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Society for American Archaeology
The Technology and Organization of Agricultural Production in the Tiwanaku State
Author(s): Alan L. Kolata
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jun., 1991), pp. 99-125
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/972273 .
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THE TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCI ION IN THE TIWANAKU STATE
Alan L. Kolata
Utilizingdatafrom six seasons of field research,this articlefocuses on the questionof the technologyand social
organizationof intensiveagriculturalproductionin the Andean state of Tiwanaku.Recent literaturein Andean
archaeologyand ethnohistoryasserts the dominanceof local kin groups in the organizationof agiculturalproductionratherthan supracommunitystate authority.The analysispresentedheretakes issue withthisperspective
as appliedto the core territoryof the Tiwanakustate duringthe periodfrom ca. A.D. 400 to 1000 (Tiwanaku
IV-V). I concludethat in thisperiod:(I) the technologyof Tiwanakuintensiveagriculturalproductionturnedon
the creationof an artificialregionalhydrologicalregimeof canals, aqueducts,and groundwaterregulationarticulatedwith massiveraised-fieldsystems, and (2) the organizationof agriculturalproductionin this core territory
entailedstructured,hierarchicalinteractionbetweenurbanand ruralsettlementscharacterizedby a substantial
degree of political centralizationand the mobilizationof labor by social principlesthat reachedbeyondsimple
kinshiprelations.
Utilizandoinformacionarqueologicade seis temporadasde campo, este artEculocentrasu atencionen aquellos
aspectostecnologicosy de organizacionsocial asociadosa la produccionagrlcolaintensivadel estado andino de
Tiwanaku.Unaposicion actual en la literaturaarqueologicay etnohistoricaandina sostieneque la organizacion
asociadaa la produccionagrfcolaestuvobasadaen gruposdeparentescolocal,en lugarde queel manejoplanificado
de la autoridadestatal actuabasobre la comunidad.El analisis que aqul se presentapolemiza esta perspectiva
en su aplicacional desarrollodel estado Tiwanakuen su area nuclearaproximadamentedesde 400 a 1000 D.C.
(TiwanakuIV-V). ConcluEmosque en este perfodo. (I) la tecnologla de la produccionagrEcolaintensiva de
Tiwanakugenero la creacionde un regimenhidrologicoarti.ficialy regionalde canales, acueductosy regulacion
de aguas subterraneasarticuladocon los sistemas de campos elevados,y (2) la organizacionde la produccion
agrfcolaen este territorionuclearmantuvouna interaccionestructuraday jerarquizadaentre los asentamientos
urbanosy rurales.Ademas se caracterizopor tener un grado de centralizacionpolfticay por la mobilizacionde
mano de obraque utilizoprincipiossociales quefueron mas alla de simples relaciones de parentesco.Un aspecto
complementariopero significativopara la investigacionque presentamos aquf es la rehabilitacionde algunos
camposde cultivoprehispanicos(camelloneso campos elevados)de la Pampa Koani y del valle de Tiwanaku,y
los resultadosde su implementaciondespuesde los tresprimerosanos consecutivos.Se subrayanlas propiedades
termicas de los campos elevadospara la proteccioncontra las heladas, y la alta productividadpor superficie
sembrada,que es varias veces superioral promedio regional y nacional. Estos resultadosevidencianque este
regimende intensificacionagrfcolafue la estrategiaprincipalde produccionintensivadel estado de Tiwanaku.
The organizational principles that govern intensive agricultural production have been a central
concern of several influential theoretical formulations regarding the origin and maintenance of
state societies (Boserup 1965; Coward 1979; Downing and Gibson 1974; Hunt 1988; Mitchell 1973,
1977; Sanders and Price 1968; Steward 1955; Wittfogel 1938, 1957; among others). The Wittfogel
(1957) hypothesis, which postulated that large-scale irrigation requires centralized management of
the hydraulic infrastructure and explained the origins of agrarian state societies in arid lands in
terms of increased political integration resulting from the need for centralized control of irrigation,
has generated a particularly passionate body of literature (see Mitchell [1973] for an excellent
summary of that literature).
The current consensus on the Wittfogel hypothesis rejects both the assumption that large-scale
hydraulic works presuppose the presence of centralized authority and the causal inference that links
Alan L. Kolata, Departmentof Anthropology,Universityof Chicago,Chicago,IL 60637
Latin AmericanAntiquity, 2(2), 1991, pp. 99-125.
CopyrightC) 1991 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology
99
100
LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
the emergenceof statesocietieswith the organizationalrequirementsof suchhydraulicinfrastructures
(Hunt 1988; Mitchell 1973, 1977). Justifiably,contemporaryscholars of early state societies view
the degree of centralizationin intensive agriculturalsystems as highly variable, and demonstrate,
in many cases, that the organizationof such systems lies outside the purview of state bureaucracies
(Netherly 1984), or even excludespolitical structuresfrom the decision-makingapparatusaltogether
(Lansing 1987). Rather than looking to the central authorities for the principles that structured
intensive agriculturalproduction in these states (the "top-down perspective"),these scholars emphasize the importanceof recognizingthe organizationalinitiatives of local farmers(the "bottomup perspective").In general,the latter perspective seems to accept that intensive systems of agriculturalproductionrequire some form of (weakly)hierarchicalorganization,but that there was a
tendency to use the minimum amount of organizationnecessaryto maintain the hydraulicinfrastructure,while retaining a mechanism for seeking higher levels of organizationwhen necessary
(regionaldispute resolution, disaster response,and the like).
Certainrecent literaturein Andean archaeologyand ethnohistoryclosely follows this new orthodoxy, assertingthe dominance of local kin groups ratherthan hierarchical,supracommunitystate
authority in the organizationof agriculturalproduction (Erickson 1988; Graffam 1990; Netherly
1984; see also Schaedel [1988] who extends this analysis to Andean cosmology and worldview).
Although this perspective provides a necessary corrective to a rigid, Wittfogel-likeformulation,
uncriticalapplicationcan lead to an equally dogmatic position that overlooks, or even denies, the
reality of centralizedstate action on local communities in Andean societies. Neither a categorical
top-downor bottom-upframeof referencealone can accountfor the multipleformsof social linkages
that produced intensive systems of agriculturalproduction and provided for the reproductionof
society as a whole. Bureaucraticand nonbureaucratic,centralizedand uncentralizedforms of organization of intensive agriculturalproductioncan, and probablyalways did, coexist in time and
space in most agrarianstates. Therefore,at any given point in the history of a state society, it is
likely that both frames of referencecan provide essential insights into the dynamic interactionof
local communities and centralizedauthorities.
In this paper,I arguethat the essentialgeopoliticalcore of the Andeanstate of Tiwanakuconsisted
of a politically and economically integratedagriculturalheartlandreclaimedfrom the flat, marshy
lands that ring Lake Titicaca (Figure 1). The fields in this core area were shaped into a system
capableof sustainedyields that provided the bulk of the state's considerablesubsistenceneeds and
accommodated the natural expansion of its demographicbase (Kolata 1983, 1986; Kolata and
Graffam 1989; Kolata and Ortloff 1989; Ortlof and Kolata 1989). The technology of intensive
agriculturalproductionin the Tiwanakustate turnedon creationof an artificialregional hydrological
regime of canals, aqueducts,and groundwaterregulationarticulatedwith raised-fieldsystems. The
organizationof agriculturalproductionin this core territoryentailed structured,hierarchicalinteraction between urban and rural settlements characterizedby a substantialdegree of political centralizationand the mobilization of labor by social principlesthat reached beyond simple kinship
relations. This argumentdoes not imply that the Tiwanaku state wielded despotic power in the
Wittfogelliansense, or even that it created a formalized, central bureaucracy.Rather, it assumes
that Tiwanaku urban elites had a compelling interest in establishing a dedicated landscape of
intensive agriculturalproductionin the core territoryaroundthe southernshores of Lake Titicaca,
and that the organizationalprinciples they instituted to manage this landscape were of regional,
ratherthan local scope.
TIWANAKU RAISED FIELDS:TECHNOLOGICALDIMENSIONSAND IMPLICATIONS
Systemsof raised-fieldagriculture,if not quite ubiquitousin the ancientAmericas,arenevertheless
broadlydistributedthroughoutCentraland SouthAmerica,and, to a lesserdegree,in North America
as well. This type of paleohydraulicsystem occurs in differentclimatic regions rangingfrom the
humid tropics of the South Americanlowlandsto the middle-latitude,temperatezones of the upper
Midwest in the United States. This wide geographicvariation in raised-fieldtechnologyis matched
by high diversity in morphologyand function. In certainecologicalcontexts, such as in perennially
. . .... .. ...
Marsh
or
Swamp
mm
AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTION
INTHETIWANAKU
STATE
Kolata]
101
TIWANAKU AND ADJACENT VALLEYS
-
tS
----
Road
X
3
Land subiect
l.G.M. SERIES
to inundation
200
Meter
HS3 1 SE- 19-3
Contour
N
Intervals
Figure 1. Tiwanakuand adjacentvalleys illustratingthe location and generaltopographicand hydrological
featuresof the subbasinsof the Rio Tiwanakuand the Rio Catari, and portionsof the Machaca-Desaguadero
regiondiscussedin the text. This maplocatesthe principalTiwanakuurbansettlementsof Tiwanaku,Lukurmata,
Pajchiri,and KhonkoWankane.Major Tiwanakusites also exist underthe modernsettlementsof Guaquiand
Jesus de Machaca illustratedon this map.
inundated landscapes,the primaryfunction of raised fields is to promote drainageand lower local
watertables to reducethe potentiallydisastrousconditions of root rot. In other settings,raisedfields
mitigate the hazardof killing frosts, therebyenhancinglocal yields (Gallagheret al. 1985; Riley and
Freimuth 1979). Still other systems of raised fields appear to promote the conservation of water
and the recyclingof essentialnutrients.The raised-fieldcomplexesof the circum-LakeTiticacaregion
in Peru and Bolivia, which are of principalconcern here, representthe largest,virtuallycontinuous
expanse of this cultivation system in the world. This specialized, intensive form of agricultural
productionwas the cornerstoneof Tiwanaku'sagrarianeconomy.
Morphology and Stranctarre
The raised fields of the Titicaca Basin are essentially large, elevated planting platformsranging
from 5 to 20 m in width and up to 200 m in length.Within a given segmentof a raised-fieldsystem,
approximately30-60 percent of the area of a segment is given over to the planting surfaceitself
(Figure2). The remaining portion is occupied by intervening canals that derive their water from
local fluvial networks, natural springs, or percolatingground water (Kolata and Ortloff 1989). At
times, the flow of water from naturalsources that fed Tiwanakuraised-fieldsystems was enhanced
and regulatedby massive hydraulic projects designed by the agroengineersof Tiwanaku:dikes,
102
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
LAKAYA1:RAISED-FIELD
SYSTEM
N
* mound
a
g
field surface
canal
0
30
meters
Figure 2. Plan of representativeraised-fieldsystem in the Lakaya sector of the Pampa Koani illustrating
proportionof canal:fieldsurfacearea. Note centrallocationof house mounddatedto TiwanakuV phase ca. A.D.
