Under the guidance of Dr. Clark Erickson, Thomas Hardy will direct excavations at the archaeological site of Minaspata, located in the Lucre Basin near Cuzco, Peru. Minaspata is relevant to understanding the long-term rise of social and political complexity in the Cuzco region, eventually culminating in the rise of the Inca Empire (AD 1400-1532), but of particular importance is the period from AD 600-1000. Known as the Middle Horizon in Peru, this period is marked by the pan-regional dominance of the Wari state, located several hundred miles to the west in the modern city of Ayacucho. The Wari state expanded outward slightly before AD 600, likely conquering several regions in south-central Peru and establishing colonies throughout these annexed territories. However, without the aid of a writing system, relatively little is known about the political structure of this colonizing state, or about the social and cultural effects Wari domination had on local populations - in part, because few local Middle Horizon sites have been studied in peripheral Wari regions.
Minaspata provides an ideal opportunity to examine the effects of colonization in more detail, as the site was occupied from as early as 800 BC until the end of the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in AD 1532. Mr. Hardy's research will employ recent theoretical advancements and high-tech methodologies to examine the social and cultural transformations which occurred at Minaspata as a result of Wari colonization, which will in turn shed light on the colonial strategies which pre-Columbian complex polities employed to establish and maintain sovereignty.
Archaeological research in the Cuzco area has revealed a highly intensive Wari presence particularly in the Lucre Basin. The most notable sign of this investment is the massive site of Pikillacta, located 1 kilometer from Minaspata, which is the largest Wari site in Peru outside of the capital city itself. Limited excavations at Minaspata in the 1960's suggested that the site maintained a local character during the Middle Horizon, which would contradict assumptions archaeologists have made regarding the nature of the Wari state in the Cuzco area. A useful concept which Mr. Hardy will employ is that of cultural hybridity, which can be used to examine the degrees to which local populations adopted various Wari social and cultural practices into their lives. This can be determined by analyzing archaeological remains recovered in excavations, such as the production and design of tools and crafts (particularly ceramics), transformations in architectural construction and layout, shifts in food production and consumption practices, and changes in ritual and mortuary practices. The results will have larger implications for understanding of colonialism, both modern and ancient.
This research will seek to have broader impacts beyond these topics presented. Mr. Hardy will use these investigations for his dissertation, and will seek to build on the data in future field seasons. The project will also involve student archaeologists from the United States as well as from Peru, promoting international cooperation between future scholars, as well as providing experience to aspiring archaeologists from a variety of backgrounds. The results of this project will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications in both the U.S. and in South America, and the raw data will be made available for public use online. Finally, the project will involve analyses made at laboratories in Peru and in the U.S., promoting the integration of scientific techniques with more humanistic anthropological and archaeological theory.
In 2013, I directed archaeological excavations at the site of Minaspata, a large pre-Columbian village located in the Lucre Basin an hour east of Cuzco, Peru, with a history of occupation from at least a few centuries BC to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores to South America in 1532 AD. The project was focused on understanding the larger scale issues of culture change and colonialism, and the role material culture plays in these phenomena. The Cuzco region has been subject to two major episodes of imperialism in the pre-Columbian period. The first was from 600-1000 AD, during the Middle Horizon, when the Peruvian Andes were marked by the pan-regional dominance of the Wari state, based in central Peru. The Wari established colonies all in different areas of Peru – including the site of Pikillacta, a massive site less than 1 km from Minaspata in the Cuzco Valley. The second example of imperialism in the Cuzco region was in the Late Horizon (1400-1532 AD), marked by the expansion of the Inca Empire. In its early phases, before expanding and conquering most of the Andes mountain range, the Inca had to ally themselves with or subdue neighboring ethnic groups around the Cuzco region. The Lucre Basin was one of the last areas to be incorporated into the Inca heartland, putting up extensive resistance to Inca conquest. Upon incorporation into the Inca state, the non-Inca groups around the Cuzco region were granted the status of "Inca-by-Privilege," giving them social and economic privileges below those of the Inca themselves but above those throughout the rest of the empire. This does not mean they simply "assimilated" as Inca, socially, culturally or ethnically, and ethnohistoric records testify that attempts were made to maintain distinctiveness. However, little is known about the specific political practices used to maintain this distinction, or the concrete effects of these practices. Similar questions can be raised with regards to the Wari state and its relationship with the local populations. My project was designed with the goal of examining this relationship from the perspective of the local populations: by better grasping the transformations occurring at the local level, we can gain a more thorough understanding of culture change in colonial situations. To investigate this topic, my team and I conducted four months of excavations at five different areas around Minaspata. This was followed by several months analyzing the artifacts we recovered from the exaction units. Although our excavations were limited by time, money, and other factors, and we are still in the process of analyzing the artifacts, several interesting observations can be made. The first is that very little remains dating to the Middle Horizon, when the Wari state was operating in the basin, were found during our excavations – especially compared to earlier and later time periods. This might suggest that the site was partly abandoned during this time period; one possible explanation for this is that the Wari state could have moved part of the population to serve as labor for building Pikillacta and other infrastructure around the basin. By contrast, remains from the Inca period and the period just prior are much more extensive. Our excavations revealed a lot of architectural activity during these time periods, and much of the surface architecture appears to be in a state of remodeling. Inca material culture also appears to have been made available to the Minaspata without replacing the local styles. Overall, it appears that the local population did undergo some socio-cultural transformation under Inca rule, but that an effort was made to maintain a cultural distinction as well. Although much research still remains to be done, I am confident that this project will add to our understanding of colonialism and culture change, both in the ancient past and in more recent times. This project also served as educational and training development for dozens of archaeology students, both Peruvian and North American; it was so successful in this regard that the Peruvian Ministry of Culture – the governmental branch responsible for archaeological projects in Peru – is using this research at Minaspata (and the archaeologists we trained) as a basis for further development and research in the Lucre Basin. I am very much looking forward to continuing research on this fascinating topic with my Peruvian colleagues, and I hope to continue uncovering more interesting discoveries.
