Unity of Dress (Style)

In addition to Cieza's statement, Pedro Pizarro (1978 [1571]:73) also states that the Cajamarca and Huamachuco men had similar headdresses, consisting of long tresses wrapped with wool cords. I am unaware of extant pictures or further descriptions which would allow me to enlarge on these two, very brief, statements regarding dress. It is possible, however, to infer a bit more on the use of style as an indicator of ethnic identity.

In terms of the archaeology of Cajamarca and Huamachuco, there are clear differences in ceramics, architecture, and, to some extent, burial patterns extending back to the Early Intermediate Period. In this section, I am treating the terms "Cajamarca" and "Huamachuco" as archaeological cultures rather than Incaic provinces.

Archaeologists have relied heavily on ceramics to identify groups, boundaries, and interrelationships; the durability of ceramics in the archaeological record and the richness of variability possible in their manufacture and decoration make them a very useful medium to sort out questions of group identity. Through the Early Intermediate Period (EIP) and Middle Horizon (MH), the Cajamarca and Huamachuco cultures had very distinct ceramic assemblages, but there were interesting patterns of borrowing and sharing. Huamachuco ceramics were primarily utilitarian. Deco-ration was infrequent and executed quickly and carelessly. Cajamarca ceramics included very high proportions of decorated vessels, highlighted by the painted kaolin wares of the Cajamarca Cursive style. Cajamarca ceramic pieces were valued in Huamachuco and were imported in significant quantities. Potters in Huamachuco also imitated the Cursive style during the end of the Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon, using locally available materials to pro-duce mediocre copies of the technically far superior Cajamarca originals. Huamachuco potters never mastered the firing of kaolin clays to attain the degree of hardness reached by Cajamarca potters, and the kaolin pedestal bowls produced in Huamachuco have soft paste and eroded painting. A minor insight into the ease with which Huamachuco ceramicists borrowed stylistic elements is offered by the common occurrence in the EIP and MH of heavy strap handles in brown paste, slipped in red and decorated with impressed circles and incised lines. These "Cajamarca Coarse Red" handles (Terada and Onuki 1982: plate 38a) caught the fancy of Huamachuco potters, who produced them on local clays.

Architectural differences seem to include both the types of buildings constructed and the masonry style used. In Huamachuco, the typical domestic structure is a long narrow multiroomed building called a gallery (McCown 1945; Topic 1986). In the gallery, the rooms are arranged in a single file and, usually, the doors of the rooms all open to one side of the building. The side to which the doors open is often a patio, enclosed by the building which curves around it. A common type of public building is the niched hall; this is an immense roofed volume often measuring 6 m x 40 m or more in plan and with ceiling heights of as much as 9 m. The masonry style is quite dis-tinctive and includes long and shortwork corners and ordered chinking. The architecture of Cajamarca from the late EIP, MH, and Late Intermediate Period (LIP) is not well known or described, but only one site, Coyllor, seems to be related to the Huamachuco architectural style (Reichlen and Reichlen 1949; Julien 1988).

Burial patterns are probably not as distinct as architectural or ceramic styles. Still, one of the typical patterns in Huamachuco - secondary burial of bones in the walls of niched halls - is not known from Cajamarca, while ventanillas, or rows of tombs cut into the soft trachite, are known from Cajamarca but not from Huamachuco. Obviously, both patterns may be varients of, or derivations from, burial in caves, and the distribution of ventanillas may be further affected by the availability of suitable trachite outcrops.

In contrast, there appear to be closer archaeological ties to Conchucos, south of Huamachuco, but these relationships are somewhat tenuous. There are a few trade pieces and some ceramic influence from the Pashash style of Conchucos in the Huamachuco area during the late Early Intermediate Period, but these are much less prominent than the influence from Cajamarca. Stone carvings, on the other hand, indicate more intense interaction between the areas of Huamachuco, Santiago de Chuco, and Cabana (Grieder 1978; Kroeber 1950; McCown 1945; Schaedel 1952).

