The Archaic Forager sites in Block 1

In the Maymeja portion of the Chivay source all surface archaeological materials diagnostic to time periods prior to pastoralism belonged to multicomponent sites with a substantial pastoralist component. This settlement pattern reflects the exposed, windy nature of the Chivay source: all sheltered areas that may have had overnight occupation were reused. No sites that could be termed "residential bases", using the same criteria as the other blocks of the Upper Colca project survey, were identified in this area.

Projectile points dating to the Archaic Foragers period were located in course of the survey of Block 1. Unsurprisingly, these points were virtually all obsidian, and most appeared to have been broken during manufacture with longitudinal breaks and incomplete scar coverage. In addition, it appears that broken non-obsidian bases were occasionally abandoned at the obsidian source, perhaps in the process of reusing the haft with newly fashioned obsidian points. For example, the base of a chert point with evidence of pressure flaking [A03-122] was recovered on the southern slopes of the Maymeja area during the survey work.

Figure 6-7. Possible Chivay obsidian source camps during Archaic Forager times.

Problems with isolating Archaic Foragers sites

One of the principal problems in isolating Archaic Foragers sites is that many of the artifactual indicators used in this research to designate sites as potentially belonging to the Early, Middle, or Late Archaic are not relevant in the obsidian source area. Of the three indicators that might potentially be used to designate sites from the Late Archaic or earlier, all three indicators have limitations.

(1) Aceramic sites.The use of ceramics in the high altitude obsidian source area appears to have been limited through the Formative Period (described in Section 6.4.1). Thus, the lack of ceramics is not evidence for a site dating to the preceramic.

(2) Material type ratios.A higher percentage of non-obsidian lithic material, primarily fine-grained volcanics, was used as an indicator of possible Archaic Foragers occupation in Block 3 of the survey area. This indicator doesn't apply to the obsidian source area, however, because virtually all flaked stone is obsidian in this area throughout prehistory.

(3) Diagnostic projectile points.Time sensitive projectile point styles continue to serve as indicators of temporal affiliation in the obsidian source area. However, as Block 1 consists of a lithic production area the projectile points found there were often incompletely flaked or broken during manufacture. As a result, a number of the projectile points did not belong to a particular point style.

The vast majority of scatters in the Maymeja area consisted of non-diagnostic scatters of obsidian with a high frequency of cortical flakes. It is possible that some of these scatters date to the period before the Terminal Archaic, and indeed many of these sites contain no ceramics. However, in this relatively high area remote from population centers, the fact that a site is a-ceramic cannot be taken as evidence that the site dates to the pre-ceramic. Given the intensification on obsidian production that occurred during the Terminal Archaic and onward, these non-diagnostic obsidian scatters are evaluated here as by-products of pastoral period intensification in the area.

Projectile Points

The human use of the Maymeja area dates to Middle Archaic (7000 - 5000 cal BCE) as is demonstrated by the presence of three transparent (one banded) obsidian projectile points of type 3b and one andesite point of type 3e depicted in Figure 6-6. The presence of 21 type 3b points in Block 2 (eight of them type 3b) indicates that the Middle Archaic occupation was predominantly a puna occupation. One of the type 3b points collected in the course of survey work was at "Molinos2" in the Quebrada de los Molinos at an elevation of only 4216 masl, suggesting that Molinos was used to travel between the lower elevation Colca Valley and the high altitude obsidian source and puna during the Middle Archaic.

Strong evidence of Early Archaic use of Chivay obsidian exists in the form of obsidian Early Archaic projectile points discussed among the data from the Block 2 and Block 3 areas of the survey, and in the early part of the Early Archaic at the site of Asana almost 200 km to the south-east. However, no Early Archaic projectile points were found in the Maymeja area of the Chivay source.

Figure 6-8. Middle Archaic obsidian projectile point from Maymeja area [A03-184].

