two Stages Of The Tiwanaku Diaspora In The Osmore Drainage, Latin American Antiquity. ms. (17 pgs text)

22

Tues

Nov

11

The Late Intermediate Period: Warring chiefdoms

  1. Moseley Ch. 9, pp. 244-261: The Late Intermediate Period (9 pgs text)
  2. Terence D'Altroy 1992, Provincial Power in the Inka Empire, pp. 47, 52-59 (8 pgs text)
  3. Warwick Bray 1978, The Gold of El Dorado, pp. 18-19 (1 pg text)

23

Thur

Nov

13

The Late Intermediate Period: The Kingdom of Chimor

  1. Moseley Ch. 9, pp. 261-275: The Late Intermediate Period (15 pgs)
  2. Alan Kolata 1990, The Urban Concept of Chan Chan, in M. Moseley and A Cordy-Collins, eds., The Northern Dynasties, Kingship and Statecraft in Chimor, pp. 107-144 (24 pgs text)

24

Tues

Nov

18

The "vertical archipelago" model of Andean economics and settlement

* Rough draft of poster due in class! I will return it with comments.

  1. John Murra 1975 The "vertical control" of a maximum of ecological tiers in the economies of andean societies (translated extracts) (16 pgs)
  2. John Murra 1985 The Limits and Limitations of the "Vertical Archipelago" in the Andes (extract) (2 pgs)
  3. Mary Van Buren 1996, Rethinking the Vertical Archipelago: Ethnicity, Exchange, and History in the South Central Andes, American Anthropologist 98(2):338-351 (11 pgs)

25

Thur

Nov

20

The origin and expansion of the Inka state

  1. Brian Bauer 1992, The Development of the Inca State, pp. 1-14, 140-147 (22 pgs)
  2. John Murra 1986, The expansion of the Inka state: armies, war, and rebellions, in Murra, Wachtel, and Revel, eds., Anthropological History of Andean Polities, pp. 49-58 (8 pgs)

26

Tues

Nov

25

Organization of the Inka state

  1. Felipe Huaman Poma de Ayala 1613 (1978), Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno pp. 18-20, 93-102 (13 pgs)
  2. Mary La Lone and Darrell La Lone, The Inka State in the Southern Highlands: State Administrative and Production Enclaves, Ethnohistory 34(1):47-62 (14 pgs)
  3. John Murra 1962, Cloth and Its Functions in the Inca State, American Anthropologist 64(4):710-728 (13 pgs)

 

Thur

Nov

27

No class meeting. Thanksgiving holiday.

27

Tues

Dec

2

Presentation and discussion of research posters

* Poster due! Bring your poster and be prepared to discuss it in class.

28

Thur

Dec

4

The Spanish Conquest

  1. Francisco de Jerez 1540, Diego de Trujillo 1579, Agustín Zarate 1555, Garcilaso de la Vega 1609, Alonso de Guzman (no date), Pedro Pizarro 1571, in J. Cohen (trans., ed.) The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, pp. 97-109, 127-134 (21 pgs)
  2. David Cook 1992, Impact of Disease in the Sixteenth-Century Andean World, in J. Verano and D. Ubelaker, eds., Disease and demography in the Americas, pp 207-213 (7 pgs)

29

Tues

Dec

9

Andean people under early Spanish colonial rule

  1. John Rowe 1957, The Incas Under Spanish Colonial Institutions, Hispanic American Historical Review 37(2):155-199 (37 pgs)

30

Thur

Dec

11

Synthesis, discussion, and review

No additional reading.

 

Final exam: Thursday, December 18, 2:00-3:50, in the regular classroom, Stevenson 2001.