Multiethnicity, pluralism, and migration in the south central Andes: An alternate path to state expansion

Abstract

The south central Andes is known as a region of enduring multiethnic diversity, yet it is also the cradle of one the South America’s first successful expansive-state societies. Social structures that encouraged the maintenance of separate identities among coexistent ethnic groups may explain this apparent contradiction. Although the early expansion of the Tiwanaku state (A.D. 600–1000) is often interpreted according to a centralized model derived from Old World precedents, recent archaeological research suggests a reappraisal of the socio-political organization of Tiwanaku civilization, both for the diversity of social entities within its core region and for the multiple agencies behind its wider program of agropastoral colonization. Tiwanaku’s sociopolitical pluralism in both its homeland and colonies tempers some of archaeology’s global assumptions about the predominant role of centralized institutions in archaic states.

Evidence of osteoarthritis in the Tiwanaku Colony, Moquegua, Peru (AD500–1100)

“…Tiwanaku peoples moved into this valley after AD 600 likely because of available farmland along the Moquegua River suitable for temperate crops. Archaeologists (Goldstein, ; Goldstein, ; Williams, ) note that the Moquegua region became a major agricultural production hub during the Tiwanaku state, with maize as the most prominent export crop. Moquegua settlement also brought goods to and from the altiplano via Tiwanaku‐controlled llama caravans, under a conjoined agricultural‐pastoralist economy (Becker, ; Browman, ; Goldstein, ; Goldstein, ; Janusek, ; Lynch, ; Stanish et al, ; Vallières, ).…”

The political ecology of late South American pastoralism: an Andean perspective A.D. 1,000-1,615

“…Likewise, throughout the Andes, the re-emergence of a greater number of newly independent, smaller polities and concomitantly divergent identities and borders would have increased the need for trade between areas. This underlying diversity, and thereby internal complexity, in Middle Horizon societies has been documented in a recent seminal article by Goldstein (2015) for Tiwanaku. In this context, foreign goods, which would have been previously provided through state or chief exchange mechanisms, now had to be directly bartered for (Stanish and Coben 2013).…”

Entanglement and the Formation of the Ancient Nubian Napatan State

“…The role of common ancestry in ethnogenesis is debated, although the biological evolutionary history of a group can influence the perception of its ethnic identity (Barth ; Emberling ; Jones ). Interdisciplinary research approaches that integrate multiple indicators can be used to observe how different cultural patterns are produced and reproduced and how biocultural markers differ at various social and spatial levels over time (Goldstein ; Salazar et al. ; Stovel ).…”

“…In particular, certain contexts, such as frontier zones where “cultural mingling” (Frangipane :9182) has occurred, can be locations of transformative social change with regard to how people perceive themselves, particularly concerning ethnic identity. The investigation of such contexts in which elements of material goods are rejected and recombined can offer information regarding the historical and cultural background of ethnogenesis (Goldstein ; Manzanilla ; Salazar et al. ; Stovel ).…”

“…Primordial perspectives such as belief of shared common ancestry, religion, and language are not mutually exclusive with instrumental and constructivist paradigms that emphasize political and situational aspects in the creation and destruction of ethnic group identifications (Hu ; Weik ). A long‐term, multidimensional strategy that includes numerous indicators to track ethnic identity and population composition provides the most robust way to study gradations in the processes by which group identities were historically negotiated (Goldstein ; Harrison‐Buck ; Salazar et al. ; Stovel ).…”