Niched halls are a relatively common architectural type at Marca Huamachuco, where they were apparently built over a period of about 500 years. Reflecting this long development, the niched halls at Marca Huamachuco are not as uniform in architectural detail as those at Viracochapampa, and variation in architectural style was seriated into a preliminary sequence (Topic I986). Twenty examples from Marca Huamachuco were employed and four chronological groupings of buildings were defined: Early, Transitional, Classic, and Late.

Figure 8 illustrates an Early type of niched hall at Marca Huamachuco. It is located in the part of the site called Cerro Viejo and is narrower and shorter than later examples. The most diagnostic architectural feature is the placement of drains just above the corbel level. This implies that they drained a relatively flat, packed-clay roof. Similar drains are common throughout this sector of the site, but are rare in other sectors of the site. A curvilinear gallery at Cerro Viejo with similar drains was shown by carbon dating to have been adandoned about A. D. 400 (Topic and Topic n.d.b: table 3). In addition to this example, two other buildings belong to the Early group. None of these is well preserved, and it is quite likely that other Early buildings have been destroyed.

Figure 9 illustrates one of the six Transitional niched halls. They are sometimes set on a low terrace and have large niches along the whole length of the back wall, and usually have at least some niches along the interior of the front wall. The example illustrated is located along one side of the large plaza at Marca Huamachuco, and McCown (1945: 237) reports chat Uhle found wall tombs in these niches. We have not found evidence for the use of niches for burial purposes, but there is some evidence for the incorporation of burials within the walls themselves, at least in buildings of the Classic phase. This niched hall also has poles incorporated into the hearting of its walls, from which we secured a date of A.D. 780 ± 65. Specific similarities to the niched halls at Viracochapampa are the overall shape (about 40 x 10 m) and the use of a similar technique in the construction of niche IinteIs, although pole lintels also occur. The example most similar to those at Viracochapampa is probably that found on the SW side of the Gallery B group at Marca Huamachuco (McCown 1945: fig. 8, f and g), from which we secured a sample of a pole lintel for carbon dating. The original analysis (Topic and Topic I983: table 3) indicated a date of about 4,000 B.C., but at our request another piece 3f the same pole was analyzed, resulting in a determination of A.D. 640 ± 85 (John Noakes, personal communication).

The Classic group of seven buildings includes what McCown referred to as Galleries A (Fig. 10), B, and G. In these examples, the niched hall, measuring about 10 x 60 m, is located on the second story. Niches are found only on the back wall and have pole lintels. Poles are also frequently incorporated into the wall hearting of the Classic niched halls, while only one of the niched halls in the Transitional group has poles in the wall. Also diagnostic of the Classic niched halls are decorative, stepped niches on the exterior front wall. Four carbon dates from three buildings (A.D. 670 ± 65, main plaza; A.D. 750 ±60, Gallery A; A.D. 875 ± 60 and A.D. 495 ± 155 Gallery B) indicate a probable Middle Horizon 2 date for the Classic niched halls, but there is little or no stylistic overlap with buildings at Viracochapampa. The only possible similar structure at Viracochapampa would be the gallery with secondstory niches under construction in Unit C.

In my (1986) seriation of niched halls at Marca Huamachuco there is a fourth group of four Late buildings that need not concern us here, except that this group would continue the niched hall tradition into the latter part of the Middle Horizon.

Specific construction similarities between the niched halls at Marca Huamachuco and other Huari buildings occur only in the middle of the four-phase architectural sequence. A similar lintel construction technique was used at both Marca Huamachuco and Viracochapampa, while the use of organic materials in wall heartings occurred at Marca Huamachuco and other Huari sites (but not at Viracochapampa). These two attributes are confined to the late Transitional and early Classic examples. The lintel technique is confirmed in only three examples (two Transitional, one Classic), while organic material in the wall hearting occurs in one Transitional and three Classic buildings. Only one building, the late Transitional building in Figure 9, has both attributes.

The Transitional and Classic buildings a were typically arranged in groups around two or three sides of a patio; this is somewhat similar to spatial organization at Viracochapampa. The niched halls around a Marca Huamachuco patio, however, were probably not all built at the same time, suggesting a much longer time depth for the Marca Huamachuco patio groupings. Moreover, in the clearest examples all the buildings on a patio are niched halls. Small, above-ground masonry tombs were constructed in at least two patios. The niched halls were probably public buildings, but their context at Marca Huamachuco suggests to me that they served a relatively restricted public, perhaps one defined in terms of kinship through a number of generations.

Galleries are also common in the local Huamachuco tradition, and some architectural details parallel changes in the niched halls. Although there are earlier galleries at other sites, at Marca Huamachuco the earliest galleries seem to be located on Cerro Viejo. These galleries were probably only one story tall, with flat earthen roofs supported by corbels and surrounded by a parapet. The roof formed a terrace that could be used for outdoor activities. Roof drains identical to those shown in Figure 8 drained off rainwater.

The galleries at Marca Huamachuco are exceedingly long. A single building with multiple internal rooms is commonly several hundred meters in length. They are typically curvilinear rather than rectangular, and individually or jointly enclose large areas. Thus galleries, or galleries and walls, enclose the entire area at Cerro Viejo and subdivide it into two sections. One section at the top of a hill was entirely enclosed by galleries and walls in a roughly circular configuration. The other section is a roughly triangular area extending northwest from the base of the hill; in this area the galleries and walls enclosed the perimeter by following a natural cliff. Within these two areas there were smaller rectangular buildings. Some of these also had roof drains and sometimes were arranged informally around patios. The main occupation at Cerro Viejo probably ended about A.D. 400 (Topic and Topic n.d.b.: table 3).

By about A.D. 400 four major types of architecture, perimeter galleries circular galleries, niched halls, and small rectangular buildings are recognizable and closely associated spatially at Marca Huamachuco. The niched hall probably developed out of a specialized segment of the perimeter gallery, and the earliest example is closely associated with small rectangular rooms.

Later development at Marca Huamachuco saw much more spatial separation of these architectural forms. Later niched halls are found on the higher ground in the center of Cerro del Castillo, while circular galleries are almost exclusively located in the Cerro de Ias Monjas and Cerro de los Corrales sectors of the site. The circular galleries generally enclose large patios, and numerous doorways open onto the patios. These patios have small rectangular buildings informally arranged around smaller patios. The circular galleries gradually became multistoried, although this development is not well dated. It is clear, however, that circular galleries were built throughout the end of the Early Intermediate Period and the Middle Horizon. Some multistoried circular galleries have holes in one wall instead of, or in addition to, corbels to support the second-story floor; this technique is probably an antecedent of the corbel-niche technique used at Viracochapampa.

The corbel-hole technique is also used in some perimeter galleries, where two radiocarbon dates on joist ends (A.D. 455 ± 80 and A.D. 505 ± 60) suggest that the technique was used briefly towards the end of the Early Intermediate Period. Most galleries, both perimeter and circular, use only corbels to support the floors of upper stories. Dates on charcoal from the primary occupations of two excavated perimeter galleries and associated architecture (A.D. 405 ± I95, A.D. 430 ± 60, and A.D. 495 ± 65) suggest that the exclusive use of corbels was the earlier technique. Dates from pole door lintels from two circular galleries (A.D. 675 ± 75 and A.D. 1050 ± 60) show that the exclusive use of corbels came back into fashion after brief experimentation with setting one end of the joist into a hole.

Based on current dates, after A.D. 400 new perimeter galleries were constructed almost exclusively in the Cerro del Castillo sector of the site, where they defined the boundaries of the sector and usually followed natural cliffs. The typical shape of the perimeter gallery was a large horseshoe, and the majority of doorways opened into the interior of the horseshoe. The hollow of the horseshoe was filled with small rectangular buildings, sometimes multistoried, arranged informally around patios.

Our limited excavations have not yet documented the construction of perimeter galleries after about A.D. 500. Two of the three excavated areas, however, saw repeated reoccupation of the galleries and associated architecture throughout most of the Middle Horizon. These reoccupations seem. domestic in nature, and frequent finds of imported or imitation Cajamarca pottery suggest some affluence. One gallery at the extreme southeast end of the site was deliberately filled in to create a roughly circular mound. Dates suggest that this mound was constructed at the end of the Early Intermediate Period (A.D. 550 ± 100, A.D. 545 ± 95, and A.D. 560 ± 100). The dates agree with finds of Recuay pottery probably deposited as offerings in the fill. Also deposited in different parts of the fill were five obsidian projectile points that suggest interaction with areas much further south.

This brief summary touches only on some of the major aspects of planning and construction techniques at Marca Huamachuco. It is clear that on the eve of the Middle Horizon, Marca Huamachuco was a vibrant site with contacts to the north and south. It also had a well-developed architectural tradition that emphasized the same types of buildings that occur at Viracochapampa. While details of the configurations, contexts, and masonry styles of the buildings are different, the two sites share ideas about the division of space and the relative importance of different building types. At both sites, space was divided into smaller "patio" areas defined by perimeter buildings. These individual patios constituted foci, and buildings were designed with multiple entrances to facilitate access into and across the patios. In contrast, access into or out of the patio area was less emphasized. At both sites too, the most salient building type, in terms of location and labor invested in its construction, was the niched hall.