A.D. 800-1000. This moundmost likely representsrepeatedseasonal occupationby kamani, or field guardians.
aqueducts,primarycanals and canalized springs,quebradas,
and rivers (Ortloffand Kolata 1989).
Comprehensivedescriptionsof Titicaca Basin raised-fieldmorphologyand structurecan be found
in Erickson(1988) and Lennon (1982, 1983).
An essential property of the Lake Titicaca raised-field systems stabilized and enhanced their
productivityand sustainability.Recent experimentalwork in restoredTiwanakuraised fields (described in greaterdetail below) indicates that the canals adjacentto the elevated planting surfaces
were rapidly colonized by a diverse range of aquatic macrophytes,such as Azolla,Myriophyllum,
and Elodea.These aquatic macrophytestrap suspended,water-borneparticulatesand thereby sequester nutrientsin the agriculturalenvironment (Binfordet al. 1990). Plants were probablyharvested directly from the surfaceof the water and incorporatedinto the plantingbed immediately
before sowing, or their decayed productswere dredgedfrom the muddy sedimentsof the canals and
redistributedover the surface of the field. The high nutritive content of the decomposed aquatic
plants would have greatly ameliorated the nitrogen deficit that characterizesmost altiplano soils
(Unzueta 1975; Winterhalderet al. 1974:99). Excavations in the agriculturalsector at the site of
Lukurmata(Figure 1) indicated that Tiwanakufarmersdid in fact periodicallyclean the sediments
from canals between raised fields (Kolata and Graffam 1989; Kolata and Ortloff 1989:Figure7).
These nitrogen-richsediments were then used to resurfaceand revitalize the plantingplatformsof
the raised-fieldsystem.
-
Kolata]
|
w
w
AGRICULTURALPRODUCTIONIN THE TIWANAKUSTATE
103
Jrave
Figure 3. Specific vectors of heat storage and transfer in Tiwanaku raised fields in the Lake Titicaca Basin
as described in the text. Illustration based on research discussed in Kolata and Ortloff (1989).
Apart from their capacity to sustain aquatic plants that could be exploited as forms of natural
fertilizer,the canals between fields played a second, vital role in maintainingthe productivityof
raised fields in the specificenvironmentalcontext of the Andean high plateau.Perhapsthe greatest
risk that altiplano farmers face on a daily basis during the growing season is the potential for
devastation wrought by killing frosts. A number of scholars examining ancient raised-fieldtechnologies have advanced the generalhypothesis that raised fields in high-altitude(Brookfield1961;
Denevan 1970; Erickson 1985, 1988; Smith et al. 1968; Wadell 1972) and middle-latitude(Riley
and Freimuth 1979; Riley et al. 1980) environments served to mitigate frost damage. Erickson
(1985) describesthe generalthermaland microclimaticeffectsof raised fields in the Huattadistrict
of the Department of Puno, Peru. In experiments undertakenin restored Tiwanakuraised fields
during 1987 and 1988, my colleagues and I examined the specific heat-storagepathwaysand potentials within these systems (Figure 3). The results of this work demonstate that the design of
raised-fieldsystems absorbsheat from solar radiationefficiently,promotes heat conservation,and
functions effectively to protect both seedlings and maturingplants from frost damage duringsubfreezingaltiplano nights (Kolata and Ortloff 1989). As implied above, the canals surroundingthe
raised fields are the key to this frost-mitigationeffect.
Experiments in Raised-Field Rehabilitation
During the 1987-1988 agriculturalseason, we obtained graphicempiricalconfirmationof these
heat-conservationeffects.In that year, approximately2.5 ha of ancient Tiwanakuraisedfieldswere
reconstructednearthe native Aymaravillage of Lakayain the PampaKoani, situatedon the southern
shores of Lake Titicaca some 10 km to the north of the site of Tiwanakuitself (Figure4). These
well-preservedTiwanakuraisedfieldswerereconstructedby Aymarafromlocalcommunitiesaround
LakayabetweenAugustand September1987 and wereplantedin a varietyof indigenous(principally
potato) and introducedcrops. Organicfertilizerin the form of greenmanureand animal waste (but
no commercial fertilizer)was applied to the rehabilitatedfields, and cultivation and weeding proceeded in a normal manner.
On the nights of February28-29,1988, the Bolivian altiplanoin the PampaKoani regionsuffered
a killing frost with temperaturesin the Lakayasector droppingto -5°C in some areas. Substantial
zones of potato and quinoa cultivation on plains and hillslopes along the southern rim of Lake
Titicacawere severelydamagedby this heavy frost.Manytraditionaldry-farmedpotato fieldswithin
a few hundredmeters of the experimentalraised-fieldplots experiencedcrop losses as high as 7090 percent. One control plot cultivated in the traditional manner without benefit of raised-field
technologylost every maturingpotato plant. In contrast,losses in the experimentalraised fields of
Lakayawere limited to superficialfrost damage of foliage on potato plants. Barley, broad beans,
quinoa, caniwa, onions, and lettuce on the raised fields also exhibited only superficialdamageand
LATIN AMERICANANTIQUITY
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
104
Figure 4. Aerial photographof southernportionsof the Pampa Koani raised-fieldsystem study area with
regionalartificialhydrologicalfeaturesemphasized:(1) artificallycanalizedsectionof the Rio Catari;(2) intake
of the river-by-passsystem, or river "shunt";(3) causeways-the causewayon the west side of this photograph
ltrans-pampacausewaylmay have served as a dike, as well as an elevated roadbed;(4) Lakaya rehabilitated
raised fields (from InstitutoGeograficoMilitar, sheet 20517, 10 August1955).
low loss rates from the frost. We attributethis substantialdiffierentialin plant survivabilityto the
heat-storagepropertiesof the saturatedraised fields and their surroundingcanals. In effect, these
experimentsdemonstratethat Prehispanicsystemsof raised-fieldcultivationin the altiplanopossess
much higherthermal efficiencythan traditionalforms of dry farmingpracticedby the indigenous
peoples of the area since the early SpanishColonial period. Not surprisingly,given the high risk of
crop loss throughfrost damage, the higher thermal efficiencyof the raised fields, when combined
with the forms of natural fertilizationavailable to the raised-fieldcultivator, translatesinto substantiallyhigheryield performancein comparisonwith dry farming.
In addition to demonstratingthe superiorthermalpropertiesof raised fields, our experimentsin
rehabilitatingTiwanaku raised fields indicated substantialyield diffierentialsbetween traditional,
Kolata]
105
Table 1. Potato Yield of RehabilitatedRaised Fields: Pampa Koani.
Parcel
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Total
Average
Dimensions
(m)
Length/Width
3.57/2.90
4.00/3.00
3.00/3.54
2.80/3.17
2.70/7.70
3.20/3.20
2.90/2.90
2.80/3.50
2.80/2.90
3.00/5.00
3.00/5.00
3.65/3.20
Number
Surface area
of
Number of
(in m2)
FulTows
Plants
10.35
12.00
10.62
8.88
20.79
10.24
8.41
9.80
8.12
15.00
15.00
18.25
132.41
11.03
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
9
9
5
39
49
39
33
84
31
36
43
33
70
75
45
577
48
Weight
per Parcel
(in kg)
40.80
45.80
39.00
38.30
82.25
43.20
44.70
38.18
29.15
70.50
63.50
57.50
592.88
40.40
Total Weight
per Hectare % Exhibiting
(in kg (EstimatFrost
ed))
Lesionsa
39,420
38,166
36,723
43,130
39,562
42,187
53,151
38,959
35,899
47,000
42,333
49,229
505,752
42,146b
10
20
10
0
10
25
10
20
0
10
10
0
10.41
Percent of plants exhibiting frost lesions refers to the specific event of February 28-29, 1988, refelTed to in
the text.
b To obtain average yield in kilograms per hectare in the raised-field system as a whole, rather than the platform
surfaces alone, this figure must be halved to reflect the approximate proportion of noncultivated canal surfaces.
E^ective yield per hectare becomes ca. 21 metric tons/hectare.
a
dry farmingand raised-fieldcultivation. Table 1 illustratesthe yields of potato, the principaltuber
planted in 12 individual control parcelsin the reconstructedraised fields, along with supplemental
data on the surfacedimensions of the control parcels, number of planted furrowsand individual
plants per parcel,the achieved weight and number of tubers per potato plant, and the incidence of
frost damage.
The yields fromthe experimentalraisedfieldscomparefavorablywith those obtainedfrom control
plots of two traditionalvariantsof altiplanoagriculturecultivatedfor purposesof directcomparison.
The two traditionalforllls of agriculturalplots were: (1) shallow-furrow,seasonal rain-dependent
plots, cultivatedwithout the benefit of irrigation,or the use of chemical fertilizersor pesticides,but
with small quantities of organic fertilizer, principallydried cattle manure, incorporatedinto the
fields prior to seeding, and (2) shallow-furrow,dry-cultivatedplots with added chemical fertilizers
and pesticidesappliedboth to the soil and to foliagethroughoutthe growingseason. The firstcontrol
plot was established on a previously cultivated, gentle hillslope in the community of Lakayaapproximately 120 m south of the reconstructedraised fields on the pampa (Figure4). The specific
plot chosen for cultivation had been in fallow for about five years (the landownerwas unable to
provide a precise date for the last previous planting of the field, but he did mention that the last
crop planted was barley). The second control plot was established in the community of Achuta
Grandein the valley of Tiwanaku,4 km west of the village of Tiwanaku.This plot was cultivated
on long-fallowed, flat land near the Rio Tiwanaku, which had been used for the past 15 years
exclusively for pasturage.This second control plot lies approximately200 m southwest of 4 ha of
rehabilitatedraised fields in the Achuta Grandepampa.
The first form of traditional cultivation has been the dominant mode of peasant agricultural
productionin the Bolivian altiplano for nearly five centurieseven though it is patently inefficient.
As indicated by the yield and supplementalproductiondata in Table 2, this form of nonfertilized
dry farmingachieved an averageof 2.5 metric tons (t)/ha of potato (the index plant of our experimental work) on five cultivated parcels.During the 1987-1988 growingseason, 100 percentof the
maturingplants on these parcelsexhibited lesions from frost, with the bulk of the damageoccurring
duringthe hard freeze in February, 1988. Depending on the individual parcels of cultivated land,
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
106
Table 2. Potato Yield of TraditionalAgricultureLackingCommercialFertilizers.
