Who built Ampituna (PT 1)?

One of the things we would like to determine by visiting the site of Ampituna is when the site was built and by whom.  It will be impossible to be certain about the identity of Ampituna's builders until we actually get to the site, but in the next few lab-notes we will profile some of the possible suspects.

Suspect number 1: The Chancay

 

                                                        Chancay site of Casa Blanca, Huaura Valley

The Chancay culture flourished during what we call the Late Intermediate Period (1100-1470 CE), which was a time period of regional fragmentation and development that occurred before the rise of the Inka Empire.  It was centered in the Chancay and Huaura Drainages, though Chancay materials have been found as far south as Ancon (just outside of Lima) and as far north as the Fortaleza Valley.  

 

                                                     Map Showing Chancay zone of Influence

While there is debate about the nature of Chancay political organization, the Huanangue Valley Archaeological Project postulates that the Chancay are best understood as a loose confederation of allied groups who shared different traditions and certain aspects of material culture.   This means that the Chancay were probably not very centralized (i.e. there was no King of the Chancay) but that Chancay people still practiced the same rituals, spoke the same language(s), and used the same kinds of tools and ceramics.  As Ampituna is right between the Chancay and Huaura Drainage, which formed the core of the Chancay culture area, it is possible that it was settled by members of this cultural groups in order to monitor transit from one valley to the other.

So, if the Chancay built Ampituna, how will we know?  In general, there are several different kinds of material markers that we look at when we are trying to determine the cultural affiliation of a new site.  One of the most important of these is ceramics.  The Chancay used two distinctive ceramic styles called Chancay Black-on-White and Cayash.  If we find these ceramics on the surface of Ampituna, we could use it as a clue that the Chancay had lived there.

 

                                              Chancay Black-on-White style jar with monkey motif

 

                                                               Cayash style vessel fragments

There are other clues that archaeologists use to determine who lived at a site as well, such as architectural styles and food remains.  Since the Chancay were a coastal people, their diet was rich in marine foods such as fish and mollusks and our research shows that when the Chancay lived in areas that were far from the coast, they imported these foods.  Therefore, finding shellfish remains on the surface of Ampituna would be another clue that the Chancay lived there.

 

                           Shellfish from the Chancay site of Cerro Blanco, in the Huanangue Valley