Tiwanaku en Moquegua: las colonias altiplánicas

Abstract

Tiwanaku in Moquegua: The Altiplano Colonies

Investigations in Moquegua demonstrate two distinct waves of Middle Horizon colonization by altiplano settlers. Both Tiwanaku colonies allowed and ultimately replaced the Huaracane tradition, a substantial indigenous Formative occupation in the middle Moquegua valley. Tiwanaku site locations, settlement patterns, mortuary and domestic traditions, and skeletal biology differ significantly from those of Huaracane, indicating distinct origins and ethnicity. Within the Moquegua Tiwanaku colonies, settlements of two distinct groups are distinguished by assemblages of Omo style and the Chen Chen style ceramics. The Omo style Tiwanaku settlers arrived first, but distinct villages using each style coexisted throughout the valley for centuries. These appear to represent colonists from distinct ethnicities or moieties within the Tiwanaku culture. Tiwanaku colonists maintained their highland identities in all aspects of domestic, mortuary and ritual practices through ayllu level social organization. The more substantial Chen Chen style colony also introduced provincial political organization, demonstrated by new infrastructure for surplus maize cultivation and the construction of a Tiwanaku style temple structure at the Omo site.