Conflict and Ethnic Identity among the Post-Collapse Chanka of Andahuaylas, Peru (ca.

AD 900-1250)
Danielle S. Kurin, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University

The Bioarchaeology of Wari Collapse A View from the Near-Hinterlands

600000 700000 800000

Results Trauma during the Wari Empire Fig. 9

Cuzco 850000

State collapse is a tumultuous event which can spur striking reformulations of group identity and also dramatically alter how people physically interact with one another (Sen 2008). Sometimes, in the wake of state fragmentation, physical interactions become violent. CrossCultural studies of post-imperial eras highlight common causal factors like resource stress and social and political instability (Torres-Rouff 2008; Tung 2009). However, violence may not be experienced equally by everyone; some groups may be more vulnerable than others. Importantly, while post-imperial eras may be characterized by deprivation and conflict, they are also times of resilience and innovation (McAnany and Yoffee 2009; Schwartz and Nichols 2010). New social boundaries emerge and are expressed corporally, while creative practices are formulated to cope with novel challenges, This study specifically examines how the collapse of the Wari empire of Peru restructured ethnic identities and spurred periods of ethnocide within an emergent post-collapse society, known as the Chanka (ca. AD 1000-1400).

Imperial Wari Era Trauma Rate: 2/28 (7%) Post-Imperial Chanka Trauma Rate: 131/267 (49%) There is significantly more trauma following Wari imperial collapse, and trauma is significantly more lethal (2=16.335; p<0.0001; N=295; d.f. =1).

Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnogenesis

Wari Modification Rate = 0/36 (0%) Post-Imperial Modification Rate = 205/273 (75%) Significant increase in modification from Imperial to Post-Imperial era Fishers Exact, p=0.0001; N=309; d.f. =1 New cultural distinctions delimited by corporeal boundary-markers Ethnogenesis

Ayacucho

Vilcashuaman Andahuaylas STUDY AREA Ayacucho Abancay

Cuzco

Pampachiri 840000 Apurimac Chicha-Soras

Males with Trauma: 7% (2/37)

N

Females with Trauma: 0% (0/37)

Peru

Arequipa 0 30 60 km

Fig. 10

Trauma after Wari Collapse

Post-imperial males and females have similar trauma rates, lethality, and distribution. This congruent injury pattern is distinct from models of traditional warfare, where males tend to demonstrate a higher frequency of injuries than females (See Tung 2007). Males with Trauma: 54% (68/125) Females with Trauma: 58% (62/107)
Mollepata Ataccara Ccanccayllo Natividad Huancaray Ojocho Toracca Turpo

Ayllu & Ethnicity

Cachi Kula Toctobamba Mina Ccapcca Chullizana
4000 masl

Figure 1. Map of the Study Region

1300 Drought

Cranial modification was likely used to mark kinship categories based on agnatic descent. Modification would have identified members of a regionally legible supra-ayllu ethnic identity
Ethnogenesis = those invented, reformulated, or novel traditions which come to prominence as social boundary markers, integrated with those surviving or vestigial elements of past societies which become stitched together in such a way that the boundaries between groups are radically redefined compared to previous generations.

1200

1250

Tanquihua

1150

Late Intermediate Period

Collapse = socio-political restructuring caused by the fragmentation of centralized administration & attendant infrastructure

Cachiyaurecc

1050

Thicker Pink Line = higher scalar level of ayllu

Wari Collapse

Community/ Ayllu Reduccin/ Town Runa Road River

1100

1000

Trauma and Cranial Modification: Indicators of Ethnocide

Fig. 16: Prehispanic nested bipartite ayllu organization in western Andahuaylas, reconstructed from colonial documents

900

Middle Horizon

Location
Only modified crania demonstrate evidence of ring fractures on the basilar portion of the cranium. This type of wound has been observed in forensic remains from Cambodia (Taala et. al. 2008); in that case, victims were incapacitated, with their heads bowed, when they were struck with lethal blunt force trauma
Fig. 11: Modified Cranium, Andahuaylas

Trepanation as Innovation to Cope with Violence

1. 32/281(11%) individuals (all adults) have trepanation 2. 28/32 (89%) trepanned individuals are male
(Fishers exact, p<0.0001)

Cal AD

850

950

3. 32/43 (74%) of trepanations have some healing Trepanation (cranial surgery) only appears in Andahuaylas after Wari imperial collapse. In some cases, trepanations are unambiguously associated with healed and unhealed linear fractures.
Fig. 17: Trepanation by circular grooving and cutting Fig. 18: Trepanation by scrapping

Fig. 2: Evidence Wari imperial influence in Andahuaylas

Figure 3. Chronology of the Study Region derived from AMS dates recovered during excavations
Lethal Sub-lethal

Fig. 12: Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, Cambodia

Adapted from : Taala et. al. 2008

Materials and Methods

Excavation of burial caves (machays) @ 4 sites 1 Wari site: 1 circular tomb (N = 37) 3 Post-Imperial Sites: 15 burial caves (N = 301) TOTAL CRANIAL MNI: 338 Physical conflict was inferred through patterns of healed and unhealed skull fractures
(Walker 1997; Lovell 1997)

