Under the direction of Dr. Norman Hammond, Mr. Benjamin Vining will land-use history in one of the highest regions of the Andean cordillera of southern Peru from approximately 6000 BC to AD 1450. He will focus on shifts in settlement types and location in the archaeological record of the basin which reflect social and climatic changes over the past millennia.
The Lake Suches basin is in marginal environment located at 4600 meters above sea level that presents several limitations to human occupation, including extreme cold, hypoxia, and low levels of unpredictable precipitation. Early inhabitants of the basin adapted to these limitations by developing a distinctive pastoral economy focused on domesticated llamas and alpacas. Andean camelid specialists supplement their economy with non-pastoral commodities procured through long-distance social and economic relations, which changed through the rise and decline of the Tiwanaku and Inca states. This research examines the relationships that dispersed rural communities (who are underrepresented in archaeological literature) have to state-level economic systems. By documenting settlement and material culture in the Suches basin, the project considers some of the factors that make Suches distinctly "rural" and how the rural history of this community is connected to other rural and urban communities in the Andean region.
Pastoralists in Suches rely on unique alpine wetlands, called bofedales, which provide year-round sources of browse and water for domestic stock in an otherwise inhospitable region. Previous research suggests that bofedales are highly susceptible to climatic changes, and this sensitivity may have been exacerbated by low precipitation and water shortages that make Suches marginal under recent conditions. Understanding Holocene climate change is important for understanding ancient land-use in Suches. The project will investigate palaeoclimatic conditions through climatic evidence found in lake sediments and is using these data, along with data from satellite imagery and rainfall stations, to model the flux in available plant biomass in bofedales under modern conditions. These will be used to assess the potential impact of wet-dry climatic phases on pastoral resources in the past.
This project thus addresses two issues of considerable modern relevance. It examines and expands our anthropological understanding of rural communities, which incorporate the majority of the population in many countries but which nonetheless are marginalized. This research also addresses Holocene climate change in the high Andes and examines the impacts that alternating humid and dry cycles had on pastoralists living in this region. These issues are directly relevant for rural development and water resource management in the Peruvian Andes. Information from this project has been and will continue to be directly disseminated to local herding communities in print and digital formats; it is anticipated that this information can help to develop the rural economy. Results also will be presented to the academic archaeological, anthropological, and geological in refereed publications and on-line geo-spatial databases. The fieldwork will provide the opportunity to train US and Peruvian graduate students and archaeologists in inexpensive, high-technology geospatial research methods.
