A Taste of Tiwanaku Daily Life in an Ancient Andean Urban Center as Seen through Cuisine Claudine Vallières Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal November 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Claudine Vallières, 2012 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores issues of identity at Tiwanaku, the urban cosmopolitan capital of an ancient Andean polity. This is done through an in- depth investigation of domestic culinary practices within the non-elite neighbourhood of Mollo Kontu. Recent research on the creation and maintenance of Tiwanaku socio-political relations has emphasized the importance of communal feasting events as the process through which residents were integrated into a broad Tiwanaku inclusive state identity. In particular, the consumption of maize beer (chicha), and the use of attractive ceramic paraphernalia attached to chicha production and consumption, are viewed as key aspects of the consensual integration to the Tiwanaku lifestyle. Results from my investigation of everyday culinary practices suggest that this Tiwanaku state inclusive identity was not as universally accepted as previously suggested. A detailed analysis of faunal remains from selected domestic contexts is presented and integrated with ceramic, paleoethnobotanical, ichtyoarchaeological, and bioarchaeological results, to illustrate the chaîne opératoire of cuisine at Mollo Kontu. I demonstrate that its residents managed their own camelid herds for meat production and consumption, independently from the Tiwanaku state. Their presence represents the exploitation of a shared food preference rather than an epiphenomenon of the residents’ economic and political situation. Mollo Kontu daily cuisine emphasized and valued the ingestion of local resources, especially domesticated camelids, in contrast to the Tiwanaku state identity manifested in the commensal consumption of beer i made of non-local maize. This suggests both an independence from the state, and the reinforcement of a local highland identity through the ingestion of locally produced staples, in an increasingly cosmopolitan urban context. Combined with isotopic results which showed Mollo Kontu residents consumed little maize, I argue that Mollo Kontu residents did not fully embrace the pluri- ethnic nature of the Tiwanaku state; in their daily lives they embraced their local roots through their culinary practices. ii RÉSUMÉ Cette dissertation explore des phénomènes identitaires ayant cours à Tiwanaku, capitale urbaine et cosmopolitaine d’une ancienne unité politique andine, grâce à l’étude approfondie des pratiques culinaires domestiques associées au quartier non-élite de Mollo Kontu. Des recherches récentes sur la création et le maintien des relations socio-politiques à Tiwanaku insistent sur le rôle stratégique des festins communautaires dans l’intégration des résidents à l’intérieur d’une même identité étatique Tiwanaku, vaste et inclusive. Plus particulièrement, la consommation de bière de maïs (chicha) et l’utilisation de céramiques d’une grande qualité esthétique pour la production et la consommation de chicha sont vues comme jouant un rôle clé dans l’intégration consensuelle des résidents à l’intérieur d’un mode de vie Tiwanaku. Les résultats de mon étude des pratiques culinaires quotidiennes (à Mollo Kontu) indiquent toutefois que cette identité étatique Tiwanaku n’était pas universellement acceptée, contrairement à ce que les études antérieures suggéraient. Une analyse détaillée des restes fauniques provenant d’une sélection de contextes domestiques est présentée et combinée à des résultats obtenus à partir de vestiges céramiques, paléobotaniques, ichtyologiques et bioarchéologiques afin d’illustrer la chaîne opératoire des pratiques culinaires à Mollu Kontu. Je démontre que les résidents de ce quartier géraient leurs propres troupeaux de camélidés à des fins de production et de consommation, et ce indépendemment de l’état de Tiwanaku. Je soutiens que l’existence de ces iii troupeaux n’est pas qu’un épiphénomène résultant de la situation socioéconomique des résidents, mais bien le reflet d’une préférence culinaire partagée. La cuisine quotidienne de Mollo Kontu favorisait et mettait en valeur l’ingestion de ressources locales, notamment celle de camélidés domestiques, et contrastait en cela avec l’identité étatique Tiwanaku qui se manifestait par la consommation commensale de bière produite à partir de maïs, une ressource non-locale. Ceci suggère à la fois une indépendence face à l’état et le l’existence d’une identié locale associée aux hautes-terres et renforcée par l’ingestion de produits du terroir, dans un contexte urbain de plus en plus cosmopolitain. Sur la base de ces données, combinées à des résultats d’analyse isotopique démontrant que les résidents de Mollo Kontu consommaient très peu de maïs, je soutiens que ceux-ci n’adhéraient pas complétement au caractère multi-ethnique de l’état de Tiwanaku; dans leur vie quotidienne ils célébraient leurs racines locales par le biais de leurs pratiques culinaires. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although my name is on the cover, this dissertation is not only the result of my hard work but the combined product of amazing mentorship and collegiality, and great opportunities. First and foremost, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisor, Nicole Couture, for providing me with all three. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work at the incredible site of Tiwanaku and for teaching me how to run an archaeological project. Thank you for always providing constructive criticism and praise that would never crush but made me a better scholar. Thank you for your availability, for making sure that your students were a priority, and for providing me with many funding opportunities. Thank you for mentoring me not only through writing a dissertation but through becoming a better scholar and colleague. Though the list could go on, I will end by simply thanking you for being such a strong role model. The scholarly foundations of this dissertation were also shaped by various members of my dissertation committee. My gratitude goes to James Savelle who introduced me to zooarchaeology when I was an undergraduate student and has been a constant presence throughout my development as a zooarchaeologist. Thank you for your support. I am also indebted to Katherine Moore who patiently and enthusiastically answered my many questions about the specificities of Andean zooarchaeology. Your passion and kindness was immensely appreciated. I thank Kristen Norget for helping me navigate both the wide literature on the anthropology of food and the history of anthropological theory more broadly. Eduardo Kohn stepped into this committee at the drop of a hat when needed and went above and beyond to provide me with moral v support, advice and encouraged me to always push my understanding of human (and animal) nature a little further. I have also benefited from incredible mentors outside of my doctoral committee. My deepest gratitude goes to Jonathan Driver who not only was an amazing M.A. supervisor but continued to show interest in my development, imparted invaluable advice and provided many a pep talk and coffees at various conferences. Thank you, Jon. I would also like to thank my first archaeology professor, Mike Bisson, for being such a passionate advocate for archaeology in the classroom. I am glad that you have been such a comforting presence throughout my undergraduate and graduate career. My thanks go the late Bruce Trigger who gave me the confidence to push a deeper understanding of theory that has followed me since my undergraduate years. Finally, in the last steps toward finishing my dissertation, I received invaluable mentorship and support from Richard Sutter who has been my greatest cheerleader. I did listen and you did boost my confidence in myself and in my work. Thank you, Rick. Successfully finishing a dissertation is not only helped by good mentorship, it is also sustained through the empathy and support from colleagues. I want to thank first all the colleagues that were in the field with me for providing both friendship and data. I thank Jonah Augustine who has been with me every field season. Thank you for giving me a shoulder to lean on, for analyzing ceramics from certain contexts simply because it would be helpful to me and for introducing me to the work of Karl Pilkington. My gratitude also goes to Elizabeth Arratia and Mabel Ramos who have also been instrumental to every season I have spent at Tiwanaku. Their dedication to archaeological research is truly inspiring and benefits us all. Fieldwork would not have been as vi enjoyable without the work and collegiality of Sandra Paye, Dennise Rodas Sanjines, Ruth Fontenla, Giles Morrow, Bridget Sandison, Carrie-Anne Berryman, Erin Jessee, Mary Leighton, Sara Becker, Eduardo Machicado and many others who weaved in and out of our project. Working on the Proyecto Jach’a Marka was also such a pleasure thanks also to the great group of women co-directing it: Deborah Blom, Maria Bruno and Nicole Couture. Your collaborative approach is inspirational. Finally, I give particularly heartfelt thanks to Wesley Mattox who not only made fieldwork and analysis such a joy for me and all those around him, but without whom I never could have survived the many challenges linked to navigating Bolivian immigration bureaucracy. Thank you also for acting as a sounding board to test my ideas and interpretations, for being my go-to IT guy and for always believing in me. Thanks Wes. Another great example of the type of collegiality that has supported me throughout my doctoral research comes from Andean zooarchaeologists. I especially want to thank Randi Gladwell who was my analysis companion at Tiwanaku and who generously imparted her incredible knowledge of camelid osteology with me. Thanks to you, my learning curve was much faster than anticipated. I am also grateful for all your editing work. Randi was also part of a group of colleagues whom I could rely on to answer any methodological queries; many thanks go to Kristen Gardella, Katharine Davis, Alejandra Gasco, Matthew Warwick, Susan deFrance and Jose Capriles.