Late Intermediate Period

Rock art in the precontact Andes was frequently associated with venerated, pacarina water spring features. As nodes in the cultural landscape, pacarina were, and still are, considered critical access points to the primordial underworld from which the Ancestors arose to the world above and appropriating them was vital linking identity to the land, and to territorial expansion. During the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1476), the Chimú Kingdom on present-day Peru's central and north coasts aggressively expanded their influence in a time characterized by drought, conflict, and political fragmentation.

Lista de participantes del taller "La montaña tropical sur-central y las zonas adyacentes: Desarrollos políticos regionales, intercambio interregional e interacción cultural" (julio del 2013, Sucre-Bolivia). Evento auspiciado por la Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research y con el apoyo

Præhistoria Andina II: The Wamalli occupation at Lauricocha, Vizcarra, and High Marañon river basins, Huanuco

In 1999–2002, research carried out at Lauricocha, Vizcarra, and High Marañon river basins (Huanuco, Central Andes) concentrated on Wamalli (Huamalies) occupation. During Early Wamalli phase, the settlement was on low areas near rivers, where funerary structures (chullpas) were very high, with fine masonry and three-to-six rectangular windows; during Late Wamalli phase, the settlement was on high areas surrounded by abysses and perimeter walls, where chullpas were low, with coarse masonry and one or two square windows. In both phases, huts had circular plan, coarse masonry, and conical roof of straw; meanwhile, chullpas had square or rectangular plan, a small frontal access, with some quadrangular niches at their interior and false-vault roof with cantilever beams. The organization of the villages belongs to the pachaca (one hundred families group). At Inka times, there appear small and coarse chullpas, probably belonging to transplanted ethnic groups (mitimaes).

Resumen: Recientes excavaciones en Huaca Naranjal han permitido registrar la recurrencia de grandes contextos de fragmentería cerámica los cuales han sido reconocidos como desechos de producción alfarera. El análisis de los contextos indica que la cerámica producida corresponde a tipos restringidos del estilo Ychsma resultado de un patrón de producción especializado que nos permite discutir la organización socioeconómica de la población. La identificación de un centro de producción de cerámica estilo Ychsma en el valle bajo del Chillón nos plantea el problema sobre su identificación política, considerando su proximidad a los etnohistóricamente definidos Colli. Palabras Claves: Contextos de fragmentería cerámica, producción, economía, Períodos Intermedio Tardío y Horizonte Tardío.
Abstract: Recent excavations at Huaca Naranjal have registered the recurrence of large pottery sherd contexts , which have been recognized as a waste of pottery production. The analysis of the contexts indicates that the ceramics produced is part of restricted types of Ychsma style result of a pattern of specialize production, that enables the discussion of the socioeconomic organization of the population. The recognition of an Ychsma style production pottery center in the lower valley of Chillon poses the problem on its political identification, considering its proximity to the ethnohis-toric defined Colli.

This article presents an analysis of the archaeological research conducted in the Alto Marañon region related to the Wamalí tradition. The author reviews information from other scholars as well as his own fieldwork in the area, paying special attention to the architectonic characteristics of the archaeological sites to explain the development of the different societies that inhabited this region until the colonial period.

En este trabajo nos proponemos realizar una primera exploración sobre el lugar que ocuparon
las chullpas en la sociedad de Lípez, desde su surgimiento en el siglo XIII hasta el siglo XVI, cuando
la invasión europea parece haber puesto fin a su construcción, aunque no a su gravitación sobre la
sociedad humana, como lo indican las prácticas rituales que continúan generando y la temerosa veneración
que aún hoy les presta la gente. Para ello, dejaremos de hablar de las chullpas en voz pasiva
para pensarlas en voz activa, como personas capaces de hacer diversas cosas según las circunstancias.
Poniendo énfasis en el análisis arqueológico de sus usos y materialidad (v.gr. materias primas, formas
y tamaños, detalles constructivos, cantidad, distribución espacial, asociaciones), buscaremos entender
cómo fueron cambiando sus relaciones con otras personas del mundo andino, incluyendo a otras
huacas y a los propios seres humanos o runakuna, como los llamaremos de aquí en más. En base a esta
información, volveremos al final sobre la identidad de las chullpas.

