Fortified lookouts and border patrol in the Late Intermediate Period Colca Valley, Peru

Summary

During the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1450), the Colca Valley in the southern Peruvian highlands was heavily fortified. Survey of hilltop fortifications (pukaras) identified a class of large non-habitational pukaras located along the rim of the valley that were perhaps designed to monitor the vast expanses of puna surrounding the valley. Additionally, a prehispanic road which leads into the valley from the south passes through a primary defensive wall at one of the sites—further suggesting access into and out of the valley was a central concern for local groups. In this paper, I use spatial modeling of ideal regional routes (least-cost paths) along with known prehispanic roads to examine the relationship between the location of this class of fortifications and access points to the valley. The results show that the number of ideal access points is limited by the geography of the valley. The proximity of these fortifications to these access points indicates they likely functioned as monitoring outposts and were strategically placed to monitor access into and out of the valley. This pattern suggests that communities in the Colca Valley were organized against external threats, rather than local raiding within the valley during the Late Intermediate Period.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage