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Stone plays an inextricable role in the lives of Andean peoples and the monumental stoneworks of pre-Hispanic cultures stand in memorial to the experiences and beliefs of those who created them. Stone is often selected as a medium for symbolic works due to its durability and perceived permanence, but in the Andes, its meaning expands beyond its physical properties. Stone was an extension of the animate landscape that both sheltered and endangered its inhabitants. Stories were attached to stones, whether natural or modified, to embed knowledge of the landscape and of history in the memory of communities. Centuries later, archaeologists utilize modified stones and constructed monuments as a window to understand long past societies. As our own technological abilities expand, we are able to garner even deeper understandings of the way stones were used and the meanings they may have once held. High in the Peruvian Andes, in a small city renown for its natural beauty and ecological adventures, there is a modest museum, where hundreds of once powerful stone ancestors are visited by school groups and tourists, receiving words of wonder in place of the offerings of coca, chicha, and music once granted to them by their human children and grandchildren known today as the Recuay people. These carved figures give clues to their meaning through their crouched mummified positions and their accoutrements of power, warfare, and fertility. But much of their histories have been lost, as looting, religious persecution, and local curation have moved almost all of these ancestors from their resting places, erasing clues about their roles and meaning in the society that made them. Utilizing a Holistic Approach to craft production (Shimada and Craig 2013; Shimada and Merkel 1987; Shimada and Wagner 2007), this research seeks to recontextualize these powerful Recuay ancestors that once populated the Huaraz region of highland Ancash (ca. 100-700 CE) through an investigation of their making. Each choice and action in the process of production reveals important information about broader technological systems, social, political, and economic relationships, and the cosmologies and belief systems of the makers. Incorporating multiple lines of evidence from geochemical and technological analysis, as well and surveys of archaeological sites, interviews with modern stone sculptors, and experimental testing of manufacturing techniques, this research provides a reconstruction of the entire production sequence for Recuay stone ancestors, from the selection, procurement, and dispersal of raw materials to the techniques, tools, and settings employed in manufacturing. This research offers an example of the efficacy of the Holistic Approach to gain sociocultural insights from material records of the process of production through direct evidence of manufacturing and to overcome limitations regarding artifact provenience. Additionally, the robust geochemical analysis outlined here provides a replicable approach to semi-quantitative sourcing studies through non-destructive portable X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy, with an analytical approach that is as accessible as equipment operation. As a rare case study in pre-Inkaic stone quarrying and carving, this research showcases the technological and symbolic variability within a centuries long belief system that recognized the animate landscape and treated extracted materials as an extension of those forces. Over the course of this 600 year long carving tradition, Recuay artisans altered the forms and iconographic details of these important sculptures, but the production techniques, surface treatments, and raw materials remained remarkably consistent. Only four geologic sources provided raw materials for 96% of analyzed sculptures in this regional assemblage across three different volcanic stone types, including two long-hypothesized quarries, Pongor and Cerro Walun. Over 97% of sculptures across all volcanic, sedimentary, and plutonic stone types shared a specially crafted surface treatment that differed from other Recuay stoneworks and from stone sculptures of preceding cultures in the region. Investigations at the confirmed quarry site of Cerro Walun reveal contextualized insights about the infrastructure of stone quarrying and carving and its close association with tombs and venerated, animate landscapes. Combined with understandings of communal ancestor veneration and intercommunity socio-political negotiations among the Recuay, we see that these stone figures and the process of creating them played an active role in the expression and maintenance of relationships and knowledge between communities and across generations.