This article is mainly concerned with two subjects resulting from a lenghty study on the textile material of Arica. On one hand we define the archaeological "chuspa" of the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1470) found in funerary contexts in Azapa valley and the coast of Arica. Trough the identification of certain attributes such as: general shape of the piece, manufacturing technique, spatial composition, finishings, colors and iconography we can differentiate the "chuspa" or ritual bag, containing coca leaves, from other various type of bags such as those used for daily activities, for carrying food or other functions (i.e., costales, talegas and wayuñas). The appearance of this attributes in a bag emptied from its original context, gives us the information for to establish its function and nature. On the other hand, applying a methodology of an integral textile analysis, developed and proved by us, we have been able to define different styles within the fabrics of the Late Intermediate Period in Azapa valley and Arica coast. In this paper we offer a detailed description of the technical, formal and iconographic attributes which caracterize the style San Miguel and San Miguel-Pocoma of "chuspas".

A new look at Choqek'iraw (Choque Quira). An Inca site in the heart of the Vilcabamba Cordillera, Peru

Situated in the heart of the Vilcabamba cordillera in Peru, some 150 km northwest of Cuzco, the ancient Inca state capital, Choqek’iraw or Choquequirao (« the golden cradle » in Quechua), is one of the most beautiful achievements of Inca architecture, and one of the very few pre-Hispanic sites displaying large wall mosaics showing geometric figures and llama caravans climbing the mountainside, the only one known from Inca times.
Ethnohistoric sources suggest that Choqek'iraw was one of the Tupac Inca Yupanqui’s palaces, but the excavations we conducted in peripheral residential areas suggest a much earlier occupation; it could begin at the end of the Formative Horizon or the early Intermediate Period, dated from 200 to 500 AD, and continue during the Late Intermediate (1000-1300 AD), characterized by Killke and Chanka ceramics. Several elements also suggest that figures represented on the mosaics convey cosmological significance and are laid out following textile principles.
Finally, the orientation of some buildings with the cardinal points and the presence of a truncated hill considered as an astronomical observatory, an ushnu, reinforce this hypothesis, suggesting that Choqek'iraw could have played the role of a regional agro-pastoral calendar and be considered as a important ritual centre or wak'a, and an oracular shrine dedicated to the triple Inca tripe divinity of the Lightning.
This book stems from an extensive French-Peruvian archaeological project conducted from 2003 to 2006, as part of a cooperation agreement between the French and Peruvian governments related to the execution of transactions for the Debt Conversion Sustainable Development. It presents the results of the excavations that have been carried out, but also new hypotheses about the role - including symbolic - that this site may have played. It is so far the most complete work available on Choqek’iraw.

El fenómeno político Lambayeque es uno de los ejemplos más complejos del ejercicio del poder en la costa norte del Perú durante la época prehispánica. El amplio espectro de edificios monumentales localizados en puntos estratégicos de los valles bajos y medios de su área de origen (Lambayeque, La Leche, Reque y Saña) y de los valles a los que se expandió (Piura, Jequetepeque y Chicama) son parte de la materialización de los mecanismos desarrollados para detentar, ejercer y mantener el poder en esos espacios geográficos. Si adoptáramos la tendencia tradicional de asociar el ejercicio del poder delimitado por un espacio geográfico o, si por el contrario abordáramos la nueva propuesta de Ramírez (2005) en la que se propone que el ejercicio del poder en los Andes (al menos para el caso Inca) no se debería medir en términos territoriales, sino poblacionales, es decir, en el número de individuos que podía controlar un señor o gobernante, llegaríamos a la conclusión que el Estado Lambayeque desarrolló una sofisticada logística para apropiarse de ambos. Sin embargo, lejos que estas incursiones en valles adyacentes a su esfera de origen hayan estado motivadas por simples deseos expansionistas, creemos que debieron estar sujetas a objetivos políticos específicos. Estos objetivos políticos debieron ser el resultado de una serie de factores que se originaron a partir de coyunturas políticas internas, aspectos climático-ambientales, intención del mejoramiento productivo de las cosechas, difusión del culto oficial y con ello la necesidad de generar mercados para la distribución, intercambio y entrega simbólica de bienes suntuarios con la subsecuente propagación de su ideología. Bajo esta perspectiva, los estrategas del Estado Lambayeque, debieron analizar y estudiar cuidadosamente el panorama político y circunstancial de cada uno de los valles a los que se expandían. Producto de ello debió ser un conjunto de conclusiones (estrategias y planes) cuidadosamente estudiadas y posteriormente puestas en práctica.

