Graphic novel inspired by professor’s archaeological research in Bolivia

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After years studying the ancient civilization of the indigenous Aymara people at the Chiripa archaeological site in Bolivia, Penn State Associate Professor of Anthropology José Capriles and his longtime research collaborator adopted a very modern medium to help them tell its story.

Capriles worked with his mentor and colleague, University of California, Berkeley Professor of Anthropology Christine Hastorf, and freelance writer and illustrator John G. Swogger on the recently completed graphic novel, “Living at Chiripa: Life and Death at a Bolivian Middle Settlement 1000-500 BCE.” The book, a coming-of-age story about a young girl named K’ayra whose life becomes upended after the premature passing of her mother, is part of broader community outreach efforts by Capriles, Hastorf and Maria Bruno, associate professor of anthropology at Dickinson College, as they carry out a four-year National Science Foundation-funded research study at the 3,500-year-old site of Chiripa in the Bolivian highlands, situated more than 12,000 feet above sea level. The researchers are investigating the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and the possible climate factors involved, at the Chiripa site, which sits along the southeastern shore of the Lake Titicaca basin in the Andes. 

An anthropological archaeologist specializing in environmental archaeology, human ecology, and zooarchaeology, Capriles studies how ancient civilizations made use of plants, animals, and other natural resources. As part of his duties within the Department of Anthropology, he oversees the Capriles Environmental Archaeology Lab, where he and his research team examine human behavior, adaptation, and environmental transformations over time by relying on the material remains found at archaeological sites. 

Hastorf conceived the graphic novel’s story, Swogger handled the comic book-style text and illustrations, and Capriles contributed editorial suggestions while translating the English text into Spanish. Linguists Chali Qohira and Denise Arnold, director of the Instituto de Lengua y Cultura Aymara, La Paz, Bolivia, translated the text to Aymara, the indigenous local language still widely spoken by most highland communities surrounding Lake Titicaca. 

In addition, Capriles worked with a Bolivian printing press to produce 2,000 copies of the book — 1,000 in Spanish and 1,000 in Aymara — to distribute to members of the Chiripa community. 

“I worked on the translation and dissemination of the work and was able to give some direct input on some of the content because of my familiarity with the ancient and present culture,” Capriles said. “A lot of the story deals with things we’ve investigated archaeologically. And we had to make sure the story was properly contextualized in terms of the history and the language.” 

Available as a free PDF (in English, Spanish and Aymara language versions) through an open-access creative commons license, the graphic novel is just one of several ways in which Capriles and Hastorf are further engaging the residents of Chiripa and the broader public with their archaeological research. Their outreach efforts have also included guided site visits, school lectures, informational brochures, and discussions with local stakeholders about a potential new museum dedicated to the site. 

Hastorf contacted Swogger after learning he had done graphic novels about a few other indigenous communities. Capriles, meanwhile, has long been a fan of the genre. 

“I love graphic novels and comic books. They’re doing some really creative work that engages in contemporary themes,” Capriles said. “And not just from the commercial side of things — obviously, everyone loves Marvel and DC, but there are so many independent artists doing very creative and interesting work, such as ‘Altopia’ by Bolivian authors A. Barrientos and J. Cuevas. It’s such a great medium, particularly when you combine it with serious themes. And John did such a beautiful job with the images. We want this to be read by the community — the character in the novel is a little girl who becomes a shaman, so there’s an element of building leadership and confidence among indigenous kids, especially girls.” 

Capriles is particularly proud of the fact that there’s an Aymara version of the graphic novel, since there are very few published documents in the language. And he’s thrilled the community has had a positive response to it. 

“The people seem to be really excited about it. And they want to keep it going with new stories,” he said. “A project like this just demonstrates all the different ways to engage with the subject — there are many ways to show the cultural significance and heritage of the site and how to preserve it. We don’t want our archaeological research only existing in academic spheres; we want to get it out to the local people. We want to make sure they get involved in the research process and that what we’re doing is appropriate to their cultural heritage.”

A Lifelong Passion 

Capriles hopes the book strikes a chord with school-age children. After all, his love for archaeology was sparked as a youngster visiting the famous pre-Columbian site Tiwanaku, located near his family’s home in the Bolivian capital of La Paz.

“It’s one of the sites you go to when you’re in school. And I was always fascinated by it,” he said. “My parents were biologists and we traveled a lot, so I wanted to have a scientific career of some sort. Archaeology seemed like a unique option.”

Nearly 20 years ago, Capriles started working on sites with Hastorf while still an undergraduate student at Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz. All told, there are 16 different Aymara communities in the Taraco Municipality, Bolivia, and they’ve worked with at least a half dozen of them.

In 2019, Capriles, Hastorf and Bruno were awarded the NSF grant to investigate the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and the possible climate factors involved, at the Chiripa site. Potatoes and quinoa were first domesticated there, but knowledge of the processes of domestication and the commitment to agriculture has been limited due to lack of research. 

This past summer, Capriles and his colleagues did excavation work at the site, which was discovered in the 1930s. Now, they’re in the process of radiocarbon dating and analyzing the starch grains from samples recovered there.

Since the study began, the Chiripa community, whose traditional subsistence and land use practices have increasingly been affected by environmental degradation and globalization, have been an integral part of the process. Which makes outreach efforts like the graphic novel that much more important, according to Capriles.

“There’s going to be a lot more coming up, and it has to go hand in hand with community engagement,” he said. “Marginalized communities that are the descendants of these great ancient societies are really interested in promoting their cultural heritage. So, for me, this has been a real privilege, and I want to give back and be engaged in these community outreach efforts. … When you build these deep, meaningful relationships with the community, it makes the research so much more meaningful and valuable.”