Changing Xauxa Foodways: a Paleoethnobotanical Study of Domestic Structures in the Mantaro Valley, Peru Before and After the Inka Conquest
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Changing Xauxa Foodways: A Paleoethnobotanical Study of Domestic Structures in the Mantaro Valley, Peru Before and After the Inka Conquest By Rachel Miriam Cane A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Christine A. Hastorf, Chair Professor Rosemary A. Joyce Professor Lewis J. Feldman Fall 2011 Abstract Changing Xauxa Foodways: A Paleoethnobotanical Study of Domestic Structures in the Mantaro Valley, Peru Before and After the Inka Conquest by Rachel Miriam Cane Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Christine A. Hastorf, Chair This dissertation presents a multivariate statistical analysis of archaeobotanical data to explore food-related practices in Xauxa households before and after the Inka conquest. The investigation takes a practice-based approach to the study of households and foodways, positing that daily life consists of actions that simultaneously are shaped by and transform underlying structures. The study poses three related questions: (1) What was the nature of Xauxa household plant use? (2) How did domestic food-related practices vary across households, among sites, and over time? (3) In what ways did feasting activities among the Xauxa serve as an expression of their changing political economy? This is a paleoethnobotanical investigation in both methodology and interpretive approach. Exploratory data analysis is used to identify patterns in the archaeobotanical data, which are argued to reflect patterns of human activity. By examining plant remains from individual domestic spaces, this study is able to characterize aspects of Xauxa foodways at the household level that both demonstrate and modulate social contestation and political transformations throughout the region over time. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 The Study Questions ................................................................................................................... 2 Organization of the Dissertation .................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY AREA.......................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 THE XAUXA ............................................................................................................................. 5 Wanka I (1000-1350 CE) ......................................................................................................... 6 Wanka II (1350-1450 CE) ........................................................................................................ 6 Wanka III (1450-1533 CE) ....................................................................................................... 8 Wanka IV (1533-1570 CE)....................................................................................................... 9 The Natural Environment of the Upper Mantaro Valley ........................................................... 9 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH................................................................................. 10 Previous Research in the Upper Mantaro Valley ..................................................................... 10 The Upper Mantaro Archaeological Research Project ............................................................. 11 UMARP Phase I (1977-1980) .............................................................................................. 11 UMARP Phase II (1982-1983) ............................................................................................ 12 UMARP Phase III (1986) .................................................................................................... 12 Archaeological Research Methods.......................................................................................... 12 Provenience Terminology .................................................................................................... 13 Archaeobotanical Methodology ........................................................................................... 14 THE EXCAVATION AREAS .................................................................................................. 15 Hatunmarca (J2) ..................................................................................................................... 15 Tunanmarca (J7) .................................................................................................................... 18 Umpamalca (J41) ................................................................................................................... 19 Marca (J54) ............................................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER 2: TABLES ............................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 2: FIGURES ........................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 3: HOUSEHOLDS, PRACTICE, AND FOODWAYS ....................................... 27 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 27 HOUSEHOLD ARCHAEOLOGY ............................................................................................ 27 Definitions of the Household .................................................................................................. 27 Theoretical Concerns in Household Archaeology ................................................................... 29 Household Composition ...................................................................................................... 29 Symbolism and Households................................................................................................. 29 The Domestic Economy ...................................................................................................... 30 Daily Domestic Practice ...................................................................................................... 30 i Intrahousehold Organization .................................................................................................. 31 Suprahousehold Organization ................................................................................................. 32 Status, Power, and Wealth Distinctions Among Households ................................................ 32 Corporate Groups and “House Societies” ............................................................................ 33 Households and the State ..................................................................................................... 34 PRACTICE THEORY .............................................................................................................. 35 Case Studies ........................................................................................................................... 35 Practice and Social Inequality .............................................................................................. 35 Practice and Ethnicity .......................................................................................................... 36 Practice and Political Development ..................................................................................... 37 FOODWAYS ............................................................................................................................ 37 Food Beyond Subsistence ....................................................................................................... 38 The Meal as Metaphor ......................................................................................................... 38 Food and Identity: We Are How We Eat ............................................................................. 39 The State at the Table: Political Economy of Food .............................................................. 40 Problematizing “Food” ........................................................................................................... 40 Feasting.................................................................................................................................. 41 Practice, Social Identity, and Politics in Feasting ................................................................. 42 Archaeological Evidence of Feasting ................................................................................... 43 Andean Feasting and Chicha ............................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4: PALEOETHNOBOTANICAL METHODS .................................................. 47 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 47 COLLECTION OF PLANT REMAINS .................................................................................... 48 UMARP Collection Procedures .............................................................................................. 49 IDENTIFICATION OF MACROREMAINS ...........................................................................