Frequency
Modified adults have significantly more trauma than unmodified individuals (2=11.542; p=0.0007; N=216; d.f. =1) All 10/58 sub-adults with blunt force trauma also have cranial modification

Discussion
1. During the Wari imperial era, violence low & non-lethal 2. Wari collapse spurs violence 3. Cranial Modification emerges following Wari collapse and signals cultural distinctions (ethnogenesis) 4. People with modified crania are singled out for violent attacks (ethnocide) 5. Trepanation emerges as an innovative practice after collapse to cope with violence and demonstrates novel understanding of how to intervene on an unwell body

Fig. 13: Trauma and cranial modification in post-imperial Andahuaylas

Laboratory Analysis:
(See Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994 for methods)

Age & Sex Cranial Modification Trauma Trepanations

Fig. 5: Documenting trauma as a proxy for violence

Fig. 4: A bioarchaeological proxy for ethnicity, cranial modification was likely accompanied by distinctive headdresses

Different ethnic groups were Warlike identified by the absence, Chronicles relate that presence, and the Chanka were most style of cranial warlike group to modification
emerge following Wari collapse. The Chanka migrated to Andahuaylas, where they conquered the existing Quichua group. Later, the Chanka attempted to conquer the Inca, but were defeated in an epic battle.

The Chanka

Modified with Trauma: 58% (87/150)

Unmodified with Trauma: 32% (21/66)

Ethnocide = the targeted killing of men, women, and sub-adults based on the recognition of conspicuously-marked ethnic identity
(cf. United Nations 1948)

Conclusion Ethnogenesis and Ethnocide in the Aftermath of Imperial Collapse

1) Social transformations restructure ethnic boundaries 2) Restructuring alters intra- and inter-group interactions 3) Marked groups singled out for attacks; collective victimization reinforces ethnic boundaries 4) Resilience and innovation is embraced by post-collapse populations to cope with challenges 5) These processes can operate in the absence of empires and prior to the formation of nation-states

Lethality

Modified crania have significantly more lethal wounds than unmodified individuals (Fishers exact, p=0.0095; N=227; d.f. =1)

Post-Cranial Signatures of Violence

Fig. 19: Modified cranium with trauma (left); unmodified cranium without trauma (right)

References Cited
Fig. 14: sub-lethal trauma Fig. 7: Poma de Ayalas (c. 1616) depiction of Chanka warfare.

Fig. 6: Healed trauma in post-cranial elements. 8/309 (2.6%) radii have fractures; 4/313 (1.2%) ulnae have fractures; 156/2273 (6.8%) ribs have at least one fracture.

Modified crania have significantly more sub-lethal (ante-mortem) injuries than unmodified crania (Fishers exact, p=0.0147; N=227; d.f. =1)
Fig. 15: excessive, lethal trauma

Buikstra, JE and DH Ubelaker. 1994. Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains: Proceedings of a Seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History. Research series No. 44. Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey. Lovell, N. 1997. Trauma Analysis in Paleopathology. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 40:139-170. McAnany, PA and N Yoffee, eds. 2009. Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire. Cambridge: Campridge University Press. Poma de Ayala, FG. [c. 1616]. Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno. Accessed: http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/poma/info/en/frontpage.htm Schwartz, GM and JJ Nichols, eds. 2010. After Collapse: the Regeneration of Complex Societies. Tucson: U of Arizona Press. Sen, A. 2008. Violence in Identity. In: Values and Violence, eds. IA Karawan, W McCormack, SE Reynolds. New York: Sringer. Pp. 3-14. Torres-Rouff, C. 2008. Cranial Vault Modification and Ethnicity in Middle Horizon San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Current Anthropology. 43(1):163-171. Taala, SC, GE Berg and K Haden. 2008. A Khmer Rouge Execution Method: Evidence from Choeung Ek. In: Skeletal Trauma: Identification of Injuries Resulting From Human Rights Abuses and Armed Conflict. EH Kimmerle and JP Baraybar, eds. Pp 196-200. Tung, TA. 2009. Violence after Imperial Collapse: a Study of Cranial Trauma among Late Intermediate Period burials from the former Wari capital, Ayacucho, Peru. Nawpa Pacha. 29:1-17. Tung TA. Trauma and Violence in the Wari Empire of the Peruvian Andes: Warfare, Raids, and Ritual Fights. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 133:941-956. United Nations General Assembly. 1948. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Adopted December 9. Walker, PL. 2001. A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the History of Violence. Annual Review of Anthropology. 30:357-596. Acknowledgments This research was supported by a Fulbright-Hays DDRF, award # P022A090074. Special thanks to Enmanuel Gomez Choque, and the entire Proyecto Bioarqueologico Andahuaylas crew. The Peruvian Ministry of Culture for granting research permits.
801h Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists April 12, 2012 Portland, OR

Fig. 8: Post-imperial stone weaponry

Only individuals with modified crania were the victims of lethal, excessive violence caused by repeated blunt force trauma which obliterated the identity of a victim