Parcel
Number
1
2
3
4
5
Dimensions
(m)
Length/Width
5.00/3.60
5.00/3.50
5.00/3.65
5.00/3.70
5.00/3.56
Surface area Number of Number of
(in m2)
Furrows
Plants
18.00
17.50
18.25
18.50
17.80
90.05
18.01
Total
Average
5
5
5
5
5
60
63
61
61
62
307
61.4
Weight
per Parcel
(in kg)
Total Weight
per Hectare
(in kg
(Estimated))
%
Exhibiting
Frost
Lesionsa
4.00
4.50
4.60
5.00
3.80
21.9
4.38
2,222
2,571
2,520
2,703
2,135
12,151
2,430
100
100
100
100
100
100
Percent of plants exhibiting frost lesions refers to the specific event of February 28-29, 1988, referred to in
the text.
a
approximately10-30 percentof these plants were superficiallydamagedby frost, but the remaining
70-90 percentwere destroyedand yielded no edible tubers.
Predictably,the additionof commericalfertilizers(N, P, K:nitrogen,phosphorous,and potassium)
on traditionalfields (control plot 2) increasedproduction substantiallyto an average of 14.5 t/ha
on eight cultivated parcels (Table 3). Despite the expected enhanced performanceof traditional
agriculturalfields treatedwith commercial fertilizers,it is clear from a comparisonof the data in
Table 1 that the experimentalraisedfields significantlyoutperformedboth the nonfertilizedand the
fertilizer-treatedfieldsconstructedin the traditionalfashion.On 12cultivatedparcelsof experimental
raised fields, potato yields reached an average of 21 t/ha, or nearly twice the yield of traditional
fields treated with chemical fertilizersand over seven times the yield of unimproved traditional
cultivation. Furthermore,the percentageof the crop planted in raised fields that was affiectedby
frost lesions averagedonly about 10.5 percent, a radicallydiffierent,and much smaller proportion
of frost damage than experiencedin the two types of traditionalcultivation.
Similar experimentsin raised-fieldrehabilitationwere conducted in the altiplano of Peru on the
northernside of Lake Titicaca by a team of archaeologistsand agronomistsduring the early and
mid-1980s (Erickson 1988). Their results are instructive and are generally consonant with ours
(Table4). The Peruvianteam apparentlydid not plant controlplots of traditionallycultivatedfields
for direct comparison, but ratherrelied on regionalaveragesfor the Departmentof Puno derived
Table 3.
Parcel
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
Average
Potato Yield of Improved Agriculture With Commercial Fertilizers.
Dimesions
(m)
Length/Width
5.00/3.68
5.00/3.40
5.00/3.60
5.00/3.80
5.00/3.20
5.00/3.30
5.00/3.30
5.00/3.50
Number
Surface area
of
Number of
(in m2)
Furrows
Plants
18.40
17.00
18.00
19.00
16.00
16.50
16.50
17.50
138.40
17.30
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
45
40
40
40
41
46
51
44.
347
43.3
Weight
per Parcel
(in kg)
Total Weight
per Hectare
(in kg,
(Estimated))
%
Exhibiting
Frost
Lesionsa
26.0
26.5
23.0
26.0
14.0
22.5
30.5
32.1
200.6
25.1
14,130
15,588
12,777
13,685
8,750
13,636
19,062
18,342
115,970
14,496
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
a Percent of plants exhibiting frost lesions refers to the specific event of February 28-29,
1988, referred to in
the text.
Kolata]
AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTION
INTHETIWANAKU
STATE
107
Table 4. Potato Yield on RehabilitatedRaised Fields in Huatta,
Peru.
Yields in kg/ha
Field Name
Surface Area
(m2)
Machachi
110
Candile
73
Chojnocoto I
702
Chojnocoto II
2 025
Chojnocoto III
1?449
Viscachani Pampa
1,405/ 1,625
Pancha Pampa
815
Average Yield per Hectare per Year
Combined Average Yield per Hectare
19811982
19831984
198F
1985
13,652
8,573
5,186
11,036
12,309
10,990
10,441
6,760
10,119
12,536
8,440
10,658 kg/ha
13,094
Note: Adapted from Erickson (1988:Table 8).
from statisticscompiled by the PeruvianMinistryof Agriculture.These averagesof regionalpotato
productionon traditionallycultivatedplots rangefrom 1.5 to 6 t/ha, which compareswell with our
own result of 2.4 t/ha. The higheraverageproductionfiguresfor the Puno area (> 3 t/ha) probably
reflectfields treatedwith naturalor chemical fertilizersand should be comparedwith our result of
7.25 t/ha for improved traditionalagriculture(Table 3). On raised fields that were not treatedwith
fertilizersover a three-yearproduction cycle, the Puno group generatedan average of 10.65 t/ha
with a rangefrom 8.3 to 13.0 t/ha.
As can be seen in Table 4, production figuresvaried considerablyover time and space. Some
areas did particularlywell in a given year, and even within individual blocks of reclaimed raised
fields there was considerablevariability in yield depending on placement of seed in the center or
along the edge of a cultivated plot (Erickson 1988), an experiencereplicatedin our own work on
the Bolivian side of the lake. The average yields of potato on raised fields achieved by the Puno
groupare lower than those obtained on the Bolivian side in the Pampa Koani region, althoughthe
patternof dramaticallyenhanced productionon raised fields in comparisonto traditionalfields is
identical. The higher yields obtained on the Bolivian side may relate to slight climatic diffierences
between the northernand southern sides of Lake Titicaca. The area around Puno is at a higher
altitude and consequently is somewhat more prone to frost damage than the area of the Pampa
Koani. Moreover, the planting and cultivating protocols practiced by the Puno group appear to
have diffieredfrom our own. The Aymaravillagersrehabilitatingfieldsin the PampaKoani routinely
incorporatedorganicfertilizer(greenmanure,or animal waste) into the fields duringfield construction, tilling, and sowing activities.
Despite the diffierencesin averageraised-fieldpotato productionbetweenthe Puno and the Pampa
Koani experiments, the general trend of significantlyenhanced yields on reclaimed raised fields
appears established beyond a reasonabledoubt. At a minimum, cultivation on reclaimed raised
fieldsresultsin productionfrom two to threetimes greaterthanthat obtainedby traditionalmethods.
Moreover,as Erickson(1988:245) points out, raised fields are remarkablyefficientin terms of the
ratio of seed to producingplant:"in comparisonto traditionalfields, only half the seed is necessary
for plantinga hectareof raisedfieldssince half the areais uncultivatedcanal. [T]hesehigh production
rates are even more impresssive when consideringthat a hectare of raised fields has only half the
numberof plantsof a traditionalpotato field."If the experimentsof both researchgroupsare correct,
raised fields representa prime example of continuous, efficient, and potentially sustainablecultivation: a system of intensive hydraulicagriculturethat requiredno extended periods of fallow.
But, these experimentalresults, however provocative, cannot be taken uncriticallyand at face
value. They must be placed in a specific experimentaland ecological context that explains at least
partof the diffierencein performancebetweenraisedfieldsand traditionaldry farming.In accounting
108
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
for the diffierential
in yields betweenthese forms of cultivation,two cautionarynotes must be factored
into the equation.
First, the Bolivian results are based on only three cycles of agriculturalproduction (one cycle
reportedhere in Tables 1-3 plus two additional cycles that have not yet been completely analyzed
but which demonstratesimilaryield results).Althoughthe Peruvianresultsare based on additional
productioncycles, much longer periods of productioncomparison will be requiredto statistically
confirm a sustained, superiorperformanceof raised fields againsttraditionalforms of agriculture.
Second, the experimentalraised fields are constructed on land that has not been in intensive
cultivation for over 800 years, and we might anticipate higher than average production in this
exceptionallylong-fallowedarea. Moreover, land in this area of the altiplano has been given over
to pasturagefor sheep and cattle duringthe past century,resultingin increasednutrientinputs.
Even with these two caveats, the diffierencesin yield are so dramaticthat a significant,although
unquantified,proportion of the yield diffierentialbetween raised fields and traditional forms of
agriculturemust be attributedto the superiorfrost-mitigationattributesof the raised fields. If the
heat- and nutrient-conservationeffiectsin raised fields describedhere are furtherverified, then our
perception of the subsistence base of Tiwanaku civilization will be radically altered. If these assumptions and empirical observationsare correctand replicable,we must consider the possibility
that the physicaland thermalpropertiesof Tiwanakuraised-fieldagriculturein the circum-Titicaca
Basin permitteda regimeof double croppingof potato, ulluco, canEwa, quinoa, and otherindigenous
staples of the altiplano.
During the 1988-1989 and 1989-1990 agriculturalseasons, two crops of potato (as well as a
potato-barley) rotation were successfully achieved in the rehabilitatedfields of Lakaya (Pampa
Koani) and Achuta Grande in the TiwanakuValley. The averagepotato yield for each harvest in
the Lakayaraisedfieldswas approximately20 t/ha. Knappand Ryder(1983:211) arguefor a similar
double-croppingregime on Prehispanicraised fields in the altiplano (2,855 m asl) around Quito,
Ecuador.They concludethat the frost-controlpropertiesof raised-fieldcanalsmade "potatodoublecroppingor potato-maize double-cropping"feasiblein the Quito altiplano(Knappand Ryder 1983:
215). Other double-croppingregimes in the context of the Andean highlands are known ethnographically(Mitchell [1977:4647], for instance, describes such an agriculturalregime for an area
between 2,859 and 3,400 m asl around Quinua, in the Department of Ayacucho, Peru, that was
dependent upon irrigationwater to extract a dry-seasoncrop), but these are generallyrestrictedin
area and constrained severely by frost hazard. The experimentalresults from Lakaya constitute
prima facie evidence for the feasibilityof double croppingin the Pampa Koani region using raisedfield technology.However, the key issue of the sustainabilityof continuous double croppingin this
area remains unresolved. Additional experimentalproductioncycles, perhapsextending over two
or more decades, will be required before this issue can be settled with a reasonable degree of
confidence. Moreover, these results do not, in themselves, demonstrate that Tiwanaku farmers
actually did double crop (like many propositions in archaeology, this is currently not directly
demonstrable).But the preliminaryresults from Lakaya demonstrate that a double crop can be
achieved using raised-fieldtechnology,and that the success of a double-croppingregimein this area
is directly dependentupon a consistent, adequatewater supply to the raised-fieldcanals.
