Strontium isotope analysis is applied in South America for the first time in order to investigate residential mobility and mortuary ritual from ad 500 to 1000. While Tiwanaku-style artefacts are spread throughout Bolivia, southern Peru and northern Chile during this time, the nature of Tiwanaku influence in the region is much debated. Human skeletal remains from the site of Tiwanaku and the proposed Tiwanaku colony of Chen Chen have been analysed to test the hypothesis that Tiwanaku colonies, populated with inhabitants from Tiwanaku, existed in Peru. Strontium isotope analysis supports this hypothesis by demonstrating that non-local individuals are present at both sites.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2004.00140.x

The Use of Strontium Isotope Analysis to Investigate Tiwanaku Migration and Mortuary Ritual in Bolivia and Peru

As a discipline that bridges the biological and social sciences, bioarchaeology has much to contribute to a contextualized and theoretically sophisticated understanding of social identities. Here, we discuss the growing methodological sophistication of bioarchaeology and highlight new developments in osteological age and sex estimation, paleodemography, biodistance analysis, biogeochemistry, and taphonomy, particularly anthropologie de terrain. We then discuss how these methodological developments, when united with social theory, can elucidate social identities. More specifically, we highlight past and future bioarchaeological work on disability and impairment, gender identity, identities of age and the life course, social identity and body modification, embodiment, and ethnic and community identities.

New Directions in Bioarchaeology: Recent Contributions to the Study of Human Social Identities

In the south central Andes, archaeologists have long debated the extent of Tiwanaku colonization during the Middle Horizon (AD 500-1000). We tested the hypotheses regarding the nature of Tiwanaku influence using strontium isotope, trace element concentration, and oxygen isotope data from archaeological human tooth enamel and bone from Tiwanaku- and Chiribaya-affiliated sites in the south central Andes. Strontium isotope analysis of 25 individuals buried at the Tiwanaku-affiliated Moquegua Valley site of Chen Chen demonstrates that it was likely a Tiwanaku colony. In contrast, no immigrants from the Lake Titicaca Basin were present in 27 individuals analyzed from the San Pedro de Atacama cemeteries of Coyo Oriental, Coyo-3, and Solcor-3; it is likely that these sites represent economic and religious alliances, but not colonies. However, strontium isotope analysis alone cannot distinguish movement between the Tiwanaku- and Chiribaya-affiliated sites in the Moquegua and Ilo Valleys of southern Peru. Analyzing oxygen isotope and trace element concentration data and comparing it with strontium isotope data from the same individuals provides a more detailed picture of residential mobility in the Tiwanaku and Chiribaya polities. In addition to monitoring diagenetic contamination, trace element concentration data identified movement during adulthood for certain individuals. However, these data could not distinguish movement between the Moquegua and Ilo Valleys. While oxygen isotope data could clearly distinguish the high-altitude sites from others, more data is needed to characterize the local oxygen isotope ratios of these regions. These data demonstrate the potential for archaeological reconstruction of residential mobility through multiple lines of evidence.

Utility of multiple chemical techniques in archaeological residential mobility studies: Case studies from Tiwanaku‐ and Chiribaya‐affiliated sites in the Andes

During the first few years of life, the bones of the skull are quite malleable and with persistent shaping by adult caretakers will eventually retain a form created through manipulation. The permanently modified head that results is not only an aesthetic feature; it also conveys social information. Cranial vault modification must be performed during infancy. As a result, it is not associated with rites of passage and contrasts in this respect with other forms of body modification that mark important social transitions (Brain 1979:91). Instead, early in life, cranial vault modification becomes a fundamental part of a person’s identity. It serves as a powerful, constant, and visually salient symbol of social identity. In some important respects our bodies are a creation of the society within which we exist. It is this interaction between society and the body that is critical in understanding the social context of body modifications. Cranial vault modification has long been viewed by anthropologists as a cultural feature, “one that marks territory or social boundaries, reaffirms ethnicity, and maintains and strengthens exchange networks” (Gerszten 1993:87). It can serve as a permanent symbol of within-group solidarity and of cultural differences between groups. Since patterns of body modifications are cultural artifacts, they can change in response to external influences. This suggests a possible bioarchaeological approach to a controversy regarding the cultural influence of the Bolivian altiplano state of Tiwanaku (a.d. 400–1000) on people living in the Atacama Desert of

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/338290

Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile1

Embodying borders: human body modification and diversity in Tiwanaku society

Nothing is more central to theories of prehispanic Andean state formation than the relationship between highland core areas and ecologically‐distinct peripheral regions. Various models, ranging from direct colonization to trade relations have been proposed and are usually grounded in architectural and material cultural patterning. We examine the human biological implications of colonization from the perspective of Tiwanaku, primarily during the expansive Tiwanaku IV and V periods (c. AD 500–1000). Using inherited skeletal features and artificial cranial deformation, we explore community patterning within the Titicaca Basin in comparison to that for the Moquegua (Middle Osmore) Valley, a region known to have strong cultural ties with the highland altiplano. Based in a sample of over 500 individuals, we test archaeologically‐derived models that posit mass migration into the Moquegua region. Our results are not inconsistent with a migration model.

Lozada C Mc

Papers

Tiwanaku 'colonization': bioarchaeological implications for migration in the Moquegua Valley, Peru.