Juan Carlos Chavez Quispe

EMAILED: This project examines networks within the decentralized, small-scale Mojocoya society that thrived on the eastern slopes of the Bolivian Andes between 200 BC and AD 1400. While Mojocoya communities were highly interconnected with one another and with peer valley groups, some also interacted with the Tiwanaku state between AD 600 and 900. Specifically, this study investigates how these communities maintained connections to one another and to non-Mojocoya highland groups during a period of environmental and political change from AD 600 to 1300. To reconstruct Mojocoya networks, the study examined human remains and artifacts from six mortuary caves. Analysis of artificially modified crania revealed a widespread preference for the “Fronto-Occipital” style, suggesting a shared cultural identity. Furthermore, biodistance analysis (or biological data) revealed that populations across these regions were closely related, indicating frequent movement and intermarriage. Interestingly, biogeochemical markers (isotopes) in teeth and bones revealed that some individuals migrated from the Southwestern Amazon lowlands into the Mojocoya area. While no direct evidence of migration from the highlands was found, the data suggest that kinship bonds interconnected these regions. Thus, family networks provided the resilience that allowed Mojocoya communities to endure even as larger state-level societies declined.