Jiskairumoko is a pre-columbian archaeological site located 54 kilometers (33 miles) south east of Puno, Peru. The site lies at an elevation of 4,115 meters (13,500 feet), in the Aymara community of Jachacachi, adjacent to the Ilave River drainage, of the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Occupation of Jiskairumoko spans from the Late Archaic to the Formative.

Research

The site's name is a combination of three Aymara words jiska meaning small, iru referring to a type of bunch grass, and moko signifying a small hill. Thus, Jiskairumoko means a small hill with bunch grass. The site was first formally recorded by Mark Aldenderfer in 1995 during a pedestrian survey of the Ilave River. The first excavations at the site were conduced in 1995.Aldenderfer and de la Vega (1996) Jiskairumoko is the first Archaic open air site excavated in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Under the direction of Aldenderfer, a team from University of California, Santa Barbara including Nathan Craig and Nicholas Tripcevich conducted additional excavations at the site during the austral winters of 1999-2004. In-field geographic information system (GIS) methods were used in recording exposed surfaces.Craig (2000)Craig and Aldenderfer (2003)Craig (2002) The site was plowed by tractor in 2005.

Results and Interpretations

Jiskairumoko plays a significant role in understanding the pre-Columbian history of Andean Peru for several reasons. These include evidence for: architectural transitions, variation in structure internal orgnization, ritual preparation embedded in domestic use areas, and the formation of regular trade routes.

Architectural Transitions

Domestic architecture exposed during excavation currently represents the earliest evidence of reduced residential mobility in the region. Three pithouses, a semisubterranean structure, and two above ground structures were exposed during excavation. Twenty-five radiocarbon dates show that pithouses occurred early (ca. 3200 cal BC), the semisubterranean structure is intermediate, and above ground prepared floor structures occurred later (ca. 1400 cal BC).Craig (2005) This change in residential structures from pithouses to above gound structures is another example of a classic architectural transition observed in many parts of the world.Flannery (1972)Flannery (2002)

Organization of Space

The patterns of genetic relatedness and sharing of resources are important variabiles for understanding village social structure.Murdock (1949)Ember (1975)Ember (1983)Ember and Ember 1971Weissner (2002)Hawkes (1983)Hawkes (1991)Hawkes (1992)Hawkes(1993)Maschner (1996) Spatial organization inside structures and the spacing between structures served as proxies to address these questions.Craig (2005)

Excavators defined three structure types each of which exhibited variation in the internal organization of space. Among mobile peoples, increased formality in the internal organization of space tends to be correlated with longer term residential occupations.Binford 1982Kelly (1992) Pithouses 1-3 all contained small yet numerous internal alcoves which were interpreted as storage facilities. These structures lacked kitchen rocks. These rocks are used to support containers and/or serve as work surfaces.Aldenderfer (1998) Storage in the deepest occupational levels of Semi-subterranean Structure 1 was composed of a single large pit in the floor. These layers were not associated with kitchen rocks. Internal storage features were not present in later occupational levels of Semi-Subterranean Structure 1. However, kitchen rocks were used during the later occupations of Semi-Subterranean Structure 1. No recognizable internal storage features were encountered in either Rectangular Structure 1 or 2. Both of these structures contained kitchen rocks.

Among use labor or subsistence economies, closer spacing between structures tends to correlate with closer genetic relatedness among and increased sharing between residents of adjacent structures. Pithouses 1-3 are very closely spaced, but Semi-subterranean Structure 1 and Rectangular Structures 1 and 2 were spaced much further apart. Ethnoarchaeological research indicates this shift reflects a decrease in the genetic relatedness Garget and Hayden (1991)Gould and Yellen (1987) and a decline in sharing of resources Brooks et al. (1984)Gould and Yellen (1987)Kaplan et al. (1984)O'Connell et al. (1991) between occupants of neighboring structures. There is a shift from numerous internal storage pits to a single large storage pit to the abandonment of internal storage pits altogether. The incorporation of kitchen rocks appears to have taken place around the same time that use of internal storage pits is abandoned.

Ritual Preparations

In the sense used by Emile Durkheim, the Late and Terminal Archaic residents of Jiskairumoko exhibited a simple cultural pattern. By this, anthropologists do not mean the residents themselves were simple. Instead, the term indicates that the various components of culture (economic practices, political structures, spiritual practice, etc) were embedded rather than strongly differentiated. At Jiskairumoko, the earliest pithouse, radiocarbon dated to ca. 3200 cal BC, appears to have served as a place of ritual preparation. Evidence for this comes in the form of thermal processing of ochre for use as a mineral pigment.Craig et al. 2006) At Jiskairumoko, these same ochre pigments were found sprinkled at the base of graves found outside some of the other pithousesCraig (2005).Popelka-Filcoff et al. (in press) While rituals appear to have taken place within the site's oldest pithouse, regular domestic activities were also performed in this dwelling. Therefore, ritual and domestic activities were embedded spatially within the same architecture. During later periods of time in Andean Pre-Columbian history cultures became much more complex, and often ritual architecture is separated from domestic structures.

