Collapse as Cultural Revolution: Power and Identity in the Tiwanaku to Pacajes Transition

Inherent foundations of power are often made explicit in state collapse and ethnogenesis, among the most problematic processes tackled by archaeologists. Recent research on collapse globally indicates that conventional models prioritizing external change (e.g., environmental shift, immigration) fail to address the historical intricacies of and human agency involved in state fragmentation. Some recent models treat collapse as a sudden drop in political complexity, and most fail to elaborate how state collapse influenced postcollapse sociopolitical and cultural patterns. Synthesizing substantial recent research on Tiwanaku (A.D. 500–1150) and post‐Tiwanaku Pacajes (A.D. 1150–1450) polities in the south‐central Andes, I suggest that state collapse involved a fateful conjunction of sociopolitical and environmental transformations. Drought conditions descended upon a centralized yet highly fragile sociopolitical landscape that had become increasingly volatile during Tiwanaku's apogee. Collapse involved rapid transformation as well as slow, cumulative shifts and enduring continuities. It was a cultural revolution that began during Tiwanaku hegemony and drew heavily on existing practices and ideals. Grounded in practice theory, this case study finds human agency squarely in the center of macroprocesses such as collapse and situates Andean foundations of power in the matrix of local ideals, practices, and identities from which hegemonic regimes such as Tiwanaku were forged.