TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying locals, migrants, and captives in the Wari Heartland
T2 - A bioarchaeological and biogeochemical study of human remains from Conchopata, Peru
AU - Tung, Tiffiny A.
AU - Knudson, Kelly
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge funding to Tung from the National Science Foundation ( BCS-0118751 ), the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Grant Numbers 6680 and 8169 ), the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and a Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Discovery Grant, and funding to Knudson from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the Institute for Social Science Research at Arizona State University. The authors also want to thank William Isbell, Anita Cook, Jose Ochatoma, and Martha Cabrera for granting permission to analyze the Conchopata skeletons, and the National Institute of Culture in Ayacucho and Lima for granting permission to export skeletal samples. In the Archaeological Chemistry Laboratory, Meridith Masoner and Jonathan Wiggins provided useful assistance, and we thank Ariel Anbar and Gwyneth Gordon for their assistance and expertise in the W.M. Keck Foundation Laboratory for Environmental Biogeochemistry at Arizona State University. Finally, we thank the thoughtful and detailed comments from two anonymous reviewers, which we believe improved the manuscript.
PY - 2011/9
Y1 - 2011/9
N2 - The site of Conchopata in the central Peruvian Andes was the secondary center in the heartland of the Wari Empire (AD 600-1000), and in this study we examine whether this urban locale was populated by locals, voluntary migrants from distant regions, and/or captives who were forcibly brought to Conchopata. We examine radiogenic strontium isotope ratios from 72 dental enamel and bone samples representing 31 formal burials and 18 human trophy heads to distinguish between locals and non-locals, and we examine skeletal and archaeological data to establish whether non-local persons were voluntary migrants or captives. We also describe a new, straightforward technique in the evaluation of radiogenic strontium isotope ratios to assist in detecting non-locals when large datasets are available. Results show that natal Conchopata inhabitants should exhibit radiogenic strontium isotope ratios that range from 87Sr/86Sr=0.70548 to 87Sr/86Sr=0.70610. Thus, among the 31 burials, 29 exhibit local values, suggesting that Conchopata was not a cosmopolitan center to which numerous foreigners migrated; rather, it was populated by local peoples, likely the descendants of the preceding Huarpa culture. The two individuals with non-local radiogenic strontium isotope ratios are an infant and a 17-22years old female. The archaeological context suggests that the female may have been taken captive for subsequent sacrifice, as she was interred in front of the ritual D-shaped structure in which decapitated human heads (trophy heads) and sacrificed camelids were deposited. Among the 18 trophy heads sampled, 14 have non-local values, confirming previous studies of smaller samples that suggested that Wari warriors travelled to other locales and took captives-both adults and children-for subsequent transformation into trophy heads. Additional analyses of bone-tooth pairs from a subsample (12 burials and six trophy heads) shows that the burial group was much more sedentary (homogenous radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in bones and teeth) and the trophy head individuals were much more mobile (heterogenous radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in bones and teeth). Overall, the multiple lines of evidence support the notion that the Wari Empire occasionally used militaristic means, combined with elaborate ritualism, to subjugate other populations, a tactic that may have helped Wari establish and maintain control in particular regions in the Andes.
AB - The site of Conchopata in the central Peruvian Andes was the secondary center in the heartland of the Wari Empire (AD 600-1000), and in this study we examine whether this urban locale was populated by locals, voluntary migrants from distant regions, and/or captives who were forcibly brought to Conchopata. We examine radiogenic strontium isotope ratios from 72 dental enamel and bone samples representing 31 formal burials and 18 human trophy heads to distinguish between locals and non-locals, and we examine skeletal and archaeological data to establish whether non-local persons were voluntary migrants or captives. We also describe a new, straightforward technique in the evaluation of radiogenic strontium isotope ratios to assist in detecting non-locals when large datasets are available. Results show that natal Conchopata inhabitants should exhibit radiogenic strontium isotope ratios that range from 87Sr/86Sr=0.70548 to 87Sr/86Sr=0.70610. Thus, among the 31 burials, 29 exhibit local values, suggesting that Conchopata was not a cosmopolitan center to which numerous foreigners migrated; rather, it was populated by local peoples, likely the descendants of the preceding Huarpa culture. The two individuals with non-local radiogenic strontium isotope ratios are an infant and a 17-22years old female. The archaeological context suggests that the female may have been taken captive for subsequent sacrifice, as she was interred in front of the ritual D-shaped structure in which decapitated human heads (trophy heads) and sacrificed camelids were deposited. Among the 18 trophy heads sampled, 14 have non-local values, confirming previous studies of smaller samples that suggested that Wari warriors travelled to other locales and took captives-both adults and children-for subsequent transformation into trophy heads. Additional analyses of bone-tooth pairs from a subsample (12 burials and six trophy heads) shows that the burial group was much more sedentary (homogenous radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in bones and teeth) and the trophy head individuals were much more mobile (heterogenous radiogenic strontium isotope ratios in bones and teeth). Overall, the multiple lines of evidence support the notion that the Wari Empire occasionally used militaristic means, combined with elaborate ritualism, to subjugate other populations, a tactic that may have helped Wari establish and maintain control in particular regions in the Andes.
KW - Andes
KW - Huari
KW - Migration
KW - Radiogenic strontium isotopes
KW - Residential mobility
KW - Sacrifice
KW - Trophy heads
KW - Violence
KW - Wari
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jaa.2011.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jaa.2011.06.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960937662
SN - 0278-4165
VL - 30
SP - 247
EP - 261
JO - Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
JF - Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
IS - 3
ER -