From the Monumental to the Mundane: Defining Early Leadership Strategies at Late Formative Pukara, Peru

TitleFrom the Monumental to the Mundane: Defining Early Leadership Strategies at Late Formative Pukara, Peru
Publication TypeThesis
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsKlarich, E. A.
Academic DepartmentUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, Anthropology
Number of Pages397
UniversityUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
CitySanta Barbara, California
Thesis TypePh.D.
AbstractThe study of alternative leadership strategies has become a major avenue for tracing
the development of institutionalized inequality in complex societies across the globe.
In the Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru and Bolivia, the Late Formative period (500 B.C.
- A.D. 400) is characterized by the development of two regional population centers,
Pukara in the northwest and Tiwanaku in the southeast. The site of Pukara, the
subject of the present study, is typically identified with the features of the Qalasaya
complex, a series of massive terraced platforms with sunken, stone-lined structures,
and the presence of sophisticated polychrome pottery and carved monoliths. In this
study, the transformation of the site’s central ceremonial district during the Late
Formative is framed as a reflection of changes in leadership strategies and local
responses to those changes. Based on architectural, artifact, and activity area data
collected during excavations in 2001, I argue that the changing function of the
central pampa, an open area surrounded by the monumental architecture of the
Qalasaya complex and several artificial mounds, can be used to trace a shift from
inclusive to exclusive leadership strategies at Pukara. The central pampa was
originally used as a public space dedicated to the preparation and consumption of
suprahousehold-level meals and was an integral element of inclusionary leadership strategies during the site’s early development. Over time, as the monumental
architecture of the Qalasaya was reconstructed and ritual activities became more
restricted, the central pampa was “cut off” and relegated to the periphery of the
ceremonial district. As elite interests shifted, reflecting trends towards exclusionary
leadership strategies, commoners reacted by utilizing the central pampa for
residential purposes, small-scale ritual, craft production, and other quotidian
activities. These occupations are characterized by formal divisions of architectural
spaces, increased diversity in activities performed, and differentiation of structure
function. The transformation of the central pampa—from the monumental to the
mundane—reflects both the motivations of early leaders and the responses of the
local population over several centuries of site growth, development, and
abandonment.