Francisco Garcia-Albarido

FRANCISCO GARCIA-ALBARIDO, then a graduate student at University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received funding in August 2020 to aid research on ‘Archaeology of the Early-Modern Market Expansion into the Andes: Ports, Hunter-Gatherers, and Emerging Global Markets,’ supervised by Dr. Marc Bermann. Archaeological study of early colonial Andean society is revealing the complex interplay of Spanish policies, native agency, and contesting cultural logics that followed the meeting of two worlds. This meeting saw indigenous economics practices, supposedly based on self-sufficiency, reciprocity and redistribution, confront the mercantile commodification of labor and nature. For examining the initial negotiating of these worlds, where the local met the global, few settings can match that of the port. This research investigates how early modern market expansion changed the economy and habitat of the native fishermen of Puerto Loa (Atacama, Chile) as their fishing village developed into an early colonial port (16th century). A one-year excavation project is comparing the indigenous use of maritime resources from pre-Columbian to early-modern times. This work examines: how native seafood production shifted and commodified under the Spanish; concomitant socioeconomic and consumption changes; and the potential effects of commodification on local resources. After excavation and analysis, the project is providing a picture of an understudied settlement type, the early colonial port, as a revealing, diverse workforce community, produced by new alliances and traditional practices. The results are refining our understanding of early commercial nodes and the hybrid nature of the Andean colonial market.