A03-1014 "Chiripascapa" [A03-1014 - A03-1057]

Chiripascapa was recorded as three sites due to variability in the artifact distributions and the differences in topography. Due to downslope movement in the steep talus zone in one portion of the site, and deflation in the lower site complex, the Archaic Foragers component of this site complex will be described as one group.

ArchID	SiteID	FileType	Description	Area (m2)
1014	1014	Site_a	"Chiripascapa"	24,550,334
1023	1014	Lithic_a	Medium Dens, 100 Obs	38,785
1024	1014	Lithic_a	Medium Dens, 89 Obs	124,943
1025	1025	Site_a	"Chiripascapa2"	27,927,630
1026	1025	Lithic_a	High Dens, 100 Obs	2,470,331
1038	1025	Lithic_a	High Dens, 30 Obs	1,086,213
1041	1025	Ceram_a	Painted LIP	186
1043	1025	Lithic_a	Medium Dens, 100 Obs	9,484,728
1045	1025	Struct_a	Wall Bases Only, Cave	128
1052	1025	Lithic_a	Medium Dens, 100 Obs	888,906
1049	1049	Site_a	"Chiripascapa3", Rock shelter	3,657,074

Table 6-26. Loci in Chiripascapa

Description

The upper part of Chiripascapa consists of one medium sized rock shelter and three small rock shelters at the base of an east-north-east facing portion of the Huarancante volcanic breccia lava flow escarpment. Below the rock shelters a sloping talus field (a 25° slope), littered with lithics as well as ceramics, leads to a small intermittent stream 20 vertical meters below the rock shelter. On the banks of this stream is a scatter of lithics and ceramics from a variety of time periods that extend downstream for approximately 300 m. The south bank of the stream has a modern estancia (Pausa) and a large corral below the associated buildings, seriously disturbing any artifact scatters on the south bank. The north bank of the stream is also disturbed. Large scars from bulldozers scraped off the topsoil in certain areas. The resident at the Pausa estancia explained that during the 1970s highway improvement for the Majes Project the road crews caused these impacts as they were looking for gravel sources in that area. Just north of this site complex is a large, active gravel pit.

Figure 6-18. A03-1050 consists of four rock shelters: A, B, C, and D.

Figure 6-19. Chiripascapa [A03-1014], Archaic Foragers occupation.

A03-1050 - Four rock shelters of Chiripascapa

These rock shelters appear to be well situated with respect to the surrounding geography. The shelters face east-north-east and so despite being in a dark and slightly damp corner of the lava toe they catch the morning and midday sun. It is worth noting that the estanciadepicted in the center of the map appears to be deliberately built with the same aspect. The rock shelter is relatively well-hidden because it lies about 50m up a side quebrada and therefore goes unnoticed unless you climb the quebrada. Despite the concealed position, this location actually offers a partial view of the most important resource in the zone: the bofedal one km to the north-east. It would also be possible to monitor travel through the Ventanas del Colca access to the upper Colca from this hidden location. The stream below the shelters was dry at the end of the dry season, but probably flows most of the year.

Due to low GPS reception in the rock shelter area the four rock shelters were mapped as a single Struct-L line "A03-1050" and differentiated as A, B, C, and D. Only one shelter, the one designated as A03-1050B, had the characteristics of a residential shelter. The dimensions of this shelter are as follows. Height:2m, Depth:6.5m, Width:7m. Due to the overhanging roof formed from the lava flow, a considerable area is dry outside of the walls of the cave. This area shows signs of having been improved as a patio and the "patio" area extends the depth of the dry zone by another 12.5m. The rock shelter 1050A was large but wet, and 1050C and 1050D were very small but dry.

Below the rock shelters a talus slope extends approximately 20 vertical meters to the stream. A variety of lithics and ceramics were identified on this slope, though only one projectile point was diagnostic to a period that falls in the Archaic Foragers timespan. This point [A03-1051] was a Middle Archaic andesite point and it had a transverse snap and missing its haft element, suggesting that it was broken in use.

Features and Artifacts

The stream enters the open, sandy soils of the pampa and on either bank of the stream, though primarily on the north bank, projectile points from throughout the Archaic sequence were found. Preservation is relatively poor on this section of the pampa. In addition to the bulldozer impacts mentioned above, the soils appear deflated and this partly explains the high density of projectile points, from virtually every time period, found in this area. It seems possible that the entire site scatter was formerly more aggregated on the western part of this map, and with riverine transport the artifacts have been scattered over the pampa.

