topic fron stwerads to bureaucrats chan chan

From Stewards to Bureaucrats: Architecture and Information Flow at Chan Chan,Peru

John R. Topic

Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 3. (Sep., 2003), pp. 243-274.

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FROM STEWARDS TO BUREAUCRATS: ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION FLOW AT CHAN CHAN, PERU

John R. Topic

Archaeologists working with complex societies are concerned with the administration of political economies. Beginning with the premise that there are differing forms of administration and that bureaucracy, in the classic formulation of Max Weber; is one of these, I develop a heuristic dichotomy between two types of administrators: stewards (who closely super- vise goods and people) and bureaucrats (who process and control information). Bureaucracy is often linked to written records, but in the Central Andes alternative methods of record keeping were developed, such as the quipu or knotted string record. 1 argue that one alternative record-keeping device was an architectural form, the U-shaped structure. U-shaped structures are closely identified with the administrative architecture of the Chimu kingdom (ca. A.D. 850-1470) on the north coast of Peru. Four independent lines of argument demonstrate the development of bureaucracy from stewardship at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Brief comparisons are made between the Chimu administrative pattern and commodity and information flow in the earlier Huari and Tiwanku civilizations, and with the later Inka pattern. These comparisons show how record-keeping technology affects political economy and the strategy of expansion.

Arquedlogos investigando las sociedades complejas tienen interis en la administracidn de la economia politica. Ajirmo que hay varias formas de administracidn publica y que la burocracia, en la formulacidn cldsica de Mar Weber; es una de estas formas. Desarrollo una dicotomia heuristica entre dos tipos de administradores: mayordomos (quienes vigilan acerca de 10s productos almacenados) y burdcratas (quienes trabajan con informacidn acerca de 10s productos almacenados). El desarrollo de la burocracia es generalmente asociado con la escritura, pero en 10s andes centrales otras maneras de registrar y archivar informucidn se desarrollaban. Mi tesis es que una manera alternativa andina utilizaba una forma arquitectdnica especial: la estructura en forma de "U." Estas estructuras ocurren comunmente en la arquitectura administrativa del reino de Chimu (ca. 850-1470 d.C.), costa norte peruana. Presento cuatro pruebas independientes mostrando como la burocracia desarrollaba del mayordomia en Chan Chdn, capital del reino Chimu. Hugo comparaciones breves entre el patrdn administrutivo Chimu y lo conocido de 10s patrones administrativos en las culturas Huari y Tiwanaku, antecesores a 10s Chimues, y en la cultura Inka que sucedid a 10s Chimues. Las comparaciones demuestran como la tecnologia de registrar y archivar informacidn afecta la economia politica y la estrategia de expansidn estatal.

Genuine history has no room for the merely erate themselves) who controlled scribes, and non- probable or the merely possible; all it permits literate people (e.g., Houston 1994; Weber the historian to assert is what the evidence before him obliges him to assert [Colling- 1946:229).

wood 1994:204]. Even more important, writing set up a new source of power that the historical sociologist Max

ince V. Gordon Childe (1950), archaeolo- Weber (1 946:232-239) first clearly recognized and gists have debated the role of writing in defined: the control of information. For Weber, the ancient civilizations. Considered as just a control of information resulted in the formation of

trait, like monumental art or craft specialization, bureaucracy in the same way that the control of its importance in defining civilization is not clear wealth resulted in the formation of classes, the dis- (e.g., Braidwood 1967: 137; Sabloff and Larnberg- tribution of prestige resulted in the formation of sta- Karlovsky 1974: 1). Structurally, however, writing tuses, and the distribution of political authority differentiated at least three classes of people: resulted in the formation of factions. He viewed scribes, people (who may or may not have been lit- bureaucracy as a form of management in which

John R. Topic. Department of Anthropology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7B8

Latin American Antiquity, 14(3), 2003, pp. 243-274 Copyright0 2003 by the Society for American Archaeology

244 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003

areas of jurisdiction are fixed and ordered by rules and regulations, resulting in a stable distribution of authority across a group of officials who are able to impose sanctions and are employed in their offices because they have the requisite qualifica- tions to fulfill their duties.

Bureaucracy, strictly defined, is a very important component of civilization and the state. Bureaucracy is part of the complex of institutions that organizes power in state-level societies (Fried 1967:Chapter6; Service 1975). It forms an administrative interface between the rulers and the ruled that acts as the agency of control, in large part by controlling sources of information and communi- cation. The bureaucracy, functioning efficiently by well-ordered rules, not only helps to legitimate the governing structure, but also stabilizes it; the sta- bilization is achieved in part by establishing the means to perpetuate itself.

In the study of precolumbian states, wealth and political authority are frequently discussed and, increasingly, in precise terms (Brumfiel and Fox 1994); the role of prestige in legitimizing both chiefdoms and states has also been addressed (Helms 1979; Yoffee 1991). The discussion of the role of bureaucracy has not been as clear, except in the cases of the Aztec and Inka, in which ethnohistoric evidence has been especially useful.

In this paper I argue that true bureaucracy developed for the first time in the Andes at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Bureaucracy, however, is not the only possible form of administration in complex societies. The bureaucratic form of administration has been contrasted to the sefiorial form, where the administration of the state is con- ducted through coopting the offices of traditional local lords (e.g., Netherly 1990), in a manner somewhat similar to, though not equivalent to, the feu- dal system. The degree to which administration takes either the sefiorial or the bureaucratic form is related to contrasting concepts of territorial and hegemonic states (e.g., D' Altroy 1992). These different forms of administration are not necessarily mutually exclusive and there can be continuity, and mixing, of the forms within a single complex society. For example, I argue that bureaucracy developed at Chan Chan and characterized the late form of administration in the Chimu capital but that the provinces were administered through a sefiorial

form. While complex societies can be administered in a variety of ways, at some point large territorial states will need a central core of administrators that gather, process, and store information about the state, its resources. and its governance. In most states thic involves the development of writing systems, but in the Andes alternative methods of record keeping were developed.

Bureaucracy and Writing

Because bureaucracy is based on the control and processing of information, an archaeological correlate of bureaucracy is a method for physically preserving and transmitting information. The existence of writing (or, better, recording) systems allows for the development of bureaucracy, but recording systems can also be used for nonbureaucratic forms of expression. Santley (1989), for example, distin- guishes between Mesoamerican public texts on stela and private documents in the form of codices; while both are used to legitimize the ruling elite, the different audiences for the two types of texts suggests that private documents correspond to more centralized (i.e., bureaucratic) political systems. Similarly, in a comparative analysis of Maya and Mesopotamian political systems, Yoffee (1 991 :287-292) finds that the Webeiian trichotomy of wealth, prestige, and authority may be sufficient to understand the exercise of power, since the glyphs displayed on public monuments are largely used to legitimize the power and prestige of the rulers. Again, the more private documents, rather than public monuments, record the kinds of information typical of bureaucratic management, such as tribute lists, and in Mesoamerica these only appear in the Postclassic and Colonial periods.

Hence, documenting the presence of an elaborated system of symbolic representation, which has been done for several pre-Inkaic Andean civilizations, is not equivalent to demonstrating the existence of bureaucracy. Moreover, the control of knowledge, often esoteric in nature, is also a source of power in nonbureaucratic chiefly societies, so that documenting restricted access to information is not equivalent to documenting the existence of bureaucracy either. Documenting bureaucracy entails the difficult prospect of defining a highly structured set of officials who operate to control and process information.

245 Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION FLOW AT CHAN CHAN

However, as important as bureaucracy is to the functioning of state-level societies, in recent stud- ies of the pre-Inkaic Tiwanaku and Huari empires (e.g., Isbell and McEwan 1991; Kolata 1993; Schreiber 1992), the discussion of bureaucracy is attenuated. The term "bureaucracy" is sometimes used (e.g., Isbell 1991:301; Kolata 1993:230), but administration is discussed largely in terms of site hierarchies rather than in terms of information recording and flow. In both cases, extended analo- gies are also made to the Inka political economy, in which land and labor were converted into goods that financed state activities (e.g., Kolata 1993:206-214; Schreiber 1992:Chapter 2). We know from ethnohistoric sources that the flow of labor and goods in the Inka empire was meticu- lously documented and controlled by a bureaucracy. However, the administration of the Inka political economy involved the management of large-scale storage facilities (e.g., D'Altroy and Earle 1985 and commentary following), while evidence for large-scale storage is not available for Tiwanaku (e.g., Janusek 2002:49) and has been questioned for Huari (Anders 1991 ;McEwan 199 1, 1996). Hence, the assumption that Huari and Tiwanaku were bureaucratic centralized states remains undocumented. Indeed, alternative perspectives on both Huari and Tiwanaku de-empha- size the bureaucratic nature of these cultures, and to some extent the degree of political centraliza- tion (Albarracin-Jordan 1996; Bauer and Stanish 2001 :3842; Bermann 1997; Graffam 1990,1992; Janusek 2002; Jennings and Craig 2001; Stanish 1994; Topic and Topic 1992,2000).

