Conversion and Persistence: Analysis of Faunal Remains from an Early Spanish Colonial Doctrinal Settlement in Highland Peru

Abstract

Initial Spanish colonization of the Central Andes and efforts to transform indigenous society were highly dependent on local social and geographic conditions. In the Colca Valley of southern Peru, Franciscan friars established a series of doctrinas (settlements for the conversion and doctrinal instruction of the indigenous population) at former Inka imperial outposts during the mid-1540s. The inhabitants of one of thesedoctrinas—the site today known as Malata (ca. A.D. 1545–1573)— were subject to one of the earliest mendicant evangelical campaigns in the Central Andean highlands. In addition to religious indoctrination and significant spatial reconfiguration of the village, Spaniards attempted to alter systems of domestic production related to the rearing and consumption of animals. They also imposed new tribute demands. Despite considerable transformations of the architecture and attendant changes in daily life at Malata, zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains from a variety of contexts provides no indication of the introduction of Eurasian animals to Malata nor the alteration of either indigenous husbandry practices or the consumption of food animals. Ceramic iconography and the abundance of weaving tools suggest that Spaniards built on the local system of camelid husbandry to extract textiles and metallurgical goods as tribute during the first generation of colonial occupation.