Site Type: Small logistical site / hunting blind

Given the weak evidence of Archaic occupation in the Block 3 area, traces of early logistical sites and hunting blinds were difficult to discern from the well-distributed pastoral period evidence. As described above, archaeological sites were judged to contain pre-pastoral components belonging to logistical sites and hunting blinds when assemblages were of low diversity and long term site occupation evidence was slight. Often such sites are hard to definitely characterize as "archaic logistical sites" because the sites were found in places that appeared to be either predominantly later occupation period, or they were situated in were from ridgelines and other relatively exposed, steep, and waterless locations that were judged to be relatively unsuitable for long-term residential occupation.

A number of sites fall into the category of logistical sites and hunting blinds because it is essentially a catch-all category of potential pre-pastoral behaviors that do not contain definitive evidence for later occupation, such as ceramics. However, during the wet-season herders in the Upper Colca area return to the valleys (Markowitz 1992) and the slopes above the city of Callalli become suitable grazing land. A herder tending the flock high on the slopes might knap stone and create an aceramic site far from pastoral facilities or bofedales. Thus, it is difficult to conclusively say that the Block 3 aceramic sites (shown in Figure 6-25) predate the Terminal Archaic; the aceramic distribution is presented here conditionally.

Sitem

Sites

Block 3m

Block 3s

Block3 m - Sitem

Altitude (masl)

3947.2

83.7

3984.5

87.45

+37.3

Slope (degrees)

9.8

5.5

12.3

8.5

-2.5

Aspect (degrees)

SE

SE

SW

SE

NE

Visibility/Exposure

38.3

24.2

39.1

23.4

+.8

Dist. to Bofedal (m)

1420

600

1024.8

567.9

-395.2

Table 6-42. Environmental characteristics of aceramic sites.

An exploration of the environmental circumstances of these aceramic sites shows that the sites are found in higher altitude areas, relative to the terrain in Block 3, and the distribution are on relatively steep slopes for site locations. The highly variable aspect measure is not particularly informative, though it shows a slight tendency towards south-east exposures in a block that trends to the south-west. These sites are found in relatively exposed, high visibility areas, and they tend to be farther than average from bofedales, though on the whole bofedales are not widespread in Block 3. Examples of such sites would include a few that contain diagnostic pre-pastoral Archaic projectile points, but also appear to contain evidence of later occupations.

A03-599 "Callalli 11"

This site is on the east edge of Callalli just beyond a quebrada. A relatively dense scatter of flaked stone and projectile points from two Archaic styles and two later (Type 5) styles were found here, but the artifacts were not sufficiently dense to merit mapping as a low density lithic locus. The site is heavily disturbed by the construction of two roads on either side of it: the modern Callalli access road to the north and a narrow, steep road accessing the soccer field to the west and south of the site.

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Figure 6-35. View westward from "Callalli 11" across quebrada shows the eastern edge of Callalli.

This deflated terrace edge area contained flakes approximately one half chert and one half obsidian by count, and 1/4 of the obsidian was cortical. A ground andesite hammerstone weighing 294 g and stained with ochre was also found here. This open air site area offers partial shelter in the form of the quebrada and associated lower terraces that are now destroyed by road construction. The quebrada probably contained water for part of the year.

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Figure 6-36. Callalli 11 [A03-599] on terrace on the east edge of the town ofCallalli.

A03-785 "Anccasuyo"

Another possible logistical site was found away from the principal river channel in the area of the colonial site of Anccasuyo. A single type 1A (Early Archaic) or 2C (Middle Archaic) projectile point of chalcedony, broken at both ends, was found here. The temporal assignment is ambiguous because of the broken base. This location is adjacent to a small tributary to the Río Llapa and where an outcrop of tuff creates a small pool that has been developed into a stock pond.

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Figure 6-37. Chalcedony projectile point [A03-790] from Anccasuyo [A03-785].

There were two obsidian flakes here, and five non-obsidian flakes. While the Archaic evidence from this site is small, a single point (that could have been scavenged from elsewhere by the colonial occupants), if the context is intact it represents a kind of peripheral, hidden habitation that one might expect to complement the larger residential bases elsewhere in the valley.

A03-675 "Taukamayo" (A02-26)

This area meets the criteria for a possible short term camp or logistical camp during the Archaic Foragers period. A red chert foliate projectile point was found just outside of the principal site of Taukamayo, a site that will be discussed in detail below. The chert point is probably type 3D (incomplete scar coverage) and it is of a style that is only diagnostic to the preceramic period. This location is a bench terrace that is relatively exposed topographically but, as with site A03-599 Callalli-11 there are opportunities for shelter nearby. This site is classified here this as a possible logistical camp during the Archaic because the immediate occupation appears relatively small and exposed for a residential base, but the evidence is conflated with quantities of flaked stone and pottery from later occupations. The site is positioned at the base of a principal access trail to the high country to the south, and close to the biggest river confluence in the region. In other words, there is not a lot of evidence of long term occupation or diversity of activities during the pre-pastoralist period at this site, but the location appears to be positioned strategically with respect to local travel corridors and the monitoring of the river confluence, and the site thus appears to have more than merely a chert procurement location.