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Architecture and Polity in the Formative Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robin A. Beck Jr.
Robin A. Beck Jr.*
Affiliation:
Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, 3479 Faner Hall, Carbondale, IL 62901
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Abstract

A regional approach to public architecture offers a useful medium through which to study changes in the scale of integrative institutions. Changes in political structure are often associated with changes in the scale and complexity of public ritual space. In Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca Basin, Middle Formative period (800–250 B.C.) villagers along the Taraco Peninsula built earthen platforms that visually dominated their settlements. Until recently, research on the peninsula had focused almost exclusively on the site of Chiripa, with the result that little was known of the regional context in which this site and its neighbors emerged. Now, after excavations at the contemporaneous site of Alto Pukara, the sequence of public architecture at Middle Formative communities may be viewed within a regional context. This paper evaluates the trajectory of institutional complexity along the Taraco Peninsula through a formal comparison of public ritual architecture at Alto Pukara and Chiripa. Six criteria for measuring architectural variation—centrality, permanence, accessibility, visibility, scale, and ubiquity—facilitate this comparison. Only through a regional approach can we understand the integrative role of public space in these early village societies.

Un enfoque regional a la arquitectura pública ofrece un medio útil para estudiar los cambios en la escala de las instituciones integradoras. Los cambios en la estructura política se encuentran frecuentemente asociados a cambios en la escala de la complejidad de los espacios rituales públicos. En la cuenca del lago de Titicaca (Bolivia), durante el periodo Formativo Medio (800–250 a.C), los habitantes de las aldeas de la Península de Taraco construyeron plataformas de tierra que dominaban visualmente sus asentamientos. Hasta recientemente, las investigaciones en la península se concentraron casi exclusivamente en el yacimiento de Chiripa y, en consecuencia, poco se conocía del contexto regional en el que surgieron tanto éste como los yacimientos vecinos. Tras las excavaciones en el yacimiento contemporáneo de Alto Pukara, resulta viable el análisis secuencial del contexto regional en el que se desarrolla la arquitectura pública de estas comunidades del Formativo Medio. Este trabajo evalúa la trayectoria de la complejidad institucional en la Peninsula de Taraco a partir de la comparación formal de la arquitectura ritual pública en Alto Pukara y Chiripa. Se utilizan seis criterios para medir la variación arquitectónica y facilitar su comparación: centralidad, permanencia, accesibilidad, visibilidad, escala y ubicuidad.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 323 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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References

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