Sejas Portillo, Ana Luz Alejandra
(2019)
LOCAL LEVEL LEADERSHIP AND CENTRALIZATION IN THE LATE PREHISPANIC YARETANI BASIN,BOLIVIA.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
LOCAL LEVEL LEADERSHIP AND CENTRALIZATION IN THE LATE PREHISPANIC YARETANI BASIN, BOLIVIA
Ana Luz Alejandra Sejas Portillo, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2019
During the Late Intermediate Period, the prehispanic southcentral Andean region was home to the “Aymara señoríos”. These polities are known mostly from ethnohistoric and ethnographic reconstructions rather than archaeological research. As typically reconstructed, the señorio was a loose confederation of nested kinship groups, with segmentary organization, and more ceremonial than political centralization, integrated through activities carried out at the open spaces at capitals called “marka” sites.
This project aimed to test archaeologically the political dynamics and regional settlement integration proposed in the ethnographically based Aymara señorio model in the southern Bolivian Altiplano. Field research consisted of a multi-scalar program of regional survey, surface collections, and test pit excavation covering the 91 km2 area Yaretani Basin. The data generated were used to compare: (1) shifts in agropastoral adaptation with changes in political centralization and demography; (2) leadership processes and social differentiation from the Formative through the Late (Inka) Periods; and (3) the basis for authority and socioeconomic differentiation at leadership or central place sites.
At a regional level, this research shows that several marked shifts occurred in the agropastoral strategies of the population living in this area from the Middle Horizon through the Late Periods. In each period, the Basin was occupied by several small, supralocal communities grouped around one or more marka sites. Seen at the inter-site level, these is little evidence for an elite wealthy class although some individuals were given special burial treatments in the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Periods. At the intra-site level, there is moderate evidence of social differentiation, especially within the Middle Horizon and Late Period potential marka sites. For the Late Intermediate Period, such intra-site differentiation was less pronounced.
Overall, archaeological evidence from the Yaretani Basin is not totally consistent with the señorio model. No regional marka or central places could be identified during this research. It is possible that the elite stratum was “poor chiefs” rather than wealthy chiefs.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Sejas Portillo, Ana Luz Alejandra | aas86@pitt.edu | aas86 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
27 September 2019 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
20 May 2019 |
| Approval Date: |
27 September 2019 |
| Submission Date: |
29 May 2019 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
319 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Leadership,prehispanic, Quillacas, Bolivia |
| Date Deposited: |
27 Sep 2019 17:23 |
| Last Modified: |
27 Sep 2019 17:23 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/36828 |
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