Stratigraphy, depositional processes and the occupational sequence of Pachacamac

Abstract

The results of the investigations carried out since 2005 by the members of the Archaeological Program-Field School- «Pachacamac Valley», PUCP-UNACEM agreement, made it clear that the current appearance of monumental Pachacamac, with a planned layout that has three walls, as well as two long straight streets that run through the central part of the Sanctuary, from South to North and from East to West, is due, exclusively, to the feverish activity of the Inca administration. Apparently, Inca Pachacamac lacked the characteristics of a city with dense and extensive permanent residential occupation and its layout was determined by the ceremonial function of the site’s architecture. The results of our last 11 excavation campaigns conducted at Pachacamac indicate that there have been no continuities, either in the architectural design or in the layout, throughout the five successive periods of human occupation that occurred at the site. Furthermore, each of the periods is characterized by different types of architecture and different spatial distribution, compared to the others. From this, it can be inferred that it is the Inca administration that undertook the task of building a great ceremonial center with spaces destined to temporarily house the pilgrims (camps and pyramids with a ramp, the latter perhaps including temples of local gods), communication axes (streets and plazas) and temples of imperial worship (of the Sun and Pachacamac). The objectives of this article are to present and discuss the complex stratigraphy that covers the entire history of Pachacamac, from the construction of the Old Temple to its definitive abandonment in the second half of the 16th century. As well as, to demonstrate that the predominant factor in its formation is anthropic, so the complexity and thickness of each layer is not directly related to the length of the period to which it corresponds, but to the intensity of the constructive activities and the number of people involved. In this way, the layers corresponding chronologically to the shortest period, the Late Horizon, exceed the others in thickness and complexity.