While it is acknowledged that bureaucracy, especially when it employs perishable materials to record information, is difficult to study archaeologically, we cannot simply assume that cultures pre-dating the Inka by almost a millenium employed similarly sophisticated administrative practices. Since bureaucratic forms of control can be expected to develop over a period of time, the archaeological docu- mentation of bureaucracy is important to our understanding of the evolution of the state.

The case study presented here supports the argument that in the Andean context, true bureaucracy (i.e., a group of officials who process and control information) developed from the more "hands-on" direct administration of goods and labor. As a

heuristic dichotomy, I refer to the "hands-on" administrators of real goods as stewards and reserve the term bureaucrats for administrators who are concerned with the control of information flow. However, in reality bureaucratic administrations will also have stewards in the lower levels of the administrative hierarchy. Still, the terms have a developmental connotation that is probably appro- priate: the term "steward(s)" refers to the chief ser- vants of a large household or court, while the term "bureaucrat(s)" implies an institutionalized "ratio- nal-legal authority."

Andean Recording Methods

Since I argue that a class of architecture, the U-shaped structures1 at Chan Chan, functioned as a means of recording information, it is useful to review the general principles used in Andean recording systems. I draw on archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic information to illustrate the common principles employed in recording information in a variety of media.

The best-known Andean record-keeping device is the quipu (Ascher and Ascher 198 1;Locke 1923; Mackey 1970; Mackey et al. 1990; Radicati di Primeglio 1979; Urton 2001). Quipu are made of string or yarn, usually with a long header string to which pendent strings are attached (Figure 1). The pendent strings have knots that record information. Quipu are known to have existed since the Middle Horizon (approximately A.D. 550-1000) (Conklin 1982; Pereyra S. 1997 ),2 but are best known and understood from the Late Horizon (i.e., Inka period: A.D. 1476-1532) and early years of the Colonial period (e.g., A.D. 1532-ca. 1653)'; quipu continue to be used in some rural areas even today.

The quipu could record numbers, but it is a mnemonic device (a memory aid); hence, like many other New World recording methods, it was not designed to precisely record speech (Boone 1994; Mignolo 1994:229). The quipucamayoc (official who kept and read the quipu) needed to remember what each string signified, but knowing this, he could read the numbers off it readily. The numbers were recorded by different kinds of knots and the order of magnitude (1, 10, 100, 1000, etc.) was indicated by the location of the knot on the string (Cieza de Leon 1985:30-31 [1553]; Garcilaso de IaVega 1966:330 [I609 and 16171).

LATIN AMERICAN ANTlQUlN [Vol. 14, No. 3,2003

Figure 1. Inka officials in the drawings of Guaman Poma (1980 [1615]). Top row, from left: a chasqui (runner stationed along the royal roads) carrying a quipu labelled "caniz" (letter); an administrator of a province; the secretary of the Inka. Bottom: treasurer, with quipu and yupana (abacus); administrator of a Suyu, or Quarter of the empire showing accounts to the Inka among a group of storerooms.

The basic structural characteristics of the quipu, then, consist of numeric values recorded in a par- ticularplace that has predefined values. This is very similar to how the Spanish viewed memory aids (cf. Cummins 1994:193-194),4 and they not only recognized the quipu as a valid form of information recording but they were also quite willing to accept it as the basis for expert testimony (Acosta 1940:290-292 [1590]; Callapifia 1974 [1542]; Cieza de Leon 1985:32 [1553]; Sarmiento 1907:4143 [1572]).

The basic structure of the quipu informational system was augmented by a few other characteris-

tics. First, a number of strings could be combined into a single larger quipu in order to record different categories within a single quipu record (Figure 1). To facilitate remembering the different categories represented by each string, they were sometimes coded by color, the direction the string had been spun, the thickness of the string, etc. (Calan- cha 1974-82:203-206 [1638]; Garcilaso de laVega 1966:330 [I609 and 16171; Mackey 1970:Chap- ters I1andVI). Thus, qualitative values and notjust numeric values are important to the structure of information recording.

Moreover, at least by late Inka times, the cate-


gories recorded on a series of strings within a quipu were organized in a standard order based on the rel- ative importance of the items (Calancha 1974-82:204-205 [1638]; Garcilaso de la Vega 1966:330 [I609 and 16171; Murra 1975, 1982). This correlation of cognitive ranking with the sequential ordering of the strings again emphasizes the structural importance of the place, with predefined value, in which qualitative or numerical values are recorded.

Although Cobo (1979:254 [1653]) noted that the quipucamayoc could not understand each other's quipu, there is actually quite a bit of standardization among Late Horizon quipu. For example, two basic kinds of quipu have been recognized: quantitative quipu, in which the numbers on different strings can be shown to be related to each other arithmetically (e.g., one string sums others), and quipu in which the numbers on the strings seem to serve as labels, rather than as arithmetic quantities (Ascher 1990). The knots are themselves standardized, so that there are usually only three different kinds of knots and these are used preferentially to denote the units or the higher numbers. Moreover, sequences of color combinations recur frequently within a single quipu or within associated lots of quipu, demonstrating another form of standardization, at least within the quipu used by a single quipucamayoc (Mackey 1970: 76-77).

It is these types of standardizations and pat- ternings that allow even modern researchers to be able to read the numbers and have a sense of the structure of the ancient quipu. Indeed, an indication that quipucamayoc could decipher each other's quipu, if given an idea of the content and structure of the quipu, is their apparent use in the "postal service" by chasqui (runners stationed along the royal roads) who relayed messages along the imperial road system (Garcilaso de la Vega 1966:328-329 [I609 and 16171; Guaman Poma de Ayala 1980:202-204 [1615]; Mackey 1970: 19). As the quipu was passed from runner to runner, a short ver- bal description of the contents would also be passed along (Figure 1).

Cobo's comment, though, is also valid. There certainly is evidence for idiosyncrasy among the quipu and quipucamayoc, especially in terms of the significance of colors. They were, after all, intended

as mnemonic devices to aid oral recitation. More- over, Cobo (1979:254 [1653]) goes on to say that there were many different quipus for different things, that the quipucamayoc were trained very carefully in their use, and that those who had not been trained were not able to understand the quipu; thus his comment occurs in the context of such Weberian bureaucratic concepts as fixed jurisdic- tions for officials, the need for officials to develop requisite skills, and the privileging of information (Weber 1946).

There were numerous officials, each with his own area of competence, and these formed an administrative hierarchy. The pictures and text in the chronicle of Guaman Poma (1980:335-365 [1615]) gives one list of officials (Figure 1). A variety of officials kept track of the contents of storerooms, the herds, and the affairs of individual towns; these accountants, like stewards, would be in direct contact with the goods, animals, and people for which they had responsibility. An administrator of a province was a true bureaucrat who gathered information together for a region. This might include the number of men, women, and children; the marital status of these individuals; the number of llamas and alpacas; the amount of tribute paid in potatoes, honey, and coca leaf; the number of stone masons drafted, and so forth. All these need never be physically in one place at one time to be counted, but the information could be recorded on a single quipu or a series of quipu. Both the local accountants and regional administrators kept largely statistical information. Officials such as the secretary of the Inka recorded more historical or textual information, assisted by philosophers and poets (amautas and arawicus) who made up stories and poems based on this information (Calan- cha 197&82:204-208 [1638]; Garcilaso de laVega 1966:332 [I609 and 16171); the recitation of the story or poem was prompted by q u i p in which the attributes, such as colors, knots, thickness of cords, etc., acted as labels rather than as arithmetic information.

Other aspects of Andean record keeping were methods of gathering data and performing calcu- lations. The Andean abacus, or yupana (Figure l), illustrated by Guaman Poma 1980:360 [1615]) is interesting, because it is again based on the princi- ple of representing numeric values in particular

ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION FLOW AT CHAN CHAN

LEGEND

Pyramid

Cemetery :::::............... iiji; Barrio

Retainer Areas 9%Caravansary

Figure 2. Plan of Chan Chan showing the named compounds and other features of the site.

LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3,2003

Figure 3. Development of standardized U-shaped structures of Chan Chan. Early period: (a) Tello south; (b) and (c) Uhle north central; (d) and (e) Tello north; (fJand (g) Uhle southwest. Middle period: (h) Laberinto central; (i) and (j)Tello northeast; (k) Uhle northwest; (1) Gran Chimu. Late period: (m) Velarde; (n) Bandelier; (0) Tschudi. Structures shown in a, d, i, and j are redrawn from Moseley and Mackey (1974:Map 13); g, h, I, and o from Andrews (1974:Figures 14,14, 12, and 17, respectively); b, c, e, f, k, m, and n from Kolata (1978:Figures 14,15,20,18,18,28, and 29, respectively).

tially of the court of the Chimu kings (e.g., Kolata into the residential barrios (Klymyshyn 1982). The 1983). There are 10 named compounds, called ciu- residential barrios, also referred to as SIAR or dadelas,which are often interpreted as palaces con- small irregularly agglutinated rooms, were occu- structed sequentially by the Chimu kings (Day pied by families of artisans specializing in metal 1982; Klymyshyn 1987:99, 105; Kolata 1990; working and textile production, but also working Moseley 1975a; Moseley and Mackey 1974). Sur- stone, wood, and shell (J. Topic 1982, 1990). rounding the ciudadelas are other compounds U-shaped structures occur throughout the city, referred to as Elite Architecture; these compounds as well as at Chimu rural sites and provincial cen- are less monumental than the ciudadelas and have ters. They generally have only three walls so that been interpreted as residences of the lower nobil- a plan of a structure looks like the block letter " U ity and extensions of the administrative apparatus (Figure 3). They usually have floors that are slightly

Topic] ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION FLOW AT CHAN CHAN

elevated above the surrounding court and thick walls with niches or other cavities. Three basic types of U-shaped structures have been defined (arcones have bins, trocaderos have troughs, and audiencias have niches), along with variants of each type based on the number and location of bins, troughs, and niches, and the overall shape of the structure. Trocaderos have a very restricted spatial and temporal distribution, and they will be treated here as a variant of the audiencia. The distributions of audiencias and arcones overlap temporally, but are spatially rather distinct: arcones occur in the residential barrios, but not in the ciudadelas; audiencias occur in the ciudadelas, but not in the residential barrios; both types of structures occur in the Intermediate or Elite Architecture (Klymyshyn 1982; Kolata 1978; Topic 1977, 1990). In terms of the heuristic dichotomy employed here, arcones were probably always associated with stewards, while the audiencias became associated with bureaucrats.

The Function of the U-shaped Structures

Almost all archaeologists who have discussed the function of the U-shaped structures have characterized them as "administrative" in nature. This characterization was originally based on the apparent association of U-shaped structures with storage areas in the ciudadelas, and the structures were interpreted as controlling access to the storage areas (Day 1982; Kolata 1990:124). By graphing the access routes within one ciudadela, Moore (1992) was able to show that the U-shaped structures in Ciudadela Rivero did not physically or visually control access to storage. While he noted (Moore 1992:108) that U-shaped structures are closely associated with storerooms in some ciudadelas, but not in others, he rejected the association for Chan Chan as a whole and questioned the administrative function of the U-shaped structures.

While I completely agree with Moore that the interpretation of U-shaped structures as "control structures" is imprecise, I still think that they are best interpreted as administrative in nature. This paper is an attempt to more precisely describe the changing nature of administration at Chan Chan (and the role played by U-shaped structures), from a concern with commodity flow to an emphasis on information flow. In this view, U-shaped structures

represent an evolving administrative technology analogous to the quipu. While quipu predate the Chimu, as noted earlier, the Middle Horizon quipu are known at present only from the South Coast of Peni (Conklin 1982; Pereyra 1997), an area not brought under the control of Chan Chan. There is no evidence that the quipu was used by the Chimu government at its capital at Chan Chan or in any provincial or rural centers. I argue, however, that the U-shaped structures functioned in an analogous manner.

In interpreting U-shaped structures as administrative structures, the only assumption we have to make is that the niches, bins, and troughs had the same sort of predefined place value that we see in other Andean record-keeping devices, such as the strings of the quipu or the cells of the abacus; similarly, then, beans, pebbles, or other markers could be placed in the niches or bins in order to record quantitative information. If the niches represented a category, putting markers into them recorded the value of that category. The markers put into the niches could have been the actual commodities being counted (in the manner in which potatoes are counted today), but they could also have been markers that represented commodities. One niche, for example, might represent the amount of maize in a storage area; another might represent the number of sets of clothing that a group of weavers was required to deliver. Niches might have been subdi- vided by putting the counters into pots or bags within them: thus a niche could represent maize, with one bag representing maize to be delivered to storage, another representing maize currently stored, and a third representing maize required for consumption in the immediate future. In my interpretation, then, the U-shaped structures are not so much control structures as accounting structures, and they might keep account of items that were not in storage as well as items that were in storage.

If the U-shaped structures functioned in a manner analogous to the quipu and abacus, they could either have been used by officials who were in close contact with the commodities in storage (i.e., officials who were like stewards) or by officials who were removed from but still controlled information about the commodities (i.e., bureaucrats). The spatial contexts in which we find the U-shaped structures allows us to archaeologically distinguish these


two different kinds of administrators. I show that close examination of the contexts in which the U- shaped structures occur documents the transition, through time, from an administrative model consistent with stewardship to a model consistent with bureaucracy. In other words, at Chan Chan we have the first demonstrable case of the evolution of information control from a preceding system of commodity control in the Andean world.

The Evidence for the Development of Bureaucracy

I present four independent lines of argument that show how bureaucracy developed from stewardship. The context in which U-shaped structures occur will be shown to shift from positions in which they could control commodity flow to positions in which they can only be interpreted as controlling information flow. Also, the form of the U-shaped structures reflects, through time, an increasingly standardized record-keeping system and an increasingly hierarchical relationship among the record keepers. These changes culminate, in the final phase of occupation at Chan Chan, in a rationalized system of information flow that is distinctly different from what is recognizable in the earliest phase.

1.In tlze Transition from Stewardship to Bureau- cracy We Should See Increasing Standardization of the Form of the U-shaped Structures through Time. Individual shepherds can record information about their herds in nonstandardized ways. However, in order for records to be understood by a number of officials, the markers and place values used in Andean accounting systems had to be standardized. If the niches, bins, and troughs in the U-shaped structures at Chan Chan were places with predefined values, then the form of the building must have been standardized in order for different people to understand the value of each place.

Several sequences have been proposed for the U-shaped structures at Chan Chan (including Andrews 1974; Kolata 1982; Topic and Moseley 1985). Andrews proposed the first sequence; it was later modified by Kolata, who drew on information not available to Andrews, especially a seriation of the adobe bricks used in the U-shaped structures and ciudadelas.Topic and Moseley (1985), in turn, relied on Kolata, as well as ceramic information from ciudadelas, areas adjacent to the ciudadelas,

and rural U-shaped structures. There are only two major differences between the Kolata sequence and the Topic and Moseley sequence. First, Topic and Moseley recognize a U-shaped structure precursor, the tablado (Figure 3a), in their sequence that is also present at the Moche V site of Galindo (Baw- den 1982); second, Topic and Moseley consider the combination of a standard audiencia and a variant, the auxilio, in a single court (Figure 30) to be chronologically distinct from the simple occur- rence of a standard aztdiencia. These differences affect only the very earliest and very latest ends of the sequence.

The ciudadelas also have been seriated. One attribute used in the ciudadela seriations is the form of the U-shaped structures in each. Other attributes include the shape of the adobe bricks, the form of the burial platform, overall configuration of the ciu-dadela, and, at times, ceramic associations. All researchers who have examined the monumental architecture at Chan Chan in detail agree that there were discrete constructional episodes. These episodes consisted of the construction either of sectors of ciudadelas (early in the site's history) or complete ciudadelas (late in the site's history). After a period of use, generally viewed as a gen- eration or the rule of a single king, the sector or ciudadela was abandoned and curated.

The two most widely cited ciudadela seriations (Kolata 1982; Topic and Moseley 1985) are com- pared in Table 1. In a more recent publication, Kolata (1990: 122) recognizes up to four phases in one ciudadela, Uhle, and at least two in another, Tello. Joanne Pillsbury (1993:71), based on her study of the adobe friezes in the ciudadelas, finds that the relief sculptures confirm the general chronological outline of the Topic and Moseley sequence and, to a lesser extent, the general outline of the Kolata sequence.

