Landscape and Politics in the Ancient Andes

Khonkho Wankane, the focus of this book, dates largely to the Late Formative (ca. AD 50–500) and is located about 30 kilometers south of Lake Titicaca in the altiplano of Bolivia. The author seeks to explain how this particular location became important in the landscape. His explanation is centered on the movements of llama caravans across a much broader landscape that became “entangled” at this particular spot for a variety of climatic, environmental, topological, ritual, and social reasons. Scott Smith identifies three dialectical processes of ritual practice that shaped power relations between residents at the site and drovers passing through the site. These processes defined Khonkho Wankane as an axis mundi, controlled movement through both integration and division, and preserved the secrecy of ritual knowledge (i.e., the content) while revealing that ritual knowledge was one raison d'être for the site.Smith argues that drought during the Late Formative lowered lake and river levels, resulting in changes in long-distance caravan routes. Khonkho Wankane, located at the base of hills near spring-fed streams and good pasture, benefited from the changes in routes. The site developed over seven distinct construction phases. The earliest phases have little evidence for occupation, but in the third phase seven circular buildings were constructed. One of these was larger than the rest and had evidence for the defleshing of human bones, both by cutting the flesh off the bones and by the use of quicklime.These bones were not deposited at the site. Smith argues that the bones were of outsiders, and isotopic evidence of small elements lost in the defleshing process supports this interpretation. Smith cites iconography on two stelae as depictions of the process: human figures ascend the back of the stelae with flesh and descend the sides with exposed rib cages. There is also evidence for the preparation and consumption of food. At first, this is associated with the earliest sunken court, but later it is associated with a large open central patio.There was a major shift in the orientation and functioning of the site at the beginning of the sixth phase. Earlier, the site was accessed from the south, where the early sunken court was located. Later, access was from the west and more formalized. People first ascended a low platform, then descended into two sunken courts holding the stelae mentioned above, and then entered into a large central plaza bordered on the west, south, and east by compounds and platforms. In the center of the central plaza was another sunken court with another stela in its center.Feasting shifted from the early sunken court to the central plaza, a less intimate space. This early court was also aligned with a sacred mountain and the rising point of a dark area in the Milky Way, a “dark cloud constellation” known as the “llama,” related to the beginning of the rainy season. The later sunken courts were not places to linger, as was the early court. These were places to pass through, and there is evidence that they were filled with burning incense. The process of ascending the platform, descending into the courts, ascending again, and then entering the central plaza involved controlled movement that first compressed lines of sight and then opened them up again.In general, movement became more controlled through time. A proxemics analysis also showed that while the early occupation favored intimate and less-formal interactions, the middle and late occupations included spaces suitable for both intimate interactions and large-scale public interactions. The central plaza in particular was a large space surrounded on three sides by platforms that might have been used as stages for public performance. The central sunken court, for example, was connected by a canal to a cistern on the top of the eastern platform where rainfall could be stored; the stored water could then be released into the sunken court, creating an artificial lake. The central stela in this court was placed on a low mound, so that it would have been above the height of the water. Another canal allowed the court to be drained to the south, watering special pasture areas called bofedales.This is a well-argued and stimulating book. It draws heavily, and well, on spatial analysis. The insights here obviously relate to other Andean practices: pilgrimage, the ceque system, the importance of plazas, and the multiplicity of axis mundi throughout the region. On the other hand, I was never quite sure of how the cadavers arrived at the site: Were they brought in from afar, or were they drovers who died en route nearby? What was the population of the site? An “ephemeral” occupation is mentioned around the core, but the core seems to have housed very few permanent residents (p. 99). This book will provoke thought and debate

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