The type 3B Middle Archaic obsidian point [A03-184] found on a moraine between two bofedales is the strongest evidence of early use of the Chivay source from the Maymeja area itself (Figure 6-8). A foliate point was identified that has one spine, pressure flaking, and it was found on a moraine at 4824 masl on the northern side of Maymeja that was perhaps glaciated during the Early Archaic. This projectile point represents the earliest date, judging from stylistic attributes, in Chivay source area. A¹⁰Be date was acquired from a quartzite sample collected from moraines at 4650 masl (Figure 4-15) that suggests that the entire Maymeja area was glaciated until circa 9000 cal BCE (Sandweiss, 2005 pers. comm.).

Period	Point Type	Obsidian	Volcanics	Chert
Archaic	3d	124, 231.17	231.16, 780.3
M Arch	2c	110, 112	780.2
	3b	111, 184, 292, 586		780
	3e		539.25
L Arch	3f	231.12, 537.2
L Arch	4d	260
L2 - T Arch	4f	118, 266

Table 6-18. Diagnostic Projectile points Series 1-4 from Blocks 1, 4 and high altitude areas of Block 5, identifed by ArchID number.

Evidence from diagnostic projectile points suggest that during the Late Archaic, the use of Block 1 actually decreased because artifact counts drop from nine Middle Archaic projectile points to three Late Archaic points. Evidence from the entire survey area shows that the use of obsidian for projectile point production drops, beginning in the Late Archaic, from 65% to 52% of diagnostic projectile points. An alternative explanation for the reduced presence of diagnostic projectile points at the obsidian source is that the manufacture shifted to less advanced stages of reduction at the source such that diagnostic point styles were not recognizable in the source area.

		Obsidian	Volcanics	Chert	Column Total
E., M., and L. Archaic (Series 1-4)	No.	13 (27.7%)	4 (100%)	1 (100%)	18 (34.6%)
	mWt (g)	11.0 (n=6)	11.4 (n=1)	5.0 (n=1)	10.3 (n=8)
	sWt (g)	6.2	-	-	5.6
	by Sum Wt	76	100	100	79.8
T. Archaic onwards (Series 5)	No.	34 (72.3%)	-	-	34 (65.4%)
	mWt (g)	1.74 (n=12)	-	-	-
	sWt (g)	1.1	-	-	-
	by Sum Wt	24	-	-	20.2

Table 6-19. All Diagnostic Projectile Points from Blocks 1, 4, and Block 5 upper puna. Weights included for unbroken points only.

Comparing projectile points between the Archaic Foragers period and points belonging to the later periods demonstrates that, while counts are low for Series 1-4 points, the mean weight of projectile points (11g) is 6.3x larger than the mean weight of Series 5 projectile points. It should be noted that variability in Series 1-4 points is also much higher, with a standard deviation of more than one-half of the mean weight. This is consistent with size differences in the point types as described by Klink and Aldenderfer (2005) but it underscores the different quantities of material invested in point production at the obsidian source.

Site Type: Logistical Camps

Based primarily on the distribution of diagnostic projectile points and associated environmental data in the Maymeja area, it appears that "logistical camps" are prevalent in the settlement organization of the Chivay source area during the Archaic. Foragers likely visited the Maymeja area as an embedded strategy, combining obsidian procurement with hunting as the high relief area and talus boulders shelter a relative abundance of wildlife. Today, hunters visit the area to shoot viscacha, and a small population of vicuñaare occasionally seen in the area.

Site size estimates for logistical camps were not included in this portion of the study because all of these sites are multicomponent and, in most cases, obsidian scatter sizes more accurately reflect later periods with greater intensification of production.

	Logistical Campsm	Logistical Campss	All Data B1m	All Data B1s	All data in B1m - Archaic Sitesm
No.	6	137
Altitude (masl)	4723.8	286	4806.8	215.1	-83
Slope (degrees)	13.15	3.3	11.5	5.9	+1.65
Aspect (degrees)	NW (83%)		NW (45%), W (18%), SW (16%)
Visibility/Exposure	8.5	7.1	15.1	11.9	-6.6
Dist. to Bofedal (m)	257.7	223	219.7	275.3	+38

Table 6-20. Environmental characteristics of potentially Archaic Foragers logistical camps in Block 1.