Using these sequences we can demonstrate that through time U-shaped structures do, in fact, become more standardized. Early ciudadelas (dat-ing from approximately A.D. 850 to 1100) are characterized by variation: tablados in courts lined with storerooms occur in the south sector of Tello (Fig- ure 3a); there are elongated U-shaped structures, as well as C-shaped structures: and the structures have a mixture of bins, troughs, and niches in the walls. There is a reduction in variation in the mid-


Table 1. A Comparison of Two Sequences for the Monumental Architecture at Chan Chan.

Period Kolata 1982 Topic and Moseley 1985 Approximate Date A.D.

Squier? Rivero Tschudi 1470

LATE Tschudi Rivero Bandelier Bandelier Velarde Velarde

Squier? Gran Chimu Gran Chimu

MIDDLE Laberinto Laberinto (North) Uhle (Northwest)

Tello Tello (Northeast) Laberinto (Central)

Enclosure #2 1100 Uhle (west) Uhle (Southwest)

EARLY Tello (North) Uhle (east) Uhle (Northeast) Chayhuac Tello (South)

Enclosure #1 850

dle phase (approximately A.D. 1100 to 1350): the standardization could be viewed simply as stylis- structures take on a squarish shape, but there is still tic change. It might suggest an increasingly rigid a mixture of bins, troughs, and niches. In the final set of rules and procedures within the bureaucracy, ciudadela of this phase, Gran Chimu, there is only but only in the same sense that a dress code or rules a single style of U-shaped structure (Figure 31). about the color of filing cabinets reflect "bureau- The late phase is characterized by a high degree of cratic" rigidity. This is "bureaucracy" in the popu- standardization. In Velarde, a four-niched structure lar, usually negative, connotation of "red-tape." occurs (Figure 3m), but in Bandelier, Rivero and When they are viewed as accounting structures, Tschudi we only find the standard six-niched audi- however, the standardization of the number and encia (Figure 3n). In Tschudi, however, the stan- placement of niches takes on quite a different sig- dard audiencia is sometimes accompanied by an nificance, a significance more analogous to having un-niched structure called the auxilio (Figure 30). all computers within a workplace use the same

The increasing standardization of the U-shaped operating system; this is the kind of rationalization structures is also evident in Kolata's sequence and characteristic of bureaucratic administration in the was, in fact, noted by him (Kolata 1982:84) as an Weberian sense. indication of an "increasingly rigid and bureau- The long-term trend toward the reduction in cratic organization." Probably because he sub- number of niches may indicate a specialization of scribed to the "control structure" interpretation of functions; perhaps, over time, each U-shaped struc- U-shaped structures (Kolata 1982:72, 85), how- ture became responsible for fewer commodities, ever, no particular significance was ascribed to this fewer storerooms, or a particular group of people. increasing standardization in terms of the devel- The standardization in the arrangement of niches opment of administrative technology. Topic and suggests a codification of place value concepts, like Moseley (1 985: 164,165), on the other hand, related the codification of string colors, sequence, and knot the standardization of U-shaped structure form placement in the quipu. explicitly to standardization of accounting prac- 2. In the Transition from Stewardship to Bureau- tices; they did not, however, develop the explicit cracy We Should See Increasing Separation analogy to the quipu that is employed in this paper. between the U-shaped Structures and Storerooms

If the U-shaped structures were primarily through Time. In the dichotomy between stewards designed to control access routes, the increasing and bureaucrats used here, stewards control goods

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while bureaucrats control information about the goods. Stewards, then, should be closely associated with the actual storerooms while bureaucrats can be more spatially independent. As noted earlier, Moore (1992:106-108) has shown that the U- shaped structures in Rivero do not physically control access to the storerooms nor do they command, visually, the routes leading to storage areas. Since Rivero is one of the latest ciudadelas, his analysis in this instance agrees with my own. However, he also uses a tabulation of the number of U-shaped structures that occur with and without storerooms and the number of storerooms that occur with and without U-shaped structures to extrapolate, that for Chan Chan as a whole, there is no significant spatial association between U-shaped structures and storage.

We can use the seriation of monumental architecture to examine the changing spatial relationship between U-shaped structures and storage areas over time in more detail. Only six of the monumental enclosures are well enough preserved to be useful here: Tello, Uhle, Laberinto, Bandelier, Rivero, and Tschudi. The others have large sections destroyed by colonial and modem roads (Gran Chimu and Velarde) or by agricultural activities (Chayhuac), were buried or destroyed in antiquity by urban renewal within the site (Enclosures 1 and 2), or were never finished (Squier). As Table 1 indicates, the six relatively well-preserved enclosures have as many as 11 chronological components within them and span most of the history of the site. The earlier enclosures typically have more than one chronological component, while the Late enclosures were probably built in a single construction phase.

While I will describe each of the chronological components in order, using the Topic and Moseley (1985) sequence, the analysis will be based partly on groupings of these components into Early, Mid- dle, and Late periods. This structure allows both the examination of detailed change and analysis of more general trends. Because there are slight differences in the Kolata (1 982, 1990) and Topic and Moseley (1985) sequences, as well as evidence for major renovations in some of the ciudadelas (Pills-bury 1993: 166ff), the detailed changes may be sub- ject to debate but the general trends should be trustworthy.

The architectural patterning at Chan Chan is

complex and the discussion that follows is com- plicated. The diagrams used to illustrate thls section are intended to reduce the complexity of the architecture, while still preserving contextual information (Figures 5-10). For example, the plan of Tello (Figure 4) shows three clear sectors: the north, northeast, and south sectors. The three sectors are defined in the diagram (Figure 5) by shading. Within each sector in Figure 5 are a number of rectangles that represent courts. Some rectangles1 courts are entry courts with ramps; the ramps are designated by V-shaped arrows pointing to the top of the ramp. Some courts have U-shaped structures within them, and the U-shaped structures are designated by a block letter U within the rectangle. Sometimes the courts with U-shaped structures also contain storerooms, and in these cases the number of storerooms in a court is indicated. In the case of a storage court without a U-shaped structure, the number of storerooms stands alone. Cir- cles represent water wells. Particularly elaborate courts whose walls are ornamented with niches are indicated by lines drawn parallel to the rectan- glelcourt walls.

Access from one court to another is indicated by lines connecting the rectangles. The approximate point at which an access route enters a court is indicated by the point at which the line intersects the rectangle. In the case of poorly preserved courts or unclear access routes, dashed lines are used.

Early Period. The south sector of Tello is characterized by tablados (indicated by a court with a "T" inside), although there is also one audiencia variant in the northwest part of the south sector (Fig- ures 4 and 5). The tablados occur in courtyards lined with bins, apparently for storage, on the two lateral walls. The largest court has 34 bins and a tablado, with three walls, set on a bench at the south end of the court. The other two tablados are low rectangular platforms set near the southern ends of courts with lateral bins and benches. There are also 14 storage areas that lack tablados or audiencia variants. Access patterns are not very clear, but according to the maps most of these areas would have been accessible without passing directly by either the tablados or the audiencia variant. Still, the tablado courts are physically close to the storage areas and, significantly, have what appear to be storage bins in their lateral walls.


Figure 4. Plan map of Ciudadela Tello (redrawn from Moseley and Mackey [1974]).

Ciudadela Uhle (Figure 6 )is interpreted as rep- ure 6 as north central and northeast. Kolata resenting either three (Topic and Mosely 1985) or (1978: 11G113) includes an important update to the four (Kolata 1990:122) construction stages. In Chan Chan maps (Moseley and Mackey 1974) for either case, the earliest construction stages are in this northeast area of Uhle. He illustrates fourelon- the northeast part of the enclosure, labeled in Fig- gated U-shaped structures in the north central sec-

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Figure 5. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Tello. Compare to Figure 4. The shading indicates three chronologically distinct sectors. Ramps are indicated by the symbol "v"; U-shaped structures by the symbol "U"; tablados by the symbol "T"; arabic numerals indicate the numbers of storerooms in each court; water wells are indicated by circles; and niched walls are indicated by lines parallel to the walls of the court (as in the northeast sector in the court with 6 storerooms).

tor, each with either two bins or two niches (Kolata 1978:113, Figures 14 and 15; see also Figure 3b and 3c). Since he does not illustrate the precise location within this sector, Figure 6 shows esti- mates of their location based on both Kolata (1978) and Moseley and Mackey (1974).

