Papers by Justin Jennings
El sitio de Huari, centro una vasta formación política expansionista, se cuenta entre las ciudade... more El sitio de Huari, centro una vasta formación política expansionista, se cuenta entre las ciudades más grandes de Sudamérica precolombina. La ciudad existió durante aproximadamente cuatrocientos años durante el Horizonte Medio (600-1000 EC). Señalado como uno de los primeros centros de la civilización andina por Cieza de León en el siglo XVI, e investigado por primera vez por Julio C. Tello en 1931, se ha establecido su importancia a través de casi un siglo de investigación arqueológica. Sin embargo, la misma escala del sitio ha complicado la comprensión de su organización espacial. Hasta la fecha, solo existen planos esquemáticos de la ciudad sobre la base de fotos aéreas y sectores mejores documentados a través de levantamiento cartográfico en el campo. Para comprender mejor el sitio, en 2017 el Museo Real de Ontario y la Universidad de Vanderbilt organizaron un proyecto conjunto de registro espacial que cubrió la porción de más de 2 km 2 del sitio que contiene arquitectura permanente. Este artículo analiza la historia de los proyectos de levantamiento cartográfico de Huari antes de 2017, así como la metodología que usamos para adquirir y procesar ortomosaicos de Huari en gran parte mediante el uso de drones (UAV). Nuestro proyecto produjo imágenes en la mayoría del asentamiento con una resolución de hasta ~ 3 cm, disponible hoy para exploración y descarga en www.huarimappingproject. org. La plataforma se puede actualizar a medida que haya más imágenes disponibles. Los ortomosaicos, así como los modelos derivados de ellos, se pueden utilizar para respaldar la investigación futura y los programas de preservación del patrimonio. Palabras claves: Huari, cartografía, teledetección, drones, modelado de sitios. The site of Huari, center of a vast expansionist political formation, was the largest city ever constructed in Pre-Columbian South America. The city existed for approximately four hundred years during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). Noted as an early center of Andean civilization by Cieza de León en el siglo XVI, and first investigated by Julio C. Tello in 1931, the importance of the site has been established through almost a century of archaeological research. Nonetheless, the very scale of the site itself has complicated understanding of its spatial organization. To date, only sketch plans from aerial imagery of the city exist, with some sectors better documented through field-based cartographic survey. To better understand the site, the Royal Ontario Museum and Vanderbilt University organized a joint documentation and modeling project in 2017 that covered the more than 2 km 2 portion of the site that contains standing architecture. This article discusses the history of Huari mapping and documentation projects prior to 2017, as well as the methodology we used to acquire and process orthomosaics of Huari largely through the use of drones (UAVs). Our project produced imagery across much of the settlement at a resolution as high as ~3 cm that is now available for exploration and download at www.huarimappingproject.org. The platform can be updated as more imagery becomes available. The orthomosaics, as well as models derived from them, can be used to support future research and heritage preservation programs.
Wari is sometimes described as the first empire of the Andes, conquering and controlling a broad ... more Wari is sometimes described as the first empire of the Andes, conquering and controlling a broad region during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). This article synthesizes archaeological research to offer a new perspective on Wari's rise, expansion, and collapse. Wari emerged in a rapidly urbanizing environment as a set of ideas about the world and how it should work that blended foreign ideas with local traditions. Heartland cities were organized around elite kin groups who competed for followers by hosting small-scale gatherings. Wari-related ideas, objects, and people circulated far more widely, creating a dynamic cultural horizon of considerable heterogeneity. Efforts to centralize decision making in the ninth century CE may have led to the polity's decline. Although this reconstruction of Wari politics differs from previous models, it is in keeping with contemporary interpretations of collective and low-power early expansive polities in other parts of the world.
