Control Mechanisms and the Organization of Space During the Formative and Regional Integration Periods

Abstract

The possibility of analyzing complex issues, such as those linked to social, economic, and symbolic variables, is directly related to the amount of reliable substantive information available. Models may be useful for structuring hypotheses, but they do not replace their testing, nor the data required for that purpose. In short, and as we have stated on several previous occasions, armchair speculation cannot replace fieldwork and subsequent laboratory analysis; both must be fully integrated moments within the research process.

The data gathered so far have made it possible to formulate hypotheses suggesting that, as early as the Formative or Early period, the process of increasing complexity among the agropastoral societies of Northwestern Argentina had already begun. This process involved two poles of development, first located in ceremonial centers in the Tafí Valley, province of Tucumán, and shortly afterward, in Campo del Pucará, province of Catamarca. During what has come to be called the Regional Integration or Middle period, the pole of development shifted to the Ambato Valley, in the province of Catamarca.

The Formative ceremonial centers referred to above acted as incipient centers of power, administration, and coordination over broad regions of Northwestern Argentina. During the subsequent period, the socio-political and religious foundations that had begun to take shape during the Formative period became institutionalized and consolidated. The information recovered in recent years through fieldwork tends to confirm the hypotheses initially presented.