This paper presents textile pieces from archaeological sites in Northern Chile that were made by using the tie-dying technique. They first appear at the end of the Archaic and beginnings of the Formative periods (ca. 1500-1000 BC), their presence lasting until the first half of the Late Intermediate Period (900-1200 AD). We establish the first sequence for this technique (use of which spans over 2.700 years) by working on its cultural and chronological documentation. These textiles come from Arica (in Chile's northernmost tip), Tarapacá, the Lower and Middle river Loa, and the oases of San pedro de Atacama. Although this technique has been traditionally considered to be of Nazca and Tiwananku origin, all of the woven pieces that were revised reveal particularities that are coherent with the places where they come from, allowing us to suppose they are of local making.

El reciente reconocimiento de la cultura Copiapó
(Niemeyer y Cervellino 1998) como una entidad
arqueológica independiente de la cultura Diaguita,
ha abierto muchas interrogantes acerca de este
grupo cultural del Intermedio Tardío. La cerámica
ha sido hasta ahora su principal elemento
diagnóstico, y su análisis en profundidad nos abre
las puertas hacia la comprensión de los patrones
que la configuran socialmente como un elemento
cultural activo de su cultura. De este modo, se
espera ir más allá de las descripciones tipológicas
y ahondar en los aspectos de la estructura interna
de la Cultura Copiapó y sus relaciones con otras
entidades culturales como Ánimas y Diaguitas.

El presente trabajo plantea una propuesta metodológica para poder identificar los territorios de dos grupos étnicos previos al Tawantinsuyu, asentados en la puna de Junín y los valles de Tarma durante el periodo de Desarrollos Regionales Tardíos, a partir de la materialidad social generada por ambos grupos. Para ello, se discutirán los postulados previos que utilizaron tanto a la arquitectura doméstica como a la cerámica, de manera individual y se propondrá el uso de estos indicadores en conjunto con las estructuras funerarias y su distribución espacial, las cuales han sido poco utilizadas para identificar territorios étnicos en los andes centrales. De esta manera, esperamos contribuir al estudio de las sociedades de la sierra central durante el  periodo de los Desarrollos Regionales Tardíos.

The present paper offers a methodological proposal to identify the territories of two ethnic groups prior to Tawantinsuyu, settled in the Junín highlands and the Tarma valleys during the Late Regional Developments Period, based on the social materiality generated by both groups. In order to do so, we will discuss the pre-vious postulates that used both domestic architecture and ceramics, individually, for this identification and will propose the use of funerary structures and their spatial distribution, which have been little used to iden-tify ethnic territories In the Central Andes. In this way, we hope to contribute to the study of the societies of the central highlands during the Period of Late Regional Developments.

This paper is set within the outlines of the research project “Cultural history and materiality in the archaeology of Late Intermediate and Late periods of San Pedro de Atacama and its relation with the Loa basin” which aims to analyze the Yaye, Solor and Catarpe phases. In our case, this will be achieved by means of systematic studies of textile collections in order to compare its expressions with processes detected along the Loa River, considering that both basins were part of a culturally shared territory. Through an accurate review of Le Paige’s manuscripts and the study of late funerary collections from the G. Le Paige Archaeological Museum, we propose a preliminary textile sequence for the San Pedro de Atacama oasis during the Late Intermediate and Late periods, and its integration into the regional textile sequence. As a result of these proceedings, questions about the mentioned phases were raised.

