Analysis of ceramic artifacts collected by Edwin Ferdon at 80 sites in Ecuador before and during WWII has been essentially completed. All 15 sites from Esmeraldas Province, three from Manabí Province, and two from Guayas Province were classified according to an attributes (or classificatory) approach. Artifacts from the other 60 sites were analyzed using a typological approach, utilizing a typology essentially based on that developed for the Ayalan Cemetery site (also in Guayas Province), still also under study. This presentation will attempt to correlate the analyses using the two systems to determine, to the extent currently feasible, similarities in types of ceramics in the 80 sites from which Ferdon collected. Photographs and drawings from those sites will be shown (utilizing PowerPoint) to illustrate similarities among several broad categories of types in Ecuador, hopefully allowing determination of relationship among sites within geographic area.

Brief Abstract: This paper investigates early Valdivia pottery production in southwestern Ecuador through a stylistic analysis of ceramics from two different settlements. A grammar of style was created for the assemblages from the Loma Alta and Real Alto sites to consider the implications of local pottery manufacture. The presence of local stylistic modes is contrasted here to the overall homogeneity of types. This research suggests how pottery making blossomed locally into one of the earliest ceramic traditions in the Americas. Its results are meant to complement our currently monolithic understanding of the tradition at its infancy.

Since named and described by Collier and Murra (1943), red banded incised ware (RBI) has been recovered frequently as a minor component of both surface collections and excavated lots of ceramic fragments at sites in the sierra of southern Ecuador. The presence of RBI in the sierra apparently resulted from exchange between Andean peoples and neighboring communities on the eastern slope. In the Upano valley, production of RBI, coincident with a 1000-year long tradition of platform construction, began sometime after 500 BC. Still at issue are the origins of this distinctive mode of ceramic decoration and also the origins of the society or societies that utilized it. Examination of that pottery in the context of Upano assemblages from well-stratified contexts suggests that RBI was born of a geographically diverse background.

Ronald D. Lippi

University of Wisconsin Colleges (Marathon County) and

Alejandra M. Gudiño

University of Missouri—Columbia

Palmitopamba: Inca Troops Visit for a Spell at a Monumental Yumbo Site in Ecuador’s Northwestern Rainforest

Three seasons of fieldwork at Palmitopamba are bringing some of the pieces of the puzzle of this unusual site together. While the hill top site was extensively modified by the indigenous Yumbos at least 800 years ago and they built up an important regional center there, the relationship between the Yumbos and the Incas is of special interest. Various analyses underway illuminate the nature of Inca-Yumbo interaction and provide additional understanding of the nature of Inca expansion in the northern Andes. Unusual stone features, spindle whorls, and abundant Cosanga (“Panzaleo”) pottery, among other data, open up new avenues of inquiry into the Yumbo economy and its role in late prehispanic Ecuador.

M O R N I N G B R E A K

Musculoskeletal Stress markings (MSM’s) are becoming more popular since Kennedy (1983) and Hawkey (1988) introduced a framework of methodology within the realm of occupational stress. This study aims to use stress marker scores for supplemental evidence that the Peruvians of Pre-Ceramic and/or Ceramic time periods relied on marine resources, hence the maritime hypotheses that have been proposed. There is indication from auditory exostoses studies (Kennedy 1986) that this phenomenon of ossified ear canals tends to highly correlate with swimming and diving in colder waters. Most activities have been studied with regard to their musculoskeletal stress lesions and have been introduced on the grand scale by the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (1998 v8). Swimming is an activity, whose stress markers have never been looked at by anthropologists because of reasons that most likely range from exostoses being evidence enough for swimming to the task being more recreational than used for acquiring food, as is thought to be the case in Pre-Ceramic Peru. If markers of swimming-specific musculature can be separated between age, sex, era and most importantly exostoses scores, then more weight can be attributed to this maritime hypothesis, which generally states that these folks formed a sedentary lifestyle and could have relied on ample protein intake year around and may have avoided the hardships of travel. Collateral findings will certainly include sex-specific roles and possibly other population-specific tasks performed during life making this a multipurpose MSM study.

Brief Abstract: Previous research on Tiwanaku residential mobility in the South Central Andes has identified highly variable patterns of population movement during the Middle Horizon. Here, new trace element data from archaeological human tooth enamel and bone from individuals buried at sites in southern Peru, northern Chile and Bolivia are presented. These data are compared with strontium isotope data from the same individuals. By combining these two data sets, local and non-local individuals from Tiwanaku and Chiribaya sites are identified and demonstrate a very complex pattern of residential mobility in the South Central Andes.

In the present paper, we present the results of a zooarchaeological analysis of the taxonomic identification of bones as well as the modifications observed in them, from the archaeofaunal collection of the Pucunayoj site, located in the limits of the Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve, Department of Tarija, Bolivia. The results indicate a relevant preference on the consumption of domesticated camelids contrary to the utilization of the diverse wild faunal resources available in the region. The differential deposition of the faunal remains and their associated modifications, suggest a subsistence economy oriented to the grazing of camelids and some preliminary evidences of caravanning and interchange.