Continuous cultivation on fixed, permanentfields, short or no fallow periods, and two episodes
of sowing and harvestingwithin the same agriculturalyear are inconceivable in the contemporary
agrarianlandscape of the high plateau. Yet these may have been standardfeatures of Tiwanaku
agriculturalpractice. If the farmers of Tiwanaku engaged in double cropping, the estimates of
production on raised fields described here may be too conservative and may themselves require
substantialupward revision for greateraccuracy.The experimentaland empirical evidence as it
currentlystands suggeststhat such a regime of agriculturalintensificationwas a principal strategy
of Tiwanakuagriculturalproduction. This conclusion, in turn, brings us inevitably to a reconsideration of the possibilities and limits of surplusproductionin the heartlandof the Tiwanakustate.
Reconstructingthese limits offerscritical insights into the questions of demographicpotential and
the structureof local food supply in Tiwanaku'simmediate hinterland.
Kolata]
109
CarryingCapacity,Population,and Food Supply
Perhapsthe most perilous enterpriseundertakenby archaeologistsis that of estimatingthe population size of prehistoriccities and states and the functionallyrelatedconcept of regionalcarrying
capacity. By carryingcapacity I mean the number and density of people that can be supportedat
a minimal subsistencelevel by the resourcescontained within a given area and with a given production technology.Even under the best of circumstances,populationprojectionsand calculations
of prehistoriccarryingcapacity are fraughtwith uncertainty.Carryingcapacity, in particular,is a
slippery, highly context-specificconcept, bound as much to the social world of cultural beliefs,
values, and practice as to the physical world of natural resources.An accuratedetermination of
carryingcapacitywould requiredetailed knowledgeof what a given cultureacceptsas an exploitable
naturalresource,or as a desirablefoodstuS. Few human societies were ever completely isolated in
a cultural sense, or encapsulatedwithin rigid physical boundaries, and so determining carrying
capacityin its fullest sense also entails mappingout the net flow of goods and services into and out
of the region of interest.
Given the elasticity and uncertaintyof the concept, the estimates of carryingcapacitygenerated
here are intended solely as a projectionof boundaryconditions for populationsize. In other words,
they are not realisticestimates of precise carryingcapacityor populationsize for Tiwanakuand its
near hinterland.However, the experimentsin raised-fieldproductionprovide us with an empirical
tool for calculatingthe rangeof demographicpossibilities in the Tiwanakusustainingarea.
The three centralvalleys that were the setting for Tiwanaku'sheartlandof cities contain approximately 190 km2of fossil raisedfields, or some 19,000 ha (Figure 1: Pampa Koani [Catarisubbasin]
7,000 ha, Tiwanaku 6,000 ha, Machaca [Desaguadero]6,000 ha).l This estimate of raised-field
distributionin the sustaininghinterlandof Tiwanakureflectsthose fields that have been identified
from aerial photographs,surfaceinvestigation,and an unsystematiccoring programundertakenin
the Pampa Koani region between 1979 and 1981. In these three valleys, huge areas of wetlands
intricatelycrisscrossedby small streams fed by perennial springsand rivers show no evidence of
raised fields on the surface.Yet geological coring in such wetlands in the Pampa Koani revealed
rich organicsediments that may representagriculturalsoils deposited under clay, gravel, and sand
up to 2 m thick. The active river systems of these wetlandscarryenormous quantitiesof sediments
eroded from surroundinguplands. During the intense altiplano rainy season, these rivers often
breach the naturallevees that contain them, redepositingtheir sediment loads across the adjacent
flood plain. As a result of this inexorable geological process, many raised fields lay undetected,
buried deeply beneath the modern surface of the pampa. Other fields have been effiacedthrough
erosion, triggeredby wind and rain and by rivers that meanderacross the flood plain, cutting and
reshapingthe unconsolidatedsediments of alluvium. Culturalprocesses have also contributedto
the physical disappearanceof ancient field systems. Centuries of cattle herding across the broad
plains that once were the setting for intensive cultivation and the introductionof metal plows and
mechanizedfarminghave obliteratedthe tracesof abandonedraisedfields. Despite the evident loss
of some ancient raised fields, the 19,000 ha that are documented in the Tiwanakusustainingarea
most likely representa substantialproportionof the fields that existed in Tiwanakutimes, and we
can use this figureas a baseline for projectionsof demographicpotential.
Approximationsof carryingcapacityand demographicpotentialof the Tiwanakuhinterlandbased
on its agriculturalproductivityare dependent on certain simplifyingassumptions concerningcrop
type, minimal daily caloric intake per capita, and percent of fields planted:
1. All of the followingcalculationsare based on a single index crop-potato. Clearlya wide variety
of high-altitude-adaptedplants were grown on Tiwanakuraised fields, but the tubers, particularly
numerousvarieties of small, frost-resistant"bitter"potatoes, were probablythe principalfood crop
for the people of Tiwanaku.Becauseall other cultivatedand wild food resourcesare excluded from
consideration,the calculationsshouldreflecta measureof conservatismwith respectto total potential
caloricyield of the region under consideration.
2. For the purpose of comparability,Denevan's (1982) empiricallydetermined figuresof 1,460
for minimal daily caloric intake per person, and an average energy yield of 1,000 calories per
110
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
Table 5. Carrying-Capacity
Estimatesfor TiwanakuSustaining
Area Assuming 100 PercentUtilization of Raised Fields.
Maximum Potential PopulationUnder AssumptionsStated in Text
Region:Raised Fields in Hectares
20 Persons/
ha/Annum
39 Persons/
(Peruvian
ha/Annum
Group
(Bolivian Group
Estimate)
Estimate)
Single Crop Estimate
TiwanakuValley: 6,000 ha
120,000
Pampa Koani: 7,000 ha
140,000
Machaca/Desaguadero:
6,000 ha
120,000
Total Population
380,000
Double Crop Estimate
TiwanakuValley:6,000 ha
240,000
280,000
Machaca/Desaguadero:6,000 ha
240,000
Total Population
760,000
234,000
273,000
234,000
741,000
468,000
546,000
468,000
1,482,000
kilogramof potato developed for previous carrying-capacityestimates in the ecological context of
the Andean highlandswill be used. In accordancewith these figures,a person on the high plateau
requiresa yearly minimum intake of approximately533,000 calories, which can be extractedfrom
533 kg of potato.
3. Finally, since the objective is to establish boundary conditions, or general parameters of
productionand population in the Tiwanaku sustainingarea, I make an initial assumption of successful utilization of 100 percent of the raised fields in the area to generate population-density
estimates. Given potential effects of annual localized crop loss from hail, frost, pests, and spoilage,
lake-level fluctuationsthat would have inundatedand taken out of productionlocal areas of raised
fields, temporal variability in the use of fields under raised-field cultivation during the several
hundred years of Tiwanaku occupation, and other such variables, this expectation is not entirely
realistic.The variablesthat reducedgrossproductionare not easily quantified.Therefore,to account
for crop attrition, I will arbitrarilyadjust for the cumulative effect of these loss variablesby recalculatingthe population-densityestimatesa second time, assuming75 percentutilizationof the fields.
Given this set of assumptions, what sort of carryingcapacity and population densities can be
generatedfor the Tiwanakuregion using the two experimentallydeterminedraised-fieldproduction
figuresof 10.65 t/ha (the Peruviangroup) and 21 t/ha (the Bolivian group)?If the averageannual
yield of potato per hectare is divided by the annual requirementof 533 kg of potato per capita,
then 1 ha of raised fields planted in potato will support approximately20 persons for one year
accordingto the Peruvianexperiment,and 39 personsperyearaccordingto the Bolivian experiment.
Applyingthese figuresto the 19,000 ha of preservedraised fields in the Tiwanakusustainingarea,
the carryingcapacityfor the region rangesbetween 380,000 and 741,000, assuminga single annual
crop and 100 percent utilization of the fields. If a regime of double cropping and 100 percent
utilization is assumed, the population figures range between 760,000 and 1,482,000 (Table 5).
Recalculatingthese population figures by changing the assumed field utilization to 75 percent,
population rangesof 285,000-555,750 result for a single annual crop, and 570,00O1,111,500 for
a double crop (Table 6).
The two most probablerangesfrom these four sets of maximum supportablepopulationare the
options that assume 75 percent utilization of the fields. The rationale for choosing these rangesis
straightforward.The farmers of Tiwanaku never simultaneously utilized or achieved productive
harvestsfrom 100 percentof the 19,000 ha of preservedraisedfields,thereforesome level of attrition
Kolata]
1 1
1
Table 6. Carrying-Capacity
Estimatesfor TiwanakuSustaining
Area Assuming 75 PercentUtilization of Raised Fields.
Maximum Potential PopulationUnder AssumptionsStated in Text
Region:Raised Fields in Hectares
20 Persons/
ha/Annum
39 Persons/
(Peruvian
ha/Annum
Group
(Bolivian Group
Estimate)
Estimate)
Single Crop Estimate
TiwanakuValley:6,000 ha
90,000
105,000
Machaca/Desaguadero:
6,000 ha
90,000
Total Population
285,000
Double Crop Estimate
TiwanakuValley: 6,000 ha
180,000
210,000
Machaca/Desaguadero:6,000 ha
180,000
Total Population
570,000
175,500
204,750
175,500
555,750
351,000
409,500
351,000
1,111,500
must be factored into these calculations. The 25 percent attrition value, although arbitrary,is a
historicallyplausiblecumulative estimate of crop loss from frost, spoilage, fields left in fallow, and
the like. On the other hand, the experimentalwork in the Pampa Koani and that of Knapp and
Ryder (1983) in the Quito altiplano suggestthat double croppingin the high plateau was feasible
with raised-fieldtechnology. Whenever possible Tiwanakufarmerswould have exploited the opportunity to produce substantial surpluses through double cropping. Almost universally, small
farmerschoose planting strategiesthat reduce risk over those that hold out the possibility of high
returnbut with a substantiallyincreasedchanceof total loss. Smallfarmers,like most small investors
in the stock market,are risk adverse (Garnsey 1988:47-49). Successfuldouble croppingrepresents
the rare and attractive case in which the potential for high return is matched by a property of
substantialrisk reduction. If farmersexperiencetotal loss from frost or hail in one plantingcycle,
they can still recoup losses by plantingand harvestingin the second cycle. If both cycles of planting
yield bumper crops, the farmer,of course, can expect substantial,storableagriculturalsurplus.In
other words, there was a powerful incentive for Tiwanakufarmersto employ a regime of double
cropping.Moreover,as arguedbelow, the Tiwanakustateitself was engagedin organizingsubstantial
estates of agriculturalproduction,particularlyin the PampaKoani district.In orderto financepublic
projects,the elite interestgroupsthat constitutedthe commandhierarchyof Tiwanakuurbansociety
also would have had an interest in extractingmaximum, sustainableyields from their agricultural
estates through double cropping. Given these considerations,the most likely maximum range of
supportablepopulation for the Tiwanaku hinterland is the double-croppingoption of 570,0001,111,500.
