Huamachuco

EXCAVATIONS
CERRO SANTA BARBARA

In July 1982 we tested four qollqa. They appeared to be rectangular shaped single-room structures, and we were frankly surprised to find that they were not rooms at all. The first cut made was along what we thought was the inside face of a rectangular room. In attempting to locate the southeast comer, we found that the wall ended and the end was faced. Cut 2 was similar: We began excavating inside what we thought was the northwest comer of a second building but soon determined that this wall also terminated in a finished end.

Interestingly, both walls had three faces, built by first constructing a double faced wall and then adding a third face to bring the total wall thickness to 75-85 cm. The construction of the extra face was notably poorer in quality, having more mortar, less rock, and a more uneven facing. In Cut 1 the extra face was on the inside of the wall; in Cut 2, it seemed to be outside, but this was unclear because of poor preservation.

At this point we were perplexed by the form of the qollqa and, indeed had doubts if they were qollqa at all. We decided to backfill the first two cuts and completely excavate two more examples. Instead of the rectangular rooms we expected, in both Cuts 3 and 4 we found three parallel walls or piers. In Cut 3 two walls were thinner and less elaborate than the third, which was thickened at each end. The third wall was shaped like an elongated block letter "C" that opened into the inside of the building. In Cut 4, the two outer walls were thicker than the central wall. They were also C-shaped, but the open part of the "C" was filled with poorer quality masonry forming a third face.

The qollqa in Figure 7-3 is based largely on Cut 4, but all four cuts provide evidence for similar reconstructions. The structure was built on three stone piers that were at least 65 cm high and may have been higher. There was some variation in the form of these piers, but generally the outer two were thicker and often had an extra face on the inside of the building. This third face probably formed a ledge to support the floor joists that were also supported by the central pier. In our excavations, only the piers were still preserved, but the quantity of stone between and above them indicates that the qollqa walls were also built of masonry.

All cuts showed some evidence of burning, but only Qollqa 4 was heavily burned. Cut 4 produced a large amount of charcoal, some from poles up to 10 cm in diameter. Cut 1 yielded a small amount of charcoal from what appeared to be a plank. These samples produced uncalibrated radiocarbon dates of A.D. 1475 ± 65 (Cut 4) and A.D. 1555 - 75 (Cut 1). Cuts 3 and 4 produced carbonized maize, and in Qollqa 4 we found pieces of burned mud plaster with straw impressions on one face. We recovered 232 sherds, most of which seem to date to an early (900-200 B.C.) occupation in the area. Sherds typical of the Late Intermediate (pre-Inka) period were also present.5 There were no diagnostic Inka sherds.

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