The Atacama Desert is among the driest places on Earth, yet ancient agricultural systems are present in the region. Here, we present a study of terraced agricultural soils in the high‐altitude eastern margin of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, mainly dating to the Late Intermediate Period (ca. 950–1400 AD) and Inka period (ca. 1400–1536 AD). Terraced fields were compartmentalized to distribute limited irrigation water originating mainly from springs. Natural soils used for agriculture are mostly Aridisols developed on Pleistocene alluvial fan terraces and hillslopes underlain by volcanic bedrock. One research objective is to evaluate long‐term soil change from agriculture. In this hyperarid climate, agriculture is only possible with irrigation, so natural soils on the same geomorphic surface adjacent to irrigated soils provide baseline data for assessing anthropogenic soil change. Data from soil profiles and surface transects indicate intentional soil change through terracing, ...

Mortuary remains within an archaeological context can illuminate the social and political aspects not only of the individual(s) buried, but also of the living who interred them. Although this is so, a consensus has not been reached in regard to the following questions: how can we determine the social identity of the living that interred the dead? What are the implications of the living-dead interaction, and how do mortuary practices alter social memory in order to fit political needs? This thesis constitutes an initial attempt to answer these questions while examining pre-internment mortuary practices, and associated ideologies regarding the afterlife based on data collected during the 2015 field season by members of the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Panquilma (PIAP), under the direction of Dr. Enrique Lopéz-Hurtado, of the Instituto de Estudios de Peruanos Programa de Investigación. This project is centered at the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) to Late Horizon (LH) secondary Ychsma site of Panquilma in the mid-Valley of the Lurín River Valley, Central Coast of Peru.

This research aims to determine the time period and significance of a puzzling structure that was excavated at the cemetery’s margin at Panquilma in order to determine the building’s potential role in ancestral veneration practices of the lesser-elites. Upon first glance this structure appeared to have a layout of a household structure but was located near the cemetery, far from the residential center of the site. A wide array and substantial quantities of exotic and/or ritual items such as sheet metal fragments, colorful bird feathers, orpiment, and manuports, as well as Spondylus sp. and Nectandra sp. beads were discovered within this building suggesting non-mundane or non-domestic usages. Was this structure used in the preparation and care of the funerary bundles? Did it house an important figure (e.g., a shaman) in both their life and death? Or did it serve as a workshop for preparing ritual items? In an effort to ascertain the significance of this structure, this thesis examines the aforementioned remains as well as its relative location and the results from portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analyses of some of the excavated artifacts in order to provide a deeper understanding of mortuary practices at Panquilma and thus the Ychsma’s concept of and interaction with the dead on the Central Coast of Peru.

The exact function of this structure cannot be concretely stated, but the diverse lines of evidence present appear to favor the first hypothesis in which this structure functioned as a funerary preparation area, but principally for elite and/or ritually significant bundle(s). This was ascertained due to the numerous exotic and/or ritual artifacts found associated within this Inkaic structure that likely served a ritualistic function in regard to water and agricultural fertility as well as serving as indirect evidence for elite ancestral veneration practices.

