Food Production and the Rise of Complexity at Khonkho Wankane

GARRISON, AMANDA; MARSH, ERIK J.

Vancouver

Congreso; 73° Reunión Anual de la Sociedad para Arqueología Americana; 2008

Society for American Archaeology

This paper discusses the way food production defines and reinforces social relationships within the context of developing social complexity. At the Formative site of Khonkho Wankane, in the Bolivian Altiplano, activity areas are strictly defined by architecture. Analysis of groundstone helps define both the mundane and ceremonial activity areas of food production. Analysis of groundstone supports the idea that Khonkho Wankane was a pilgramage center with a relatively low permanent occupation and that food production was focused on locally available resources. These emerging patterns of food production and social organization at Khonkho Wankane persisted into the growing Tiwanaku state.