Elizabeth Arkush

Interpreting conflict in the ancient andes: implications for the archaeology of warfare

This article critically assesses recent interpretations of premodern defensive architecture and militaristic themes in the archaeological record, using the Andes as a case study. While archaeologists have proposed intriguing alternative hypotheses that call into question the existence of war in the past, much evidence for conflict has been incautiously dismissed. This stance has seriously skewed our understanding of the development of premodern societies. It is suggested here that because archaeologists underutilize ethnographic and historical evidence, the architecture of premodern defenses is poorly understood and many arguments used to dismiss military interpretations are incorrect. These misperceptions are addressed with empirical observations based upon known analogies from ethnography and history. The problematic dichotomy of ritual battle and real war is discussed, and the article concludes with a reassessment of the evidence for warfare in a few controversial Andean contexts in terms of more relia...This article critically assesses recent interpretations of premodern defensive architecture and militaristic themes in the archaeological record, using the Andes as a case study. While archaeologists have proposed intriguing alternative hypotheses that call into question the existence of war in the past, much evidence for conflict has been incautiously dismissed. This stance has seriously skewed our understanding of the development of premodern societies. It is suggested here that because archaeologists underutilize ethnographic and historical evidence, the architecture of premodern defenses is poorly understood and many arguments used to dismiss military interpretations are incorrect. These misperceptions are addressed with empirical observations based upon known analogies from ethnography and history. The problematic dichotomy of ritual battle and real war is discussed, and the article concludes with a reassessment of the evidence for warfare in a few controversial Andean contexts in terms of more reliable material criteria for recognizing the existence of war and peace in the archaeological record.

Interpreting Conflict in the Ancient Andes

This article critically assesses recent interpretations of premodern defensive architecture and militaristic themes in the archaeological record, using the Andes as a case study. While archaeologists have proposed intriguing alternative hypotheses that call into question the existence of war in the past, much evidence for conflict has been incautiously dismissed. This stance has seriously skewed our understanding of the development of premodern societies. It is suggested here that because archaeologists underutilize ethnographic and historical evidence, the architecture of premodern defenses is poorly understood and many arguments used to dismiss military interpretations are incorrect. These misperceptions are addressed with empirical observations based upon known analogies from ethnography and history. The problematic dichotomy of ritual battle and real war is discussed, and the article concludes with a reassessment of the evidence for warfare in a few controversial Andean contexts in terms of more relia...This article critically assesses recent interpretations of premodern defensive architecture and militaristic themes in the archaeological record, using the Andes as a case study. While archaeologists have proposed intriguing alternative hypotheses that call into question the existence of war in the past, much evidence for conflict has been incautiously dismissed. This stance has seriously skewed our understanding of the development of premodern societies. It is suggested here that because archaeologists underutilize ethnographic and historical evidence, the architecture of premodern defenses is poorly understood and many arguments used to dismiss military interpretations are incorrect. These misperceptions are addressed with empirical observations based upon known analogies from ethnography and history. The problematic dichotomy of ritual battle and real war is discussed, and the article concludes with a reassessment of the evidence for warfare in a few controversial Andean contexts in terms of more reliable material criteria for recognizing the existence of war and peace in the archaeological record.

Managing Mayhem: Conflict, Environment, and Subsistence in the Andean Late Intermediate Period, Puno, Peru

Warfare profoundly shaped the trajectory of life in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru, during the Late Intermediate Period (1100–1450 C.E.). A long drought and new social tensions amplified subsistence stresses for LIP peoples. Recent archaeological research at Ayawiri, one of the largest fortresses in the western Titicaca Basin, has allowed us to investigate different strategies for mitigating risk prioritized during the LIP. Integrating paleoethnobotanical data, spatial analysis, and other archaeological findings, we elicit risk management strategies employed by agropastoral residents of Ayawiri during the Late Intermediate Period. Our preliminary results indicate that the threat of attack was an overriding concern to the people of Ayawiri, influencing their decisions to prioritize safety at the expense of increasing environmental risks and local social stress. Finally, we offer general insight into the context of trade-offs people made between social and environmental risks in their production and consumption of food.

