Community Labor and Laboring Communities within the Tiwanaku State (C.E. 500–1100) (Chapter 4)

Research on the Tiwanaku State (C.E. 500–1100) reveals that labor within its multiethnic communities was organized through reciprocal, guild-like systems rather than elite-driven coercion. Skeletal evidence, including musculoskeletal stress markers and osteoarthritis, indicates habitual activity patterns varied significantly across groups in the Titicaca Basin, Bolivia, and colonies near Moquegua, Peru. This suggests a complex social structure where labor was collaborative, challenging traditional assumptions about state-level societies.

Becker, S. K. (2017). 4 Community Labor and Laboring Communities within the Tiwanaku State (C.E. 500–1100). Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 28(1), 38–53. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12087