The site of Kakapunku [A03-1000] (a.k.a. C'oponeta) is located on the south side of the Río Llapa on a north facing bluff just upstream of the confluence of the Río Llapa and the Río Pulpera. This site consists of three rock shelters spaced about 15m apart along the base of a 10m high irregular cliff band that lies approximately 30m up the hill and south of the high-water line on the Río Llapa. There is a colluvial ramp below the rock shelters and on a terrace below that ramp lie number of lithic loci and some ceramics. The rock shelters are generally north facing so that they are oriented to the mid-day sun and the shelters are warm and well-lit.

Table 6-35. Loci in Kakapunku [A03-1000].

Table 6-36. Rock shelters at Kakapunku [A3-1000], dimensions in meters.

Figure 6-26. Site of Kakapunku [A03-1000].

A03-1001 -East rock shelter at Kakapunku

This is a looted mortuary context. The rock shelter is moderately difficult to access on a cliff face, and the entrance appears to have been formerly walled off. The original rock shelter height is difficult to determine because cist tombs in the floor of rock shelter have been excavated by looters. A number of complete crania and long-bones were present. The crania and long bones were examined in the field by Mirza del Castillo, a team member who is a physical anthropologist. From her in-field visual assessment she cautiously suggests that a number of the crania had female metric proportions, and that a number of the crania appeared to have hypoplasia of the bone marrow on the posterior edge of the parietal bones which is a possible indicator of anemia.

Figure 6-27. The entrance of A03-1001 with looted cist tomb visible inside the rock shelter.

A03-1002 - Center rock shelter at Kakapunku

This rock shelter is relatively shallow but other characteristics made it appear to be to be an inviting residential location for a small group of foragers or pastoralists. The shelter is dry inside the dripline, north facing, flat interior, defensible, a short distance from water, and immediately south of a terrace for open-air activities where loci a03-1004 through 1013 are located.

A03-1003 - West rock shelter at Kakapunku

This rock shelter is a lava tube sloping upwards into the cliff face. It appears to contain many disturbed interments. Undisturbed human remains perhaps exist here but they were not visible on the surface.

Discussion

Kakapunku is another case of a multicomponent site where discerning the Archaic component is difficult. Five projectile points were identified belonging to different Archaic Periods, and combined with the ceramics (described later), there is a some affiliation with virtually all time periods at this site.

Table 6-37. Selected Lithics from Kakapunku [A03-1000].

On the terrace below the rock shelter [A03-1002] the largest concentration of artifacts were noted. Samples collected from the medium and high density lithic loci on the terrace are approximately 50% obsidian materials with the non-obsidian primarily consisting of aphanitic volcanic stone. The northern high density locus, A03-1010, is eroding down the cutbank caused by erosion and it is possible that this terrace was significantly larger but has been truncated by fluvial erosion of the terrace. In sum, Kakapunku appears to have served as a regular residential area with three relatively small rock shelters.