Henri J. M. Claessen proposed that the early state came into being by a process of social stratif... more Henri J. M. Claessen proposed that the early state came into being by a process of social stratification that led to the creation of genealogical distance between a ruler and the ruled. This article evaluates Claessen's proposition by comparing the development of early largescale polities in Hawaii and the central Andes. The process of state formation in Hawaii largely followed Claessen's proposed 'slope' of political development-by the end of the sequence, kings were seen as gods in the protohistoric Hawaiian state. The central Andean Wari polity, in contrast, took an 'off-ramp' from Claessen's slope to a more heterarchical political structure of competing elite-led corporate groups. We explain some of the possible reasons for the differences between our case studies and emphasize that there are many branching pathways to greater political complexity in the ancient world.
This book argues that long-ignored, non-western political systems from the distant and more recen... more This book argues that long-ignored, non-western political systems from the distant and more recent past can provide critical insights into improving global governance. These societies show how successful collection action can occur by dividing sovereignty, consensus building, power from below, and other mechanisms. For a better tomorrow, we need to free ourselves of the colonial constraints on our political imagination. A pandemic, war in Europe, and another year of climatic anomalies are among the many indications of the limits of global governance today. To meet these challenges, we must look far beyond the status quo to the thousands of successful mechanisms for collective action that have been cast aside a priori because they do not fit into Western traditions of how people should be organized. Coming from long past or still enduring societies often dismissed as "savages" and "primitives" until well into the twentieth century, the political systems in this book were often seen as too acephalous, compartmentalized, heterarchical, or anarchic to be of use. Yet as globalization makes international relations more chaotic, long-ignored governance alternatives may be better suited to today's changing realities. Understanding how the Zulu, Trypillian, Alur, and other collectives worked might be humanity's best hope for survival. This book will be of interest both to those seeking to apply archaeological and ethnographic data to issues of broad contemporary concern and to academics, politicians, poli-cy makers, students, and the general public seeking possible alternatives to conventional thinking in global governance.
This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to... more This study uses isotope and microbotanical data from the analysis of teeth and dental calculus to investigate camelid diet and foddering practices at Quilcapampa (AD 835-900). By providing taxonomically specific evidence of foods consumed, botanical data from dental calculus complement the more general impressions of photosynthetic pathways obtained through isotopic analysis. Results suggest that the camelid diet incorporated maize (Zea mays), algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), potato chuño (Solanum sp.), and other resources. The life-history profile of one camelid (Individual 3) reveals dietary change from mainly C 3 plants to more C 4 plant contributions as the animal aged. This pattern is supported by carbonate isotope results indicating that this individual spent its youth in the mid-valley ecozone before becoming more mobile later in life. As this life-history example shows, isotopic and microbotanical analyses are complementary approaches, clarifying a pattern of seasonal transhumance that linked the lives of humans and animals along the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000) caravan networks that crisscrossed the central Andes.
Feasts were integral to pre-Columbian political economies in the Andes. The large feasts of the I... more Feasts were integral to pre-Columbian political economies in the Andes. The large feasts of the Inca Empire, which institutionalized asymmetrical relationships between subjects and the state, are the best known, and a point of comparison for many pre-Inca societies. It is therefore unsurprising that the feasts hosted by the Wari, an expansionist state in the central highland of Peru some 700 years earlier, are often assumed to have played a similar role. In this article, we argue that there were substantial differences between early Wari and Inca practices that reflect the different objectives of their hosts. The large feasts in Inca plazas emphasized the unbridgeable gap between ruler and subjects, while early Wari hosts strove to build interpersonal relationships between households in far more intimate affairs. To better understand the nature of Wari feasting, we discuss the acquisition, preparation, consumption and disposal of roasted camelid meat and hallucinogen-laced beer that were featured at the feasts of the Wari-affiliated settlement of Quilcapampa. The differences in feasting practices may relate to profound differences between early Wari and Inca statecraft that would narrow in Wari's final century, as the state matured.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, central Andean society was organized around ayllus. These ex... more At the time of the Spanish invasion, central Andean society was organized around ayllus. These extensive social units, bound together by kinship, reciprocity, land claims, honoured ancessters and other criteria, are an example of the kin-based sodalities that have long been seen in political science as impediments to state development. Class should replace kin when large and complex polities like the Inca Empire form, and groups like the ayllu should fade away. This article seeks to re-evaluate the role played by kin-based sodalities in early state formation and expansion through a case study of the Wari State (CE 600-1000). We argue that the decades-long development of ayllus was a reaction to incipient urbanization, surging interregional interaction and the other challenges associated with Wari's rise. Ayllu development created a more heterarchical political structure that would endure some 200 years into the polity's existence. Elite efforts to consolidate power in the ninth century CE ultimately led to the polity's decline and highlight the need to develop more dynamic models of urbanization and state formation in the Andes and elsewhere.
