Richard L. Burger

Atalla: A Center on the Periphery of the Chavín Horizon

The emergence of public architecture in Perus central highlands occurred during the mid-first millennium B. C. and is correlated with the expansion of the Chavin sphere of interaction. Atalla, a high-altitude site in Huancavelica, represents one of the first known centers with large-scale masonry constructions. Analysis of the ceramic assemblage reveals many similarities between the local ceramics and the Janabarriu phase pottery from Chavin de Huantar, located 450 km to the north. The inhabitants of Atalla emulated the ceramic style and cut-stone masonry of the much larger northern civic-ceremonial centers, like Chavin de Huantar, while maintaining local traits such as circular dwellings and burials in or adjacent to domestic architecture. Utilizing a core-periphery perspective, the unprecedented formation in the central highlands of a community like Atalla is hypothesized to be an independent response to demands for exotic goods from the more complex societies to the north. The largest mercury deposits in Latin America are located 15 km to the west of Atalla, and the center would have been in an excellent position to procure cinnabar and distribute this bright red vermilion pigment. Production of the pigment itself would have occurred at small villages like Chuncuimarca located in the zone of the mercury deposits.

The Second Season of Investigations at the Initial Period Center of Cardal, Peru

AbstractThe 1987/1988 field season at the U-shaped civic ceremonial center of Cardal in the Lurin Valley, Peru, included mapping and excavation of public and domestic architecture. Occupied from 1150 to 800 b.c., Cardal provides evidence of a more elaborate ground plan than was previously recognized, including dual causewayed plazas, and 10 semisubterranean circular courts. Excavations of the public architecture revealed the periodic burial and construction of ritual buildings, including a steep central stairway and an atrium whose exterior wall was decorated with a polychrome mural of a gigantic mouth band with massive fangs and interlocking teeth. The investigations on the pyramid summit also yielded evidence of a free-standing building with a dual altar, and a burial area. Information on domestic architecture and subsistence recovered from behind the public complex is also discussed. Finally, Cardal is compared to Garagay, a coeval U-shaped center in the neighboring Rimac Valley, and it is argued that ...

Use and Legacy of Mercury in the Andes

Both cinnabar (HgS) and metallic mercury (Hg(0)) were important resources throughout Andean prehistory. Cinnabar was used for millennia to make vermillion, a red pigment that was highly valued in pre-Hispanic Peru; metallic Hg(0) has been used since the mid-16th century to conduct mercury amalgamation, an efficient process of extracting precious metals from ores. However, little is known about which cinnabar deposits were exploited by pre-Hispanic cultures, and the environmental consequences of Hg mining and amalgamation remain enigmatic. Here we use Hg isotopes to source archeological cinnabar and to fingerprint Hg pollution preserved in lake sediment cores from Peru and the Galápagos Islands. Both pre-Inca (pre-1400 AD) and Colonial (1532-1821 AD) archeological artifacts contain cinnabar that matches isotopically with cinnabar ores from Huancavelica, Peru, the largest cinnabar-bearing district in Central and South America. In contrast, the Inca (1400-1532 AD) artifacts sampled are characterized by a unique Hg isotopic composition. In addition, preindustrial (i.e., pre-1900 AD) Hg pollution preserved in lake sediments matches closely the isotopic composition of cinnabar from the Peruvian Andes. Industrial-era Hg pollution, in contrast, is distinct isotopically from preindustrial emissions, suggesting that pre- and postindustrial Hg emissions may be distinguished isotopically in lake sediment cores.

Ecuadorian Obsidian Sources Used for Artifact Production and Methods for Provenience Assignments

A study by neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence measurements of 116 Ecuadorian obsidian artifacts as well as primary and secondary source samples has shown that the material originatedfrom two Andean sources in north-central Ecuador, a flow in the valley of Mullumica, and deposits fou-nd on Yanaurco Chico and the nearby Quiscatola crest. The Yanaurco-Quiscatola deposit complex, homogeneous within our ability to measure, is represented by 18 percent of the artifacts. The Mullumica source has variable, apparently linearly related element abundances that may have resultedfrom the incomplete mixingof two magmas within a magma chamber. Seventy-eight percent of the samples studied are deduced to have originatedfrom that source. Five artifacts from La Chimba cannot be assigned an origin, but four of them have the same provenience. To test the validity of the mixed-magma theory, we present equations to calculate the abundance of any measured element from that of iron. On the average, agreement within about 3 percent is obtained for artifacts.