During 2014, research undertaken at the sites of Cerro San Bernardo (ACO3; 2,000 m above sea level) and Challaca (CH1; 2,015 m above sea level) revealed the first documented Nasca sites (260 B.C – A.D. 640) in the yunga ecozone of the upper drainage of the Ica River. Both sites also demonstrated evidence of an even earlier, Early Horizon occupation (840 – 260 B.C.). These two sites are located on small, mainly granite, knolls situated on the Northern and Southern banks of the upper drainage of the Ica River. From these sites, it is possible to oversee an extensive area of cultivation that extends from the mountains to the East down to the Western boundary of the Challaca-Tiraxi Canyon. An area, which these sites could well have controlled. Geographically, the canyon divides the Ica Highlands from the coastal area, giving this juncture geopolitical importance. It is possible that the strategic location of this Nasca enclave in the Ica Highlands was aimed at controlling access between coastal polities and highland sectors, while exploiting this zones rich, high-altitude resources. Probably, occupation of this strategic sector commenced during the Early Horizon (840 – 260 B.C.), pointing to a long presence by coastal groups in the highlands. The aim of this article then, is to tease-out patterns of control, interaction, and the type of frontier in existence between the Nasca and coeval, neighboring, highland cultural groups, thereby providing new evidence concerning Nasca presence in the upper drainage of the Ica River. / Las investigaciones iniciadas en el año 2014 en el Cerro San Bernardo (ACO3; 2000 metros sobre el nivel del mar) y Challaca (CH1; 2015 metros sobre el nivel del mar) nos han permitido hallar los primeros sitios Nasca (260 a.C a 640 d.C.) en la ecozona yunga de la cuenca alta del río Ica. Los dos sitios también registran la posibilidad de una ocupación aún más temprana que se remonta al Horizonte Temprano (840 a 260 a.C.). Estos dos sitios se ubican sobre cerros pequeños, que están conformados principalmente por granito, y que se localizan al norte y sur sobre los márgenes de la cuenca alta del río Ica. Desde estos sitios, se puede divisar una extensa área de cultivo que se extiende desde los cerros al este, hasta el oeste y el límite del cañón de Challaca-Tiraxi, la cual podría estar bajo su control. Geográficamente, el cañón divide la sierra de Ica del área costera, a partir de lo cual le brinda una ubicación geopolítica importante. Es posible que la localización estratégica de este enclave Nasca en la sierra de Ica haya sido para controlar el acceso desde las sociedades costeras a los sectores de la sierra, mientras se nutría de los recursos de esta rica zona alta. Probablemente, la ocupación de este punto estratégico se inició durante el Horizonte Temprano (840 a 260 a.C.), lo cual significaría una presencia larga por parte de los grupos costeños en la sierra. Ante este contexto, el objetivo del presente trabajo es indagar sobre los patrones de control, interacción y el tipo de frontera entre los Nasca y los grupos culturales serranos, vecinos, sincrónicos, aportando nuevas evidencias sobre la presencia Nasca en la cuenca alta del río Ica.

This work introduces the site of Catalina Huanca and presents the results of research conducted on its Monticulos 6 and 7 between 2006-2008. Archaeological intervention has permitted the identication of the scope of local politicalprocesses that developed there in prehistory. Around 550 AD, Lima society began the planned construction of this extensive public center in the middle Rimac Valley, representing an enormous investment of work and organization. An analysis of the architectural sequence of Monticulo 7 has illustrated that during the course of 150 years, the settlement’s buldings were continually renovated, reproducing original architectural schematics and therefore the same ideological principles that sustained local power. Later, towards 700-750 AD, the site’s buldings were buried and abandoned following a number of human sacrices, above which was recorded a thick strata of silt. After 750 AD, one of the mounds of the settlement (Monticulo 6) was reutilized as a cemetery for a population whose material culture was found to be associated with the Huari phenomenon. / Se presenta una introducción del sitio Catalina Huanca así como los resultados de las investigaciones realizadas en los Montículos 6 y 7 durante los años 2006-2008. Tales intervenciones nos han permitido identicar el desarrollo de procesos políticos locales. Así, alrededor del año 550 d.C., la sociedad Lima inicia la construcción planicada de un extenso centro público en el valle medio del Rímac, el cual implicó una enorme inversión de trabajo y organización. El análisis de la secuencia arquitectónica del Montículo 7 nos indica que durante un trascurso de 150 años, los edicios del asentamiento fueron renovados continuamente, reproduciendo las plantas arquitectónicas originales y por lo tanto los mismos principios que sustentaban la ideología del poder local. Luego, hacia los años 700-750 d.C. los edicios son sepultados y abandonados tras eventos de sacricios humanos, después de lo cual se registran gruesos estratos de limo.A partir del 750 d.C. uno de los montículos del asentamiento (Montículo 6) es reutilizado como cementerio de una población cuya cultura material se encuentra asociada al fenómeno wari.