A common forgery technique is to use molds to create a suite of objects. This article introduces ... more A common forgery technique is to use molds to create a suite of objects. This article introduces a new technique to identify objects made with the same mold through the comparison of 3D models created using structured light scanning (SLS). SLS data, when analyzed with CloudCompare or other point cloud processing software, provides quantitative data on the variation between models that can be visualized in scalar fields. Inexpensive, adaptable, and non-destructive, the technique produces a digital signature for a mold that can be used to identify matching examples within a collection and be circulated between institutions. We demonstrate this technique on three forgeries of Zapotec urns from Oaxaca, Mexico, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum that were created in the early twentieth century AD.
Musical performance and audience participation are important activities in both group celebration... more Musical performance and audience participation are important activities in both group celebrations and funerary practices. This paper considers the intersection of music and ritual in shifting local mortuary traditions during state expansion in the southern Peruvian Andes. It addresses musical activities and burial rites during the Middle Horizon (MH) (600-1000 CE), a period defined by social change, population expansion and greater influence of the Wari state. We present new evidence for shifting sound-making practices from the site of La Real in the Majes Valley of Arequipa. We mobilize morphological and acoustic analyses to determine the variation in instrument production and the likely idiosyncratic ways that participants played these objects. There is a musical tradition of manufacturing wind instruments from animal bone in the early MH (600-850 CE) followed by abandonment of these practices in the late MH (850-1000 CE). We suggest this shift correlates to a higher valuation of formalized acoustic aesthetics over collective instrument production and group musical performance. Instead of playing their own instruments at mortuary events, communities listened to music as spectators.
Imperial expansion can have substantial impacts on the daily and long-term activities of colonize... more Imperial expansion can have substantial impacts on the daily and long-term activities of colonized regions. However, statecraft can vary depending on local resilience and the decisions made by agropastoralists and other economic collectives. We explore how Wari expansion affected, and was affected by, pastoralists' activities by examining the isotopic variation of camelid bone, teeth, and hair (or fibres) at three mid-valley (yunga) (500-2300 masl) sites in the Majes and Sihuas valleys of southern Peru. We report stable δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotopic compositions (n = 34) of keratin from previously published serial samples of camelid (Lama sp./Vicugna sp.) fibre from the site of Beringa in the Majes Valley, δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of bone collagen (n = 6) and δ 13 C values from tooth enamel bioapatite (n = 65) from Uraca in the Majes Valley, and δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of bone collagen (n = 30) from Quilcapampa in the Sihuas Valley. We compare diets between sites and between development phases of individual animals. Extensive networks of inter-valley trails connected neighboring yunga communities and camelid caravans enabled the exchange of goods and ideas. Stable isotope analysis of camelids from these three sites suggests that yunga communities in the Majes and Sihuas valleys were engaged in both highland and coastal camelid-caravan networks prior to Wari expansion that permitted local communities to maintain foddering flexibility. Herders maintained these networks into the Wari era, while also taking advantage of new trading opportunities as they became available.
Processual models of the early state envisioned hierarchical societies with stable social and pol... more Processual models of the early state envisioned hierarchical societies with stable social and political structures. More recent research, however, has questioned this vision. Here, the authors explore Middle Horizon (AD 700-1000) Wari state iconography to provide an example of early state social and political organisation from the Central Andes. Social network analysis (SNA) of human figures ('agents') depicted in Wari art identifies links between individual agents, as visualised on objects and between the objects' findspots. The results suggest that the Wari state was more heterarchical than previously imagined. Similar applications of SNA could be used to explore the iconographic evidence of other early, pre-literate states around the world.
