UC Berkeley

In this dissertation I examine domestic life in an early Andean highland community. La Banda was located directly across the river from the major ritual center of Chavin de Huantar, Peru (1200-500 B.C.). New data presented here reveal a community engaged in complex relationships with the temple of Chavín, the surrounding fields and communities, and the broader Andean world through the practices of trade, production, pilgrimage, and ceremony. My La Banda project contributes to debates about ritual life and daily practice in early farming communities, the nature of plant and animal food production, and the place of exchange and production in a ceremonial center.