Through the looking glass: re-assessing the role of agro-pastoralism in the north-central Andean highlands

Abstract

Archaeological research in the Andes has emphasized agriculture to the detriment of all other modes of production. A marked bias towards research on the coast, where crop farming predominates, and prejudices arising from the prevailing agro-centric perspective has given rise to a wealth of information concerning agricultural adaptations to this vertical environment. This paper seeks to redress the balance by investigating the precocious nature of agro-pastoralist traditions in the north-central highlands of Peru (ad 1000–1570). I challenge current ideas concerning the mainstay of subsistence in the Prehispanic high Andes that essentially emphasize farming to the detriment of other modes of production. Rather, I argue for a rich tableau of closely articulated groups of agro-pastoral and mixed farming communities ensconced in the kichwa, suni and puna areas of the cordillera. In these mixed communities the archaeological evidence suggests that it is the camelid herders who controlled and exercised power over the mixed farming communities with a concomitant specialization and intensification of the pastoralist economy.