The recent excavations of two important areas of the Pachacamac Monumental Sector, the foot of the principal facade of the Old Temple and the area beneath the hall of the main entrance at the Temple of the Sun, have allowed the authors to determine the relative chronology of the first construction at this site during the Early Intermediate Period. The ceramic fragments recovered share similar technological, formal and iconographic characteristics with the Lima Medio ceramics (Lima 4-5 in the Patterson sequence) from Chancay, Chillon and Ancon. This paper concurs with the hypothesis that after the conquest of the lower Rimac and Lurin valleys, there was an emerging regional multi-valley political entity which could relate to a complex chiefdom or an “Andean State.” However, during the Lima occupation of the Pachacamac site there is no evidence of an administrative center with urban residential zones. Instead, Pachacamac seems to have been a low-ranked local ceremonial center compared with the sites of Maranga, Pucllana or Cajamarquilla. / Las excavaciones llevadas a cabo por los autores en dos lugares claves del complejo monumental de Pachacamac, al pie de la fachada sur del Templo Viejo y debajo del vestíbulo de la entrada principal al Templo del Sol, han permitidodeterminar con precisión, la cronología relativa del inicio de obras de construcción, emprendidas durante el Periodo Intermedio Temprano, en el área del famoso santuario, ubicado sobre la margen izquierda del río Lurín, en los suburbios de Lima. El material cerámico asociado a los niveles de ocupación tiene las mismas características tecnológicas, formales e iconográficas que la cerámica Lima Medio (Lima 4-5 según Patterson (2014[1966]) en los valles de Chancay y Chillón, así como en Ancón. Cambios simultáneos, profundos, y de gran escala, se hacen presentes durante las fases Lima Medio en la Costa Central del Perú. Las tecnologías de producción de cerámica, su decoración, las técnicas de construcción, las formas de arquitectura, y los rituales funerarios, originarios de la cuenca de Chillón y de Ancón fueron adoptadas por laspoblaciones de Rímac y Lurín. Estas evidencias hacen reforzar la hipótesis que luego de la conquista de los valles bajos de Rímac y Lurín se está formando una entidad política regional multivalle con características de jefatura compleja y/o del «estado andino». Pachacamac lima no tuvo características de un centro administrativo con zonas urbanas residenciales, sino más bien las de un centro ceremonial local, posiblemente de rango subalterno, a juzgar por la comparación con Maranga, Pucllana y Cajamarquilla.

Puerto Chancay Archaeological Rescue Project: Preliminary ResultsThis note presents the preliminary results of the Archaeological Rescue Project Puerto Chancay. (November 1993 to November 1994). The excavations revealed a long occupation sequence lasting from the Early Intermediate to the Late Intermediate Periods. / En el presente artículo se presentan los resultados preliminares del Proyecto de Rescate Arqueológico Puerto Chancay realizado entre noviembre de 1993 y noviembre de 1994. En estas se evidencia una larga ocupación prehispánica de la zona que va desde el Periodo Intermedio Temprano hasta el Intermedio Tardío.

This article presents evidence of a mega Niño event that transpired around ca. 600 d.C. recovered at the archaeological site of Huaca 20-Complejo Maranga and discusses the human eco-dynamics that could have happened at the end of the Early Intermediate Period in this site and other settlements of the Lima Valleys. is information is compared with contemporary data from the North Coast. I propose that this period of environmental stress could have signied a time of opportunities for some societies of the Early Intermediate Period. / Este artículo presenta evidencia de un mega El Niño ocurrido alrededor de ca. 600 d.C. registrada en el sitio arqueológico Huaca 20-Complejo Maranga. Se discute las dinámicas hombre-medio ambiente (ecodinámicas humanas), que pudieron haber sucedido a nes del Periodo Intermedio Temprano en este sitio y en otros asentamientos de los valles de Lima. Se compara también estos datos con información contemporánea procedente de la Costa Norte y se propone queeste periodo de stress ambiental pudo haber signicado un momento de oportunidad para las sociedades del Periodo Intermedio Temprano.