ArchID	Artif. #	Material	Form	Type	Temporal
1015	1	Obsidian	Proj Point Broken	1a	Early Archaic
1016	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	2c	Middle Archaic
1017	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	4d	Late Archaic
1018	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	4d	Late Archaic
1019	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	3d	Archaic
1021	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	2c	Middle Archaic
1023	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	2c	Middle Archaic
1024	4	Volcanics	Proj Point	4d	Late Archaic
1024	5	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	4d	Late Archaic
1026	3	Obsidian	Proj Point	1b	Early Archaic
1031	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	4f	Late-Term. Archaic
1034	1	Chert	Proj Point	1b	Early Archaic
1035	1	Obsidian	Preform	2c	Middle Archaic
1036	1	Obsidian	Preform	2c	Middle Archaic
1037	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	1a	Early Archaic
1044	1	Obsidian	Preform	2c	Middle Archaic
1044	2	Obsidian	Proj Point	1a	Early Archaic
1048	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	4d	Late Archaic
1051	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	3b	Middle Archaic
1057	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	4f	Late-Term. Archaic

Table 6-27. Diagnostic Series 1 through 4 projectile points from Chiripascapa [A03-1014].

The temporal distribution of projectile points from Chiripascapa shows that virtually every time period is well represented. One distinction worth noting is that obsidian is used almost exclusively in the later time period, while about 50% of the projectile points (by count) are made from obsidian in the early time periods presented by Series 1 - 4 points.

Projectile Points	Obsidian	Volcanics	Chalcedony	Chert
Series 1 - 4	10 (48%)	9 (43%)	1 (5%)	1 (5%)
Series 5	24 (96%)	1 (4%)	0	0
Total	34	10	1	1

Table 6-28. Representative proportions of material types by projectile point styles.

The medium and high density lithic loci along the creek banks are difficult to temporally isolate because there are later period diagnostics, including twenty-six Series 5 projectile points and ceramics dating from the Middle Horizon, LIP, and Inka periods found in the A03-1038 lithic locus. Most of the flakes observed at this site were obsidian and chert. A small concentration of andesite flakes on the south bank of the stream in locus A03-1038 was observed, despite the fact that all andesite projectile points came from the north bank of the stream.

Material Type	Obsidian	Volcanics	Chalcedony	Chert	Quartzite
No.	88 (62%)	32 (23%)	5 (4%)	15 (11%)	1 (0.7%)
Mean Wt (g)	5.05	18.28	16.7	10.91	11.5
% by Sum Wt	34.5%	45.6%	6.7%	12.3%	0.9%

Table 6-29. All lithic artifacts from Chiripascapa.

The surface materials included bifaces, cores, and flakes of all local material types except quartzite, which was rare at the site. Based on the mean flake size and the percentage of the total contribution by weight, fine-grained volcanics appear the most local to the area. Isolating any one of the lithic concentrations to a particular time period is difficult, but when viewed collectively including the point scatters in A03-1014 and A03-1025, and the rock shelters in A03-1049, the site complex is one of the oldest residential areas in the larger study area. The rock shelter A03-1050B and the built up patio has a high probability of containing a stratified intact deposit that extends into the earlier parts of the Archaic.

A03-900 "Huañatira"

Huañatira is a horseshoe-shaped valley with escarpments of lava flows of volcanic breccia on three sides and a small rise in the center where a single toe of lava extends down lower towards the pampa. The result is a sheltered, circular valley with a sloping ramp that climbs towards the top of the lava flow to the east of the valley. The Huañatira valley provides a moderately sheltered area with good views of the surrounding pampa, and it is defensive because it provides means of escaping to the higher lava flow terrain without being observed by pedestrians approaching from the pampa.

Figure6-20. Huañatira [A03-900] and vicinity, Archaic Foragers occupation.

Description

The area has evidence of occupation from virtually every time period from the Early Archaic to the modern period. A maintained estancia is found just to the west of the study area shown in Figure 6-20, and a small driveway is shown on the map accessing the area from the east. A worn trail departs the estancia to the west; a travel route that probably dates to the pastoral period if not earlier. Projectile points were found scattered around the valley that date to all periods, however most of the large scale archaeological features in this area appear to be from the pastoralist period. The circular or oval features shown as structural loci (not labeled on Figure 6-20) are most likely of pastoralist origin. A rock shelter offering partial protection was found in the center of site 900 overlooking the pampa [A03-903]. This immediate valley area belongs to a very small local watershed, and during the dry season there was no apparent surface water. This small watershed prevented a great deal of surface runoff; a factor has probably helped to maintain artifact positions in their original contexts in this local valley more than at other sites from the survey.