An Initial Consideration of Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Prehispanic Ecuador

We have examined the role of long-distance trade in Prehispanic Ecuador using X-rayfluorescence (XRF) and neutron-activation analysis (NAA) of obsidian artifacts from the archaeological sites of El Inga, Chobshi Cave and Site OGSE-46 on the Santa Elena Peninsula. Results indicate that two geological sources east of Quito, Yanaurco-Quiscatola and Mullumica, were the principal source of raw obsidian at these sites. We situate our findings within a broader archaeological context through a review of the literature and a discussion of an earlier provenience study undertaken by us. We express concerns about recent attempts to apply ethnohistoric models to early periods of Ecuadorian prehistory, and argue that despite early exploitation of the principal obsidian sources, long-distance trade in obsidian was initiated at a relatively late date and remained at a surprisingly low level in southern Ecuador during most of prehistory.

Radiocarbon Evidence for the Temporal Priority of Chavin De Huantar

Clark, P. J., and F. C. Evans 1954 Distance to nearest neighbor as a measure of spatial relationship in populations. Ecology 34:445-453. Ebdon, D. 1976 On the underestimation inherent in the commonly-used formulae. Area 8:165-169. (Cited, but not consulted.) Pinder, D., I. Shimada, and D. Gregory 1979 The nearest-neighbor statistic: archaeological application and new developments. American Antiquity 44:430-445.

The Importance of Maize in Initial Period and Early Horizon Peru

Cardal A late Initial Period complex site in the lower Lurin Valley with maize phytoliths recovered from a public center. Early Horizon First millennium BC period in Peru characterized by such complex sites as Chavin de Huantar. Mina Perdida The oldest of the Initial Period U-shaped centers in the lower Lurin Valley, with special packets of preserved hair found in a ritual context. Pacopampa A large late Initial Period–Early Horizon public center in the northern highlands with evidence for significant contact with Chavin de Huantar. Tablada de Lurin An extensive cemetery complex in the lower Lurin Valley dating to the final centuries of the early Horizon to the initial centuries of the Early Intermediate Period.

POTREROPAMPA AND LISAHUACHO OBSIDIAN SOURCES: GEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF ANDAHUAYLAS A AND B TYPE OBSIDIANS IN THE PROVINCE OF AYMARAES, DEPARTMENT OF APURIMAC, PERU

Abstract In earlier studies, the chemical types of obsidian Andahuaylas A and Andahuaylas B were identified from artifacts recovered at Waywaka and other sites in the Department of Apurimac and adjacent areas. This article reports the discovery of the geological sources of Andahuaylas A and Andahuaylas B in the zones of Potreropampa and Lisahuacho, respectively, and provides instrumental neutron activation analyses of the source samples to demonstrate the identification. The Potreropampa source and the Lisahuacho source are located along a tributary of the Pachachaca River to the southwest of the town of Chalhuanca in the Department of Apurimac. The evidence available suggests that these two sources were primarily of local and regional importance, although small quantities of obsidian from these sources were distributed more widely during the Early Horizon, Middle Horizon, and Late Horizon.

Tracking the Source of Quispisisa Type Obsidian from Huancavelica to Ayacucho

As in many parts of the world, the prehistoric peoples of the Central Andes sought out volcanic glass as a preferred material for lithic artifacts. Their taste for fine chipping material led obsidian to be exchanged over a vast area of the highlands and adjacent coast for over ten thousand years. Despite its rarity, artifacts made of obsidian have been recovered in many of the oldest known sites in both the coast and highlands of Peru (Burger and Asaro 1978; MacNeish et al. 1981; Sandweiss et al. 1998). In what is now central and northern Peru, a single chemical type of obsidian known as Quispisisa was the main type of obsidian utilized throughout the prehistoric sequence (Burger and Asaro 1977). The geologic source of Quispisisa type obsidian was located near Hatunrangra in 1999. This discovery was the culmination of a search which led from the San Genaro region of Huancavelica to the Huanca Sancos region of Ayacucho. This paper offers an account of the history of this find as well as offering a preliminary description of the source area and a discussion of the implications of its location.

Ch'arki at Chavín : Ethnographic models and archaeological data

We welcome Valdezs recent contributions to the developing corpus of ethnographic observations concerning the production and use of Ch’arki in the Andes and to our understanding of the interpretative value of differential camelid bone concentrations in Andean archaeological sites. The numerous issues raised by Valdez would require more space than is available in this forum to adequately address them. What we will present here can only hope to outline the most salient points of contention and encourage further investigations into these problems.