Both the northeast and the north central sectors of Uhle are characterized by courts in which walls were decorated with niches. These niched courts are somewhat reminiscent of the bin-lined courts in the southern sector of Tello (Figure 5), but the niches and the bins may have served different func- tional purposes. Two of the six niched courts have U-shaped structures within them and three other

niched courts can only be reached by passing through a court with three U-shaped structures; if the niches served a storage function, there would be a very close spatial connection between storage areas and U-shaped structures. If the niched courts were not storage areas, then there was no storage space in the northeast sector and only a minor amount in the north central sector. In the latter case, there is a close spatial association between U- shaped structures and storerooms, though it is possible to gain access to some storerooms without passing by a U-shaped structure. As in Tello, the access patterns in the northeast area of Uhle are not clearly defined on the Chan Chan maps, and it is


UHLE

Figure 6. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Uhle. The shading indicates four sectors; these may each be chronologically distinct or the north central and the northeast sectors may be contemporaneous.

not possible to argue for physical control of the storerooms by the U-shaped structures in all cases, though there is proximity between U-shaped structures and storerooms.

The north sector of the Tello enclosure has four well-defined storage courts, but the access into these courts is not clear. They are Iocatedjust south of a large courtyard, with aramp leading to a raised bench along its south wall, and a C-shaped audierz-cia variant is in the middle of the bench. The storage areas are just behind this U-shaped structure and it might well have controlled access physically and visually to the storage areas.

The southwest sector of Uhle (Figure 6)has perhaps the closest association of U-shaped structures and storerooms at Chan Chan. There is a central court with storerooms along the lateral walls and a group of three U-shaped structures on a raised bench at its southern end. This is an arrangement similar to a niched court leading to three U-shaped structures in the northeast sector of Uhle. In the southwest sector of Uhle, these three U-shaped structures

control access into a storage area with 16 store-rooms. Flanking the central court/storeroom complex are four other storage courts, each with a central U-shaped structure. There are also five isolated storerooms located north of the central court.

In these early cases, U-shaped structures (and tablados) are often located in large courts, with storerooms. bins, or niches along the lateral walls. U-shaped structures are often placed near the south end of the court, or on a raised bench at the south end of the court. In two cases, both in Uhle, a complex of three U-shaped structures is located on a bench at the south end of acourt. It cannot be shown in all cases that U-shaped structures control visual or physical access to storerooms; however, this is partly due to poor preservation. The positioning of the U-shaped structures in large courts means that they are often located along major access routes. Moreover, U-shaped structures are close to many storage areas; they tend to be dispersed throughout the sector rather than closely concentrated in a particular area within it.


...........

Central

Figure 7. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Laberinto. The shading indicates three sectors; the central sector was probably in use before the north and east sectors. The north and east sectors may have been in use contemporaneously.

Middle Period. The central sector of Laberinto continues some of these trends (Figure 7).The main access route leads through a large niched court, up a ramp, and onto a raised bench that is also decorated with niches. U-shaped structures occur in courts with storerooms and seem to control access to most of the larger storage courts: on the west, a court with two U-shaped structures appears to control access to a storage area with a niched wall and 25 storerooms; in the central area, an audiencia court controls access to a storage area containing 13 storerooms; and on the east, an nudiencia court is closely associated with the route leading to a storage area with 36 storerooms and possibly to routes leading to four other storage courts with 28, 29, 31, and 34 storerooms.

The northeast sector of Tello (Figures 4 and 5) is different in some ways from the central sector of Laberinto. A niched court occurs, but it is not central to the access system; it is approached through another court that has a U-shaped structure. The niched court also contains six storerooms.

Another U-shaped structure occurs in a court with 18 storerooms, but two U-shaped structures occur in another court that seems not to be associated with storage at all. The overwhelming majority of storerooms do not seem to be either visually or physically controlled by U-shaped structures, although access patterns are often not completely clear.

The northwest sector of Uhle continues the trend of de-emphasizing the niched court as a formal entrance (Figure 6). A small court with either niches or bins is located in the extreme north- western part of the sector. It also contains a U- shaped structure, but it and its U-shaped structure are located at the terminus of access route in an isolated, or private, context. There are only five storerooms, located in an audiencia court in the center of the sector, that can be directly associated with a U-shaped structure. This same U-shaped structure is associated with an access route leading to all the storage courts, but they can also be approached by another route that bypasses the U-


Figure 9. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Rivero. The shading indicates three sectors that were probably in use contemporaneously. Compare to Figure 13.

cluster of U-shaped structures here does not seem to control access to the extensive storage complexes either bisually or physically.

During the Middle period, the niched court changed from being the main entry court for a whole sector to being an entry court for a single U- shaped structure. The niched court and associated U-shaped structure also became more isolated. The other U-shaped structures became less closely associated with storage: there were both fewer storerooms in the audiencin courts and the U-shaped structures were less capable of controlling access to storage areas either physically or visually. The U-shaped structures also tended to become clustered, rather than dispersed as they were during the Early period. The latest phase in Laberinto has two sectors, the north and east sectors, that may be con- temporary and are linked such that the east sector

can only be entered through the north sector. Late Period. The three late enclosures that are

well enough preserved to be considered here were each built and occupied as a single unit. Bandelier, Rivero, and Tschudi share many characteristics and can be discussed together. For example, niched courts are cominon and often associated with U- shaped qtructures (Figurec 8,9, and 10).There are still some storerooms located within the audiencia courts in Bandelier and Tschudi, but these account for a very small proportion of the storage space. The bulk of the storage is in separate courts, which are not controlled either visually or physically by the U-shaped structures. Indeed the U-shaped structures tend to be clustered together and interlinked such that access leads from one nudierzcia court into another. This clustering is especially prevalent in the northern sectors of these three enclosures,


Figure 10. Diagram of the relationship between storage and U-shaped structures in Tschudi. The shading indicates three sectors that were probably in use contemporaneously. Compare to Figure 14.

implying much more interaction among the occupants of the U-shaped structures during the Late period than during the earlier periods.

Moore's (1992: 108) analysis agrees with mine on some points, but not on others. His general conclusion is that for Chan Chan as a whole, there is no association between storage and U-shaped structures; this conclusion is not necessarily in dis- agreement with my analysis, but it is necessary to compare the two analyses in more detail in order to see where our perspectives. and our characteri- zations of the data, diverge. He argues for three categories of relationships between the storage areas and the U-shaped structures: (1) ciudndelaswhere the majority of U-shaped structures are associated with storage; (2) ciudadelas where there is no relationship between U-shaped structures and storerooms; and (3) a single situation in which there is a definite relationship between storerooms and U-

shaped structures. His tabulation of the data (1992: Table 2) is aggregated and difficult to compare with the more contextualized analysis presented and illustrated here, but it is clear that he consistently recognizes fewer U-shaped structures than I do.

In the first group he included Laberinto, Gran Chimu, and Bandelier. The inclusion of Laberinto and Gran Chimu in this category is not entirely inconsistent with my analysis, since they are Middle period enclosures; we would expect to still see some association between storage and administrative structures in the Middle period. The inclusion of Bandelier in this group, though, is inconsistent with my inter-pretation. While I recognize one more U-shaped structure in Laberinto than Moore, this difference does not affect the analysis. I also recognize two more U-shaped structures in Bandelier than Moore, but again this does not make a major difference in the analysis. What is clear in Bandelier, however, is

LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3,2003

Gatekeeper Cubicle CEO

Figure 11. Three models of hierarchical relationships among U-shaped structures. In the gatekeeper model, one structure controls access to several other structures. In the CEO pattern, one structure is isolated, and access to it is filtered by other U-shaped structures. The Cubicle pattern is characterized by groups of U-shaped structures with a high degree of interconnectivity.

that while most U-shaped structures can be associated with some storerooms, the inverse is not true, and both Moore (1992:Table 2) and I (Figure 8) agree that the overwhelming majority of storerooms are not controlled by the U-shaped structures.

His second group includes the late enclosures Tschudi, Velarde, and Rivero. However, he also includes Tello in the group. The difference between our analyses seems to be that he recognizes only three U-shaped structures in Tello; these are probably the three structures in the northeast sector, which are quite clear on the Chan Chan maps (Moseley and Mackey 1974:Map 13,Figure 4),but they are also the structures least associated with storage. I recognize one C-shaped audienciu vari-ant in the north sector and three tablados in the south sector that are in close proximity to storage areas. The other differences are very minor; I have included the three U-shaped structures in the east annex of Rivero in my analysis and have counted both audiencias and auxilios in Tschudi.

The one case where Moore finds a definite relationship between storerooms and U-shaped structures is in Uhle, and this fits well with my analysis. He recognizes only 22 U-shaped structures, while I recognize 26. The difference is probably due to the fact that the elongated structures in the north central sector are not recorded on the Chan Chan maps (Moseley and Mackey 1974) but are discussed in Kolata's (1978) dissertation.