The indigenoustechnologyof raised-fieldagricultureclearlyhad the capacityto supportlargeand
concentratedhuman populations.The figuresin Table 6 indicate that in Tiwanakutimes the Pampa
Koani region alone had the potential of supportingfrom 210,000 to 410,000 people on a sustained
basis (againassuming the benchmarkof double croppingand 75 percent field utilization). Even if
we calculatecarryingcapacityusinga singleannualcrop,the rangeof supportablepopulationremains
impressive:105,000-205,000. Today, in the absenceof raised-fieldtechnology,the carryingcapacity
of the Pampa Koani is enormouslyreduced,and the entire region supportsonly about 7,000 people
at a level slightly beyond bare subsistence. Similar radical differencesbetween past and present
carryingcapacityand absolute populationlevels can be demonstratedfor the TiwanakuValley and
the Machaca/Desaguaderoarea as well.
1 12
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
Comparing the high population potentials generated by these calculations with actual population
estimates for the Tiwanaku sustaining area during Tiwanaku IV and V times (ca. A.D. 400- 1000),
what conclusions may be drawn with respect to carrying capacity and the structure of food supply
to urbanized populations? First, it is clear that, based on the component of agricultural production
alone, the carrying capacity of the Tiwanaku metropolitan zone exceeded peak estimated population
throughout the period from A.D.400 to 1000. That is, Tiwanaku core populations never approached
an absolute level that was sufficient to put stress on the agricultural capacity to absorb and sustain
demographic growth. Elsewhere, I have estimated overall peak population for the immediate Tiwanaku core area (the three-valley system of Pampa Koani-Tiwanaku-Machaca) during this period
as approximately 365,000, distributed into a concentrated, urbanized component of some 115,000
and a dispersed rural component approaching 250,000 (Kolata 1989). Taking into account other
sources of food supply available to these populations, such as the enormous quantities of highquality meat stored on the hoof in llama herds or the rich aquatic resources of the lake-edge
environment, it is even more apparent that Tiwanaku population levels never approached the
calculated ceiling of population potential. Any plausible estimate of the carrying capacity in the
three-valley system comes to the same conclusion. In Tiwanaku times, there was always a substantial
margin of productivity that was never extracted from Tiwanaku's sustaining hinterland. In short,
stress brought on by absolute population pressure against a fixed resource base never played a
significant role in precipitating social change among the people of Tiwanaku.
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
We may conclude, then, with reasonable certainty that raised-field technology in combination
with extensive herding and fishing activities formed the pivot of Tiwanaku's endogenous economy
(Browman 1978, 1981; Lynch 1983; Nunez and Dillehay 1979). This powerful troika of productive
systems ensured the autonomy and self-sufficiency of food supply in the Tiwanaku core area and
provided the touchstones for supporting sustained demographic and economic growth. But several
important issues remain: How was the system of raised-field agriculture organized and managed?
What was the unit of agricultural production in the Tiwanaku hinterland, and did this fundamental
unit of production change over time and space? What were the economic and social relationships
between the rural inhabitants of Tiwanakuns hinterland and those residing in urban centers?, and,
To what extent was an elite bureaucracy of the Tiwanaku state actively engaged in managing and
intensifying these systems of production?
First, we must recognize that these issues have an implied structure of space/time variability.
Simply put, it is unlikely that a single configuration describes and explains the social organization
of agricultural production as this was worked out once and for all by the people of Tiwanaku. The
ways that arable land, labor, agricultural produce, and people were interrelated at the local level,
and how these, in turn, formed a nexus with physically and socially distant political authorities
constitute a series of shifting and evanescent patterns. We cannot expect or falsely create uniformity.
There never was a once and for all. Rather we can conjecture with some confidence that there existed
multiple structures of local organization revolving around the social, economic, and ritual acts of
farming that were formed and reformed in the variegated textures of local history. By their nature
as products of the interaction of people now long disappeared, the precise character and meaning
of these organizational forms are forever lost to us. Yet, we know that certain social institutions,
such as the minka and the mit'a forms of labor exchange, were constituent elements of the cultural
systems conjoining land (both state and local), work, and agricultural production that have demonstrable antiquity and centrality in the autochthonous Andean world (Erickson 1988; Hastings
and Moseley 1975; Moseley 1975). It is from these perduring social principles that we begin reconstructing the basic contours of the organization of agricultural production at various periods in the
long history of the people of Tiwanaku.
The Ayllu/Local-LevelOrganizationHypothesis
After a decade of intensive archaeological research on raised fields in the Lake Titicaca Basin, we
now know that these specialized agricultural systems have considerable time depth. The earliest
Kolata]
1 13
documented raised fields were uncovered in excavations on the northern, Peruvian side of Lake
Titicaca in the district of Huatta (Erickson 1987, 1988). Here, raised fields associated with small
Formative-periodhabitationsites have been dated between 850 and 600 B. C., principallythrough
thermoluminescentdating of ceramics incorporatedin field-constructionfill (Erickson 1987). Erickson (1988:438) speculatesthat this marshy,wetlandsenvironmentmay have been colonized and
exploited by farmersas early as 3000 B.C. This inference,althoughentirelyplausible,has yet to be
confirmedarchaeologically.Excavationsin raised fields on the Bolivian side of the lake in various
sites throughoutthe Pampa Koani and other areas in the Tiwanaku hinterland have recovered
Chiripaceramics associated with the period from 800 to 200 B.C. (Graffam 1990; Kolata 1986).
However, these ceramicswere not recoveredin directassociationswith the raisedfields themselves,
and thereforecannot be used definitively to date the agriculturalworks. Nevertheless, given the
patternof early reclamationof land for agriculturalpurposeson the northernside of the lake, it is
reasonableto assume that the lacustrine-orientedChiripaand pre-Chiripapeoples of the southern
side were engagedin similar effortsto enhance their productivebase throughintensive raised-field
agriculture.How did these pioneering agriculturistsof the high plateau organize the process of
constructingand maintainingraised-fieldagriculture?
We can conjecturethat the initial experimentationwith raised-fieldagricultureinvolved relatively
small groupsof relatedfamilies who developed and elaboratedthis technologyof cultivation along
the marshy shores of Lake Titicaca. The maximal unit of social organizationof these early farmers
was probablythe ayllu, basedterritoriallyin small villagesand hamlets(in the rangeof approximately
10 to a few hundredpeople). The effectiveunit of productionwithin these ayllus was the individual
household, minimally a marriedcouple and dependent children, as it remains today in the rural
reachesof the high plateau.In other words, the agriculturistswho pioneeredthe raised-fieldsystem
in the Titicaca Basin during the first millennium B.C. organizedthemselves as small, kin-based
corporategroups.The clustersof related families were not differentiatedsociologicallybeyond the
level of the structuralhierarchiesembeddedwithin the ayllu itself. These werequintessentialprestate
social formations that functioned by community consensus without political positions defined by
ascribedstatusesor the interventionof civil bureaucracies.The social landscapeof these groupsdid
not incorporatedistinctions drawnacross class lines, nor was there a complex structureof political
command. However, this is not to say that the culturaluniverseof these kin-basedcorporategroups
was primitive or parochial.Judgingfrom contemporaryethnographicaccounts from the altiplano,
such ruralayllus enjoyedsubstantialcommunicationand social exchangeover considerabledistance,
and conceived of their interactionin terms of elaborate,cyclicallyexpressedritualactions grounded
in a shared ideology (Abercrombie1986; Bastien 1978).
Erickson(1988) has arguedthat such small corporategroups, organizedalong the lines of traditional Andean principles of kinship, were capable of constructingthe immense configurationof
raisedfieldsin the TiticacaBasin.In essence,he speculatesthat this agriculturalsystemwas originated
by, and remained the province of, a wetlands-adaptedcluster of ethnic groups that he associates
with the ethnohistoricallydocumented Uru- and Pukina-speakingpeoples. Erickson (1988:348)
concludesthat Andeanraised-fieldagriculturewas never underthe directcontrolof centralizedstate
governments:"[I]n the Lake Titicaca Basin, the raised fields were associated with relatively small
cooperativegroups,while the dominant political organizationin the basin was at the level of a state.
It is unlikelythat this highlyproductivesystem which functionedefficientlyunderlocal management
would have been tamperedwith by the state."
If we pose the question whether the enormous raised-fieldsystems of the Titicaca Basin could
have been constructedby relativelysmall corporategroupsin a piecemealfashion over long periods
of time, the clear answer,drawnfrom the broadestcross-culturalperspectiveon analogoussystems
of hydraulicagriculture,is yes. The massive irrigatedterrace systems of Sri Lanka described by
Leach(1959) area classicethnographicexampleof this kind of gradualphysicalaccretionof hydraulic
works organized and constructedaccording to decentralizedprinciples of local decision making.
Similarly,Lansing(1987) provides a fascinatingdescriptionof the organizationof irrigationon rice
terracesin Bali througha system of "watertemples."In this system, a complex hierarchyof temples
controlsthe schedule of water distributionby managingthe performanceof rituals perceived to be
essentialto the growth cycle of the rice plant. The temple hierarchyitself begins (or perhapsmore
1 14
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
aptly from the perspectiveof the productivecycle, ends) with small family shrineserectedby each
farmer at the distal points of the irrigationcanals where water first flows into individual plots.
Farther upstream, collectivities representingclusters of families organized into small irrigation
communities (subaks)establishcommunal temples at the heads of field systems. Continuingup the
hierarchy, Ulun Swi regional temples shared by a cluster of subaks were erected to manage water
distributionand maintenanceof the hydraulicsystem at the heads of terraces.Virtuallyevery water
sourcehad a correspondingtemple, and all temples were subordinatedto and overseenby a supreme
watertemple. Temple priestswere responsiblefor performingthree tasks fundamentalto successful
operation of any regional irrigationsystem (Coward 1979): managingthe allocation of water, organizingthe physical maintenanceof canals and terraces,and resolvingconflictsamong competing
farmers.The priests of the water temple also were chargedwith authorizingnew additions to the
interlinkedcanal and terracenetwork.
The strikingfeaturesof the Balinesewater-templesystemareits hierarchicaldesignand its virtually
complete disengagementfrom a strictly political form of organization.Each farmeris responsible
for the maintenanceof his portion of the irrigationcanals up to his family's shrine. The subak is
responsiblefor the maintenanceof communal irrigationlines up to the Ulun Swi regionaltemple,
and so on upstreamin increasinglymore inclusive social units to the supremewatertemple. In this
sense, there is no tightly centralizedauthority chargedwith constructionand maintenanceof this
system. The inevitable conflicts over water rights were frequentlyresolved at lower levels of the
temple hierarchythan at the symbolic apex representedby the supremewatertemple and its coterie
of priests. Furthermore,the procedurefor allocatingirrigationwater among the subaks is the end
product of intensely conservative, traditionaldecisions made locally. Accordingly,there is rarely
any need to consult the temples for guidancebecause most aspects of water schedulingand sharing
are routinizedand anticipatedas predictableevents in the agriculturalcycle. In short, the Balinese
water-temple system representsone instance in which relatively complex networks of hydraulic
structureswere constructedand maintained by locally autonomous social groups that reinforced
communitycooperationthroughthe workingout of sharedbeliefs expressedpubliclyin the repetitive
performanceof agriculturalrituals. In the Balinese case, religious ideology performsconsiderable
social work, obviating the need for centralizedor formal political forms of organization.
