Population and Agriculture in the Emergence of Complex Society in the Bolivian Altiplano

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Recent studies have advanced our understanding of the prehistoric culture-history, socio-political dynamics, and economic systems of the Middle Horizon Tiwanaku civilization (Kolata, i.p.; Kolata and Rivera 1989; Kolata, Stanish, and Rivera 1987). During the past two decades, three major models have been developed to explain Tiwanaku’s evolution from incipient complex society to expansionist state in the southern Andean region (Figure 1). Two of these, John Murra’s “vertical archipelago” (Murra 1975, 1980) and David Browman’s “altiplano mode of production” are based on the premise that the Andean altiplano cannot support large, dense populations and complex societies. The third, Alan Kolata’s agricultural production model, holds that using an indigenous agricultural technology, the altiplano near Lake Titicaca can be exploited in such a way as to sustain large populations.