AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION IN THE TITICACA BASIN 1 Charles Stanish * INTRODUCTION For the past 100 years, anthropological theories of the evolution of complex so- ciety have been intimately linked to agricultural production. From the 19 th century evolutionists and Marxists through V. G Childe, Julian Steward, and contemporary archaeological theory, agricultural production has figured consistently in our idea of what created the conditions for the emergence of sedentary populations, urban envi- ronments, and hierarchical political structures. Contemporary research indicates that the use of domesticated plants in and of it- self is insufficient to account for the emergence of complex society. Even hunter- gatherers routinely encourage the growth of semi-domesticated species. Rather, it is the means by which agricultural production is organized that is critical to the devel- opment of complex social and political organization. Organization of production is essentially about human labor, and complex agricultural production is properly un- derstood as a kind of labor intensification. The intensification of agricultural labor, or simply “agricultural intensification” is the core process by which humans create the environment for the development of complex societies. AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION As a concept, agricultural intensification is an analytical tool for addressing theoretical questions in comparative anthropology. Intensification can be defined in a variety of ways depending upon the problem or problems to be addressed. Defini- tions can be specific, focusing on technology, types of crops, and/or types of ener- * Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Department of Anthropology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095 125