Matthew Sitek | University of California, San Diego (original) (raw)

Papers by Matthew Sitek

Latin American Antiquity , 2023

The Tiwanaku civilization (around AD 500–1100) originated in the Bolivian altiplano of the south-... more The Tiwanaku civilization (around AD 500–1100) originated in the Bolivian altiplano of the south-central Andes and established agrarian colonies (AD 600–1100) in the Peruvian coastal valleys. Current dietary investigations at Tiwanaku colonial sites focus on maize, a coastal valley cultivar with ritual and political significance. Here, we examine Tiwanaku provincial foodways and ask to what degree the Tiwanaku settlers maintained their culinary and agrarian traditions as they migrated into the lower-altitude coastal valleys to farm the land. We analyze archaeobotanical remains from the Tiwanaku site of Cerro San Antonio (600 m asl) in the Locumba Valley and compare them to data from the Tiwanaku site in the altiplano and the Rio Muerto site in the Moquegua Valley during the period of state expansion. Our findings show high proportions of wild, weedy, and domesticated Amaranthaceae cultivars, suggesting that Tiwanaku colonists grew traditional high-valley (2,000–3,000 m asl) and altiplano (3,000–4,000 m asl) foods on the lowland frontier because of their established cultural dietary preferences and Amaranthaceae’s ability to adapt to various agroclimatic and edaphic conditions.

Latin American Antiquity, 2022

Sealings recovered from the Omo M10 temple, a provincial center of the Andean Tiwanaku state (AD ... more Sealings recovered from the Omo M10 temple, a provincial center of the Andean Tiwanaku state (AD 500-1100), and from the Muru Ut Pata neighborhood of the Tiwanaku capital, as well as a signet ring from the Akapana East complex of Tiwanaku's highland capital, shed light on the hitherto undocumented use of seals and sealings in Central Andean complex society. The identification of Tiwanaku sealings related to the signet ring seal has implications for understanding the transmission of identity, authority, and authenticity over time and distance in early Andean states.

Latin American Antiquity

Reconstructing access patterns, in particular processional and liturgical movement in ceremonial ... more Reconstructing access patterns, in particular processional and liturgical movement in ceremonial architecture, can illuminate social processes within expansive states. Extensive excavations from 2010–2012 in the uniquely preserved Tiwanaku temple at the Omo M10 site in Moquegua, Peru (ca. AD 500–1100), shed new light on connectedness and access patterns of the temple. Extensive areal excavations confirm past interpretations of a central axial series of doorways and staircases presided over by stelae and U-shaped, altar-like structures leading from public plazas to the sunken court and a central shrine. However, new findings revealed separate lateral pathways through the structure, which suggest liturgical processions to walled patio groups that were isolated from the central axis. We posit that these small patios and their roofed chambers may have functioned as chapels for distinct groups or pluralistic cultic activities that were separate from those of the central axis. Implications for Tiwanaku social structure are studied in light of other examples of triple entryways in Tiwanaku monumental architecture, and Kolata's suggestion of " Taypi " as a structural amalgam of a center and complementary halves, with implications of mediation and bilateral complementarity between ethnicities, genders, moieties, or other pluralistic entities within Tiwanaku state and society.

Posters by Matthew Sitek

80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Apr 2015

We test the hypothesis that the Omo M10A structure was constructed using adobes made from soil de... more We test the hypothesis that the Omo M10A structure was constructed using adobes made from soil deposits containing cultural materials from local, Formative Huaracane occupations (ca. 2000 BC – AD 600). This is done by detailing the close association of Huaracane style ceramic sherds with adobe materials within architectural collapse levels, and contrasting the condition of Huaracane sherds with Tiwanaku samples. Detailing the appearance of Huaracane ceramics at Omo M10A clarifies the systemic context for Huaracane cultural materials at this Tiwanaku temple.

SAA - 79th Annual Meeting - Austin, TX, Apr 2014

This poster presents the preliminary results from the 2013 excavations at Huayra Mocco, a Formati... more This poster presents the preliminary results from the 2013 excavations at Huayra Mocco, a Formative Period (ca. 1300 BC - AD 100) sunken court site associated with the greater Taraco archaeological complex - situated in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin of Peru. We examine the architectural features uncovered in Unit III, located on the northwest slopes of the mound. These features include a large, Formative Period terrace and associated drainage canal. Evidence from lower strata suggests that the Formative Period architectural features may have been constructed directly on top of and even cutting into Archaic Period deposits. In light of these findings we propose two possible interpretations: 1) The lower strata represent terminal Late Archaic deposits and Huayra Mocco served as one of the few continuously occupied sites during the Archaic-Formative transition in the altiplano; 2) Huayra Mocco was selected as the site for Formative monumental architecture – possibly due to its substantial Archaic occupation. Through exploring these hypotheses we aim to demonstrate the possibility of unprecedented long-term site occupation and re-occupation in the northern Titicaca Basin.