The sites identified as possible Archaic Foragers logistical camps in this study are, on average, lower in elevation because the sample is small and one site in the low portion of Quebrada de los Molinos pulls down the average elevation. The sites are on slightly steeper slopes and they are predominantly on slopes with a northwest aspect at roughly twice the rate of the entire dataset of archaeological features in Block 1. The pattern of settlement location that prioritizes steeper slopes with a northwest aspect would ensure the maximum of afternoon sun and therefore higher temperatures. The viewshed analysis indicates that these locations are slightly lower visibility and exposure than is typical in the Block, although the standard deviation on these measures is quite high. Finally, the logistical camps are slightly further from bofedales than is typical in the Block 1.

The land-use patterns of these six potential logistical camps in the obsidian source area are consistent with models of forager behavior (Kelly 1992). In these models, access to water is not a top priority, as short stays at dry camps are common. Expedient shelters were probably used at these obsidian source logistical camps due to relatively high mobility and short stays. According to this locational model, places with higher ambient temperature would have been a top priority for logistical camps because of the generally cold environment and the limited built shelter offered in logistical camp construction. These settlements contrast with the later pastoralist settlement pattern that prioritizes access to pasture and water for the herd. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate small forager logistical camps from the common small pastoralist camps that were encountered on the tops of moraines and other exposed locations that have commanding views of bofedales where the herd was presumably grazing through much of the day.

However, as is apparent in Figure 6-7, only one pre-pastoralist projectile point style [A03-184] was identified on these exposed moraine sites in the center of the Maymeja zone, and this point was located relatively close to the obsidian exposures at 4900 masl. The point was found at an area later used by pastoralists (with good views of bofedales to the north and south), the site had no other features consistent with forager logistical sites in the area, and therefore it was not interpreted as such.

A03-580 "Molinos 2" [A03-580 - A03-586]

The lowest elevation site in Block 1 is "Molinos 2" [A03-580], at 4216 masl. It is located below a large breccia boulder that came to rest on a terrace on the south bank of Quebrada de los Molinos. The site is located along the principal trail that climbs up Molinos from the town of Chivay. The north side of the boulder serves as a small rock shelter with the following dimensions: width 5.5m, depth 2.1m, height 0.8m. The site has been bisected by a stream that has become heavily incised from torrential runoff events, perhaps most recently from the El Niño - Southern Oscillation of 1997-1998. The effect of this runoff on the archaeological site is twofold. First, the rock shelter has been filled in with debris, as is visible in Figure 6-9a, and the overall dimensions of the rock shelter have been greatly reduced as it was probably higher and perhaps deeper prior to the infilling. Second, the downcutting of the stream has revealed hundreds of flakes of obsidian and chert in profile in the terrace below (Figure 6-9b).

(a) (b)

Figure 6-9. (a) Small rock shelter at "Molinos 2" [A03-580] is filled with debris from heavy runoff. (b) A density of flakes, predominantly of obsidian, are found in profile in the flood channel.

This site appears to have represented a regular travel stop between the obsidian source and the main Colca valley below. Projectile point evidence from the Early and Middle Archaic are relatively scarce elsewhere in the lower elevation portions of the survey, although 7% of the projectile points recovered during the Block 3 (Callalli) survey were characterized as Early and Middle Archaic. Steven Wernke's (2003: 541-542) survey in the main Colca valley found evidence of Early and Middle Archaic occupation at twelve sites in the form of diagnostic projectile points, and only one site (YA66) was below an altitude of 4000 masl.

