Atalla: A Center on the Periphery of the Chavín Horizon

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.The emergence of public architecture in Peru 's central highlands occurred during the mid-first millennium B.C. and is correlated with the expansion of the Chavin sphere of interaction. Atalla, a high-altitude site in Huancavelica, represents one of the first known centers with large-scale masonry constructions. Analysis of the ceramic assemblage reveals many similarities between the local ceramics and the Janabarriu phase pottery from Chavin de Huantar, located 450 km to the north. The inhabitants of Atalla emulated the ceramic style and cut-stone masonry of the much larger northern civic-ceremonial centers, like Chavin de Hua'ntar, while maintaining local traits such as circular dwellings and burials in or adjacent to domestic architecture. Utilizing a core-periphery perspective, the unprecedentedformation in the central highlands of a community like Atalla is hypothesized to be an independent response to demands for exotic goods from the more complex societies to the north. The largest mercury deposits in Latin America are located 15 km to the west of Atalla, and the center would have been in an excellent position to procure cinnabar and distribute this bright red vermilion pigment. Production of the pigment itself would have occurred at small villages like Chuncuimarca located in the zone of the mercury deposits.La emergencia de arquitectura publica en la sierra central de Peru' occurrio durante el primer milenio a. C. y esta correlacionada con la expansion de la esfera de interaccion del horizonte Chavin. Atalla es un sitio que se ubica en el Departamento de Huancavelica a unos 3,850 msnm, y representa uno de los primeros centros conocidos con construcciones de piedra de gran monumentalidad. El analisis de la ceramica de Atalla revela varias semejanzas estilisticas con la ceramica de la fase Janabarriu del sitio arqueolo'gico de Chavin de Huantar, ubicado 450 km de distancia. Los habitantes de Atalla imitaron el estilo de ceramica y la mamposteria de los centros civic-ceremoniales, como Chavin de Huantar, pero a la vez mantuvieron rasgos locales como la construccion de estructuras dome'sticas circulares y un patron de enterramiento al interior o adyacente a las viviendas. La formacion de una comunidad como Atalla no tiene antecedente en la zona, y se plantea la hipotesis que este asentamiento fue una respuesta independien te a la demanda pa ra b ienes exo ticos de las soc iedades complejas no rtenas. El depos ito ge o log ico de c inabrio (HgS) de mayor envergadura en America Latina se encuentra a 15 km al oeste de Atalla y existe datos arqueologicos de su explotacion temprana en tiempos prehispanicos. El cinabrio tiene un color distinctivo de rojo vivo, el cual era utilizado ...

Over three millennia of mercury pollution in the Peruvian Andes

“…The Middle Horizon and the Late Intermediate Period witnessed the rapid development and expansion of mining and metallurgy in the Andes (21,22). During the Late Intermediate Period, the archaeological site of Attalla appears to have been reoccupied (15), suggesting continuation, if not intensification, of local cinnabar processing. Inca expansion into the central Andes occurred ca.…”

“…Although Atalla lacks direct dating and excavation, surface remains suggest the site served as a regional Center for procuring and distributing cinnabar (15). Ceramics suggest Atalla dates to the Early Horizon (ca.…”

“…BC), and was actively engaged in trade with Chavín de Huántar in the Cordillera Blanca (15) (Fig. 1).…”

An Introduction to Mining and Quarrying in the Ancient Andes: Sociopolitical, Economic and Symbolic Dimensions

“…Colonial mines such as the well-known Potosí silver mines of southern Bolivia (Bakewell 1984 ;Platt and Quisbert 2008 ) and the cinnabar mines of Huancavelica (Burger and Matos Mendieta 2002 ) were large, extensive operations controlled by the Spanish Crown. The character of mining and concomitant metallurgy obviously changed drastically when the Spanish crown took control of the production process (see Van Buren and Mills 2005 : 4), and unfortunately chroniclers are not liberal in their descriptions of the actual organization of Prehispanic mining.…”

Iron isotope analysis of red and black pigments on pottery in Nasca, Peru

“…These include an ancient hematite mine (Salazar et al 2011), copper mines (Cantarutti 2013;Lechtman 1976;Salazar and Salinas 2008;Shimada 1994), cinnabar mines (Burger and Matos Mendieta 2002), turquoise mines (Salazar et al 2010), and a series of silver and gold mines mentioned in the chronicles that were also exploited by the Spanish (see Berthelot 1986 and Schultze 2013 for a summary). Survey for, and excavation of, additional mines will certainly help us better understand ancient mining (Eerkens et al 2009).…”