The dialecticalinterplayof local autonomy and centralauthorityin the managementof complex
irrigation systems recurs in a particularlytrenchant ethnohistoricalexample from the Chicama
Valley of Peru during the sixteenth century. Accordingto Netherly's (1977, 1984) reconstruction
of social structurein Prehispanicsocieties on the north coast of Peru, all complex polities there
were characterizedby what may be called a dual corporateorganizationin which bounded, named, social
groupsat lowerlevels of organizationwereintegratedinto higherlevels by meansof a seriesof rankedmoieties,
headed by personageswe may term headmen, lords, or paramountlords according to their hierarchical
position.... At every level in this organizationalstructure,each unit can ideally be subdivided into two
unequal,subordinategroups[Netherly 1984:230].
Each layer in this social system, characterizedby principlesof duality and hierarchy,was governed
not by a single soverign but by two political rulers, one of whom maintaineda higher status than
the other. This status distinction is reflected in the Spanish terms for these two kinds of local,
indigenous lords: caciqueor kurakaprincipal(paramountruler)and segundapersona (lieutenant).
Each of these pairs of local lords could call upon the subjectsof their own group to performlabor
relatedto agriculturalproduction,such as canal constructionand periodiccleaning.Moreover,each
of these lords could also mobilize labor for tribute payments to paramountrulersof higher status
in this nested hierarchy.Netherly (1984:233) concludes that this organizationalstructurewas "infinitely subdivisible and could accomodate an extremelylargepopulationwithout reorganization,"
accordingly,"[T]herewas no need for a largebody of supervisingbureaucratsto managesuch labor."
As in the case of the Balinese water temples, this system maintainedlocal autonomy and partitioned responsibilityfor labor among its constituentgroups.Eachclusterof farmersmaintainedthe
irrigationcanals that fed their own land holdings. They also contributedlabor for the upkeep of
essentialcommon elementsofthe system, suchas principalwaterintakesand the maximumelevation
Kolata]
1 15
canalsthat providedwaterto the networkof smallerfeederlines radiatingout among the
agricultural
fields. Conflicts over labor obligations and water rights were resolved by the kurakasat the
next
highest political level in the hierarchyof governance.In Netherly's view, the only managerial
role
assumed by central state authoritieswas in respondingto catastrophes(such as periodic
torrential
rainfallgeneratedby E1Nino events) that threatenedto destroy the irrigationsystem as a
whole.
It is abundantlyclear, then, that relatively small, autonomous social groupsare capable
of managing sophisticatedsystems of hydraulicagriculturewithout the interventionof state
authority.We
can conclude that local control of agriculturalproductionembedded in an organizational
structure
similar(if perhapssomewhatsimpler)to that proposedby Netherlyfor north-coastalPeru
represents
the most plausiblescenariofor the context of the pioneeringraised-fieldagriculturistsof the
Titicaca
Basin duringthe period from about 800 B.C. to A.D. 300. However, in the period after A.D.
300,
when the matureTiwanakustate had coalescedand beguna strategyof territorialexpansion
(Kolata
1983; Ponce Sangines 1972, 1980), our researchin the Tiwanaku Valley and its adjoining
areas
indicatesthat, in at least some sustainingzones, the paramountlords of the state promoted
different
and more centralizedprinciplesof organizingagriculturalproductionthan those portrayedby
Netherly.
Regional Hydraulicsand SettlementPatterns:Implicationsfor the
Organizationof TiwanakuIntensiveAgriculture
I have arguedelsewhere(Kolata 1986) that settlementpatternsin the Pampa Koani
indicate that
agriculturalproductionin the period from ca. A.D. 400 to 1000 (TiwanakuIV and V) in this region
was directed explicitly toward the generationof crop surpluses,and not with an eye
toward local
consumption. The patternsthat emerge from the distinctive nature, distribution,and elaboration
of sites and theirassociatedmaterialculturesuggestthe followinggeneralinterpretationof
settlement
function and hierarchyon the Pampa Koani. Small house mounds physically associated or
structurallymergedwith raised-fieldsegments were the residencesof ruralfamilies engagedin
primary
agriculturalproduction. A more ephemeral or rather seasonal function for many of the smaller
house mounds, such as the base of the huts used by kamani (an Aymaraterm for youths who
guard
growing crops) is probable. The larger platform mounds, on the other hand, housed a corps
of
administratorsand their household retainerschargedwith organizingthe seasonal cycle of agricultural activities and accountingfor the produce that flowed from the state fields of Pampa
Koani
during harvest time (Kolata 1986:754-756). A monumental dual platform-moundcomplex
representedthe ritual and administrativeapex of settlement hierarchyon the Pampa Koani,
distinguishedin statusfromboth the small habitationmoundsand the other,less architecturally
elaborated
platformmounds.In demographicterms,therearesimply insufficientnumbersof human
settlements
on the Pampa Koani proper to account for the virtually continuous expanse of raised
fields and
associatedhydraulicstructuresin the region.
The distributionand function of these settlementson the Pampa Koani implies that the
labor to
constructand maintain the extensive field systems must have been drawn from a wider,
nonlocal
region in a pattern attuned to the agriculturalcycle of the seasons. This labor was most
likely
extractedby the centralized authorities of the Tiwanaku state in the form of corvee through
a
mechanismsimilar to the Inca mit'a labor-tax system. New evidence concerningthe nature and
regionalfunction of massive public constructionprojectsthat were designedto promote
large-scale
reclamationand productivity of arable land on the Koani plain and in the valley of Tiwanaku
reinforcesthese conclusions and points to a managerialhand beyond that of locally
autonomous
villageor ayllu groupings.
For instance, Figure 4 illustratestwo kinds of public construction projects on the Koani
plain
thatserved functionsrelatedto the operationof raised fields, not as bounded, independent
bundles
offield plots, but as interdependentregional system of production. The first of these
public constructionsis a networkof elevated causewaysand dikes. The principalroute of the largest
elevated
roadbed,the trans-pampacauseway, together with its major branch connected the marshy,
lowlyingzone of raisedfieldsin the westernend of the PampaKoani with roadsrunningalong
mountain
1 16
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
terracesforming the northernand southernboundariesof the pampa, respectively.These contour
roadsrunningalongthe base of the mountainslopes lead directlyto the importantregionalTiwanaku
urbansettlementsof Lukurmataand Pajchiri,as well as to the smallertowns of Yayes and Lakaya
(Figures1 and 4). The trans-pampacausewayitself was possibly paved with cut stone in its southern
extremityas it approachedLakaya.Severalsmallerelevated roadbedsradiateout laterallyfrom the
trans-pampacausewayto articulatefield segments with the largerplatform mounds in the central
ritual and administrative settlement cluster. The formal causeways on the Pampa Koani were
designedto facilitatetravel and presumablythe transportof agriculturalgoods from the production
zone to consuming and processing centers of population. Transport of bulk produce along the
causewayand road networkwas most likely facilitatedby organizedpacktrainsof llamas.
The north-south-trendingtrans-pampacausewaymay have served anotherfunctionbesides that
of transport.The elevated bed of this causewayruns astridethe maximum-elevationcontourin the
western end of the Pampa Koani. To the west of the causeway,the land slopes upwardgradually
from the shores of Lake Titicaca to this maximum elevation (3,824 m asl); east of the causeway,
the land slopes gently downwardsuch that 11 km inland from the shore absolute elevation is only
3,820 m asl. During the catastrophicflood that affectedthe Andean altiplano between September
1985 and April 1986, this ancient causewayacted as an effectivedike, impoundingthe risingwaters
of Lake Titicaca for a time. However, once the lake had risen over 2.75 m, the entire stretchof the
pampa to the east of the causewaywas rapidlyinundatedwith brackishwatersto a depth of nearly
1 m, destroyinghouses, pastures,and potato fields. When the flood waters finally receded by late
1988, salt deposits that still depress local crop yields were left behind in thick, patchy crusts.
Tiwanakuengineersmay well have been awareof this naturalelevation featureand sited the transpampa causeway along it to enhance the capacity of this linear feature to impound water. The
causeway/dike,in short, may have been a disaster-controldevice that preventeddestructionof the
raised fields in the easternreaches of the Koani plain duringyears when rainfalldid not reach the
catastrophicproportionsof the unusual 1985-1986 event.
The second Tiwanakuconstructionprojecton the Koani plain illustratedin Figure4 represents
a definite regional hydraulic-controldevice. At some point in the history of land reclamationon
the Pampa Koani, a long segment of the Rio Catari,the principalriver bisecting the pampa, was
artificiallycanalized.The canalizationof the river was achieved by divertingthe naturalcourse of
the flow at a point approximately12 km inland from the lake shore (Figure5, note meander scar
of the ancient river bed) into a new bed furnishedwith massive earthenlevees. This diversion and
canalizationof the naturalriverachieved two importantgoals for the efficientoperationof a regional
agriculturalsystem:(1) It opened up huge stretchesof land to raised-fieldreclamationin the southern
portions of Pampa Koani, and (2) it permitted some measure of human control over potentially
disastrousfluvial inundationsof the reclaimedlandscape.
A previously unrecognizedfacet of the Rio Cataricanalizationwas discovered during the 1990
fieldseason.The hydraulicengineersof Tiwanakuwereapparentlyunsatisfiedwith a simple diversion
and canalizationof the Rio Catari. Excessive rainy-seasonflow can result rapidly in bed erosion,
river excursions, and potentially disastrous inundation of adjacent land. In order to augment its
capacity to handle periodic flooding, Tiwanaku hydraulic engineers constructeda canal by-pass
system parallelingthe banks of the canalized sections of the Rio Catarito shunt excess flow away
from critical reclaimed lands toward Lake Titicaca. The southern bank of the canal by-pass (the
side facing the bulk of the raised fields in the Pampa Koani region) was reinforcedby a levee,
averagingca. 3 m high and 5 m wide (Figure5). This river shunt effiectivelyextractedsubstantial
quantitiesof seasonal flow and redirectedthat flow away from areas critical to agriculture.