A03-536 "Mamacocha 3" and A03-556 "Mamacocha 5"

These two sites share the characteristics of being located on lateral moraines that parallel the east-west direction of the Molinos drainage. Lithic scatters associated with large blocks of tuff that serve as small rock shelters are the principal features of these sites. A broken (longitudinally snapped) Middle Archaic 3e projectile point [A03-539.25] was found in one of these moraine sites; interestingly this point was made of andesite and was the only non-obsidian artifact found in this cluster of sites. A Late Archaic 3f obsidian point was also found in this area. Corral features and ceramics were identified here as well, indicating that the sites are multicomponent.

Figure 6-10. Lithic scatters are associated with shelter provided by large boulders located along moraines [A03-539]. One surveyor that is visible in blue provides scale.

The occupation of these sites was likely related to the use of resources in the upper Quebrada de los Molinos valley, although the moraines are not an obvious place for site locations. The sloping moraines are far from level and there is little open space between boulder, however the sites are probably located on these moraines due to factors that include insolation on these north-west trending moraines, the availability of water descending from Maymeja and the flanks of Hornillo, and the shelter offered by the large boulders.

A03-291 "Hornillo 9"

This high altitude site consists of an obsidian scatter that parallels a lava flow that trends northwest-southeast. The scatter is located in the sheltered area below the flow on ashy soil and while water is not presently available in this area, the site is level, it is relatively sheltered, and insolation is high.

Figure 6-11. Obsidian scatters were found on benches along the base of these viscous lava flows at 5040 masl [A03-291].

This site, and a neighboring site 70m downslope [A03-295] consist of obsidian scatters in areas sheltered by lava flows and the sites are adjacent to the lowest cost route out of the Maymeja area. The "Camino Hornillo" road [A03-268], described elsewhere, passes only 60m south-east of this area but, interestingly, no diagnostic artifacts were found that might connect these sites with the road. The only diagnostic artifact found at this site is A03-292, a possible 3b Middle Archaic projectile point with incomplete scar coverage made of clear Ob1 obsidian. At 5040 masl this projectile point represents the highest altitude diagnostic artifact found in the course of the survey. In some ways it is unsurprising that the only diagnostic point found at this site is from a time that predates camelid domestication: the camp offers no water or grazing and it would make little sense for herders to camp in this location when ample water and grazing opportunities lie on either end of Camino Hornillo.

A03-163 "Maymeja 4"

As shown in Figure 6-7, several diagnostic projectile points were found to the south-west of Maymeja. This access to the Maymeja area follows a trail that descends the lava flows from the western plateau of Cerro Hornillo. This trail is one of the most direct routes between the heavily traveled Escalera corridor to the south (in the Block 4 survey zone) and Maymeja. Just below the rim of the western plateau an obsidian scatter was found, along with one obsidian 3d projectile point [A03-124]; 3d is a style that is only diagnostic to the Archaic Period, generally.

At A03-255, another site approximately 500m to the south and on the broad rim of the Cerro Hornillo western plateau, another diagnostic obsidian projectile [A03-260] was found along with a number of ceramics. This area was a minor egress to the Maymeja area and perhaps was used by groups that were primarily interested in exploiting the bofedal in the lower part of Maymeja, and then crossing over to the Escalera area. It is also worth noting that the Camino Hornillo road [a03-268], along with a 4f Terminal Archaic projectile point [a03-266] were found just 500m east of here, but these features are interpreted as belonging to the Early Agropastoralist period described later.

Blocks 4 and 5 Reconnaissance Areas

The expansive Block 4 and 5 areas were evaluated opportunistically rather than systematically in the course of the 2003 fieldwork; and these blocks were examined to a limited extent during preliminary research in 2002. The targeted nature of this work in these blocks precludes any systematic evaluation of site distributions and settlement patterns because of biased survey coverage, however hiking across these reconnaissance areas provides a measure of the variety in each block. Data from the survey of these reconnaissance blocks provide insight into the access that these zones offer to the Chivay source, as well as the initial obsidian production activities that occurred there.

