A03-201 "Saylluta 2"

This site consists primarily of a medium sized corral built among large colluvial boulders that have descended from the north margins of the Maymeja area. The area is littered with obsidian flakes, and natural and culturally fractured obsidian flakes cover the ground. It is perhaps due to the extensive glaciation in the area that the sandy soils of this corral contain a low density of geologically fractured obsidian flakes.

Figure 6-55. View looking south from above at A03-201 "Saylluta" with excavation of test unit Q02-2u1 under way in top center of corral by the orange bucket. Site datum is on top of the large boulder to the south of Q02-2u1 (just above test unit in the photo).

The corral offers excellent protection from the mountain winds that prevail on the southern edge of the Maymeja area, but at the cost of warmth from direct sunlight. In early August the sun would disappear from this area around 4pm. As is visible in Figure 6-55, a wall between 1.5m and 2m in height encircles this corral, and constructed stairs access the corral from the south. A fan of flaked obsidian, bone fragments, and a few unslipped, unpainted pottery fragments extends 20m downslope from the access stairs to the edge of a grassy area that has probably been a bofedal during wetter times.

A test unit [Q02-2u1] was placed on the southern half of this corral, and it revealed a fill of sandy local soil, and perhaps camelid dung, that was used to level out this corral in an otherwise sloping area. A discouraging colonial-style nail was encountered in level 4 of this test unit, suggesting a post-conquest occupation, nevertheless the test unit was excavated to sterile where large, irregular rocks cover the base of the 1x1. No distinctive prehispanic features were identified, and as yet the small pieces of carbon recovered from this test unit have not been analyzed with¹⁴C dating.

This corral is a suitable shelter from wind and it is also relatively well hidden and could serve as a refuge as it goes unnoticed among the talus boulders of northern Maymeja. Due to the lack of sunlight during the winter months, and the relative scarcity of water adjacent to A03-201 under current conditions, this location is thermally a less comfortable camp as compared with the sites on the southern edge of Maymeja.