Chanka

In the Central Cordillera of the Andes in Peru, the Ayacucho region offers a landscape of mountains and
deep, warm valleys, whose vast ecological diversity has encouraged human settlement from the Archaic
period, 10,000 years ago, up to the present day. The Choquek’iraw-Chanca project, initiated in 2007, aims
at understanding the process of occupation in one part of this region, the ‘La Mar’ province (so-called
Oreja de Perro, ‘dog’s ear’), which is located between 1,000 and 4,500m altitude, in the north-east of Ayacucho
(the regional capital).
Two survey campaigns were carried out in this area. These indicated a significant regional occupation
that began soon after the Formative Period (± 500 BC) and continued through the Inca era (1532 AD),
with a stronger presence of sites from the Late Intermediate period (1000 to 1400 AD), probably belonging
to the Chanka. Today, there are still a few hamlets of people speaking the Quechua dialect and their
rural lifestyle seems to be similar to that of pre-Columbian times.
Preliminary work on high definition satellite images from Google Earth enabled us to identify a few
archaeological sites (villages and ceremonial centres). By surveying on foot, we discovered other sites that
were not visible on Google Earth (burials in rock shelters, agriculture terraces and ancient roads). Each
site has been properly recorded and referenced by GPS points (UTM WGS 84). This helps us integrate all
the information recorded on the ground into a computer database and a Geographic Information System
(GIS). The distribution of archaeological sites – most of which are Chanka villages – can then be shown
on different base maps. The GIS also provides the opportunity to make thematic maps carry out spatial
analysis via digital terrain model (DTM), e.g. slopes, site inter-visibility and visibility between sites and
their environments, which allowed us to understand the different patterns of landscape occupation.

El asentamiento arqueológico Condoray pukara llaqta de la cultura Chanka con presencia Inka, expone un modo de vida de tiempos de guerra, un problema social imperante, etapa de la violencia prehispánica. Las investigaciones arqueológicas sobre los Chankas y su incorporación al estado del Tawantinsuyu, precisa una sociedad prehispánica compleja y violenta, con presencia de zanjas, murallas, casas aisladas como estrategias de defensa y entierros en fosas comunes, resultado de enfrentamientos.

"Pukara" es quizá uno de los pocos sitios del Período Intermedio Tardío que aparece reocupado por los Inkas, en la cuenca superior y margen izquierda del río Qaracha al sur oeste de Ayacucho. Corresponde a una fortaleza natural elegido para el control y defensa de una numerosa población establecida en la cima y alrededores del lugar con terrazas, edificios circulares y rectangulares, patios, áreas de enterramiento, fuentes de agua, asociados a fragmentos de cerámica, líticos, etc.

Comparative study of fortified settlements in Peru, and spatial analysis for understanding the settlement pattern, in the Jauja Région. Nature and functions of Pucaras in the Late Intermediate Period in the Centrales Andes, and reality or not of conflicts during the Auca Runa.