In summary, there was a change over time in the

spatial relationship between U-shaped structures and storage. In the earliest sectors, U-shaped structures are often associated with large courtyards that had storerooms, bins, or niches in the lateral walls. Although access is often unclear, the courts seem to be located along the major access routes. The U- shaped structures are dispersed through a sector and interspersed with storage areas. In the late enclosures, the niched courts are isolated from the major access routes and often occur near the ends of routes. U-shaped structures are still associated with the niched courts and occur in clusters rather than dispersed through a sector. The U-shaped structures within a cluster intercommunicate more with each other than with storage areas.

3.In the Transition from Stewardship to Bureau- cracy There Should Be Increasingly Hierarchical Relationships among U-shaped Structures. As bureaucracy develops, some officials become sub- ordinated to others. The hierarchical relationship among U-shaped structures might take a number of different spatial patterns, three of which will be considered. One, which might be called the gatekeeper pattern (Figure 1 I), is characterized by a dendritic access pattern where one or a few U- shaped structures act as gatekeepers that direct people and goods into the deeper levels of the system. A modern analogy would be the location of a mul- tiplex theatre ticket taker, who directs the ticket holders to the proper viewing room; as they arrive at the viewing room, ushers may further direct them


to specific seats. The gatekeeper pattern is related to the concept of stewardship because in both cases there is close contact with the people or goods being controlled or directed.

A second and contrasting pattern places the top of the hierarchy in an isolated or protected position (Moseley 1975a: 222) called the CEO pattern (Fig- ure 1I), because a useful analogy is the president of an organization who is isolated and protected from the day-to-day operating details by vice-pres- idents, administrative assistants, and secretaries who filter access. The CEO pattern is, of course, related to the concept of bureaucracy.

A third pattern that reflects hierarchy can be called the cubicle pattern (Figure 11). Although the "cubicles" themselves are not arranged in a hierarchical manner, the presence of a mass of undif- ferentiated positions is a correlate of either the gatekeeper (think "ushers") or CEO (think "typing pool") patterns of hierarchy. The cubicle pattern can be present in a situation of either stewardship or bureaucracy; in a situation of stewardship the "cubicles" will be closely associated with goods, while in a situation of bureaucracy the "cubicies" will not be closely associated with goods and storage areas.

The early sectors in Tello and Uhle show little evidence of a hierarchy of U-shaped structures, due in part to the small number of U-shaped structures in these sectors. For example, in the south sector of Tello there are four U-shaped structures in a more-or-less linear pattern, but none seem to act as a gatekeeper, although the access pattern is not completely clear (Figures 4 and 5).The general lay- out of the early sectors in these two enclosures is more suggestive of a gatekeeper than a CEO pattern, however. In each sector there is a large court with niches, bins, or storerooms in the lateral walls and a U-shaped structure or a group of three U-shaped structures at the south end that could act as a gatekeeper. The pattern is perhaps clearest in the southwest sector of Uhle (Figure 6). On the other hand, there is a U-shaped structure in a niched court in the northeast sector of Uhle that could represent the CEO pattern, but there is only one "gatekeeper" group of U-shaped structures serving as a filter for the court. The south sector of Tello could be viewed as an incipient form of the cubicle pattern, but the north central and southwest sectors of Uhle would be better examples of an early cubicle pattern. In

all cases the "cubicles" are closely associated with storage.

In the central sector of Laberinto there is a possible gatekeeper U-shaped structure just south of the large niched entry court (Figure 7). In the northeast sector of Tello, however, there is little evidence for hierarchy (Figures 4 and 5).Both the northwest sector of Uhle (Figure 6) and the north sector of Laberinto (Figure 7) have U-shaped structures in an isolated position associated with a niched court at the terminus of an access route; there is also a U-shaped structure associated with an unniched court in the east sector of Laberinto. These may be evidence of a developing CEO pattern, but access to these isolated U-shaped structures is not actually filtered through other U-shaped structures except, possibly, in the case of the east sector of Laberinto. Because it is only possible to enter the eastern sector of Laberinto by passing through several courts in the north sector and since the form of the U-shaped structures is similar in both sectors, these two sectors probably functioned contemporaneously. The limited number of U-shaped structures, and the lack of clarity as to whether there is a gatekeeper pattern, the beginning of a poorly defined cubicle pattern, or an incipient CEO pattern, is probably best interpreted as what might be expected in a transitional period. There seems to be a greater association of U-shaped structures with storage at the beginning of the period than there is at the end.

The Late period enclosures become clearly hierarchical (Figures 12, 13, and 14). There is always a U-shaped structure in a niched court in the central sector located at the end of an access pattern filtered past other U-shaped structures. These are good examples of arrangements attributable to high-ranking officials in a CEO pattern. There are also other U-shaped structures associated with niched courts and at the terminus of access routes in these enclosures that might represent middle- ranking officials; there is one in Bandelier's east sector, three in Rivero's north sector, and two sets of paired U-shaped structures in niched courts in the central sector of Tschudi. Cubicle-like arrangements are common in the north sectors of these enclosures and are especially well developed in Rivero and Tschudi. As noted previously, these are not closely associated with storage. Interestingly,


Figure 12. Map of Ciudadela Bandelier: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indicated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. An area in the eastern part of the north sector that may have been becoming differentiated from the rest of the north sector is labeled (see text). Compare to Figure 8.

there are also U-shaped structures in Bandelier, and U-shaped structures on the east side of the Rivero, and Tschudi that could function as gate- north sector. In Tschudi, two gatekeepers in com- keepers. In Bandelier and Rivero, these gatekeeper bination control one of the access routes into the U-shaped structures control one of the access routes central sector and two of the three routes into the into the central sector and, in Rivero, the gatekeeper "cubicles." Finally, in Tschudi, two types of U- also controls access into a complex of storerooms shaped structures are found within a single court


Figure 13. Map of Ciudadela Rivero: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indicated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. Compare to Figure 9.


(Figure 30). These are called azicliencias and aux-ilios. The auxilios, being smaller and lacking niches, intuitively appear to be the kind of structure where an aide to the occupant of the U-shaped structure would work.

4. With the Development of Bureaucracy We Should See a Rationalization of Zrzfomatiorz Flow. One characteristic of bureaucracy is that it functions by following well-regulated procedures employed by officials with fixed areas of jurisdiction. These procedures lead to the efficient gathering, processing, and storage of information. As previously discussed, part of the rationalization of information flow is the standardization of the U- shaped structures, and another part is the development of a hierarchy of officials. However, rationalization can go beyond these aspects to affect the organization of officials in more complex ways. Part of the evidence for this more complex organization is the presence in the Late period enclosures of all three patterns of hierarchy: the gatekeeper, CEO, and cubicle arrangements.

The earliest sectors have few U-shaped structures, so it is not surprising that they are organized in rather simple ways. Even in the northwest sector of Uhle (Figure 6 )and the north and east sectors of Laberinto (Figure 7), there is little evidence for an elaborate organization. As already men- tioned, there is some evidence for a developing CEO pattern of hierarchy in these areas. Moreover, if the north and east sectors of Laberinto functioned contemporaneously, as seems likely given the access pattern, a new level of organization was introduced: the north sector is more accessible from the outside than the east sector, has more U-shaped structures, and has less storage space. The need for a dual level of organization in Laberinto may be related to the increasing number of U-shaped structures, which in turn may relate to increasing amounts of storage. Klymyshyn ( 1 987: 105, 107), in fact, regards Laberinto andTello as storage complexes rather than palaces and notes the large amount of storage space in Laberinto.

The Late period enclosures continue the pattern of a north sector with a large number of U-shaped structures and proportionately less storage. In addi- tion to the north and central sectors, a third sector was added on the east and was accessible without having to pass through either the north or central

sectors. This eastern area is not very well differentiated but is recognizable in Bandelier; it is an annex in Rivero; and is built into the L-shaped Tschudi (Figures 12-14).

The number of U-shaped structures in these three sectors of Bandelier, Rivero, and Tschudi is indicated in Table 2. The increasing numbers of U- shaped structures in the northern sectors is strik- ing. I have related this change to the Late period growth in the urban population, which largely consisted of artisans supported by the state from the state stores (Topic and Moseley 1985). The need to provision the artisan population with raw materials, tools, and food supplies led to higher rates of turnover of goods in the Late period ciudadelas. The increased turnover resulted in a restructuring of the ciudadelas so that the north sector was devoted to short-term storage while the central sector was devoted to longer-term storage. It is not clear how the eastern area functioned. On the one hand, it could be reached directly from the entrance to the enclosure and might be expected to have had high turnover. On the other hand, there was little storage space, except in Tschudi.

