Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations Arts & Sciences Summer 8-15-2016 Farming through the Auca Runa: Agricultural Strategies and Terraces during the Late Intermediate Period, Altiplano, Peru Brieanna Sylvia Langlie Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds Recommended Citation Langlie, Brieanna Sylvia, "Farming through the Auca Runa: Agricultural Strategies and Terraces during the Late Intermediate Period, Altiplano, Peru" (2016). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 864. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/864 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts & Sciences at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Anthropology Dissertation Examination Committee: David L. Browman, Co-Chair Gayle J. Fritz, Co-Chair Elizabeth N. Arkush David A. Freidel Fiona B. Marshall Kenneth M. Olsen Farming through the Auca Runa: Agricultural Strategies and Terraces during the Late Intermediate Period, Altiplano, Peru by BrieAnna S. Langlie A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences of Washington University in St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2016 St. Louis, Missouri © 2016, BrieAnna S. Langlie ii Table of Contents Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xi Abstract of the Dissertation ....................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1. The Research Problem and Organization of the Dissertation ............................... 1 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 6 Organization of the Dissertation ................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2. Geography, Ecology, and Climatology .................................................................. 10 The Natural Landscape ............................................................................................................. 10 South American Weather Patterns ............................................................................................ 13 Climatological Trends in the Lake Titicaca Basin ................................................................... 16 Natural Biotic Zones ................................................................................................................. 18 Prehistory of Climate Change in the South-Central Andes ...................................................... 20 Chapter 3. The Temporal Setting of Ayawiri........................................................................... 26 Culture History ......................................................................................................................... 26 Ayawiri: The Natural and Cultural Setting .............................................................................. 41 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 4. Theory: Coping with Risk in the Altiplano and Adapting Farming Strategies during the LIP ............................................................................................................................. 53 Domestication and Agricultural Intensification in the Titicaca Basin ..................................... 54 Zonal Complementarity: Trade Relations and Insurance ........................................................ 58 Domesticated Landscape Types in the Lake Titicaca Basin ..................................................... 61 Dating the Chronology of Field Systems .................................................................................. 66 Choosing Safety or Security at Ayawiri .................................................................................... 72 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 79 Chapter 5. Methods .................................................................................................................... 80 Excavation Methods .................................................................................................................. 80 Dating Methods ......................................................................................................................... 88 Paleoethnobotanical Methods .................................................................................................. 91 Paleoethnobotanical Methods of Quantification ...................................................................... 96 SEM Methods ............................................................................................................................ 98 Chapter 6. Macrobotanical Taxa ............................................................................................ 103 Sources of Deposition ............................................................................................................. 103 Botanical Taxonomy of Identified Plant Remains .................................................................. 107 iii Human and Camelid Diet and Behaviors ............................................................................... 142 Cultivated, Weedy or Wild: Chenopod Analysis ..................................................................... 147 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 159 Chapter 7. Contextual Analysis of Macrobotanical Remains from Ayawiri ...................... 161 Compound 6 ............................................................................................................................ 162 Compound 44 .......................................................................................................................... 169 Compound 59 .......................................................................................................................... 186 Compound 72 .......................................................................................................................... 189 Compound 118 ........................................................................................................................ 210 Comparing Macrobotanical Remains across Contexts .......................................................... 218 Social Diversity and Plant Remains ....................................................................................... 227 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 231 Chapter 8. Terraces: Design, Layout, and Labor .................................................................. 234 Agricultural Terrace Design ................................................................................................... 234 Maintenance ............................................................................................................................ 235 Types ....................................................................................................................................... 236 Enhancing the Agricultural Landscape .................................................................................. 237 Terraces in the Andes ............................................................................................................. 239 Ayawiri Terraces ..................................................................................................................... 240 Sociopolitics Mapped on Field Systems .................................................................................. 244 Assessing the Layout of the Ayawiri Terraces ........................................................................ 248 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 252 Chapter 9. Terrace Excavation Results and Findings ........................................................... 254 Selecting Terraces ................................................................................................................... 254 Terrace-4 ................................................................................................................................ 256 Diagnostic Ceramics from TZ-4 ............................................................................................