Selection of Red Textile Dyes in Pre-Hispanic Peru
Red textile dyes in pre-Hispanic Peru were derived from two primary sources: cochineal and Galium spp.  Although dye analyses from southwestern Peru suggest that only Galium dyes were utilized during the Initial Period, they were essentially replaced by cochineal dyes by the Late Horizon.  This paper explores possible factors contributing to the gradual ascendance of cochineal dyes including environmental pressures, chemical and aesthetic attributes of the different dyes, and innovations in dye technology.

Summer 2004 excavations will be discussed and illustrated. Room3, compound 1, appears to qualify as a storage unit in a transport and exchange system. Some similarities to later Inca colcas are indicated

directly from Cuzco.

Recent discoveries of the major geological sources of obsidian in the Central and Southern Andes are permitting a greater understanding of the patterns of obsidian procurement and exchange by the Prehispanic societies of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. Trace element analysis of obsidian artifacts has established that obsidian was being transported over long distances throughout Andean prehistory. Obsidian evidence suggests that connections between different regions may have existed for several thousand years. This talk will summarize our current state of knowledge about obsidian sources in the central and southern Andes.

On the limits of the empire: Inka domination in the lowland of Mendoza and San Juan (Argentina)
Archaeological research on Tawantinsuyo traditionally affords perspectives from the viewpoint and record of those dominating. Nevertheless, this work is focused on those under the domain, given the lack of material from Inka architectonic structures. The work was done using a diachronic and spatial focus, combining survey sampling, systematic collection of surface material, and excavations of the activity areas. Patterns of space use were recognized starting from the statistical processing of the data in a sector located south of the province of San Juan and north of the province of Mendoza (Argentine Republic), during the Middle and Late Agro-Ceramist Period - 600/1600 AD -. The paper also explains the changes and continuities in the use of the environment and in the organizational structure of the local population - the Huarpes- in relation with the implantation of Inka state domination in the austral end of the Kollasuyo and the configuration of the area as a frontier (1480 - 1533 AD). During the research we detected population increase and concentration in agricultural land, change of water resources and differential use of animal resources

This paper uses mortuary assemblages from the Tiwanaku heartland to propose a likely basis for identifying female gender which can be applied to other contexts. This gender identification is then tested against a limited sample of feasting contexts from Tiwanaku city and peripheral sites in the Titicaca basin. The data suggest that females may participate directly at local levels of ceremonial feasting, but not at higher levels. At the same time, the current data does not offer any direct support for the idea of females as prepares of feasts.

A F T E R N O O N B R E A K

By considering forrmal principles of interpretation rather than the internal structure of works, *singularities* (works for which only a single, unique copy exists) can be encompassed within a systematics. This paper considers three Inka principles of interpretation and the ways in which they play out in colonial-era works.

Rapaz village, in the central-Peruvian sierra, holds the only known collection of patrimonial khipus stored in their traditional context of use. This report presents 2003-2004 preliminary observations on the Kaha Wayi or 'Treasury House' and the contents, including both the khipus first reported by Ruíz Estrada, and ritual apparatus still in use.

The early site of Las Haldas, south of the Casma Valley, has been interpreted in a variety of ways--preceramic city, anomalous Initial Period center and subsidiary center to larger inland settlements. Recent fieldwork at the Sechin Alto complex coupled with earlier investigations at Las Haldas proper has led the authors to conclude that Las Haldas was a polity center in its own right, flourishing in the wake of the collapse of the Initial Period center of Sechin Alto around 1400 B.C. The current presentation will highlight the body of evidence that supports this revised view of Las Haldas.

The architecture and landscape of Machu Picchu provides clues to role of ushnus as miniature sacred mountains in the performance of rituals by Inka rulers. By placing himself within an setting that duplicated the mythical landscape of Creation and the origins of the royal lineage, Pachacuti initiated a "new world order" that drew its inspiration from Tiwanaku and the mythical setting of the Akapana. This paper draws upon ethnohistoric texts and Andean iconography to explain the use of ushnus at Machu Picchu and elsewhere as stages for rituals related to Creation.

El Contexto Sociopolitico de las Fiestas y Ceremonias Prehispanicas en los Andes Orientales de Colombia
El objetivo de la presentación es evaluar la evidencia disponible sobre fiestas y ceremonias que han sido documentadas en tres secuencias arqueológicas de los andes orientales colombianos. Dos de ellas se enmarcan dentro del proceso de desarrollo de los denominados grupos Muiscas y una trata sobre sus vecinos Panches. La información relacionada con los indicadores sobre fiestas y ceremonias permite sugerir algunas hipótesis sobre el desarrollo de la complejización social en dicha región colombiana.