Institute of Andean Studies - 54th Annual Meeting - Berkeley, CA, Jan 2014

Taypi, the mediating space in which two complementary sides come together, has represented an int... more Taypi, the mediating space in which two complementary sides come together, has represented an integrative concept in Andean society. Through our re-interpretation of the uniquely well-preserved Tiwanaku monumental structure at Omo M10 we argue that action in the Tiwanaku ritual landscape, while reinforcing a dual model of ritual and society, also featured a central axis and mediating pathways and spaces. Focusing on the Middle Court portion of the structure, we will analyze access patterns, architectural features and artifactual evidence to illustrate how ritual movement in the middle court interwove a central and two lateral pathways through this mediating space.

Theses by Matthew Sitek

University of California - San Diego (PhD Thesis), 2022

This dissertation develops a community ecology framework, which utilizes methods developed throug... more This dissertation develops a community ecology framework, which utilizes methods developed through network-analysis and the broader study of complex adaptive systems. Unlike most models of state growth that have tended to support either top-down, macroscale explanations, or bottom-up or more microscale-focused perspectives to connect between state and individual, my approach privileges the mesoscale, considering the community as the pivotal middle ground. I focus on Tiwanaku, one of the first state-level societies to expand in the Middle Horizon of the Central Andes, (ca. AD 600-1100), using results from several seasons of archaeological research at the Tiwanaku occupation of the Cerro San Antonio (L1) site, in the middle Locumba Valley on the far south coast of Peru. This work included survey and mapping, systematic surface collection, and extensive household archaeology excavations and material analysis. Using the community ecology framework, I synthesize these data to reconstruct the culture history of the site, understand the daily lives of Cerro San Antonio’s Tiwanaku residents, and delineate the role this node played in Tiwanaku’s dynamic multimodal community network on its western frontier. In doing so I shed light on the nature of Tiwanaku statecraft and contribute to the anthropological understanding of how individuals, communities, and institutions operated within nascent states of the past.

University of California - San Diego (M.A. Thesis), 2013

During what is now known as the Middle Horizon period (A.D. 500-1100) the Tiwanaku civilization i... more During what is now known as the Middle Horizon period (A.D. 500-1100) the Tiwanaku civilization influenced much of the south central Andes from its highland capital, situated in the southern Titicaca Basin in the Bolivian altiplano. The Tiwanaku established colonies in several strategic areas throughout the region - the largest enclave located in the coastal middle Moquegua valley in southern Peru. Here the colonists constructed the only known Tiwanaku monumental architecture outside their highland homeland. The Omo Temple (M10A) is therefore critical in understanding provincial Tiwanaku power and ideological practices. Utilizing built environment theory, this thesis provides insight into these practices by focusing on the middle court, an architectural area situated between the public lower court plaza and the private upper court complex. An examination of access patterns will help situate the middle court as a liminal architectural space, in which visitors traveling through the structure would be "betwixt and between" (Turner 1964) - an area between public and private, profane and truly sacred space. This liminal aspect was emphasized by the presence of platforms at each of the three access points to the middle court. These elevated thresholds acted to privilege those transitioning from the lower to middle court space. Access patterns, supplemented with analysis of architectural elements and artifact data, indicate a tripartite processional process that contradicts the dualism-based interpretations which have dominated archaeological explanations of ancient Andean architecture and ritual practices

University of Wisconsin - La Crosse (B.S. Honors Thesis), 2010

One of the most recent trends in archaeological research has become known as household archaeolog... more One of the most recent trends in archaeological research has become known as household archaeology; its primary focus being the excavation and analysis of domestic remains. This relatively recent shift in direction for many archaeologists is providing a fresh view of not only how individual household populations lived, but also how these small units of people were influenced, affected, and changed, over time, by broader cultural factors of prehistory. For this reason household archaeological approaches will be employed to investigate the household structure and associated remains uncovered at the site of Pirque Alto (CP-11); a site outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia in the South Central Andes Mountains. A variety of statistical tests will be utilized to indicate everyday activity areas (processing food, food consumption, refuse disposal, etc.) that took place in and around the household. This study will help future researchers understand the overall prehistoric context of the site of Pirque Alto and give a general view of what life was like for Cochabamba populations during the Middle Horizon (A.D. 500 - 1000); a time characterized by the strong influence of the state level society, Tiwanaku.