Figure6-12. Map of project area showing Reconnaissance Blocks 4 and 5 with diagnostic projectile points and logistical sites from the Archaic Foragers period.

As with the settlement pattern in other lava rock areas of in the study zone, the arid and patchy environment of these blocks resulted in a relatively high rate of site reoccupation. The prevailing occupation pattern for the Archaic in Blocks 4 and 5 appear to consist of a few relatively large camps that are typically less than a few hundred meters from water, and often close to some kind of topographic prominence that offers both shelter and a view of the surrounding terrain. Isolated finds are also relatively frequent as should be expected of distributed subsistence, based on foraging.

The evidence points to an Early Holocene deglaciation of the Chivay Source area. A¹⁰Be date acquired from a quartzite erratic on a moraine to the east of the Chivay source area (data courtesy of Daniel Sandweiss, 2006), suggests that the terrain surrounding the source was glaciated at the 4650 masl level and higher as late as the Early Holocene (Figure 6-12and Figure 4-15). Establishing the rate of deglaciation for the different areas that may have been exposed in a given time period will require further glaciological study.

A03-229 "Puma 2" [A03-229 - A03-232]

This rock shelter, and the slopewash below it, is one of the more effective shelters occupied during the Archaic in this area. The shelter is above an active corral and immediately south of a medium sized estancia owned by the Puma family. At this rock shelter, a longer incidence of occupation is suggested by a higher density of lithics. The rock shelter itself is something of a tunnel with two entrances as a result of a collapse in the center portion of the shelter. Both entrances have had walls constructed across them, and the northern of the two walled entrances is visible in Figure 6-13.

Figure 6-13. Rock shelter [A03-229] passes behind the collapsed margin of the grey lava flow in the center of the photo. Walls are built to partially close off both of the two entrances.

This shelter faces the morning sun and perennial water is available in a stream approximately 300m east. Unfortunately the construction of a large corral, on a relatively steep (10°) slope (the upper wall of which is visible in Figure 6-13), has resulted in a great deal of disturbance for artifacts just below this shelter. The many projectile points identified here were found among the stirred-up debris at lower end of this sloping corral.

	Ob1	Ob2	Volcanics	Chert	Total
Biface		1			1
Biface Broken	2	3			5
Flake Broken				8	8
Flake Complete	1			1	2
Flake Retouched				1	1
Flake Retouched Broken	1			1	2
Proj Point			1 (3d)		1
Proj Point Broken	5 (3f,3d,unk)	1 (unk)			6
Total	9	5	1	11	26

Table6-21. Lithic artifacts from site A03-229 excluding eleven Series 5 projectile points.

This site contained a substantial number of points that are possibly Late Archaic, although the site also contained eleven Series 5 Term Archaic - Late Horizon points made from homogeneous Ob1 obsidian (that accounted for 60% of all projectile points by weight), but these were excluded from Table 6-1 because they are not Archaic. Based on the condition of the partially worked artifacts, much of this surface assemblage appears to have been abandoned during middle stage reduction in point production. One of the points was fine-grained volcanic, and had incomplete scar coverage. Of the obsidian artifacts, 45% of the projectile points and other bifacially flaked implements had incomplete scar coverage, and 66% were broken. These data suggest that this area, within a day's travel of the obsidian source, represented an intermediate stage in the lithic reduction trajectory as one departs the source. Interestingly, only 16% of the obsidian artifacts contained heterogeneities (Ob2) and these implements were nearly all classified as bifaces rather than as points. Ob2 obsidian was observed occurring as surface gravels only 4 km from this site, and the Maymeja source of Ob1 obsidian is nearly double that distance as the condor flies. Although this may be a signal from the later pastoral period, when shearing and other expedient uses for obsidian expanded, there appears to have been an emphasis on the use of Ob1 obsidian for point production while Ob2 obsidian was used for other bifacial tools.

