Tiffiny Tung
Also see my website: www.tiffinytung.com
I’m an anthropological bioarchaeologist who examines the health impact of ancient imperialism, colonialism, and state decline. I analyze mummies and skeletons from archaeological contexts in the Peruvian Andes, both to document their health status and lived experience. Generally speaking, my research interests include paleopathology, violence-related trauma, the use of the body and body parts in rituals, and bioarchaeological perspectives on embodiment. More specifically, I conduct research on what I call a “bioarchaeology of imperialism”, which aims to elucidate the biocultural impact of archaic forms of imperialism on community health and individual lifeways. My ongoing studies in the Andes examine how Wari imperial structures (AD 600 – 1000) affected, and were affected by, heartland and southern hinterland groups. Among these Wari-affiliated communities, I am documenting such things as mortuary practices, disease rates, dietary practices, migration patterns, genetic profiles as viewed through ancient mtDNA, body modification, frequencies of trauma, and specific kinds of culturally mediated violence (e.g., ritual fighting, corporeal punishment, domestic violence). Building on those earlier studies, my most recent research –initially funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and now supported by the National Science Foundation– investigates how Wari imperial collapse affected mortuary practices, morbidity profiles, diet and nutrition, and the prevalence of violence in the former imperial heartland. This new research will aid in providing a diachronic view of ancient health, foodways, and lived experience from a time of imperial rule to political disintegration. This cultural transition, which coincided with a period of climate change (intense drought), likely contributed to social and political strife, which may have been manifested as violent conflict and unequal access to some food resources. I am also the director of the “Beringa Bioarchaeology and Archaeology Project” in the Majes valley (Department of Arequipa), which I have been running since 2001. We have recovered at least 150 individuals from this Wari-affiliated site, including intact mummies and partially complete skeletons. These mortuary and osteological data are providing a much needed view of life in the southern hinterland of the Wari domain. Additionally, I am the Project Bioarchaeologist for the “Conchopata Archaeological Project” (CAP), directed by William Isbell and Anita Cook. This is an important Wari imperial site located in the city of Ayacucho. My osteological analysis of the approximately 330 burials—only some of which are complete—recovered by the CAP team has provided the basis for documenting health status and mortuary rituals in the Wari imperial heartland. We continue to conduct stable isotope analyses of this mortuary population to better understand changes in diet and nutrition from the early to late phases of Wari imperial rule and to the time of Wari decline. Those studies are particularly focused on gender-based differences in diet and how those change through time. My most recent bioarcheological project is an important study of an enslaved community that was buried (without any grave markers) at the former Grassmere Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee. (This area is now the Nashville Zoo.) In collaboration with the CRM firm, TRC Solutions, the Historic Site Manager at the Nashville Zoo (Tori Mason), and Dr. Shannon Hodges of MTSU, we have been working to reconstruct the life experiences of those individuals who were omitted from the written records at the plantation. Using stable isotope analysis (oxygen and strontium), I intend to examine whether the people buried there were from the local Nashville area or if they were forced to move to the Grassmere Plantation later in their lives. The stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen are also aiding in reconstructing the diet and nutritional profile of the enslaved community.
Address: www.tiffinytung.com
I’m an anthropological bioarchaeologist who examines the health impact of ancient imperialism, colonialism, and state decline. I analyze mummies and skeletons from archaeological contexts in the Peruvian Andes, both to document their health status and lived experience. Generally speaking, my research interests include paleopathology, violence-related trauma, the use of the body and body parts in rituals, and bioarchaeological perspectives on embodiment. More specifically, I conduct research on what I call a “bioarchaeology of imperialism”, which aims to elucidate the biocultural impact of archaic forms of imperialism on community health and individual lifeways. My ongoing studies in the Andes examine how Wari imperial structures (AD 600 – 1000) affected, and were affected by, heartland and southern hinterland groups. Among these Wari-affiliated communities, I am documenting such things as mortuary practices, disease rates, dietary practices, migration patterns, genetic profiles as viewed through ancient mtDNA, body modification, frequencies of trauma, and specific kinds of culturally mediated violence (e.g., ritual fighting, corporeal punishment, domestic violence). Building on those earlier studies, my most recent research –initially funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and now supported by the National Science Foundation– investigates how Wari imperial collapse affected mortuary practices, morbidity profiles, diet and nutrition, and the prevalence of violence in the former imperial heartland. This new research will aid in providing a diachronic view of ancient health, foodways, and lived experience from a time of imperial rule to political disintegration. This cultural transition, which coincided with a period of climate change (intense drought), likely contributed to social and political