CULTURAL ENCOUNTER IN THE MORTUARY LANDSCAPE OF A TIWANAKU COLONY, MOQUEGUA, PERU (AD 650–1100)

Archaeological studies of culture contact often presuppose culture change. Contact that did not result in culture change is difficult to identify archaeologically, but it merits our attention for understanding how and why change failed to materialize in the wake of cultural encounter. In this paper, I examine the occurrence of contact without change on the frontier of the south-central Andean Tiwanaku state (AD 400–1100). Tiwanaku settlers who colonized the uninhabited middle Moquegua valley in the seventh century AD shared a mortuary landscape with coastal sojourners at the site of Omo M10, even though their interactions were otherwise limited. Complex regional histories and divergent economic interests explain why contact between highland and coastal groups was confined to mortuary rituals during the initial stage of contact, following a Tiwanaku pattern in Moquegua of ritualizing culture contact. Later generations of Tiwanaku colonists may have reinitiated contact with coastal communities for access to marine resources, and accepting foreigners into their community. This case study presents a framework for identifying culture contact without culture change. It demonstrates the utility of regional histories and careful contextual analysis for hypothesizing the nature and consequences of cultural encounters that did not follow expected trajectories of change. Los estudios arqueológicos sobre contacto cultural frecuentemente presuponen la ocurrencia de un cambio cultural. Los contactos que no resultan en un cambio cultural son difíciles de identificar arqueológicamente. Sin embargo, este tipo de contacto merece nuestra atención para esclarecer cómo y por qué no llegó a realizarse un cambio como resultado del encuentro cultural. En este trabajo se examina un ejemplo de contacto sin cambios en las fronteras del estado Tiwanaku (400-1100 dC) de los Andes centro-meridionales. Los colonos Tiwanaku ocuparon las zonas deshabitadas del sector medio del Valle de Moquegua en el siglo siete dC. Estos colonos compartieron el paisaje cultural mortuorio con viajeros costeños en el sitio de Omo M10, a pesar de que las interacciones entre los grupos fueron limitadas en otros aspectos. Complejas historias regionales e intereses económicos divergentes explican por qué las interacciones entre los grupos de la sierra y de la costa estuvieron limitadas a los rituales mortuorios durante las etapas iniciales de contacto, siguiendo un patrón típico de Tiwanaku en Moquegua que con