Paul Szpak, Jean-François Millaire, Christine D. White, George F. Lau, Flannery Surette and Fred J. Longstaffe
Current Anthropology
Vol. 56, No. 3 (June 2015), pp. 449-459
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/680873
Page Count: 11
Abstract
Carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions
of wool textiles from the north (Virú, Early Intermediate Period) and
central (Chancay, Late Intermediate Period) coasts of Peru were used to
reconstruct the diet and habitat of the camelids (llamas and alpacas)
from which they were produced in order to better understand the regional
political economies. The Chancay textiles were derived from camelids
primarily raised on high-altitude C3 grasslands. Similarly, isotopic
data from Virú textiles assembled in north-coast styles are consistent
with the importation of highland camelid wool. For both Virú and
Chancay, imported raw materials were crafted in local styles, serving as
an effective means of materializing corporate power. Stylistically
foreign (noncoastal) Virú textiles were characterized by carbon isotopic
compositions similar to those for camelids recovered from Early
Intermediate Period sites in the Virú Valley and suggest that these
textiles originated in the yungas (1,000–2,300 m asl) or the low sierra
(2,300–3,500 m asl). Accordingly, although highland camelid wool was
imported to the coast, a simple model of exchange involving the movement
of wool textiles exclusively from the puna or the altiplano to the
coast is untenable.
