The 2014 Excavations at Cerro Tortolita, an Early Intermediate Period Ceremonial Center in the Upper Ica Valley.

Author(s): Michiel Zegarra; Kevin Vaughn; Beth Grávalos

Year: 2015

Summary

This paper reports on the 2014 field season at Cerro Tortolita, a predominantly Early Intermediate Period (EIP) site in the Upper Ica Valley. While the site has been known archaeologically for at least four decades, no systematic investigation has ever been undertaken there. Our work documented the numerous sectors of the site and through vertical excavations established a preliminary chronology. We found that the site has an extensive ceremonial/ritual component including a U-shaped platform mound, several plazas, terraces with numerous activity areas, and a large residential sector. Chronologically, the site dates mostly to the EIP, and predominantly Early Nasca. Analysis of ceramics suggests that many appear to be a local derivation of the classic Nasca style. We hypothesize that Cerro Tortolita served as a secondary ceremonial/pilgrimage center, one that attracted residents primarily from the Ica Valley and aim to further test this hypothesis with future work.

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Cite this Record

The 2014 Excavations at Cerro Tortolita, an Early Intermediate Period Ceremonial Center in the Upper Ica Valley.. Kevin Vaughn, Michiel Zegarra, Beth Grávalos. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 396561)

Keywords

Geographic Keywords
South America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;