54. Possible Relatives in the Americas

Pachamachay and Panaulauca sites (Junin, Peru)

by George Weber

Location of the Pachamachay and Panaulauca sites on the southern end of of Lake Junin at 10o 26' 13" S, 76o 7' 3". The sites is at an elevation of slightly above 4,000 m above sea level. Maps and photographs (some adapted for this site by us) and most information is gratefully acknowledged to Prof, John W. Rick (Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University).

There is some evidence that the site of Pachamachay was (briefly aand perhaps occasionally) occupied by passing hunters as early as 21,000 years ago. As always, this date (and the next-oldest date of 11,800 years before the present) are firecely controversial and not accepted by manby specialists. The sites was undoubtedly occupied at the latest around 9,000 years ago. The people then living at Pachamachay hunted smaller game and gathered tubers and fruits. They had evolved a peculiar willow leaf-shaped stone tool with projecting bilateral spurs near the base, and stayed with that form for thousands of years. For many thousands of years the Pachamachay people had hunted these camelids but around 4,000 years ago they began to herd the animals.

Location of the Pachamachay and Panaulauca sites in the Peruvian highlands.

 

Pachamachay site

Pachamachay has become one of the more controversial sites in South America because evidence suggests that the shelter was occupied as early as 21,000 years ago. However, as the flaked stones from the early deposits are of the same volcanic tuff as the cave wall, it is conceivable that roof spalls could have flaked when they struck the cave floor. Bones of extinct animals, mainly sloth, also appear to have been cut and worked, but this could also be ascribed to falling rocks. Nevertheless, unworked exotic pebbles which can only have been brought into the cave by humans have also been recovered from the same deposits. Although the equivocal unifacially flaked stones are found throughout the lower deposits, there can be no question that the triangular bone points from higher in the pre-roof fall deposits (which has been dated at 14,150 ±180 years before the present) are artifacts because the grinding marks are readily visible with the naked eye. One would have to suppose that several definite flake tools, and the ground bone points - all part of the Ayacucho Complex - were all intruded through the sterile layer of roof fall, a possibility that seems remote. Unifacial flake points were also described as part of the Ayacucho Complex,but the earliest biface (a rather crude percussion flaked bipoint) was found above the roof fall. Three broken points identified as "fishtail" appeared sometime after 11,000 before the present. The reported evidence from Pachamachay makes sense if it is assumed that the earliest general hunter-gatherers carried with them an unspecialized unifacial flaked stone technology that embodied the potential to innovate bifacial points either by local experimentation or by external stimulus.

The Pachamachay site area: No. 1. the Pachamachay site Nos. 2-7. secondary sites with moderate evidence of human occupation Lines between numbered sites: The polygons divide the territory equally between the neigbouring sites. Each of the areas defined in this way includes a river drainage (or a significant segment of one). The dividing lines themselves fall very close to the watershed boundaries, which suggests that the creek and river drainages were determining factors for preceramic people deciding where to establish a camp. The fact that vicuna are the prime resource tied to rivers suggests that this settlement was designed to optimize vicuna hunting possibilities. red dots: sites with scant archaeological occupation debris.  Maps adapted from Prof. John W. Rick is (Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University) and his splendid web.site.

Pachamachay cave.

In Pachamachay, 33 layers of undisturbed occupation deposits have been found so far with each layer holding a huge amount of data to be excavated, analysed and evaluated. The small earea that has been excavated in this site alone brought to light more than 15,000 chert tools, thousands of carbonized seeds and animal bones as well as hundres of pounds of stone-tool waste.

The Pachamachay country.

A rockshelter on the Pachamachay site.   Cave paintings are difficult to date since material suitable for C14 dating can rarely be extracted in sufficient amounts. At Pachamachay, rock art is not found in the base camps where people spent extended time but is found on the walls rockshelters where hunting camps were set up. Pp rof. Ricks t hinks that this art formed part of hunting rituals that was appropriately conducted near the place of the hunt. This also correlates well with the abundance of camelid-like (lama, etc.) images. Sometimes the camelids appear to be accompanied by hunters, but the best-preserved rock art scenes do not seem to depict hunts. Rather, the paintings seem to portray the social structure of the vicuna, and also a preoccupation with reproduction, as seen in the paintings of pregnant animals. John Rick believes that the predominance of preceramic materials in most painted shelters indicates that the art comes from this period.

Cave paintings.

The earliest humans visiting of Pachamachay used a squat triangular point type to hunt vicuas (a camelid, related to the lama). They also hunted smaller game and gathered tubers and fruits. 9,000 years before the present they had developed a peculiar willow leaf-shaped form with projecting bilateral spurs near the base (see photograph below) and stayed with this form for thousands of years. These people also successfully managed the vicuna herds to maintain their population - but it took until around 4,000 years ago before they started to herd their animals.

The story is quite different only l00 km north of Pachamachay near Lake Lauricocha. The first people who occupied Lauricocha Cave about 9,500 years before the present used abundant flakes, many with unifacial marginal retouch, as scrapers and points for hunting the Andean deer. Bone and antler points, identified by the excavator as daggers or awls, were more common artifacts. Bifacially retouched triangular and simple willow-leaf-shaped projectile points were used between 8,000 and 5,000 before the present when people hunted more camelids than deer. The evidence from the high puna of central Peru indicates that neighbouring groups of people used different projectile point styles at the same periods.

The possibility that bone points evolved into stone points at Lauricocha is a hypothesis which would explain local independent developments of bifacially flaked stone projectile points. Comparison of the early flaked triangular points at Pachamachay and Lauricocha with two ground bone triangular points recovered from beneath a massive rockfall in the Pikimachay rock shelter suggests that a similar point form could easily have been transferred to a harder material when knappers familiar with simple marginal startetd to retouch all edges on both sides to create a point that would penetrate thick hides more effectively than bone or antler points.

The triangular point came from deposits dated 11,800 ± 930 years before the present. This date was at first accepted but later doubt was cast on it because of the large statistical error and the 2,500 year gap in time before the next occupation. A sample of the "peculiar willow leaf-shaped form with projecting bilateral spurs near the base" mentioned above is the fourth item from the left.

A variety of stone tools from the Pachamachay site.

Sometime after 4000 years ago the people of the puna started to make pottery, and gradually shifted from hunting to herding as their primary way of making a living.

Panaulauca site

The Panaulauca site area. red dots: secondary sites.

As Prof. Rick notes: "In the Andean highlands, the burials are usually individual and seem to focus on disposing the body in a somewhat orderly and practical manner. Most of the burials uncovered show people on their sides with their knees folded. In the damp soil of the puna caves only whitish silica or calcite 'ghosts' of leather or fiber garments and wrappings can be observed. Even the small quantity of tools or other occasional offerings such as grinding stones do indicate some sort of spiritual belief about the dead and their need or use for practical items. The burials shown here were excavated from Panaulauca Cave in Junin and are rather typical of what to expect from a preceramic grave".

Burials at Panaulauca being excavated by Prof. Rick at Panaulauca.

Close-up of an excavated burial.

Characteristic burial positions at Panaulauca.

 Among web-sites with further information are:

- http://www.stanford.edu/~johnrick/preceram/index.html

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Last change 18 July 2007