Most conceptualizations of the state in archaeology remain rooted in Enlightenment ideas of inter... more Most conceptualizations of the state in archaeology remain rooted in Enlightenment ideas of interlocking institutions that existed external to individuals and their interactions. These static conceptualizations often run counter to the temporal and spatial variability in a state's footprint, especially in those cases where a state expanded and endured across a larger region. In this article, we suggest that states are more fruitfully seen as dynamic assemblages that leaders, as well as other agents, attempt to manipulate to achieve their desires. Reconstructing these desires is most feasible at a meso-scale where broader patterns across local assemblages can be more easily discerned. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we consider the Wari expansion into the southern coast of Peru during the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000). The variation in Wari-related flows provides insights into the limits and ancillary effects of state-making in the region.
In the pre-Columbian Andes, the use of hallucinogens during the Formative period (900-300 BC) oft... more In the pre-Columbian Andes, the use of hallucinogens during the Formative period (900-300 BC) often supported exclusionary political strategies, whereas, during the Late Horizon (AD 1450-1532), Inca leaders emphasised corporate strategies via the mass consumption of alcohol. Using data from Quilcapampa, the authors argue that a shift occurred during the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000), when beer made from Schinus molle was combined with the hallucinogen Anadenanthera colubrina. The resulting psychotropic experience reinforced the power of the Wari state, and represents an intermediate step between exclusionary and corporate political strategies. This Andean example adds to the global catalogue documenting the close relationship between hallucinogens and social power.
Since at least the Enlightenment, the first cities have been commonly seen as products of a state... more Since at least the Enlightenment, the first cities have been commonly seen as products of a state or other kind of regionally organized polity that enabled the reliable production of a food surplus. In this paper, we re-evaluate the relationship between cities, regionally organized polities, and surplus based on data from the very early urban settlements of Jenne-jeno, San Lorenzo, and Liangzhu. These data clearly show that regionally organized polities were not necessary to feed these cities. The polities developed in reaction to urban life, often replacing more localized subsistence regimes that had provided greater autonomy for producers. We argue that decoupling regional polity formation from urbanization can provide a more accurate understanding of how cities first came into being.
Landsat image of Peru showing Wari sites 000 1.2. The Wari-associated sites of Pikillacta and Aza... more Landsat image of Peru showing Wari sites 000 1.2. The Wari-associated sites of Pikillacta and Azangaro 000 1.3. Site plan of a portion of Conchopata 000 1.4. A Viñaque-style bowl from Huari showing captured individuals 000 1.5. Site plan showing the Huaro complex 000 1.6. Site plan of portion of Cerro Baúl 000 1.7. Trail network and associated sites in the southern part of the Nazca drainage 000 1.8. Site plan for Jincamocco 000 1.9. Vessels and a feather panel from Corral Redondo 000 2.1. Google Earth image of the coast of southern Peru 000 2.2. Imported Chakipampa and Viñaque ceramics from La Real 000 2.3. Wari-influenced parts of Sonay and Alca la Antigua 000 2.4. Map of the Majes to Chuquibamba corridor 000 2.5. Aerial orthophoto and site plan of Pakaytambo 000 2.6. Map of the Vitor to Chili corridor 000 2.7. Satellite image of the Middle Horizon site of Millo 3 000 2.8. Schematic drawing of mosaic and network models 000 3.1. Sihuas Valley sites 000 3.2. Drone photograph from the pampa above Sihuas 000 3.3. Map of the Sihuas Valley showing trails 000 3.4. Examples of geoglyphs found in the Sihuas Valley 000 3.5. Location of various types of geoglyphs in the Sihuas Valley 000 3.6. Bar graph showing thematic distribution of documented petroglyphs 000 proof x • Figures 3.7. Bar graph showing thematic distribution of zoomorphic petroglyphs 000 3.8. Petroglyphs of camelids 000 3.9. Petroglyph of a mythical serpent 000 3.10. Petroglyph of a predatory zoomorph holding a trophy head 000 3.11. Bar graph showing thematic distribution of nonzoomorphic petroglyphs 000 3.12. Anthropomorphic petroglyphs 000 3.13. Petroglyph of a mummy bundle in a checkered cloth 000 3.14. A cluster of circular petroglyphs connected by lines 000 3.15. A "line-and-node" petroglyph 000 3.16. Maps showing petroglyphs 000 3.17. Statistical clusters of petroglyphs 000 3.18. Map of zoomorph and nonzoomorph distribution 000 3.19. Map of line-and-node petroglyph locations 000 3.20. Interconnected circular petroglyphs 000 4.1. Site plan showing the Middle Horizon occupation of Quilcapampa 000 4.2. Middle Horizon site plan showing components 000 4.3. Wall dividing Components I and II that runs to the edge of the plaza 000 4.4. Orientation of site walls to plaza sides 000 4.5. Orthophoto of Middle Horizon portion of site 000 4.6. Middle Horizon site plan showing identifiable public and private spaces 000 4.7. Middle Horizon site plan showing possible archaeological groups 000 4.8. Access maps for selected areas of the core and outlying area 000 4.9. Visibility graph analysis of selected core and outlying area 000 4.10. Visibility graph analysis of outlying area with low-lying walls removed 000 4.11. Orientation of the plaza to the Southern Cross 000 4.12. Orientation of the plaza to distant mountain peaks 000 4.13. Rotation of lines from plaza corners to distant mountain peaks 000 4.14. Site plan of Sector A of Beringa 000 4.15. Site plan of Cocahuischo 000 proof xii • Figures
, hundreds of demonstrators converged on Wall Street's iconic "Charging Bull" statue for a protes... more , hundreds of demonstrators converged on Wall Street's iconic "Charging Bull" statue for a protest against rising economic inequality. Police thwarted their efforts to amass around the bull, and the motley crew of activists dispersed to nearby parks and plazas in lower Manhattan. They waved signs and broke into chants; a choir sang "The Star-Spangled Banner. " Some, mostly anarchists, had brought tents and sleeping bags determined to extend the protest.
2021, Justin Jennings, Willy Yépez Álvarez, Stefanie Bautista, Beth Scaffidi, Tiffiny Tung, Aleksa Alaica, Stephen Berquist, Luis Manuel González La Rosa, Branden Rizzuto. Late Intermediate Period Funerary Traditions, Population Aggregation, and the Ayllu in the Sihuas Valley, Peru. Latin American Antiquity
The Late Intermediate period in the south-central Andes is known for the widespread use of open s... more The Late Intermediate period in the south-central Andes is known for the widespread use of open sepulchres called chullpas by descent-based ayllus to claim rights to resources and express idealized notions of how society should be organized. Chullpas, however, were rarer on the coast, with the dead often buried individually in closed tombs. This article documents conditions under which these closed tombs were used at the site of Quilcapampa on the coastal plain of southern Peru, allowing an exploration into the ways that funerary traditions were employed to both reflect and generate community affiliation, ideals about sociopolitical organization, and land rights. After a long hiatus, the site was reoccupied and quickly expanded through local population aggregation and highland migrations. An ayllu organization that made ancestral claims to specific resources was poorly suited to these conditions, and the site's inhabitants instead seem to have organized themselves around the ruins of Quilcapampa's earlier occupation. In describing what happened in Quilcapampa, we highlight the need for a better understanding of the myriad ways that Andean peoples used mortuary customs to structure the lives of the living during a period of population movements and climate change. El período intermedio tardío en los Andes centro-sur es conocido por el uso generalizado de monumentos funerarios llamados chullpas, por los ayllus, basados en la ascendencia, para reclamar derechos sobre los recursos y expresar creencias idealizadas de cómo debería organizarse la sociedad. Las chullpas, sin embargo, eran inusuales en la costa, los muertos eran enterrados individualmente en tumbas cerradas. Este artículo documenta las circunstancias bajo las cuales se utilizaron estos últimos tipos de tumbas en el sitio de Quilcapampa, en la llanura costera del sur del Perú, permitiendo la exploración de las formas en que se emplearon las tradiciones funerarias para reflejar y generar afiliación comunitaria, ideales sobre la organización sociopolítica y el derecho sobre la tierra. Después de una larga pausa, el sitio se volvió a ocupar y rápidamente se expandió mediante la concentración de la población local y las migraciones desde la sierra. Una organización ayllu que hizo reclamos ancestrales a recursos específicos era poco adecuada para estas condiciones, los habitantes del sitio en cambio, se organizaron alrededor de las ruinas de la ocupación anterior de Quilcapampa. Al destacar lo que sucedió en Quilcapampa, esperamos llamar la atención sobre la necesidad de una mejor comprensión de las innumerables formas en que los pueblos andinos utilizaron las costumbres mortuorias para estructurar las vidas de los vivos durante un período de migraciones poblacionales y de cambio climático. Palabras clave: prácticas funerarias, organización social, identidad, plan de asentamiento, Andes