Unfortunately, due to the disturbed state of the slope from the corral, and the artifact breakage that can result from animal trampling, further analyses of these data does not appear to be worthwhile. Future test excavations in the rock shelter may offer more insights into activities in this intermediate zone.

A03-777 "Puma 3" [A03-777 - A03-780]

As with the Puma 2 [A03-229] site higher in the valley, this site consists of a small shelter on the edge of a lava flow with improvements through the construction of rock walls.

	Ob1	Ob2	Volcanics	Chert	Total
Biface	1				1
Core		4			4
Flake Broken		2		1	3
Flake Complete	1	7		1	9
Flake Retouched				1	1
Heat-shatter				1	1
Proj Point				1 (3b)	1
Proj Point Broken			2 (2c,3d)		3
Total	3	13	2	5	23

Table 6-22. Lithic artifacts from site A03-777 excluding 1 Series 5 projectile point.

Two patterns emerge from the lithic materials encountered at this site. First, the Pastoral period signature is weak as there is only one Series 5 point (and it was completely flaked, Ob1 material). The Archaic Foragers points are all Middle Archaic and they were made of volcanics and chert, not obsidian. A second notable pattern about these lithics is that it appears that there was reduction of primarily Ob2 obsidian at the site based on cores left at the site. These cores were not exhausted, one weighed 47 g and measured 4.5 x 4.1 cm. This is consistent with the evaluations of Ob2 obsidian more generally, in that it is used because it is widely available, yet there appears to have been a preference for Ob1 material and, in particular, for projectile point manufacture. This site is only 3 km from the exposures of surface gravels of Ob2 obsidian on the south-east flanks of Hornillo, but over 6 km from the Maymeja zone with the Ob1 material.

A03-910 "Collpa" [A03-910 - A03-925]

Collpa [A03-910] is approximately 9 km from the Maymeja area of the Chivay source, and it is also 8 km from Callalli to the north, therefore it is roughly equidistant between Block 1 and Block 3 survey areas. Collpa is an important site in this study because due to its position between the two survey blocks, it provides an opportunity to observe lithic consumption patterns midway between the obsidian source and the B3-Callalli zone. In fact, both the modern owner of Maymeja and his hired herder are from Callalli and this site of Collpa lies directly along their path from Callalli to Maymeja.

This site is located among a cluster of unusual-looking tuff outcrops that occur at the western extension of the Pichu formation to the south of Callalli (Ellison and Cruz 1985). This cartographic unit is described by the INGEMMET study as crystalline tuffs and ignimbrites. These outcrops are potentially in the same formation as the tuffs described and dated recently by Noble et al. (2003) as the ash flow sheets belonging to the "Upper Part" of the Castillo de Callalli section, a formation that was described above (Section 4.3.2). If so, then these tuff outcrops date to the Early Pliocene and are probably associated with volcanic activity at the Cailloma caldera to the north of the Colca valley.

Figure 6-14. Multicomponent site of A03-910 "Collpa" among crystalline tuff outcrops. Two dark figures are visible, standing apart in the right and center-right half of the photo, providing scale.

The site of Collpa [A03-910] contains predominantly Series 5 projectile points and is potentially, then, a pastoralist occupation however several projectile points dating to the Archaic Foragers were also found here. The reduction strategies applied in this area are summarized below, although it is difficult to establish if these data on reduction activities at Collpa reflect the Archaic Foragers time or to the later pastoralist period.

The site contains several small rock shelters but the principal lithic scatter is located on a high point in the grassy center of the Collpa area. The site has distinctive concentrations of obsidian and high intrasite variability, however the temporally diagnostic artifacts are not patterned such that one can differentiate components in these scatters. Thus, the site will be considered in one group here.

