An Exploration of Perimeter Wall Architecture at the Terminal Middle Horizon Site of Los Batanes, Sama, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological survey and excavation at the coastal desert site of Los Batanes, a Late Middle Horizon-Early Intermediate Period settlement of highlanders in the Sama Valley, southern Peru, have revealed mortuary and residential site components as well as a perimeter wall enclosing the site. Here I report on the findings of perimeter wall excavations in 2018 which exposed the stratigraphy of the collapsed wall and recovered ceramic and organic remains and a human burial. Using stratigraphy, ceramic typology, and radiocarbon dating, I investigate the chronology of the wall construction and collapse, and the relation to the interment. I also investigate the wall’s function, taking into account such possibilities as defense, ritual, and settlement organization. The wall is considered in its local context as well as in the broader context of this period on the far south coast of Peru.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24533