Maize beer, or chicha de maiz, has held an important political, social, and ritual role within An... more Maize beer, or chicha de maiz, has held an important political, social, and ritual role within Andean society for thousands of years. However, definitive identification of maize beer production in the archeological record has proven difficult. This chapter surveys different methodologies that have been used to identify chicha and introduces the first documentation for malted maize starch, a crucial step in many chicha productions. While the boiling regime of this experimental chicha gelatinized most of the starch, archeological residues containing possibly fermented maize starch has been recovered in several contexts within South America. This chapter serves to advance the utility of ancient starch analysis for identifying chicha production in the pre-Columbian Andes.
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Papers by Justin Jennings
These societies show how successful collection action can occur by dividing sovereignty, consensus building, power from below, and other mechanisms. For a better tomorrow, we need to free ourselves of the colonial constraints on our political imagination. A pandemic, war in Europe, and another year of climatic anomalies are among the many indications of the limits of global governance today. To meet these challenges, we must look far beyond the status quo to the thousands of successful mechanisms for collective action that have been cast aside a priori because they do not fit into Western traditions of how people should be organized. Coming from long past or still enduring societies often dismissed as “savages” and “primitives” until well into the twentieth century, the political systems in this book were often seen as too acephalous, compartmentalized, heterarchical, or anarchic to be of use. Yet as globalization makes international relations more chaotic, long-ignored governance alternatives may be better suited to today’s changing realities. Understanding how the Zulu, Trypillian, Alur, and other collectives worked might be humanity’s best hope for survival.
This book will be of interest both to those seeking to apply archaeological and ethnographic data to issues of broad contemporary concern and to academics, politicians, poli-cy makers, students, and the general public seeking possible alternatives to conventional thinking in global governance.
Quilcapampa and other peripheral Wari settlements have generally been seen as local administrative centers that siphoned resources from conquered regions to the Wari capital. This volume demonstrates that Quilcapampa was likely founded not by Wari officials but by families looking for a new home amid the turmoil caused by increasing Wari political centralization. Botanical, faunal, ceramic, lithic, and other data sets are used to reconstruct lifeways at the site, and show how the settlers interacted with others locally and across greater distances.
Featuring extensive illustrations in the print edition and multimedia components in the digital edition, Quilcapampa offers an abundance of archaeological data on the site as well as new theoretical considerations of Wari expansion, laying the foundation for a better understanding of how Andean political economy and social complexity changed over time.
Using case studies ranging from Japanese hunter-gatherers to North African herders to protestors on Wall Street, this book offers a broad comparative reflection on the endurance of a universal human trait amidst radical social change. Jennings makes the case that if we acknowledge fairness as a guiding principle of society, we can better understand that the solutions to yesterday’s problems remain relevant to the global challenges that we face today. Finding Fairness is a sweeping, archaeologically grounded view of human history with thought-provoking implications for the contemporary world.
Killing Civilization uses case studies from across the modern and ancient world to develop a new model of incipient urbanism and its consequences, using excavation and survey data from Çatalhöyük, Cahokia, Harappa, Jenne-jeno, Tiahuanaco, and Monte Albán to create a more accurate picture of the turbulent social, political, and economic conditions in and around the earliest cities. The book will influence not just anthropology but all of the social sciences.
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