The higher rate of commodity turnover in the north sector produced a greater information flow requiring more concentrated bureaucratic administration. It is in the north sector, and especially in Rivero and Tshudi, where the greatest interlinking of the cubicle groups, gatekeepers, and CEO structures can be discerned (Figures 13 and 14). Quite commonly, some U-shaped structures could only be reached by passing through a court containing another U-shaped structure. It is notable that this was normally not the case in the central sector or eastern areas, although there is one example of interlinkage in the central sector of Bandelier and another in the east annex of Rivero. The interlinkage of U-shaped structures in these Late period enclosures, and their separation from storerooms, indicates that interactions between the occupants of the structures had become more important than the direct control of stored goods. The complex hierarchical relationships among the U-shaped structures indicates that some officials were super- vising other officials and that there were high rates of interaction among officials where they could exchange information. All this is compatible with a bureaucratic form of admini~tration.~


Figure 14. Map of Ciudadela Tschudi: CEO pattern U-shaped structures are indicated by circles; gatekeepers are indicated by triangles; cubicles are enclosed in a rectangle. Compare to Figure 10.

268 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No.3, 2003

Table 2. Numbers of U-shaped Structures in the Sectors of Late Ciudndelas.

Sector Ciz~dadela North Central East

Bandelier 6 2 2 Rivero 10 1 3 Tschudi 21 4 2

Discussion

Methodologically, I have shown how archaeologists can reconstruct information flow and the development of bureaucracy in a preliterate civilization. Deducing this kind of abstract structure from material remains is inherently interesting, but depends on the availability of an excellent database, approached in a systematic and sophisticated manner. Rather than poorly specified appeals to administration or control, it is important to be precise about the nature of the administration. Close atten- tion to context, both chronological and spatial, is also fundamental.

I have contrasted two types of administration, stewardship and bureaucracy, in order to analyze the changing nature of administration at Chan Chan. I started with a description of historically known methods of record keeping in the Andes. While I admit that the essential analogy of the U- shaped structure to the quipu and other Andean methods of record keeping cannot be confirmed directly, the four lines of argument presented above strongly suggest that a transition from stewardship to bureaucracy did in fact take place at Chan Chan.

The four arguments for the development of bureaucracy are independent of each other. Stan- dardization of form does not require a hierarchical organization of U-shaped structures, nor does a close association of U-shaped structures with storage areas require greater variation in the form of U-shaped structures. However, set in the context of a change in the nature of administration from stewardship to bureaucracy, the conclusions from each of the four arguments are congruent and mutually supportive. The coherence of the overall interpretation is compelling (Collingwood 1994:246).

Implications

The interpretation of U-shaped structures as a record-keeping technology extends our under-

standing of Andean cognition. It exemplifies how the principles used in the fiber quipu and the yupana, an abacus which could be drawn on the ground, could be applied to a third medium, architecture. These principles include the value of place, the use of attributes to record numbers and contextual information, and the importance of ranked categories.

Although we know that quipu date to the Mid- dle Horizon, the time of the Huari and Tiwanaku cultures, there is no evidence that these cultures used the quip11 in a systematic way for administration, partly due to poor preservation in the high- lands, the core area of these cultures. Our evidence for the Inka use of the quipu comes largely from historic sources, as well from the dry desert coast. Moreover, as pointed out earlier, the Middle Hori- zon quip11are not as standardized as the Inkaexam- ples and, like modern quipu,might have been either personal records or the records of small-scale institutions. Large-scale storage has not been demon- strated for Huari or Tiwanaku, but did form an essential element of the Chimu and Inka political economies. The lack of evidence for storage and record keeping in Huari and Tiwanaku meanc that we cannot analyze either the flow of commodities or the flow of information in the same detail. One purpose of this paper is to stimulate more thought about how different cultures in the Andes handled the administration of political economy. Detailed understanding of administrative techniques and record-keeping technology helps us to understand other aspects of a political system. While Andeanists commonly, and usefully, employ analo- gies of Inka political organization with earlier cultures, we must be aware of the differences between the Inka and earlier polities.

I employ an analogy with the Inka quipu and yupana for U-shaped structures at Chan Chan, but there is also an interesting difference in the portability of Inka and Chimu record-keeping technology: while the quipu and yqurza could be easily transported by chasqui postal couriers or other officials, the U-shaped structures were stationary. While the occupants of the U-shaped structures did not necessarily control physical access to goods or the movement of people, they were tied spatially to what they were administering, whether commodities stored at Chan Chan in a context of stew-


ardship or the information stored within the structure of the architecture in the context of bureaucracy. The portability of the record-keeping technology employed by the early Andean civilizations, and hence the mobility of administrators, may well have had an impact on both their political economies and their strategies of expansion.

The lack of mobility of Chimu administrators may be correlated with the concentration of storage at Chan Chan. Several years ago, I (J. Topic 1990:170-171) noted that there were very few Chimu storerooms outside of Chan Chan and that this contrasted with the pattern of Inka storage. The Inka had immense storage complexes in the provinces, for example at Jauja in Peru and Cotopachi in Bolivia (e.g., LeVine 1992). More- over, even a small Inka provincial center, such as Huamachuco, had a storage capacity equivalent to or greater than one of the Late period ciudadelas (i.e.,Bandelier, Tschudi, or Rivero) at Chan Chan. The Inka spread their storage capacity throughout the empire and were able to transmit accounts back to Cusco with ease.

One can question whether this is just a matter of scale, the Inka empire being so much larger than the areacontrolled by Chan Chan, or whether it rep- resents a significant difference in the political economies of the two states. I (J. Topic 1990) have argued that the focus of the Chan Chan economy was craft production and that the development of its specific storage and administrative pattern was intended to support that economy. Indeed, the development of bureaucracy at Chan Chan hap- pens at the same time that we start to see the economic focus shift from agricultural expansion to craft production. While there were important Chimu provincial centers such as Manchan, Far- fan, and Tlicume with high-ranking lords and. often, some evidence for craft production, the amount of storage space was small, as was the number of U-shaped structures (see especially Mackey and Klymyshyn 1990; also Heyerdahl et al. 1996; Keatinge and Conrad 1983; Mackey 1987). More- over, the U-shaped structures were not the standardized kinds in the Late period at Chan Chan (indeed. there are no known U-shaped structures with niches north of the Jequetepeque valley [Hey- erdahl et al. 1996:92]) and they were not arranged in any of the hierarchical patterns discussed ear-

lier. The Chimu concentrated both storage and administrators at a single site, Chan Chan.

The Inka also had craft specialists. However, the Inka used the mitmaq policy, which transplanted colonies of people, usually segments of communi- ties with a strong ethnic identity, into new locations for political and economic reasons. This led to the dispersal of conquered artisans throughout the empire (e.g., Spurling 1992:9). In contrast, the Chimu concentrated conquered artisans at Chan Chan (J. Topic 1990). While it has been estimated that only 5 to 6 percent of the total population of the north coast were skilled artisans (Ramirez 1982:125), the vast majority of the adult population of Chan Chan were artisans: metalworkers, weavers, woodworkers, etc.

Political economy, in turn, relates to the nature and speed of imperial expansion. As Theresa Topic (1990) reconstructs Chimu expansion, it was a relatively slow and steady process. There were many early fortifications in the home valley and in adjacent valleys, but few documented late Chimu fortifications on the far frontiers. The Inka, in contrast, seem to have gone through a very rapid initial phase of expansion, followed by a "bogging down" on the frontiers; while there were few fortifications around Cusco, they were common on the northern and southeastern frontiers. As Catherine Julien (1995) noted, the huge amounts of Inka storage, especially along the north highland road, may have been related to the endemic military campaigns in Ecuador. The Inka developed the infrastructure to support troops in the field for extended campaigns, resulting in a truly territorial empire (D'Altroy 1992; D'Altroy and Earle 1985). The Chimu, in contrast, would have been able to support an army close to home, but probably relied more on gift giving (using elite items manufactured at Chan Chan) and alliance building with provincial nobles to cre- ate a more hegemonic empire.

To some extent these differences are a matter of degree: the Chimu and Inka both employed a combination of sefiorial and bureaucratic administrations, alliance-building, gift-giving, and military force. Still, understanding the nuances of these kinds of relationships is necessary to advance our more general understanding of the past. It is still too early to say how much the differences between the Chimu and Inka political economies and strate-


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Notes I. These structures are also often referred to as audien-

ciu.s. Andrews (1974) has elaborated a formal typology of the structures, in which the term uudiericia is used for a particular type of U-shaped structure.