Resumen: En este capítulo, presentamos los resultados de nuestras excavaciones al sitio de Rapayán hechas en el 2005. Estas excavaciones perseguían esencialmente dilucidar la cronología del sitio así como la función de algunas estructuras arquitectónicas. De acuerdo a nuestros datos preliminares de la estratigrafía cerámica presentados aquí, el sitio de Rapayán fue ocupado sin interrupción a partir del Periodo Inicial (2000-800 a. C.) hasta el Horizonte Tardío (1450-1532 d. C.), y también probablemente durante la época colonial. Pudimos además confirmar que los incas occuparon directamente el sitio de Rapayán durante el Horizonte Tardío. Finalmente, nuestras excavaciones confirmaron que lo que percibimos anteriormente como estructuras residenciales eran no solamente de hecho viviendas en las cuales la gente vivía pero también en las cuales se celebraban rituales funerarios importantes. Palabras Clave: prehistoria andina; arqueología; cronología cerámica; Rapayán; alto Mara-ñón; Perú; época precolombina. Abstract: In this chapter, we present the results of our 2005 excavations at the site of Rapa-yán. The latter were designed essentially to address the chronology of the site and the function of certain architectural structures. Based on our preliminary ceramic stratigraphy, the data presented here suggest that the site of Rapayán was occupied without interruption from the Initial Period (2000-800 BC) to the Late Horizon (AD 1450-1532) and most probably throughout the colonial era. We were further able to confirm that the Incas directly occupied the site during the Late Horizon. Finally, our excavations enable us to confirm that what we perceived as residential structures were not only house structures where people lived but also where they conducted significant mortuary rituals.

The Project of Archaeological Research « Alto Tacna » did archaeological prospections and excavations in the mountains of Tacna, between the districts of Sitajara and Tarata in the upper basin of the Sama River. This allowed us to identify 74 archaeological sites in the study area, most of them belonging to the Late Intermediate Period (1000 - 1450 AD) and Late Horizon (1450 - 1532 AD). The presence of these different settlements in the study zone shows us coexistence among the prehispanic inhabitants, most likely, due to the use of the local resources, exchanging pottery and archaeological traditions.

Metallurgical production has been considered in much archaeological literature concerned with
the Andes, as the work of full time specialists and craftsmen. In this paper we discuss based on
findings made at the site Juella, Quebrada de Humahuaca in Argentina, the domestic nature of
this type of production during the Late Intermediate Period and its interrelationship with other
productive activities.

A total of 147 inkuñas originating from cemeteries in the Azapa Valley (Azapa-3, Azapa-6, Azapa-8, Azapa-71, Azapa-75 and Azapa-140), and those of the coast of Arica (Playa Miller-2, Playa Miller-3, Playa Miller-4, Playa Miller-8, Playa Miller-9 and Chacalluta-3) are analyzed and classified according to their form and function. Also, based on iconographic and stylistic analysis we propose a definition of various contemporary textile styles during the Late Intermediate Period which confirms - and is coherent with - the multiethnic occupation of the zone.

Key words: Archaeological textiles, textile styles, inkuña, tari, coca, etnographic textiles, Arica, Northern Chile, Late Intermediate Period.

In this paper we describe a new system for the recording of archaeological sites based on an autonomous UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that has recently been employed in the framework of the Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project on the south coast of Peru. In the vicinity of Palpa, the prehispanic site of Pinchango Alto is an attractive, yet difficult target for archaeological research. On the one hand, its well preserved stone architecture, abundant surface finds, and richly furnished graves dating to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1400) offer many opportunities to study this still poorly understood pre-Inkaic period. On the other hand, access to and working on the site is rather difficult. The recording of the preserved surface remains therefore required a highly mobile and flexible documentation system. In the 2004 field campaign we used a model helicopter carrying a CMOS camera to acquire a series of vertical aerial images for a photogrammetric recording and 3D modeling of the site and the surrounding terrain. The system used in Pinchango Alto is based on a commercial low cost model helicopter. It features an integrated GPS/INS based stabilizer. While the GPS/INS unit enables semiautomated navigation along a predefined flight path, the stabilizer ensures a stable flight attitude and thus a highly reliable image acquisition. The processing and analysis of the acquired images encompassed image pre-processing, semiautomatic triangulation, and DTM generation. The inhouse software used for automatic DSM generation is here described in detail. A virtual 3D model of the site was produced and visualized. The resulting data were analyzed concerning in particular the potential of DSM generation from model helicopter images as compared to laser data. In this paper we present the first results of our ongoing work in Pinchango Alto and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the UAV-based documentation system for archaeological research.

