Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:36:20.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Social complexity and core-periphery relationships in an Andean Formative ceremonial centre: domestic occupation at Chavín de Huántar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2022

Christian Mesia-Montenegro*
Affiliation:
Dirección de Investigación, Innovación y Responsabilidad Social, Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima, Perú (✉ [email protected])

Abstract

The site of Chavín de Huántar, Peru, lies at the heart of developing social complexity in the Andean Formative period. The archaeological contexts on the site's immediate periphery are assessed to investigate the nature of occupation, activities practised, and relationships between the area's inhabitants and Chavín's ceremonial centre. The peripheral Wacheqsa sector, which began as a modest, domestic occupation in the second millennium BC, was reconfigured c. 800 cal BC into a more substantial settlement, perhaps inhabited by craftspeople producing artefacts for the Chavín authorities. The implications of this study are relevant to wider questions regarding relationships between monumental ceremonial centres and their immediate peripheries, and the study of early socio-economic complexity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baxter, M.J., Beardah, C.C. & Wright, R.V.S.. 1997. Some archaeological applications of kernel density estimates. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 347–54. https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.1996.0119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, W. 1944. The north highlands of Peru: excavations in the Callejon de Huaylas and Chavín de Huántar. New York: American Museum of Natural History.Google Scholar
Boone, J.L. 1987. Defining and measuring midden catchment. American Antiquity 52: 336. https://doi.org/10.2307/281785CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2021. OxCal v4.4. Available at: https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html (accessed 27 October 2021).Google Scholar
Burger, R. 1978. The occupation of Chavin, Ancash, in the Initial Period and Early Horizon. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Burger, R. 1988. Unity and heterogeneity within the Chavín horizon, in Keatinge, R. (ed.) Peruvian prehistory: an overview of pre-Inca and Inca society: 99144. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Burger, R. 1992. Chavín and the origins of Andean civilization. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Burger, R. 1998. Excavaciones en Chavín de Huántar. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cantarruti, G. 2013. Mining under Inca rule in north-central Chile: the Los Infieles mining complex, in Tripcevich, N. & Vaughn, K.J. (ed.) Mining and quarrying in the ancient Andes: sociopolitical, economic, and symbolic dimensions: 185211. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5200-3_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contreras, D. 2009. Reconstructing landscape at Chavín de Huántar, Perú: a GIS-based approach. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 1006–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.11.025CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contreras, D. 2017. (Re)constructing the sacred: landscape geoarchaeology at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Archaeological Anthropological Sciences 9: 1045–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0207-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diessl, W. 2004. Sitios arqueológicos en la Sierra de Ancash. Huántar, San Marcos, Chavín . Lima: Instituto Cultural Runa.Google Scholar
Doering, T.F. 2014. Mesoamerica in the Preclassic period: Early, Middle, Late Formative, in Smith, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of global archaeology: 4783–802. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1991CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Espejo Núñez, J. 1941. Exploraciones Arqueologicas en las cabeceras del Pukcha. Unpublished BA dissertation, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.Google Scholar
Fung, R. 1975. Excavaciones en Pacopampa, Cajamarca. Revista del Museo Nacional 41: 129210.Google Scholar
Hackley, L.D., Yıldırım, B. & Steadman, S.. 2021. Not seeing is believing: ritual practice and architecture at Chalcolithic Çadır Höyük in Anatolia. Religions 12: 665. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080665CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izumi, S. & Sono, T.. 1963. Andes 2: excavations at Kotosh Peru 1960. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Izumi, S. & Terada, K.. 1972. Andes 4: excavations at Kotosh, Peru, 1963 and 1966. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Kembel, S. 2001. Architectural sequence and chronology at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Kembel, S. 2008. The architecture at the Monumental Center of Chavín de Huántar: sequence, transformation and chronology, in Conklin, W. & Quilter, J. (ed.) Chavín: art, architecture and culture: 3584. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.10.2307/j.ctvdmwx21.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kembel, S. & Rick, J.. 2004. Building authority at Chavín de Huántar: models of social development in the initial period and early horizon, in Silverman, H. (ed.) Andean archaeology: 5176. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kembel, S. & Haas, H.. 2015. Radiocarbon dates from the monumental architecture at Chavín de Huántar, Perú. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22: 345427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-013-9180-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lothrop, S. 1941. Gold ornaments of Chavín style from Chongoyape, Peru. American Antiquity 6: 250–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/275542CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lothrop, S. 1951. Gold artifacts of Chavín style. American Antiquity 16: 226–40. https://doi.org/10.2307/276783CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lumbreras, L. 1989. Chavín de Huántar en el Nacimiento de la Civilización Andina. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Arqueológicos.Google Scholar