Violence, Indigeneity, and Archaeological Interpretation in the Central Andes

Potential archaeological evidence of violence is usually somewhat ambiguous: it can be interpreted in different ways. I argue that our archaeological interpretations are strongly conditioned by – among other factors – the history of representations of indigeneity. In the central Andes, we must contend with unsavory stereotypes of indigenous Andeans as backward, “tough,” and liable to irrational violence. These old but newly reconfigured stereotypes are drawn on for political purposes by both criollo urbanites and Quechua- and Aymara-speaking Andeans themselves. Opposed to them are positive but problematic images of indigenous Andeans steeped in ritual and existing in harmony with society and nature, images with a pedigree in early twentieth-century romantic nativism and in mid-century structuralist anthropology. These stereotypes too are strategically consumed and perpetrated by the crafters of nationalist narratives, the tourism and artesania industries, and self-identified indigenous Andeans. In the oversimplified terms of public imagination, spiritual Andeans are opposed to violent Andeans. This problematic dyad politicizes archaeological interpretation while impoverishing the space of its possibilities, constraining archaeologists to choose between interpretations of the past that seem either distastefully savage or falsely idyllic.

The End of Ayawiri: Abandonment at an Andean Hillfort Town of the Late Intermediate Period

ABSTRACT As the south-central Andes came under Inca control, many hillfort towns and villages were abandoned in favor of low-lying, non-defensive settlements. Recent investigation at Ayawiri (Machu Llaqta), a fortified hilltop town in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru, sheds light on how such sites met their end. Ayawiri was abandoned in the 15th century a.d. with no reoccupation and little to no scavenging afterwards. Excavated house structures have whole or reconstructible artifacts left in situ on floors, including bronze adornments and other valuables. Expediently-prepared throwing stones or slingstones were stockpiled and used near the outermost wall, suggesting that the abandonment may have been precipitated by enemy attack. While the evidence indicates rapid abandonment overall, there were distinct and varied micro-processes of abandonment that took place among different family groups at Ayawiri, who engaged differently in rituals, abandonment caching, and departure.

Pucarani: Building a Pukara in the Peruvian Lake Titicaca Basin (ad 1400-1490)

Fortifications are special kinds of public construction projects because they must be erected before enemies attack. Thus, their design and construction reflect the coordination and cooperation of multiple segments of society under time pressure. In this article, we analyze the fortifications at Pucarani, a large hillfort in the Northern Titicaca Basin, to help understand the specifics of how fortifications were built in this region during the Late Intermediate Period.

SOLDADOS HISTÓRICOS EN UN PANEL DE ARTE RUPESTRE, PUNO, PERU: LOS CAUDILLOS DEL SIGLO XIX Y EL COMENTARIO POLÍTICO ANDINO

espanolLa historiografia de la epoca colonial tardia y republicana temprana en los Andes ha sido dominada por las voces y las preocupaciones de los criollos letrados. Asi, los registros producidos por los propios pobladores andinos rurales son particularmente informativos, incluidos aquellos en los cuales no se utilizo la escritura. En este articulo se describen las Pinturas de Japuraya, un panel de arte rupestre registrado en 2009 cerca de Tiquillaca, departamento de Puno, Peru. El panel principal representa una fila de soldados, musicos y oficiales cuyos uniformes estan inusualmente detallados, ligando la imagen al lapso entre 1821 y 1852, y muy probablemente entre 1835 y 1842. Mas adelante, ilustraciones adicionales de soldados fueron grabadas en la roca, cerca de la imagen original, y otras partes fueron desfiguradas a proposito. Esta representacion permite una nueva perspectiva de como las fuerzas militares de los caudillos poderosos fueron percibidas por los ojos indigenas en la sierra sur-central en un tiempo historico de gran agitacion y faccionalismo. EnglishThe historiography of the late colonial and early republican Andes has traditionally been dominated by the voices and concerns of literate elites of Spanish descent. Hence the records produced by rural Andeans themselves are particularly valuable, including those that did not utilize the written word. This paper describes Pinturas de Japuraya, a rock art painting discovered in 2009 near Tiquillaca in the department of Puno in southern Peru. The main panel portrays a line of marching soldiers, musicians, and officers whose uniforms are unusually detailed, pinning the image to a time frame between 1821 and 1852, and most likely between 1835 and 1842. Later, additional soldiers were scratched into the rock near the original pictograph, and parts of the pictograph were intentionally defaced. This portrayal offers insight into how military forces led by powerful Hispanic warlords were seen through native eyes in the south-central highlands at a historical moment of great turmoil and factionalism.