Entre los años 2015 y 2017 se excavó una amplia área funeraria en el sitio El Olivar, en el marco de la construcción de la doble vía (Ruta 5) entre las ciudades de La Serena y Vallenar. A partir de una caracterización de las sepulturas más antiguas (n=86) del área excavada, argumentamos que éstas pertenecen a un momento inicial de la cultura Diaguita Chilena, que denominamos fase Diaguita Temprana. Las evidencias sugieren que durante esta fase los diaguitas crearon una identidad tecnoestilística material, al tiempo que mantuvieron algún grado de interacción social con poblaciones septentrionales de los valles de Huasco y Copiapó. En este contexto, el artículo discute hasta qué punto es posible distinguir al complejo cultural Las Ánimas como una entidad cultural distinta a la cultura Diaguita en el valle del Elqui. Se hipotetiza, a su vez, que la alfarería diaguita consolida una identidad propia materializando lenguajes visuales cuyas raíces podrían estar relacionadas, no solo con el mundo andino, sino que con antiguas tradiciones culturales de las tierras bajas orientales bolivianas.

Prehispanic South American pastoralism has a long and rich, though often understudied, trajectory. In this paper, we analyze the transition from a generalized to a specialized pastoralism at two geographical locations in the Andes: Antofagasta de la Sierra, Southern Argentina Puna, and the Ancash Highlands, Peruvian North-central Puna. Although at opposite ends of the Andes this herding specialization commences during the same moment in time, A.D. 600-1,000, suggesting that a similar process was at work in both areas. Moreover, this was a process that was irrevocably tied to the coeval development of specialized highland agriculture. From a perspective of political ecology and structuration theory we emphasis the time-depth and importance that Andean pastoralism had in shaping highland landscapes. Taking into consideration risk-management theory, ecology and environment as crucial factors in the development of a specialized pastoralism we nevertheless emphasis the importance of the ...

Comparative study of fortified settlements in Peru, and spatial analysis for understanding the settlement pattern, in the Jauja Région. Nature and functions of Pucaras in the Late Intermediate Period in the Centrales Andes, and reality or not of conflicts during the Auca Runa.

This paper ilustrate what coM have been the prehispanic occupation of the southeastern area of Potosi since the Preceramic period unfil the Spanish Conquest.
After descnbing some of the previws worhs dedicated to this area by ofher authors, it shows whai are the maisettiement pattern and the ceramic artifacts of each period, insisting mainly on the Formative Horizon when the first villages and the ceramic appeared, and the Medium Horizon and the Late Intermediary period, which are characterized by the expansion and the faIl of tire Thvanaku civilization. if afeo tries to
undersfand the process of formation and evolution of the federation Charcas-Karakara, well documented by the colonial sources. A confrontation between the ethno historical
record and archaeological data 's heIp us to start a discussion over the validity of these sources.

Comparative study of fortified settlements in Peru, and spatial analysis for understanding the settlement pattern, in the Jauja Région. Nature and functions of Pucaras in the Late Intermediate Period in the Centrales Andes, and reality or not of conflicts during the Auca Runa.

The Late Intermediate Period (LIP) (AD 1000 – 1450) in the Andes was a time of turbulent political and social change as two major states, Wari and Tiwanaku, lost power. Increased rates of skeletal trauma in parts of Peru and Chile for this time period have been interpreted as increased interpersonal violence, perhaps as a result of the political vacuum left in the wake of state collapse. In the Titicaca Basin, people increasingly built defensive architecture on the northern lake shore; however, in the southern lake basin, people did not. Few skeletal remains have been excavated in the lake basin overall to corroborate an increase in violent activity or measure if violent activity was increasing for all populations. This paper reports the skeletal trauma for nine LIP individuals excavated from a common tomb on the Copacabana Peninsula in the southern Titicaca basin. This small sample is important for several reasons: (1) they are the only skeletal remains from the Copacabana Peninsula during the LIP; (2) 100% of the sample population experienced traumatic injury, possibly due to interpersonal violence; and (3) trauma was often survived. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.