Nuevo patrón arquitectónico paracas en Lucanas, sierra sur del Perú

Abstract

Resumen Trabajos de prospección arqueológica realizados en la parte alta de los valles de Palpa, en la vertiente occidental de los Andes, nos han permitido identificar y registrar un importante número de asentamientos pertenecientes a la cultura Abstract NEW PARACAS ARCHITECTURE PATTERN IN LUCANAS, SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PERU During our archaeological surveys in the upper reaches of the Palpa valleys, at the western slope of the Andes, we identified and registered a large number of settlements of the Paracas culture, most of them dating to the Middle Paracas

Economic Directness in the Western Andes: A New Model of Socioeconomic Organization for the Paracas Culture in the First Millennium BC

“…Since its earliest definition in the 1920s by Tello (2005; Tello and Mejía Xesspe 1979), the Paracas archaeological culture has been conceived of as a coastal phenomenon unfolding in the first millennium BC between the Cañete and Acarí Valleys of southern Peru, although its interaction sphere was wider (Balbuena 2013; Canziani 2013; Cook 1999; DeLeonardis 2005; Dulanto 2013; Dulanto et al 2019; Kriss et al 2018; Peters 1988; Tantaleán et al 2013, 2017; Young 2017). Yet our recent findings in the northern Nasca Drainage demonstrate that Paracas settlement extended continuously across the entire western flank of the Andes up to the puna highlands (Reindel and Isla 2017, 2018; Reindel et al 2015). This Paracas settlement pattern across the western Andes facilitated access to important resources between the Pacific Ocean shore and the Quispisisa/Jichja Parco obsidian source further inland at 4,100 m asl.…”

“…Over merely 120 km west to east, the study area of the Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project rises from the Pacific shore to the summit of Cerro Llamocca at 4,487 m asl. Our surveys, excavations, and analyses have documented the evolution through time of a dense Paracas occupation, with a dramatic increase in population toward the end of the Formative period, around 200 BC (Isla 2010; Isla and Reindel 2018; Reindel 2009; Reindel and Isla 2006, 2013a, 2017, 2018; Soßna 2015; Unkel et al 2012).…”

“…The settlement is situated along a mountain ridge: it consists of a domestic Sector A in its southern part, a more public Sector B in its northern part, and agricultural terraces that cover the slopes around the central area. Cutamalla, especially its Sector B, can be considered as the type site for the so-called flower structures: an architectural pattern we have recently identified that comprises an inner circular patio with a diameter of approximately 20 m surrounded by D-shaped units and that likely served for multipurpose economic activities (Mader 2013; Reindel and Isla 2017, 2018).…”

“…Based on comprehensive research in this study area by the long-term Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project (Isla 2010; Isla and Reindel 2018; Reindel 2009; Reindel and Isla 2006, 2013a, 2017, 2018), we refine here the economic directness model, first formulated in detail in Mader (2019a). The main features of this model are direct access to a diverse range of commodities from various ecological levels, direct and down-the-line exchanges, reduced transaction costs, transport organized through llama caravans, unbalanced flows of goods across the western Andes, and forces of supply and demand with significant consumption on the coast (Mader 2019b).…”

“…The pool of analytical methods used includes the quantification, standardization, and artifact classification of archaeological finds; archaeometric techniques such as strontium isotope analysis of camelid teeth; and taxonomic identifications, primarily of mollusks. The finds come from 11 Paracas sites excavated by the Nasca-Palpa Archaeological Project in the northern Nasca Drainage (Figure 2)—particularly from large-scale excavations at Jauranga (285 m asl), Collanco (1,630 m asl), and Cutamalla (3,300 m asl)—thereby encompassing the entire research area also defined as the Andean Transect (for detailed discussions of excavation findings, see Mader 2019a; Reindel and Isla 2013b, 2017, 2018; Reindel et al 2015).

Figure 2.Map of the core study area showing the location of archaeological sites where the material analyzed in this article was excavated (map courtesy of Christian Mader).

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