Building household and community with active assemblages: a Late Formative patio group at Khonkho Wankane, Bolivia

MARSH, ERIK J.

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2016 vol. 26 p. 305 - 327

0959-7743

A community is an active assemblage of human and non-human elements bound together by interactions. Archaeologies of communities shed light on the sets of overlapping and geographically-emplaced assemblages of individuals, practices, spaces, buildings, objects, animals, and landscapes. This article presents an archaeology of communities based a remarkably well-preserved Late Formative (AD 1?500) patio group at Khonkho Wankane, Bolivia. Excavation data provide a high-resolution chronology and document two varieties of assemblages: (1) those that played a greater role in biologically and socially reproducing the community such as daily food and tool production and (2) those that played a greater role in its transformation, such as gatherings, work parties, and construction projects. In the patio group, intimate meetings took place in small, private spaces where incense was burned. Larger gatherings took place in an outdoor space where painted Kalasasaya small jars and bowls were active elements in interactions between residents and visitors. These events most likely involved work parties that contributed to the physical and social construction of the community. Assemblages at multiple scales built a diverse Late Formative community, which played a principal role in regional interaction networks. Within a few generations after residents left their homes at Khonkho, local and regional interactions generated the emergence of a state at Tiwanaku.