ArchID	File Type		ArchID (cont.)	File Type
817	site_a		940	lithic_a
820	site_p		941	lithic_p
821	lithic_a		942	lithic_p
822	site_p		943	lithic_p
823	site_p		944	lithic_p
824	site_p		945	lithic_p
825	site_p		946	lithic_p
826	site_p		947	lithic_p
827	site_p		948	site_p
828	lithic_a		949	lithic_p
830	struct_p		951	lithic_p
831	site_p		953	lithic_p
900	site_a		954	lithic_p
902	lithic_a		956	site_a
903	struct_l		957	struct_l
904	lithic_a		958	struct_a
905	lithic_p		960	lithic_p
906	site_p		961	lithic_p
907	site_p		962	lithic_p
938	site_a		963	lithic_p
939	lithic_a		964	lithic_p

Table 6-30. Non-consecutive ArchID numbers at Huañatira [A03-900], an Archaic Foragers site.

A03-957 - Rock shelter

This is a relatively large rock shelter overlooking the pampa and the valley of Huañatira. Contrary to most residential rock shelters in the region, this shelter faces south-east and it is therefore not exposed to the warming sun and was probably a shelter that was cool in temperature nearly all year reducing its potential as a residential structure in the altiplano. The shelter offers a relatively large amount of residential space inside the dripline; the rock shelter is 7m deep from the dripline, 12m wide, and over 3m high. Virtually all of the interior space of the shelter is clear of rubble and useable for residential activities. Four projectile points from the Early, Middle, and Late Archaic Periods were found associated with this shelter. A recessed tomb dominates this shelter today, but given the size of the feature and the pattern of cave burial during the Late Intermediate Period, the mortuary feature in this shelter is interpreted as a LIP cist tomb. These features are described in the Late Prehispanic - Block 2 discussion (Figure 6-76), close to the end of this chapter.

Figure 6-21. Rock shelter of Huañatira with circular mortuary feature visible inside. One meter scale showing on tape resting on rock along dripline (see also Figure 6-76).

Features and Artifacts

Some cases of disturbed artifact provenience are obvious, such as the three projectile points in a wash at the base of the valley shown as the three points on the eastern edge of Figure 6-20. Also the points below the Huañatira rock shelter on the north end ofthis site were found in the colluvial zone below the shelter and were apparently displaced.

ArchID	Index#	Material	Form	Type	Temporal
820	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	3b	Middle Archaic
822	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	2c	Middle Archaic
941	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	1a	Early Archaic
942	1	Chert	Proj Point Broken	3b	Middle Archaic
943	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	4f	Late - Terminal Archaic
944	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	3b	Middle Archaic
945	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	1b	Early Archaic
949	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	2a	Early-Middle Archaic
951	1	Quartzite	Proj Point	3b	Middle Archaic
953	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	2c	Middle Archaic
954	1	Obsidian	Proj Point	4f	Late - Terminal Archaic
956	2	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	1b	Early Archaic
956	3	Obsidian	Proj Point Broken	1b	Early Archaic
958	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	3b	Middle Archaic
960	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	4d	Late Archaic
963	1	Volcanics	Proj Point Broken	4d	Late Archaic
964	1	Volcanics	Proj Point	4d	Late Archaic

Table 6-31. Diagnostic Series 1 through 4 projectile points from Huañatira [A03-900].

Artifact proportions are consistent with other Archaic Foragers sites in the area, with approximately 50 of the projectile points and 65 of all collected lithic artifacts being of obsidian. A number of bifaces and flakes were found at this site, primarily of fine-grained volcanic stone and obsidian, and one obsidian core.

Material Type	Obsidian	Volcanics	Chalcedony	Chert	Quartzite
No.	50 (64%)	14 (18%)	3 (4%)	9 (12%)	2 (3%)
Mean Wt (g)	4.97	99.8	31.4	49.5	111.1
% by Sum Wt	10.4%	57.8%	4.2%	17.6%	9.9%

Table 6-32. All lithic artifacts from Huañatira.

As with other residential areas in Block 2, it is difficult to differentiate the Archaic Foragers component in this area of heavy reoccupation. The area contains a large rock shelter and it provides a measure of shelter on the border of the pampa, as do the other shelters in the area. Several Late Archaic projectile points are dark fine-grained volcanic rock, akin to the Late Archaic (4d) points found at that Chiripascapa [a03-1014] a short distance to the north.