Circulating objects and the constitution of South Andean society (500 BC-AD 1550)

AXEL E. NIELSEN

Merchants, Trade, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World

Dumbarton Oaks

Lugar: Washington, D.C.; Año: 2013; p. 389 - 418

This paper discusses the changing role of long-distance trade in the reproduction of social relations—at both regional and interregional scales—in the southern Andes from the Middle Horizon through the European invasion. It begins by sketching a theoretical framework for analyzing the meaningful and power-laden relationships between various agents (e.g.., caravan drovers, consumers, and authorities), moving objects, and landscapes in the practice of long-distance trade. Combining these propositions with ethnoarchaeological data on the llama caravan trade, it outlines a methodological approach to the problem that emphasizes the study of the internodal spaces (i.e., areas between communities where trade items are consumed) and the actual practices responsible for the interregional circulation of goods (caravan trade being the main one in this case). The second part of the paper applies these ideas to the analysis of archaeological data from the routes that traverse the western Andean range (i.e., caravan campsites, shrines, and trails). These data show changing patterns of interregional trade between the Atacama Desert and the Altiplano (Bolivia-Argentina) between AD 400 and 1535, differences that correlate with the social transformations experienced by these populations from the Middle Horizon, through the Late Intermediate Period, until their incorporation to the Inca state. The incorporation of “internodal” information supports a richer discussion of how caravan trade and other forms of circulation contributed to the transformation of the societies involved in the network.