The artificialcanalizationof the Rio Catariand subsequentconstructionof a river-shuntsystem
is not unique in the annals of Tiwanakuhydraulicengineering.In fact, river and streamcanalization
is a distinctand ratheraudaciousstrategyof watercontrolcommon to the ruraland urbanlandscapes
of Tiwanaku society. A virtually identical shunt system was identified as a crucial feature of the
recentlyrecognizedcanal that bisects the middle and lower TiwanakuValley (Figure6). In this case,
the artificialcanal serves as a shunt for excess flow in the Rio Tiwanakuin addition to irrigating
downstreamraised-fieldcomplexes(Figure7). As in the Rio Catarisystem, this canalhas substantial,
reinforcedearthenlevees to stabilize extractedriver flow.
Kolata]
117
i
Figure 5. Artificial earthen levees designed to stabilize extracted river flow on the Rio Catari canal by-pass
(see Figure 4, Feature 2). These reinforced earthen banks are also characteristic of the Wafia Jawira River shunt
in the valley of Tiwanaku.
The TiwanakuValley canal (which we have designatedby the local Aymaraterm WanaJawira)
illustratesa sophisticated principle of Tiwanaku regional hydraulicengineering:designed multifunctionality.The canal,togetherwith its shuntsystem, was capableof implementingeithera waterdistributionor a water-extractionstrategy.That is, in the dry season, or in times of drought,the
canal was capableof carryingriver water from its intake on the Rio Tiwanakuto secondarycanals
downstream,for distributionto adjacentraised-fieldcomplexes (Figures6 and 7). Duringthe rainy
season, or in an inundationevent, the intakesof the secondarydistributioncanalscould have been
blocked with some form of formal or informal sluice gates and excess river flow extractedand
redirectedaway from the downstreamagriculturallandscape.In the case of the Wana Jawira,the
principal canal rejoins the Rio Tiwanaku at a point some 4 km downstream from its intake.
Interestingly,there appearsto be evidence from aerialphotographsof a "secondloop" to the Wana
Jawirasystem that takes off from the Rio Tiwanakuimmediately west of the point at which the
first section of the canal rejoins the river; this segment of the canal eventually terminatesat the
shoreline of Lake Titicaca. However, this presumedsecond loop is inadequatelyinvestigated,and
we cannot yet confirm that it is an artificialfeature, rather than, for instance, an ancient river
meander.
Designed multifunctionalityof hydraulicstructuresintegratedinto a regional regime of water
controlwas clearlya key empiricalprinciplein the organizationof Tiwanakuagriculturalproduction
and not an aberrantor unique occurrence.If the latterwere the case, one could argue,as Netherly
(1984) does for the Chimu Moche-Chicamaintervalleycanal, that the state only rarelyinvested in
capital- and labor-intensiveprojects to enhance agriculturalproduction,preferringa laissez-faire
approachto managingits agrarianaffairs.However, repeatedand consistent occurrenceof major
Tiwanakuhydraulicstructuresin both ruraland urbanzones vitiates applicationof the laissez-faire
hypothesisto the Tiwanakusystem.
Recent investigationsat Lukurmataand Pajchiriresulted in discovery and detailed analysis of
aqueducts:the first open-channel, surface-watertransportstructuresto be definitively associated
1 18
LATIN AMERICANANTIQUITY
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
Figure 6. Aerial photograph of the site of Tiwanaku and the adjacent Wafia Jawira
canal system immediately
tothe west. Dashed lines denote the boundaries of the archaeological site: (1)
Rio Tiwanaku- (2) segment of the
Wafia Jawira canal system. The intake of the Wafia Jawira canal, destroyed by
river incision and migration
was originally on the Rio Tiwanaku. The Wafia Jawira canal rejoins the Rio
Tiwanaku approximately 4 km
downstream(west). As indicated in Figure 7, this canal functioned as a water-delivery
network to raised agricultural
fieldsand as a river by-pass, or shunt. Box illustrates area mapped in figure 7; (3)
modern village of Tiwanaku.
withTiwanakuurbansites (OrtloffandKolata 1989). Six aqueductsweredocumentedfor
these two
sites,and at Lukurmataone of these was radiocarbondated to 1085 + 90 B.P.
(corrected),A.D.
950 + 100 (calibrated)(ETH-3178), or the TiwanakuV phase (Ortloffand Kolata 1989).
There are several more uninvestigatedaqueductschannelingwater into and away from
raisedfieldsystems dated to the Tiwanaku IV and V phases throughoutthe Pampa Koani
zone. The
Lukurmataand Pajchiri aqueducts share certain structuralfeatures of great interest. The entire
drainagesystems of which these aqueductswere key components entailed constructionor
modificationof two components:(1) an upperchannelthat was formedby an artificiallymodified,
natural
quebrada,
or dry streambed, and (2) a lowerchannelthatconsistsof a constructed,elevatedaqueduct
thatprovides passage for water over an open field for eventual dischargeinto Lake
Titicaca. The
externalretainingwalls of the aqueductsare cobble lined throughouttheir entire length,
providing
anoutermoststable skin infilledwith earth,gravel, and stone (see Ortloffand Kolata
1989:Figures
4-8). The uppermost modified quebradachannels of these aqueducts reach into high
montane
catchmentbasins where they were chargedby precipitationrunoffand by permanentsprings
and
subterranean
seeps. One of the aqueductsat Pajchiri,which crosses a sector of raised fields constructedon a series of massive terracesdroppingdown to a bay in Lake Titicaca, was
furnished
withcut-stonedrop structuresand secondaryfeedercanals.Suchdrop structures(consisting
of small
Kolata]
119
Figure7. Map of the investigatedportionsof the TiwanakuValley canal (WaBiaJawira system) illustrating
intake near the currentbed of the Rio Tiwanakuand articulationswith secondaryirrigationcanals and raised
fields. All secondarycanals are indicatedby solid lines.
lateral canals of cut stone that diverted water from the aqueduct to lower-lyingraised fields) may
have been incorporatedinto some aqueductsto mitigate the effects of periodic droughtsthat afflict
the Andean altiplano. Fresh water from the montane basins frequentlyflows continuously (if at a
reduced rate) even during the most pernicious drought, and these precious sources of perennial
water were improved by the people of Tiwanakuthroughelaborationof efficientdistributionnetworks.
In the volatile environment of the Andean high plateau, agriculturaldisaster lurks in many
disguises,and one ofthese, as potentiallycatastrophicas drought,is torrentialrainfalland inundation
(the 1985-1986 event being the most recent instance). Inundationcan have an exceptionallylongterm impact by generatinghigh groundwaterconditions and supersaturationof soils that are potentially deleteriousto crop growth.Apparently,most of the investigatedaqueductsdo not possess
drop structuresand were not articulatedwith secondaryfeeder canals. These hydraulicstructures
supported continuously functioning drainage canals designed to remove excess water from areas
of field reclamation,and therebyreducethe incidence of dangerouslyhigh groundwaterconditions.
By divertingexcess waterfrom the raised fields, such structuresmay have helped stabilizethe water
table at a point below that of the critical zone of crop root development. In other words, like the
Rio Catari and Tiwanaku Valley canalization and shunt systems, the aqueducts of Pajchiri and
Lukurmatacan be interpretedas technologicallysophisticatedexamples of designedmultifunctionality responsiveto the severe inundation-droughtcycles that characterizethe altiplano.These river
canalizations,quebrada
modifications,aqueducts,dikes, and causewaysfunctionallyintegratedthe
agriculturallandscape of the Pampa Koani zone into a regionalsystem of production.
CONCLUSIONS
Agriculturalproductionon the Pampa Koani, to some degree,may have served the needs of local
consumption. But the archaeologicallyevident instances of capital investment in expandingreclamation of potentially arable land and in altering and controlling the hydrologicalregime of the
120
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
raised-fieldsystems directly implies the action of a
regionalpolitical authority.The conjoined data
from the spatialand temporaldistributionof
settlementsand field systems,from broad
patterns(as these can currentlybe
demographic
reconstituted),estimates of labor input and caloric
the technologicalprofileof the
yields, and
interconnected
aqueduct-reservoir-canal-causeway-fieldsystems in
the northernTiwanakusustainingarea,
implicate some forms of extractiveand
channelizingfunctions performedbeyond the purview of
local
initial, pioneeringconstructionof raised-field community leaders or political elites. Although the
plots was most likely the productof an
autonomous,
uncentralizedsocial order, the subsequentreshaping
of the Koani plain into a regional system
agriculturalproductionunder the hegemony of
of
1000 entailed the periodic mobilization and Tiwanakuelites in the period from ca. A.D. 400 to
coordinationof a substantialnonresidentlabor
The logistic requirementsof repeatedly
force.
organizingthe deploymentof a concentrated,
nonlocal labor
forcedemandeda political orderwith
powerfulregionalauthorityto alienateland and
and at least a rudimentarybureaucratic
co-opt labor,
system to trackthe extractionof labor service
from subject
communitiesand the subsequentflow of produce
from state-operatedfields.
This interpretationof the organizational
frameworkof productionin the Koani zone
implies that
Tiwanakuestablishedproprietaryagricultural
estates in which ownershipand usufructrights
vesteddirectly in state institutions, or
were
perhapsmore precisely in the hands of the
elite, dominant
classes.These corporateestates or production
zones were bound directlyto the capital of
througha network of secondaryand tertiary
Tiwanaku
urban, or urbanizedformations with
functions.Dispersed, ruralhamlets and
administrative
individual households occur in the Tiwanakuarea
thezone of optimal lacustrineagricultural
outside
soils.
scalesubsistencedry farmingand "tethered" These settlementswere probablyengagedin smallherdingof camelids, and undoubtedly,along
with the
commonerpopulationsofthe largersecondaryand
tertiarycenters,provideda substantial
ofthe corvee, or perhapsmore properly,
proportion
mit'a
The population in this sustainingarea was labor for the state fields.
not distributeduniformlyor broadlyacross
the landscape.Rather,a patternof nodal population
clustering
has been documentedin largeurbancenters
suchas Lukurmataand Pajchiri,and in
intermediate-scalesettlements such as Chiripa,Chojasivi,
Lakaya,
and Yayes, arrayedalong the combined
geologicaland human-alteredterracesthat define
thenorthernand southernbordersofthe
Koani plain(Figure4). The regionally
integrated
fieldsystems in this same zone were
constructedand maintainedduringthe Tiwanakuagricultural
III through
Tiwanaku
V phases (ca. A.D. 300-1000). During
Tiwanaku phases IV and V these field systems
achievedtheir maximum spatial reach. The
most technologicallyadvanced manipulation
of the
reclaimed
landscapeof raised fields in this area, represented
by the constructionof interconnected
spring,
reservoir,and aqueductwater-deliverysystems
was associatedwith these same two periods
of
Tiwanakuinternaldevelopment (Kolata and
OrtloS
1989; OrtloS and Kolata 1989).
