Examining local social identities through Patterns of biological and cultural variation In the solcor Ayllu, San Pedro de Atacama, chile

Abstract

Studies of local forms of social organization in peripheral areas can enrich our understanding of the sociopolitical factors structuring core-periphery interactions. This research explores how local group identities impacted the ways in which individuals and communities at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, expressed their relationship to the Tiwanaku polity during the Middle Horizon. Combining information from body modification practices, burial contexts, and isotopic indicators of diet and geographic origin, we demonstrate that differential incorporation of Tiwanaku goods and practices may have served alongside other local customs to mark social group distinctions between individuals interred in the Solcor 3 and Solcor Plaza cemeteries.