With National Science Foundation support Dr. William Isbell and his colleagues will conduct archaeological research at the site of Iwawi, a four-hectare mound on the shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It is located 23 km from Tiwanaku which, it has been argued, was the capital of the earliest empire in the Andes. While it has been hypothesized (although yet to be proven) that Iwawi served as a port for Tiwanaku, it is clear that the site was occupied for two millennia and that people fished and collected lacustrine resources. They also cultivated raised fields whose fossil remains surround the site. Prior work at Iwawi has indicated that the mound contains a clear intact stratigraphy and is rich in floral and faunal remains as well as ceramics and other artifacts. The site also contains a number of burials. While a number archaeologists have worked in the Titicaca basin for many years the research has been hampered by lack of an accepted chronology. Dating, as in many parts of the world, is based on the analysis of ceramic assemblages but in this region a secure ceramic chronology has not been established. Without this, it is not possible to determine the age of the many surface structures and remains which are abundant in the region. In their past NSF supported work, Dr. Isbell and his colleagues began the painstaking task of creating such a ceramic sequence and the current award will allow them to complete the process. They will also analyze the faunal, floral and other materials collected and these will provide insight into how the inhabitants lived and how their behaviors changed over time. Complex societies appear to have arisen independently at roughly the same time in many parts of the world and archaeologists wish to understand the processes responsible for this phenomenon. Because Tiwanaku was the first of the great Andean empires it can provide an example of this process from beginning to end and therefore archaeologists have focused attention on it. Tiwanaku evidently supported large numbers of people in a high, cold and inhospitable environment and archaeologists wish to understand what subsistence strategies were followed. Dr. Isbell's work will not only shed new light on these issues but also provide a chronological tool of great value to other researchers.