The archaeological excavations carried out by the Wiese Foundation at the Templo Viejo, Pachacamac (1986-1990), considered as one of the ancient oracles of the Lima culture, produced valuable information about this old building concerning to its ceremonial spaces, constructive phases, environmental impacts, and associated ceramics. Based on this evidence, it is assumed that during the Early Intermediate Period, the Templo Viejo became the major ceremonial building of Pachacamac and the center of the political and religious entity of the Lurín Valley. Judging from the remains found in dense middens located nearby this building, it seems that adverse environmental conditions characterized the Early Lima phase. During this time, there was a high consumption of food as result of the rituals and ceremonies taking placehere, perhaps this temple received pilgrims from the Lurín and Rímac Valleys because Pachacamac was already recognized the most important oracle of the Lima culture. During the Middle Horizon Pachacamac consolidated its reputation over larger areas of the Andes. / Las investigaciones arqueológicas conducidas por la Fundación Wiese en el Templo Viejo de Pachacamac (1986-1990), considerado como uno de los viejos oráculos asignado a la cultura Lima, permitieron contar con información precisade la ocupación del viejo edificio, sus espacios ceremoniales, cambios constructivos, afectaciones medioambientales y los componentes cerámicos asociados a este proceso. Por la información recuperada, se asume que el Templo Viejo, durante el Intermedio Temprano, se convierte en el templo mayor del conjunto ceremonial de Pachacamac y en el centro de la entidad político-religioso del valle de Lurín. En este sitio se instalaron los líderes que administraban la religión y la economía de las comunidades del valle. Por los hallazgos de densas capas de basura ubicados en los taludes externos y áreascercanas al edificio Lima, se advierte que durante la etapa Lima Temprano, las condiciones medioambientales fueron negativas para sus ocupantes. Durante este tiempo, hubo un elevado consumo de alimentos como resultado de los rituales o ceremonias públicas que se realizaron en el antiguo oráculo, quizás el templo recibía muchos peregrinos de los valles de Lurín y Rímac, debido a que Pachacamac ya era reconocido como el oráculo más importante de la entidad Lima en la Costa Central. A partir del Horizonte Medio su fama se acrecienta en gran parte del territorio andino.

This article proposes the existence of a cult dedicated to a female sea deity on the Central Coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period (200-700 AD). This research is based on archaeological evidence of ritual activity as well as ethnohistoric, ethnographic, and linguistic data that supports the proposal. A goddess of the sea, with a court of marine life, linked to the feminine aspects of the cosmos could have had Huaca Pucllana as one of its centers of worship, with the abundance of figurative and symbolic marine representations, as well as the evidence for the social role of women and the importance of marine resources. It is worth noting that this cult somehow managed to transcend the decline of Limaculture and achieve cultural permanence into the Middle Horizon. / En este artículo, se propone la existencia de un culto dedicado a una divinidad marina de género femenino, durante el periodo Intermedio Temprano (200-700 d.C.) de la Costa Central del Perú. La investigación está basada en evidenciaarqueológica relacionada a contextos de actividad ritual así como en datos etnohistóricos, etnográficos y lingüísticos que avalan esta propuesta. Una diosa del mar, con una corte de seres marinos, vinculada a los aspectos femeninos del cosmos pudo tener uno de sus centros de adoración en Huaca Pucllana; la abundancia de representaciones figurativas y simbólicas ligadas al mar, el rol social de la mujer y la importancia de los recursos marinos respaldan esta propuesta. Cabe resaltar que este culto, de alguna manera, logró trascender el ocaso de la cultura Lima y permaneció durante parte del Periodo Horizonte Medio.