This dissertation gives the results of a paleoethnobotanical study of carbonized plant material from the Early and Middle Formative, Chiripa phase components (1500 B.C. to 100 B.C.) of the 13 hectare site at Chiripa, Bolivia, on the Taraco Peninsula. Chiripa is less than one kilometer from the southern shore of Wiñamarka, Lake Titicaca, and has a rich archaeological history. This disseration advances three themes, emanating out of this site: (1) explore and define domestication of local plants at Chiripa; (2) determine the economic base and the relative amount of domesticated versus wild plant use for the Formative; and (3) address how plant use changed through time and how the plant economy is affected by increasing social complexity and environmental change. This study will also address the relationship between wild and domestic plant use, exploitation of ecological zones in the area around Chiripa, and potential uses of the plants found. The dataset contains over 200,000 identified plant specimens from the 1992, 1996, 1998, and 1999 excavations by the Taraco Archaeological Project. Ritual, domestic, architectural, and midden deposits from the 1400 years of the Early and Middle Formative have been found in the excavations and are represented in this analysis.

The following important findings are reported; (1) the relative and absolute amounts of domestic foods increased through time at the expense of wild plant resources; (2) the demand for plants and ecological zone use remained fairly constant even though the environment and lake size changed dramatically in the study time period; (3) Chenopodium quinoa was being domesticated by the residents at Chiripa, and it also seems that other plant species (Solanum spp., Scheonoplectus tatora) were also being experimented with and potentially being domesticated in the area. The level of plant manipulation is characterized as being horticultural, with hunting and gathering being just as important as plant production. Agriculture does not seem to be occurring at Chiripa in the Early and Middle Formative, but domestication and horticulture do. This information places the developments of the later time periods in better perspective, showing that agriculture probably developed rapidly in the Late Formative and Middle Horizon, with the Tiwanaku culture.