Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Tamara Bray

Abstract

The site of Cundisa in Copacabana (Copacabana Peninsula, Bolivia) was occupied almost continuously for the past 2,500 years. The oldest occupation includes a Yaya-Mama religious tradition semi-subterranean temple with some associated burials. Later, the whole site, including the interior of the Yaya-Mama temple, was used as a Tiwanaku cemetery. Subsequently, the Incas reused the site, as they incorporated Copacabana into their empire as a major pilgrimage site. After the Spanish conquest the site continued to be occupied, including an oven where glazed tiles for the Copacabana Basilica were fired. This dissertation focuses on the Tiwanaku component of this complex site. Out of the one hundred excavated Tiwanaku burials, 69 were found intact, not looted by subsequent occupations. The vast majority of the burials were typical Tiwanaku slab-lined cists, but the few outliers included larger rectangular burials and corbel-vaulted structures, both reminiscent of earlier Yaya-Mama burials on the Copacabana Peninsula. Associated grave goods included mainly pottery and unfired clay objects, with very few stone and metal artifacts. Half of pottery grave goods were broken pieces of large utilitarian vessels, some of them bearing signs of having been “upcycled,” or refashioned to be reused as bowls. Complete pottery vessels included typical Tiwanaku forms such as qeros and tazones, but also some unique shapes as well. Small unfired clay objects were also excavated in half of undisturbed graves. While recycling/upcycling of broken vessels, as well as presence of unfired clay objects, are not unique to Cundisa, the high proportions of both broken and unfired vessels are very high comparing to other Tiwanaku sites. Attribute analysis of pottery shapes, decorations, and paste/temper, revealed that Tiwanaku-style pottery at Cundisa was made using local clays and tempers, by local potters, who displayed a lower degree of specialization than Tiwanaku potters at other sites. Vessel forms emulated typical Tiwanaku-style forms, while iconography included designs showing different layers of regional and local identities. Some of the represented motifs were very widespread throughout the Tiwanaku sphere of influence, others were more common within the southern Lake Titicaca basin, and others seem to have been limited to the area of Copacabana, Island of the Sun, and Yunguyo. Based on this analysis, the people who buried their dead at Cundisa were a local community, who decided to abandon the Yaya-Mama religious tradition in favor of a new religion, which was emanating from the Tiahuanaco center. Potters of this local community began to emulate Tiwanaku forms and designs to underscore their new pan-regional Tiwanaku identity, while other designs signaled other identities, such as a local Copacabana identity, and a regional southern Lake Titicaca basin identity.

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