CONCLUSION

These studies have shown that the union of archaeological and bioarchaeological data are particularly well suited to addressing questions regarding diaspora communities and patterns of migration. Moreover, these kinds of studies serve to address broader anthropological themes regarding ancient statecraft and the influence of states on local communities. For example, the absence of Tiwanaku colonizers in the San Pedro de Atacama desert has shown that a colonizing presence was not necessary to create and maintain strong ties between the two regions. Studies of migration and diaspora communities can also document the role of immigrants in the process of urbanization, as foreign people move to new centers; this appears to have occurred at the site of Tiwanaku, but not at the Wari heartland site of Conchopata. And while Conchopata is only the secondary capital in the Wari core, these apparently different paths to urbanization among two contemporaneous states provide insights into how each may have developed and created or fomented an environment that brought diverse peoples together. Future studies at the Wari capital site of Huari may reveal additional distinctions or identify more parallels between Tiwanaku and Wari. Questions on migration also have become more nuanced with inquiries that address such things as marriage rules, which should eventually produce a richly textured view of ancient life-ways and community and ayllu organization in the Andes. Taken together, the combined methodologies and complementary scales of inquiry are coalescing to provide insightful perspectives of life “on the move.”

Acknowledgments I thank Steve Wernke and Kelly Knudson for comments on sections of this chapter.