Development of Regular Trade Routes

Excavations at Jiskairumoko recovered sixty eight obsidian tools. Elemental characterization of these tools was performed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), at the Berkeley XRF laboratory Shackley et al. (2004) under the direction of Steven Shackley and by portable XRF by Jeff Speakman and Rachel Popelka-Filcoff from the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Research Reactor MURR.Craig et al. in press This research constitutes the largest sourcing program of Andean Archaic Period obsidian. Results revealed that all but two of the artifacts could be assigned to the Chivay obsidian source. The other two artifacts were assigned to the Alca obsidian source. Both sources are located in the Arequipa Region. The Chivay obsidian source is located in the Colca Canyon, and the Alca obsidian source is located in the Cotahuasi Valley.

Notes

References

Other pages about Archaeological sites in Peru

-Aspero -Buena Vista, Peru -Cahuachi -Carajia -Caral -Chankillo -Chivay Obsidian Source -Cumbe Mayo -Cusco -Gran Pajaten -Gran Saposoa -Gran Vilaya -Huayna Picchu -Inca road system -Jiskairumoko -Kuntur Wasi -List of Norte Chico sites -Llactapata -Lord of Sipan -Los Pinchudos -Machu Picchu -Moray (Inca ruin) -Nazca -Nazca Lines -Paijan -Pikimachay -Revash's mausoleums -Sarcofagi of Carajia -Sipan -Temple of the Moon -Tucume Pyramids -Wari ruins -Winay Wayna

Other pages about History of Peru

-1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis -2004 South American Summit -Acaray -Agricultural history of Peru -Alto de la Alianza -Amazonas in the Colonial Epoch -Apu Mallku -Aspero -Atacama border dispute -Barrios Altos massacre -Battle of Sipe-Sipe -Bolivar's War -Cenepa War -Chinchay Suyu -Colombia-Peru War -Cultural periods of Peru -Demographic history of Peru -Diego Fernandez -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Ecuadorian-Peruvian war -Expedicion Libertadora del Peru -Felipillo -Francisco Gil de Taboada -Francisco Pizarro -Fray Martin de Murua -Frecuencia Latina bombing -Gabriel de Aviles y del Fierro -Garci Manuel de Carbajal -Gonzalo Pizarro -Guaman Poma -Guayaquil conference -Hernando Pizarro -History of Lima -History of Peru -History of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian territorial dispute -History of the Incas -Huaca de la Luna -Inca Garcilaso de la Vega -Inca road system -Indigenous peoples in Peru -Inti Raymi -Japanese embassy hostage crisis -Jiskairumoko -Joaquin de la Pezuela -Jorge Basadre -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Baquijano -Jose Quinones Gonzales -Jose de la Mar -Jose de la Serna e Hinojosa -Juan de Saavedra -La Cantuta massacre -Lanzon -List of DNA tested mummies -List of Norte Chico sites -List of Prime Ministers of Peru -Lope Garcia de Castro -Maitland Plan -Manco Inca Yupanqui -Manuel Arredondo y Pelegrin -Maria Rostworowski -Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan -Mariano Ignacio Prado -Max Uhle -Mercurio Peruano -Movimiento Etnocacerista -Ollantaytambo -Operation Chavin de Huantar -Operation Condor -Paquisha War -Pascual de Andagoya -Pedro Cieza de Leon -Peru-Bolivian Confederation -Peruvian Ancient Cultures -Peruvian Inquisition -Peruvian War of Independence -Peruvian inti -Peruvian nuevo sol -Peruvian peseta -Peruvian prison massacres -Peruvian real -Peruvian sol -Qoriwayrachina -Raimondi Stela -Ransom Room -Repartimiento -Republic of North Peru -Republic of South Peru -Rio Protocol -Royal Audience of Quito -Shining Path -Simon Bolivar -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Tacna-Arica compromise -Tacnazo -Tarata bombing -Teodoro de Croix -Third Council of Lima -Timeline of Peruvian history -Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza -Toro Submarino -Treaty of Lima -Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru) -Tumi -Tunnels of San Antonio -Tupac Amaru -Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement -Upper Peru -Vilcabamba, Peru

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Jiskairumoko