The Sociopolitical context of prehispanic feasts and ceremonies in the eastern Andes of Colombia

The objective of the presentation is the evaluation of the available evidence on feasts and ceremonies that have been documented in three archaeological sequences of Colombia’s eastern Andes. Two of those fit within the frame of the developmental process of groups denominated as Muiscas and one deals with the neighboring Panches. The information related to clues about feasts and ceremonies allows some hypotheses to be put forward regarding the development of social complexity in that region.

Business Meeting

D I N N E R

ation, particularly if we accept a model wherein complex societies developed through a process of domestication of space and the landscape before the domestication of plants and labor.

The results of five years of archaeobotanical research in the Lurín valley, Central Peruvian coast will be presented. Analyses were conducted on the botanical macro- and micro- remains from the U-shaped temples of Cardal and Mina Perdida, and the site of Pampa Chica, dated from the Middle and Late Formative periods. By comparing these three sites I will present the differences in agricultural practices and diets between the different units of the Lurín valley, and examine furthermore the modifications within the socio-economical and political relationships on the Peruvian coast during the Middle and Late Formative periods.

Brief Abstract: The Titicaca Basin is one of two loci of independent state formation in Andean prehistory. The roots of the Tiwanaku state are to be found deep in the long Formative Period of Titicaca Basin prehistory. The Taraco Archaeological Project has spent the past two field seasons engaged in an investigation of the Late Formative Period of the Tiwanaku heartland, the time when the first multi-community polities of the Titicaca Basin came into being. This paper presents the preliminary results of these investigations.

The Peruvian Far North Coast has commonly been considered a „marginal‰ area of cultural development. Such perception may explain why the number of scientific archaeological research pales in comparison with other areas in the Central Andes, and especially in the adjacent Northern North Coast to the south. Recent archaeological research in the Upper Piura Valley contributes to fill this gap on the archaeology of this area. A long prehispanic occupation from the Formative to the early Colonial periods, have been documented. Preliminary results indicate a particular, autonomous sociopolitical organization throughout prehistory. A better knowledge of these local polities‚ social and political developments is required before assessing different scenarios of cultural interaction with other adjacent core polities.

M O R N I N G B R E A K

Brief Abstract: The Gallinazo and Early Moche phases on the north coast of Peru (ca. AD 1ˆ300) were a time of considerable population dislocation, regional migration, and sociopolitical transformation. These changes set the stage for the formation of various Moche polities by AD 400. Perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of migration in this period occurred in the middle Moche Valley, where 114 settlements (towns, villages, hamlets, fortifications and cemeteries) were founded by immigrants from outside the valley. The results of excavation, surface mapping, and artifact analysis conducted in 2002ˆ04 at Cerro Leon indicate that these sites may have been settled by people from the adjacent highlands, people who were ethnically distinct from coast populations. Although intrusive to the middle valley, preliminary analysis indicates that residents of Cerro Leon maintained exchange relationships and possibly political alliances with coastal groups.

Much discussion about the Early Intermediate Period occupation of the Acari Valley of the Peruvian South Coast region goes back to the initial ideas developed by John H. Rowe in his seminal paper published over 40 years ago. Because one of the most notable features of Acari Valley sites is their surrounding walls, Rowe advanced the idea that their function was defensive. This interpretation has been continuously restated without actually investigating the walls themselves. In an attempt to clarify the apparent defensive role of the walls, a section of the walls at the sites of Monte Grande Alto and Huarato were excavated. In this paper we present and discuss our findings, then evaluate earlier suggestions regarding the function of walls in the Acari Valley.

Caches found in ceremonial contexts are typically identified as offerings. At the same time, attribution of ceremonial importance to a given setting is often based on the presence of such “offerings.”  Here, we have not only a circular argument, but also poor understanding of what constituted “offerings” in the pre-Hispanic Andes, and how, why, and by whom they were placed. We address these basic questions about offerings and related pilgrimage based on both 2004 excavations conducted at the Plaza of the Pilgrims in front of the revered Pachacamac Temple and ethnohistorical sources.  We argue that archaeological perceptions of and attention to offerings have over-emphasized exotic and valuable items and what we consider to have been unique single occasion acts. We demonstrate the importance of mundane items as offerings and the persistence over centuries of pilgrimage and offerings by the same inferred social groups. We argue that it was performance rather than the substance of offerings that mattered most. 

Long-term paleoenvironmental reconstruction through integration of complementary data from diatom, pollen, macrobotanical and archaeological analyses had not been attempted previously for coastal Peru. Taking advantage of the “sacred” Urpay Wachak lagoon at the northern end of the site of Pachacamac, a series of sediment cores were extracted in 2003 and 2004. Based on the emerging results from analysis and radiocarbon-dating of well-stratified sediments, we offer a preliminary, long-term paleoenvironmental characterization of the area around Pachacamac. In addition, we consider the issue of water supply at the site.