strife, which may have been manifested as violent conflict and unequal access to some food resources. I am also the director of the “Beringa Bioarchaeology and Archaeology Project” in the Majes valley (Department of Arequipa), which I have been running since 2001. We have recovered at least 150 individuals from this Wari-affiliated site, including intact mummies and partially complete skeletons. These mortuary and osteological data are providing a much needed view of life in the southern hinterland of the Wari domain. Additionally, I am the Project Bioarchaeologist for the “Conchopata Archaeological Project” (CAP), directed by William Isbell and Anita Cook. This is an important Wari imperial site located in the city of Ayacucho. My osteological analysis of the approximately 330 burials—only some of which are complete—recovered by the CAP team has provided the basis for documenting health status and mortuary rituals in the Wari imperial heartland. We continue to conduct stable isotope analyses of this mortuary population to better understand changes in diet and nutrition from the early to late phases of Wari imperial rule and to the time of Wari decline. Those studies are particularly focused on gender-based differences in diet and how those change through time. My most recent bioarcheological project is an important study of an enslaved community that was buried (without any grave markers) at the former Grassmere Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee. (This area is now the Nashville Zoo.) In collaboration with the CRM firm, TRC Solutions, the Historic Site Manager at the Nashville Zoo (Tori Mason), and Dr. Shannon Hodges of MTSU, we have been working to reconstruct the life experiences of those individuals who were omitted from the written records at the plantation. Using stable isotope analysis (oxygen and strontium), I intend to examine whether the people buried there were from the local Nashville area or if they were forced to move to the Grassmere Plantation later in their lives. The stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen are also aiding in reconstructing the diet and nutritional profile of the enslaved community.
Address: www.tiffinytung.com
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corporal effects of various narratives about violence, gender, and the body in the (pre)historic Andes. These (bio)archaeological and ethnohistoric data are also examined to scrutinize how these stories of past violence are used in the service of normalizing and naturalizing
(male) violence today.
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to violence against children, childhood diet, and residential mobility. Did the
decline of Wari state infrastructure and the severe drought of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries contribute to poor morbidity among subadults, particularly as it related to violence-related trauma and changes in food access?
established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research
designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history and beyond as promising trajectories for bioarchaeological research. Among the former were contextual grounding, research question/hypothesis
generation, statistical procedures appropriate for small samples and mixed qualitative/ quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate
change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
Peru altered their diets in late-life—if so, were those short-term changes related to accessing distinct foods during periods of short-term mobility, seasonal subsistence strategies without accompanying mobility, or some other type of short-term change. We address this question by comparing stable isotope variability (δ13C/δ15N) of Uraca hair keratin and bone collagen to published archaeological hair data from Peru. We propose and apply a landscape bioarchaeology approach—here, the spatially-informed meta-analysis of published δ13C/δ15N data
from archaeological hair keratin of known provenience—to determine thresholds for different types of short-term
dietary change.
Materials and methods: We conducted stable isotope analysis (δ13C/δ15N) of archaeological hair keratin (n = 40
samples) and bone collagen (n = 5 samples) from Uraca, including adult male trophy heads and adult male and
female villagers. We then compiled published archaeological hair keratin data from the Andes and coded the 11 sites according to biogeographical zones. We compared late-life averages for the entire dataset (n = 131 segments) and ranges for individuals with more than six months of data (n = 101 segments) between sites and between subgroups based on elevational zones, sex, and trophy subgroupings. We compiled archaeological and modern baseline food web data for the region (n = 401 samples) and compared hair data adjusted to diet. Results: Meta-analysis shows greater late-life median δ13Ckeratin (VPDB) and δ15Nkeratin (AIR) for yunga vs. coastal burials, greater δ13Ckeratin (VPDB) ranges for coastal burials, greater δ15Nkeratin (AIR) ranges for females, greater
median δ15Nkeratin (AIR) for trophy individuals, and greater δ13Ckeratin (VPDB) ranges for trophy individuals. Given
these distinct late-life diets and ranges for coastal and yunga burials relative to southern Peruvian food web data, two females and three trophy individuals from Uraca likely changed diets during a short-term move, while the remainder show no evidence for dietary change.
Discussion: These analyses demonstrate distinct dietary practices between coastal and yunga groups, between
males and females, and between trophy head victims and non-trophy villagers. Understanding the nature of latelife dietary change through a comparative synthesis of archaeological hair provides key insights into individual life trajectories, communal practices, mobility, and foodways relative to altitudinally variable landscapes of the Peruvian Andes.