Excavations at Yuthu a Community Study of an Early Village in Cusco, Peru (400-100 BC)
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Excavations at Yuthu A community study of an early village in Cusco, Peru (400-100 BC) by Allison Renee Davis A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in The University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Professor Joyce Marcus, Chair Professor Kent V. Flannery Professor Philip D. Gingerich Professor Bruce Mannheim © Allison Renee Davis All rights reserved 2010 Dedication In memory of my father, Ralph Davis ii Acknowledgments I would like to begin by thanking the scholars who have guided me through this process as mentors and as friends. First, I am indebted to Joyce Marcus, my dissertation advisor, for propelling me through each step in the transition from student to project director over the last eight years. During this time, we have become friends, and I am most thankful for this. For several years of my life, I have been equally likely to see Bruce Mannheim crossing the Plaza de Armas in Cusco as on South University in Ann Arbor. In either place, his love for Cusco and his truly four-field approach to anthropology have led to countless discussions that have transformed my archaeological research into an anthropological study of Andean life. I could never have begun this project without the opportunities and support of R. Alan Covey. He first invited me to work in Cusco as part of the Xaquixaguana Plain Archaeological Survey. From the beginning, he has given me the advice and guidance that was essential for developing a significant and meaningful dissertation project in Cusco. Finally, I would like to thank Kent Flannery for always encouraging me to follow the path of the Michigan archaeologists who have come before me. At times it has been difficult, but the story of ancient life I have been able tell has proven that the challenges of becoming a project director were worthwhile. During this project, I have developed relationships with archaeological specialists without whom I would not have been able to meet my goal of holistic study of a Formative period village. Valerie Andrushko, at Southern Connecticut State University, generously carried out all of the human skeletal analyses of the burials from Yuthu. I am indebted to her for every sex, age, or trauma identification included in this dissertation. Her ongoing work toward understanding the long terms changes in human health, violence, and physical stresses in Cusco is changing our understanding of the development of Andean society. In addition, I am very fortunate to have been able to work with Victor Vásquez Sánchez and Teresa Rosales Tham at ARQUEOBIOS, the Centro de Investigaciones Arqueobiológicas y Paleoecolócigas Andinas, in Trujillo, Peru. Their team carried out all identification of faunal and botanical remains recovered at Yuthu included in this iii dissertation. Without their expertise, I would not have been able to incorporate key discussions of subsistence or land use in this study. One of the best things about working in Cusco is becoming part of the existing community of archaeologists in that historic city. In my lifetime, I will never carry out the diversity of fieldwork that a cusqueño archaeologist has experienced. Relying on the strengths of each archaeologist that I have worked with has made this project stronger. I am particularly indebted to Carlos M. Delgado Gónzalez, the co-director of the Yuthu Archaeological Project. His broad knowledge of Andean archaeology and experience organizing and directing excavations were invaluable. I am happy that I can count him as a friend. Viky Galiano Blanco is not only a great archaeologist, but also a friend. Her family has embraced me (literally and figuratively), and if it not for them, I would not miss my second home nearly as much as I do. I would also like to thank the community of Ccollana Chequerec Cruzpata for welcoming me to their village, Brian S. Bauer, Rosa Galiano Blanco, Jorge L. Flores Sánchez, Benjamín Castro Quispe, Megalith Galiano Blanco, Yeshica Amado Galiano, Kylie Quave, Whitney Mihel, Wilbert Rodrigo Rojas, Jorge Silva Sifuentes, Henry Harman Guerra, Alfredo Álvarez, Marcela de Harth, Tod Ehlers, Philip D. Gingerich, Guillermo Salas Carreño, David L. Marshall, and my mother Becky Baker. This project has been supported by a Fulbright IIE Fellowship, National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant No. 0832325, and funding from the University of Michigan including the Margaret Wray French Award, Griffin Award, International Institute Individual Fellowship, and Rackham Research Grant. iv Table of contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii List of figures ..................................................................................................................... vi List of tables ..................................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: The regional setting ......................................................................................... 23 Chapter 3: Activities at Yuthu .......................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Excavations in the Northern Sector............................................................... 104 Chapter 5: Excavations in the Southern Sector............................................................... 276 Chapter 6: Domestic and ceremonial spaces .................................................................. 396 Chapter 7: Group identity, the sacred system, and politics ............................................. 420 Chapter 8: Conclusion..................................................................................................... 444 Appendix: Radiocarbon date calibration ........................................................................ 456 Works cited ..................................................................................................................... 459 v List of figures Figure 1.1: Yuthu is a single component Formative period village site northwest of the modern city of Cusco on the shore of Lake Huaypo .......................................................... 2 Figure 1.2: Yuthu can be divided into two sectors separated by a small gully.. ................. 3 Figure 1.3: A view of Wimpillay and the conspicuous Muyu Orqo, or “round mountain” in Quechua, from the Inka site of Sacscaywaman visible in the foreground. ..................... 9 Figure 1.4: A landscape view in the province of Paruro, just south of the modern city of Cusco................................................................................................................................. 17 Figure 2.1: Two distinct pottery styles found during the Xaquixaguana Plain Archaeological Survey ...................................................................................................... 25 Figure 2.2: Sites in the Xaquixaguana Plain survey area with Chanapata pottery on the surface can be divided into three groups based on size .................................................... 27 Figure 2.3: The resource zones available to sites in the Xaquixaguana Plain survey area include: a high rolling plain with marshes and lakes, the low warm Sacred Valley, and high grassland puna. ......................................................................................................... 29 Figure 2.4: Labor schedule for planting and harvesting major crops on the high plain and in the Sacred Valley .......................................................................................................... 32 Figure 2.5: Chanapata pottery ceramic forms identified in the Xaquixaguana Plain survey region ................................................................................................................................ 33 Figure 2.6: Location of the largest Formative sites and the early planting zones in the Sacred Valley. ................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 2.7: The old road to Maras and Urubamba is the limit of both the Northern and Southern Sectors at Yuthu ................................................................................................ 38 Figure 3.1: Crops grown at Yuthu. ................................................................................... 43 Figure 3.2: Possible farming tools .................................................................................... 44 Figure 3.3: Faunal remains at Yuthu................................................................................. 45 Figure 3.4: Camelid species and size classifications at Yuthu. ........................................ 46 Figure 3.5: Age profile of camelids at Yuthu based on degree of tooth wear. ................. 47 Figure 3.6: Two types of storage pits in the domestic sector............................................ 48 Figure 3.7: Typology used to classify grinding tools at Yuthu........................................ 52 vi Figure 3.8: A modern example of a small grinding stone that is oval in shape with a rectangular cross section (Type E) ...................................................................................