Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: A bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave.


METHODS
We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from cranial modification practices, violent injury, and the mortuary assemblage are used to explore culturally constructed elements of status and identity, radiogenic strontium isotope analyses provide us with a perspective on the geographic origins of these individuals, and stable carbon and nitrogen analyses allow discussion of paleodiet and access to resources.


RESULTS
Radiogenic strontium isotope values show the presence of multiple first generation migrants at Larache. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data reveal significant differences among individuals. The mortuary context reveals a standard pattern for the oases but also includes a series of unusual burials with abundant gold and few other objects. Interestingly, both local and nonlocal individuals with different head shapes had access to the differentiated burial context; however nonlocal individuals appear to be the only ones with a heavily maize-based diet.


CONCLUSIONS
Our evidence shows that Larache served as a burial place for a diverse, yet culturally integrated and potentially elite segment of the Atacameño population, but not a foreign enclave as had been postulated.
Department of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, University of California, Merced, CA.|Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo, Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile.
Christina
C
Torres-Rouff
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
Kelly J
KJ
Knudson
Department of Anthropology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
William J
WJ
Pestle
Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo, Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile.|SWCA Environmental Consultants, Albuquerque, NM.
Emily M
EM
Stovel
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001106:Archaeology; D001154:Art; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D055699:Cemeteries / Q000266:history*; D002516:Ceramics; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002677:Chile / Q000208:ethnology; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012886:Skull / Q000473:pathology; D013325:Strontium Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D055815:Young Adult
D013325:Strontium Isotopes; D003094:Collagen
Andes; Middle Horizon; radiogenic strontium analyses; stable carbon isotope analysis; stable nitrogen isotope analyses