	Ob1	Ob2	Volcanics	Chert	Quartzite	Total
Biface	4	6		1		11
Core	11	5		4		20
Flake	98	32	8	29	2	167
Retouched Flake	18	7		5		30
Hammerstone			1			1
Heat-shatter			1	2		3
Perforator Broken		1				1
Projectile Point	6 (2c,unk)			1		7
Kombewa Flakes	5	1		1		7
Bifacial Thinning	8	1		1		10
Total	190		10	42	2	244

Table 6-23. Lithic artifacts from site A03-910 excluding five Series 5 Ob1 projectile points.

The site contained a relatively high frequency of Kombewa flakes (also known as Janus flakes), a flake with bulbs of percussion on both ventral and dorsal surfaces that appears to have served as blanks for a Series 5 projectile point production. This is an artifact type that will be discussed in more detail in the discussion of the Q02-2u3 test unit at the Maymeja workshop in Chapter 7. Collpa contained a relatively high frequency of bifacial thinning flakes (n = 10) as per the calculated BTF index.

The material types in use at Collpa are consistent with the geographical position of this site as it lies half-way between the Maymeja zone of the Chivay source and Callalli. The Maymeja zone contains Ob1 obsidian, the eastern flanks of Hornillo contain Ob2 obsidian, and the area of Callalli in Block 3 contains abundant use of quartzite and chert that had often been heat treated. At Collpa [A03-910] a number of cores of both Ob1 and Ob2 chert were recovered.

	No.	mLength	sLength	mWeight	sWeight
Ob1	10	39.33	7.82	25.46	19.41
Ob2	5	34.26	13.67	15.98	19.72
Chert	4	36.55	2.18	19.55	7.60

Table 6-24. Complete Cores at Collpa [A03-910].

Reduction in the Collpa site shows that there was provisioning occurring from both Maymeja and the eastern flanks of Hornillo where Ob2 obsidian is found, as well as chert being used that perhaps came from the Callalli area where chert is abundant. Ob1 cores are clearly dominant at this site. Ob1 is more common, larger, and heavier despite the greater distance to the Maymeja area where this study shows that Ob1 obsidian is found. It is difficult to establish the antiquity of the Callalli ownership of Maymeja, but if movement between Callalli and Maymeja is a pattern that has a long history, then perhaps the greater presence of Ob1 obsidian reflects this larger mobility pattern.

A03-109 through A03-118 "Escalera" Area

A number of Middle Archaic points, as well as other Archaic points, were identified along the major travel route climbing up from the Chivay area of the Colca valley to the puna; hence the name "Quebrada Escalera". This was a route out of the Colca valley that was widely used until the 1940s when alternative roads were improved. These projectile points are essentially isolates although the A03-109, 110, 111 projectile points were found in a small cache adjacent to a large corral - possibly due to salvaging and aggregation by the pastoralists that use the large corral.

Figure 6-15. Photo of moraines and bofedales of Escalera south-west of Chivay source.

The region of Escalera contains extensive moraines interspersed with large bofedales due to the runoff from the glaciers of Nevado Huarancante. A major thoroughfare that bypasses the Chivay source to the south climbs through this valley following the moraines. This area contains varied habitat that probably offered relatively rich hunting throughout Archaic, as well as serving as a transition zone between valley and puna ecological zones.

Discussion

Distributions of diagnostic projectile points present the strongest surface evidence of Early, Middle, and Late Archaic activities at the Chivay source, and therefore inference about this period is strongly influenced by the production and discard of Series 1-4 point types in prehistory. Many of the obsidian projectiles found in the Block 1 survey and the Block 4 and 5 reconnaissance area had incomplete scar coverage, which is consistent with the reduction pattern one would expect near the source. The preferential use of Ob1 over Ob2 obsidian is evident from the core discard and the tendency to use Ob1 for projectile point production. The presence of Chivay obsidian at consumption sites, both locally and regionally, during the Early Archaic suggest that the source area was accessible during this time, there is no evidence of the use of the Maymeja area until the Middle Archaic.

6.3.1. Block 1 - Archaic Source and adjacent high puna