2. Although both Schreiber (1992) and Kolata (1993) deal with Middle Horizon cultures, they do not discuss the evidence for Middle Horizon yuipu. The sample of Middle Horizon quip~lis not adequate to address the question of standardization, discussed in subsequent sections of this paper: however, Pereyra S. (1997: 196) notes that pre-Inka quip~ts with wrapped pendent cords lack the positional values corre- sponding to units, 10s. 100s, etc., which is standardized in the Inca quip~r.

3. The end date of 1653 is very arbitrary. but it corre- sponds to the completion of Cobo's history. He indicates that the quipu was still used by experts (quipuca~nayoc)and gives an example of a quip~tcamayoebeing called upon by Spanish authorities to aid in the investigation of a murder.

4. Cummins's discussion of the Spanish conception of memory notes that the Spanish viewed the ideal memory aid as architectural in nature, a room (loci) with objects (inza-genes) placed around it; the speaker mentally goes around the room, using the objects to remind himself of the points to be made. Cummins (1994:194) asserts that "learning in a European sense is conditioned by mimetic (emphasis mine) images in terms of both 1oc.i and imtrgines. and this is what could be read into the Mexican pictorial manuscripts. The same could not be inscribed into the q~lipu.and thus, although the q~ii11uis acknowledged as a device of artificial memory, it is not similar." Calancha's ( 1974-82):206-208 [ 16381) clear (though perhaps hypothetical) discussion of how the colors of the cords and the sequence of numbers recorded on quip14 were used to recite dynastic history belies this distinction. Still, one can think of the ideal Spanish memory aid as. for example. a church with the stations of the cross; the images mimic key events in the storey of the crucifixion of Christ, but the order in which the images occur also contain information about the chronology of events.

5. In thinking about stewards. 1 have in mind the herders in charge of the Huamachuco community's animals in the early seventeenth century. Florencia de Mora had left large estate\ to the community so that they could pay their tribute and the community kept huge herds of sheep, cattle, and horses on these lands. Each of the herds was under the care of a herder. We have accounts of these community herds from the 1620s (Archivo Regional de La Libertad. Corregimiento, legajo 174. expediente 742. ff. 2-92. Cuentas de la comu- nidad de Huamachuco aiio 1625). and it is likely that the herder kept these accounts on a quil~uand then read them off to the Spanish administrators. There were a number of repet- itive categories of importance in terms of animal husbandry: father sheep, mother sheep, year-old horses, two-year-old hones, cows that had given birth, etc.

274 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 14, No. 3,20031

These herders were administrators of a sort. and the exercise of their office was intimately tied to the animals in their care. Unlike bureaucrats, stewards can function individually: in this example they kept accounts of their own herds and did not need to know what was happening with the other herds. The Spanish administrators who wrote down the herders' accounts, on the other hand, acted as bureaucrats: they did not need to count the sheep; all they needed to do was obtain the information about the numbers and categories of sheep from the herders.

When the Spanish administrators received that information from the herders, they wrote it down in Spanish so that other administrators could access it too. The individual herders, though, could easily do their accounts with idiosyn- cratic q~iipu,each readable only by its maker.

6. Administration and record keeping have also been discussed for earlier civilizations. For example, Feldman (1983) and Quilter (1991) suggest that stone-filled shicra (net bags made from reeds) found frequently in Preceramic monument construction may have been a method of tracking labor input. Moseley and Hastiugs (Hastings and Moseley 1975; Moseley 1975b) and Cavallaro and Shimada (1988) discuss the use of maker's marks on adobe bricks for tracking labor for Early Intermediate period and Middle Horizon monuments. Sheila

and Tom Pozorski (1991) discuss the possible use of cylinder seals in a bureaucratic context at Pampa de las Llamas in the Initial period. Christopher Donnan's (1971) discussion of the modern use of maker's marks tangentially addresses the issue of standardization.

7. The focus in this section has been on the development of bureaucracy within the ciudadelas; as noted in the brief description of Chan Chan, U-shaped structures also occur outside of the ciudadelas. Some examples of these U-shaped structures are illustrated and discussed in Topic (1990:Figures 7, 8, 9, and 11);these are all arcones, or structures that have bins rather than niches. Two of these structures are located in a communal kitchen and had food stored in the bins; another was in a metal working shop and a broken hammerstone was found in one of the bins; still others had unspun cotton and craft materials in the bins. These examples all cross-date to the Late ciudadelas and illustrate graphically the difference between stewards, at the lower level of the administration, embedded in the shops and kitchens and dealing with real commodities, and the bureaucrats at the higher levels of the administration, dealing much more with information flow.

Received Jz~ly 8, 2002; Accepted April 24, 2003; Revised May 26, 2003.

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From Stewards to Bureaucrats: Architecture and Information Flow at Chan Chan, PeruJohn R. TopicLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 14, No. 3. (Sep., 2003), pp. 243-274.Stable URL:


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http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0093-4690%281974%291%3A3%2F4%3C241%3ATUSACC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L

Domestic Life and Vertical Integration in the Tiwanaku HeartlandMarc BermannLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 8, No. 2. (Jun., 1997), pp. 93-112.Stable URL:

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Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy [and Commentsand Reply]Terence N. D'Altroy; Timothy K. Earle; David L. Browman; Darrell La Lone; Michael E. Moseley;John V. Murra; Thomas P. Myers; Frank Salomon; Katharina J. Schreiber; John R. TopicCurrent Anthropology, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Apr., 1985), pp. 187-206.Stable URL:

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Ancient Peruvian Potters' Marks and Their Interpretation through Ethnographic AnalogyChristopher B. DonnanAmerican Antiquity, Vol. 36, No. 4. (Oct., 1971), pp. 460-466.Stable URL:

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Beyond State Collapse: Rural History, Raised Fields, and Pastoralism in the South AndesGray GraffamAmerican Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 94, No. 4. (Dec., 1992), pp. 882-904.Stable URL:

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The Adobes of Huaca del Sol and Huaca de La LunaC. Mansfield Hastings; M. Edward MoseleyAmerican Antiquity, Vol. 40, No. 2. (Apr., 1975), pp. 196-203.Stable URL:

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Was Huari a State?William H. Isbell; Katharina J. SchreiberAmerican Antiquity, Vol. 43, No. 3. (Jul., 1978), pp. 372-389.Stable URL:

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Out of Many, One: Style and Social Boundaries in TiwanakuJohn Wayne JanusekLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 13, No. 1. (Mar., 2002), pp. 35-61.Stable URL:

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Review: [Untitled]Reviewed Work(s):

Inka Storage Systems by Terry Y. LevineCatherine JulienLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 6, No. 4. (Dec., 1995), pp. 370-371.Stable URL:

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Imperialist Expansion in Peruvian Prehistory: Chimu Administration of a ConqueredTerritoryRichard W. Keatinge; Geoffrey W. ConradJournal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 10, No. 3. (Autumn, 1983), pp. 255-283.Stable URL:

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The Agricultural Foundations of the Tiwanaku State: A View from the HeartlandAlan L. KolataAmerican Antiquity, Vol. 51, No. 4. (Oct., 1986), pp. 748-762.Stable URL:

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Archaeological Investigations at Pikillacta, a Wari Site in PeruGordon F. McEwanJournal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 2. (Summer, 1996), pp. 169-186.Stable URL:

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Pattern and Meaning in Prehistoric Peruvian Architecture: The Architecture of SocialControl in the Chimu StateJerry D. MooreLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Jun., 1992), pp. 95-113.Stable URL:

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Chan Chan: Andean Alternative of the Preindustrial CityMichael E. MoseleyScience, New Series, Vol. 187, No. 4173. (Jan. 24, 1975), pp. 219-225.Stable URL:

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Prehistoric Principles of Labor Organization in the Moche Valley, PeruM. Edward MoseleyAmerican Antiquity, Vol. 40, No. 2. (Apr., 1975), pp. 191-196.Stable URL:

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The Hydraulic Hypothesis Revisited: Lake Titicaca Basin Raised Fields in TheoreticalPerspectiveCharles StanishLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 5, No. 4. (Dec., 1994), pp. 312-332.Stable URL:

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A Calendrical and Demographic Tomb Text from Northern PeruGary UrtonLatin American Antiquity, Vol. 12, No. 2. (Jun., 2001), pp. 127-147.Stable URL:

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topic fron stwerads to bureaucrats chan chan

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