If local lords,as politicalleadersof ranked,
hierarchically
nestedcorporategroups,wereresponsible
for
creatingthe agriculturallandscapeof
Tiwanaku'snorthernsustainingarea without the
functions
control
of a centralizedstate bureaucracy,the
settlement patternof the region would look quite
diffierent
thanit actuallydoes. Forinstance,we would
anticipatethatrelativelysubstantialsettlements
would
be establishedat, or associatedwith, key
"break
points" in the delivery system that provided
fresh
water to the raised-fieldnetworks. Such
strategicbreak points would include the
intakes of
principal
canals, the origin points of abundant
mountain springsthat issue from the
terraces
surrounding
of the Lakayageologicalformation,or the
zones
of high groundwatercharacteristicof that geographicallydispersed,but agriculturallycritical
formation.In short,the politico-administrative
settlement
and
landscapein the Koani zone would reflecta
Netherly
(1984) for the late Prehispanicnorth coast ofconfigurationcloser to that hypothesizedby
Peru, in which autonomous sociopolitical
groups
(parcialidades)were arrayedalong lands wateredby
individual canals, or segmentsof canals.
Given
the marked absence of substantial
habitation centers with the
system
of the Koani zone, and the complete lack
raised-field-canal-causeway
of
clustering
in strategicareas of structuralarticulationevidence for local control over, or population
within the hydraulicsystem as a whole, there
remains
little alternativebut to consider the
organizationof Tiwanaku'snorthernsustainingarea
as
reflectingstate action at a distance.
Itis prematureat present to extend this
analysis to the
Ongoing
researchwill eventually determine if a similar Tiwanaku Valley and Machaca zones.
pattern of centralizedextractionapparent
Kolata]
121
in the Koani zone holds for the central and southern sustainingarea of Tiwanaku, or if, in these
zones, therewas a diffierentsystem of organizingagriculturalproduction.Nevertheless,initial results
from intensive survey in the Tiwanaku Valley suggest that, as in the Koani region, agricultural
production in this valley during the Tiwanaku IV-V phases was also organized and managed
hierarchically(Albarracin-Jordan1990; Albarracin-Jordanand Mathews 1990; Mathews 1990).
It may well be that some form of organizationsimilar to the recursive,hierarchicallyrankedsets
of moieties that Netherly (1984:230) envisions as the fundamentalarmaturefor the management
of large-scaleirrigationsystemson Peru'snorthcoast playeda role in the developmentof Tiwanaku's
agriculturalsustainingarea. But, the principlesgoverningmobilization and control of human labor
must have been ratherdiffierentfrom the relative local autonomy at the level of the parcialidades
implied in Netherly'streatmentof the north-coastmaterial.In straightforwardterms, the data from
the Koani region implicate a patternof purposive state development of a distinct, integrated,rural
agricultural-production
zone. The organizationof productionin this zone was achievedby centralized
state action that entailed the presenceof strategicallylocated installationsnot under the control of
local corporategroups. In great part, the labor to construct and maintain these installations was
similarlynonlocal,mobilizedfroma regionmuchbroaderthanthat encompassedby the fieldsystems
themselves. By about A.D. 500 (the TiwanakuIV phase), the Pampa Koani hinterlandcan best be
understood as a constructed landscape of state production. The labor invested in shaping that
landscapemay have been drawnfrom taxation of both local and nonlocal corporategroupsheaded
by ranked political leaders who acted as intermediariesand surrogatesfor the Tiwanakupolitical
elite. But, given what is known of the settlement distributionin the Koani region,the autonomy of
these local kurakasmust have been constrainedby the needs and the prerogativesof the more highly
rankednonlocalelites who residedin the networkof urbancentersin the greaterTiwanakusustaining
area.
I would arguethat the paramountelites of Tiwanakuoperatedwith fluid,context-specificstrategies
of economic development. On the one hand, the group or perhaps class interests of these elites
demanded the creation of strategic, directly controlled production zones that ensured long-term
stability in access to surpluscrops and commodities. Investment in landscapecapital (terraceand
irrigationsystems,aqueducts,and dikes) that servedthe purposeof expandingor stabilizingregional
agriculturalproduction goes hand in glove with this strategy of direct elite (state) intervention.
Economicsurplusgeneratedfrom these intensificationprojects,of course,was the pediment of their
political power. It furnishedthem with the means to sustain personal and group prestigethrough
dynamic public expressionsof generosityand abundanceduringthe cyclical calendarof agricultural
festivals and ritual events. The opulent lifestyle permitted to them by this surplus product was a
kind of essential social theater that tangibly ratified their personal and positional status within
Tiwanakusociety.
At the same time that social and ideological necessity demanded that Tiwanakuelites carve out
corporateestates to ensure a direct supply of agriculturalproduction,political reality dictated that
their relationshipswith most local communities and ethnic groupsunder their, at times, uncertain
dominion follow the path of least resistance.That is, in most instancescoercionof local populations
and mass alienationof land and labor was not a viable political option for the Tiwanakuelites. The
political and logisticalcosts entailed in dominatinga huge, diverse physicalterritorywere too great
to sustain, and local resistanceto the complete encroachmentof an authoritarianregime was too
much of a present threat to the social order to justify a posture of unalloyed hostility. Instead,
Tiwanakuelites, much like their Inca counterpartssome 700 years later, strucka balance between
force and persuasion.They established,quite likely with ruthlessefficiency,key proprietaryestates
of productionthat assuredthem of a stable fund of productthat could be invested in sustainingthe
social roles demanded of them. At the same time, outside of these core areas of directly controlled
productionthey moved by indirectionand subtle attentionto the local political context. In the latter
circumstance,tributaryrelationshipsbetweenthe cosmopolitanelites of Tiwanakuand their distant
rural counterpartswere most likely framed in terms of patron/client exchanges. Such clientage
relationships,in which the state confirmedthe traditionalauthorityof local kurakasin dealingwith
their own communities, were strategicelements of Inca statecraft,reflectingthe remarkableshrewdness and political pragmatismof native Andean elites.
122
[Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
Acknowledgments. The preliminaryresults of the researchdiscussed here are based on an ongoing project
supportedby the National Science Foundation(BNS 86-07541, BNS 88-05490), the National Endowmentfor
the Humanities(RO-21368-86, RO-2 1806-88), the University of Chicago,Division of Social Sciences,Tesoro
PetroleumCorporation,and the OccidentalOil and Gas Corporation.In addition,the experimentalraised-field
rehabilitationproject, some results of which are summarizedin this article, is supportedby grants from the
Inter-AmericanFoundation(BO-252, BO-273, BO-374), USAID-Bolivia small grantsprogram,and the Fondo
Social de Emergencia(recently renamed the Fondo de Inversion Social), a Bolivian national governmental
agency. In Bolivia, the researchis authorizedthrough long-term agreementswith the Instituto Nacional de
Arqueologia(INAR), the Instituto Boliviano de Cultura,and the Ministerio de Educaciony Cultura.I am
particularlyindebted to Oswaldo Rivera Sundt, currentdirectorof INAR, who acts as codirectorof the field
researchand coordinatorof the field-rehabilitationprogram.Jorge WashingtonGuzman, projectagronomist,
collectedthe data on crop yields presentedin Tables 1-3. Leo Ticcla, INAR staffmemberand projectgeologist,
mapped the WanaJawiracanal system illustratedin Figure7 and pointed out the possibility of a second loop
to the system. Cesar Callisaya coordinated labor and logistics. He performs a critical role as the project's
interpreterof Aymaralanguageand politics;the projectcould not operatewithout him. MichaelBinford,Mark
Brenner,andCharlesOrtloff,consultantsto the project,graciouslysharedvaluabledata,graphics,and interpretive
insightsthat are incorporatedin this manuscript.MariaLozadaCernaand MartinGiesso providedkey editorial
comments and polished the Spanish-languageabstract.The communitiesof Lakaya,AchutaGrande,Chukara,
Quiripujo,Korila,and Tiwanakugenerouslygrantedus access to their lands for the purposesof the raised-field
experiments.We are gratefulfor their forbearance,friendship,and enthusiasmfor the project.Finally, I wish
to acknowledgethe substantive,constructivecritiquesof this manuscriptprofferedby threeanonymousreviewers
and by the editor, PrudenceRice. Many of their suggestionshave been incorporatedin the final product.
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1985 Oneota Ridged Field Agriculturein SouthwesternWisconsin.AmericanAntiquity50:605-612.
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1990 Raised Fields WithoutBureaucracy:An ArchaeologicalExamination of IntensiveWetlandCultivation
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NOTE
I Thereare substantialdifferencesin the publishedand unpublishedliteraturewith respectto the arealextent
of raised fields on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. Smith et al. (1968:355) publisheda figureof 30 square
kilometers(3,014 ha) for the Catarisubbasin,and a total for the entireBolivian side of 39 km2(3,938 ha). They
calculatean additional65 km2(6,501 ha) for the Desaguaderoregionon the Peruvianborderwith Bolivia. This
latterfigurecorrespondswell with the 60 km2that I projectfor the Machaca/Desaguaderoregion(which,in my
definition,includesan area straddling,and on both sides of, the Peru-Boliviaborder).Graffam's(1990) dissertation revisedthe figurefor the Catarisubbasin(PampaKoani)upwardto 44 km2from the Smith et al. estimate,
but did not addressthe extent of raised fields outside of the Catariregion.Both of these estimatesare based on
calculationsdrawn from aerial photographs.Previously, I suggestedthat the maximum extent of raised fields
in the Catarisubbasinwas 70 km2(Kolata 1986), and here estimatethat the total for the three-valleyTiwanaku
hinterlandapproaches190 km2.The estimateof 70 km2for the Catarisubbasinis based on the analysisof aerial
photographs,pedestriansurvey,and geologicalcoring.Graffam's(1990:311) distributionmap does not include
raised fields northwest of the Rio Catari, southeast of the village of Aygachi, or east and northeast of the
community of Catavi. Because of differentialpreservation,many of these relict fields do not appear on the
availableaerial photographs,but they are evident in groundsurvey, sometimes simply as subtle differencesin
surfacevegetation.The estimate of 60 km2for the TiwanakuValley is based on analysis of aerialphotographs
and on the resultsof systematicpedestriansurvey in the lower and middle sections of the valley, a portion of
which is reportedin Albarracin-Jordan
and Mathews(1990). Becausesystematicsurvey of the uppervalley has
125
AGRICULTURALPRODUCTION IN THE TIWANAKUSTATE
Kolata]
not been undertakento date, this estimate is, in part, conjectural.The projectionof 60 km2for the MachacaDesaguaderoregion iS based on analysis of aerial photographsand unsystematicsurvey, and, as noted above
correspondswith the Smith et al. (1968) estimate for the same area.
ReceivedDecember6, 1990; acceptedApril3, 1991
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