Manly, B. 1991. Randomization and Monte Carlo methods in biology. London: Chapman & Hall. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2995-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesia-Montenegro, C. 2007. Intrasite spatial organization at Chavín de Huántar during the Andean Formative: three-dimensional modeling, stratigraphy and ceramics. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Stanford University.Google Scholar
Mesia-Montenegro, C. 2014. Festines y poder en Chavín de Huántar durante el período Formativo en los Andes Centrales. Chungará (Arica) 46: 313–43. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-73562014000300002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesia-Montenegro, C. 2017. Estudios sobre el periodo formativo en los Andes Centrales, in Sara Lafosse, R. Vega-Centeno (ed.) Repensar el antiguo Perú: aportes desde la arqueología: 123–60. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.Google Scholar
Mesia-Montenegro, C. In press. To convince, to indoctrinate and to rule: the exercise of power in Chavín de Huántar on an intermediate area during the middle and late Central Andean Formative period, in Senri Ethnological Studies Journal of the National Museum of Ethnology. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.Google Scholar
Miller, G.R. & Burger, R.L.. 1995. Our father the cayman, our dinner the llama: animal utilization at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. American Antiquity 60: 421–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/282258CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagaoka, T., Seki, Y., Hidalgo, J.P.V. & Chocano, D.M.. 2020. Bioarchaeology of human skeletons from an elite tomb at Pacopampa in Peru's northern highlands. Anthropological Science 128: 1117. https://doi.org/10.1537/ase.200218CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Onuki, Y. (ed.). 1995. Kuntur Wasi y Cerro Blanco, dos sitios del Formativo en el Norte del Perú. Tokyo: Hokusen-Sha.Google Scholar
Onuki, Y. (ed.). 1997. Ocho tumbas especiales de Kuntur Wasi. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 1: 79114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rick, J. 2005. The evolution of authority and power at Chavín de Huántar, Peru, in Vaughn, K., Ogburn, D. & Conlee, C. (ed.) Foundations of power in the pre-Hispanic Andes: 7189. Los Angeles (CA): American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Rick, J. 2008. Context, construction, and ritual in the development of authority at Chavín de Huántar, in Conklin, W. & Quilter, J. (ed.) Chavín: art, architecture and culture: 334. Los Angeles (CA): Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.10.2307/j.ctvdmwx21.7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rick, J. 2014. Cambio y continuidad, diversidad y coherencia: perspectivas sobre variabilidad en Chavín de Huántar y el Periodo Formativo, in Seki, Y. (ed.) El Centro Ceremonial Andino: nuevas perspectivas para los periodos Arcaico y Formativo: 261–89. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.Google Scholar
Rick, J. et al. 2009. La cronología de Chavín de Huántar y sus implicancias para el Periodo Formativo. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 13: 87132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P. et al. 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62: 725–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenfeld, S.A. & Sayre, M.P.. 2016. Llamas on the land: production and consumption of meat at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Latin American Antiquity 27: 497511. https://doi.org/10.7183/1045-6635.27.4.497CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayre, M. 2010. Life across the river: agricultural, ritual, and production practices at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Sayre, M., Miller, M. & Rosenfeld, S.. 2016. Isotopic evidence for the trade and production of exotic marine mammal bone artifacts at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 8: 403–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0230-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shennan, S. 2006. Quantifying archaeology. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.Google Scholar
Tello, J.C. 1940. Expedición a Chavín (del 7 de Noviembre al 14 de Diciembre de 1940). Unpublished report housed in the Tello archives at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima.Google Scholar
Tello, J.C. 1943. Discovery of the Chavín Culture in Peru. American Antiquity 9: 135–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/275457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tello, J.C. 1960. Chavín Cultura Matriz de la Civilizacion Andina. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.Google Scholar
Uhle, M. 1902. Types of culture in Peru. American Anthropologist 4: 753–59. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1902.4.4.02a00080CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Mesia-Montenegro supplementary material

Mesia-Montenegro supplementary material

Download Mesia-Montenegro supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 241.9 KB