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The Niched Halls and Galleries
The niched halls and galleries are the most impressive buildings at Viracochapampa. Their walls sometimes attain a height of 6 m. The largest niched halls flank the north and south side of the plaza and measure I9 x 45 m (McCown I945: 268) and about I8 x 48 m, respectively; Lumbreras (1974: I69) seems to have been the first to recognize the large niches in these buildings. The largest confirmed gallery measures over 40 m in length, and most seem to be 2 to 2.5 m wide. The buildings in Unit A are somewhat smaller but are the best documented examples.
Using the illustrations of Unit A in Figures 3 to 5 we can generalize about the characteristics of niched halls and galleries ac Viracochapampa. The buildings are arranged around a patio with a slight slope to it, with the lowest point in the northeast. Although it seems that some preliminary leveling had taken place throughout the site (Topic and Topic n.d.b), the builders did not try to totally level the patios. Several architectural features reflect this physical reality. The absolute height of doorsills, for example, follows the same trend as the slope, but the trend in doorsill height does not rigidly parallel the slope. Corbels are sometimes stepped down to conform to changes in slope. This adjustment of corbel height to ground surface is typical also of Marca Huamachuco, Cerro Sazon, and Pikillacta (McEwan, this volume). The one canal opening found in Unit A was near the northeast corner of a patio, suggesting that it might have been a drain. No. evidence was found of benches in patios.
Doorways are quite common at Viracochapampa. Measurable doorway widths range from 114 to 183 cm. The two measurable doorways in niched halls were at the upper end of this range. Ground floor doorways in galleries were in the middle of the range, and second story doorways were at the lower end of the range. Although not pronounced, there may be a slight trapezoidal tendency to the doorways, with the lintel somewhat narrower than the sill. Some doorways had small niches (20 to 30 cm on a side) on the interior, 20 to 40 cm from the jambs. These niches did not have pins in them but may have been intended to serve as barholds to tie on moveable doors, like those described by Anders (personal communication) and Lumbreras (1974: 161) at other Huari sites. These niches are best documented for two doorways, one in a niched hall and the other a ground floor doorway into a gallery. The niches may also have occurred in second-story doorways; it is clear, however; that not all doorways had the niches. As Figure 3 shows, most doorways open onto patios.
In excavated examples, the distance between the door sills and the nearest corbels ranged from 2.2 to 3.4 m. In the one case for which there is firm data on the intended roof height, the distance between the corbels and the roof is about 2.5 m. The intended roof height is based on the presence of a row of niches high in a gallery wall (Fig. 4) that were probably meant to hold the ends of roof rafters. The rafters would have been spaced about 2 m apart, and the roof appears to have a slope of 5° to 10° (i.e., not as steeply pitched as one would expect for a thatched roof).
The only evidence for roofing materials comes from temporary workers' housing in Unit C and from one burned niche in the niched hall directly east of Unit B. Strata overlying the living surface in Unit C suggest that the roof was composed of clay and tabular pieces of claystone. The materials from the burned niche included charred twigs and grass stems as well as burned earth with impressions of twigs, grass, and textiles. It is not clear whether the results of these excavations can be applied to galleries and niched halls generally, but if so, clay or sod roofs are indicated. We believe that sod or clay roofs were also typical of most monumental buildings in the local Huamachuco tradition.
We presume that the niched halls were intended to be at least partially roofed in order to protect the numerous niches, although we have no evidence for the form of the roof Numerous niches define the niched halls, but it is their particular distribution pattern that is specific to this building type. Although only one niched hall was excavated, all the others were carefully surveyed. Since the niches weaken the walls, niched halls are often poorly preserved. Observations of the detailed pattern of collapse and of the niches that are preserved in unexcavated examples indicate that they are essentially similar to the excavated example. Perhaps the major exception is the group of three conjoined niched halls east of the central plaza. Here the central rectangular hall seems to be typical, but the two square halls lack niches on the walls shared with it.
Figures 3 to 5 illustrate well the multiplicity of niche types and their organization. Perhaps most typical is the arrangement of three small niches and a small window or through niche in the corners of the buildings and in two sections of the back wall. Also typical are the numerous large niches that measure 1 m high and 1 m deep and have a trapezoidal floor plan (120 cm in front, 135 cm in back). These are arranged in at least two tiers, and sometimes the walls separating the large niches have small niches. There is some evidence that secondary burials (defleshed bones) were placed in the walls at corners of niched halls. McEwan (this volume) reports the interment of a number of skulls under the floor of a possible niched hall at Pikillacta. Wall tombs are also known from the site of Marca Huamachuco, where they occur in structures that are probably equivalent to niched halls. McCown (1945: 237) felt that these burials were actually placed in large niches at Marca Huamachuco, but we have found no evidence that the niches were used for that purpose at either Viracochapampa or Marca Huamachuco.
Niched halls were obviously very important buildings. It is worth noting that niches in general are relatively uncommon at Viracochapampa, except for those associated with corbels (or ledges) and doors. Large niches are known to occur in only one context other than a niched hall. This context is the west wall of Unit C, where they appear in the second story of a gallery and are unfinished. On the other hand, two-story architecture is characteristic only of galleries and normally not associated with large niches.
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