It is intriguing that the masonry style so typical of the Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon in Huamachuco occurs in the Preceramic Period at La Galgada (Grieder and Bueno 1985). A similar masonry style is widespread in Ancash during the late Formative (Daggett 1983; Pozorski 1987; Wilson 1988). There are two sites which have build-ings similar to those described above for Huamachuco: the Rondan Circular Construction from near La Pampa (Terada 1979) is similar to the domestic galleries and at Yayno near Pomabamba the few photographs and brief description available (Tello 1929:30-36) indicate an important site with both buildings and masonry similar to that of Huamachuco. While the Rondan Circular Construction seems to date from the Late Intermediate Period, the masonry style used at Yayno may indicate an earlier date.

The buildings at La Galgada, which are related to the Kotosh Religious Tradition (Burger and Burger 1980), are not particularly similar to known buildings from Huamachuco, but still may be related. They are basically square in plan, but with rounded comers and niches in the upper part of the walls. McCown (1945: figure 12, e and f) shows a plan of two buildings at Cerro Campana, an Early Horizon site in Huamachuco, that might be similar. While these buildings have not been exca-vated, the thick walls suggest that they may once have had niches. If so, these two buildings may form a developmental link between La Galgada and the later Huamachuco niched halls.

In this regard, it is interesting to note two further points about La Galgada. First, multiple burials were placed in the niched buildings as they were sequentially abandoned, filled in, and new buildings constructed on top (Grieder and Bueno 1985). This use as burial places is different in detail but possibly related to the incorporation of burials in the walls of niched halls at Huamachuco. Second, La Galgada is located near the foot of Cerro Huacate, the pacarina of Huamachuco.

Beyond La Galgada, burial patterns are, again, intriguing but not very useful. There is a mausoleum at Cerro Amaru near Hua-machuco (Topic and Topic 1984) that is similar to the mausoleums at Wilka Wain and Honcopampa (Bennett 1944; Isbell 1991). However, EIP and MH burial structures, usually referred to as chullpas but often with multiple chambers like the mausoleums, occur sporadically in the north highlands from Chota (Shady and Rosas 1976) to Huaraz. It should also be noted that burial in walls has been described for Cuelap (Reichlen and Reichlen 1950).

Stylistic information suggests, then, that there were no sharp ethnic boundaries between Cajamarca, Huamachuco, and Conchucos during the late EIP and MH. Huamachuco accepted ceramic influence from both Cajamarca and Conchucos while also producing a distinctive style. Moreover, within the area that later became the Incaic province of Huamachuco, there was never a single unified ceramic style. Nevertheless, architecture and stone carvings suggest a stronger stylistic boundary between Cajamarca and Huamachuco than between Huamachuco and Con-chucos during the EIP and MH.

Throughout the areas under discussion, the LIP ceramics are poorly defined. Ceramic assemblages lack the high proportions of deco-rated wares or exotic shapes that characterize contemporary groups like the coastal Chimu. Ceramics are utilitarian serving, cooking, and storage vessels with little apparent symbolic or ritual importance.

In the immediate Huamachuco area, two distinct styles are dated to the LIP (both initially defined in Krzanowski 1986). The Hua-machuco Incised style is characterized by jar forms in orange paste decorated with impressed circles, usually on applique bands. This style has antecedents in the late EIP and MH, during which jars in soft orange and grey pastes had frequent applique decoration; often the jars are faceneck vessels with modelled earspools and facial features, and sometimes hands holding a flute to the lips. This later Huamachuco Incised style lacks the anthropomorphic designs, and is executed on considerably harder pastes. The style overlaps into the upper Chicama and, to a lesser extent, upper Moche valleys. The Huamachuco-on-White style (see McCown 1945: plate 22 c, d, and e) includes both jars and bowls, executed in a hard grey paste with heavy inclusion of crushed rock. Surfaces are often given a white or cream wash, on which large red and/or black circles, spirals, and meanders are slop-pily painted. This ceramic style occurs at some high altitude sites to the west, but is most common in the Huamachuco area. LIP ceramics on the western slopes of the Andes, between Huamachuco and the coast, are most typically characterized by thickwalled jars made of hard brown and red-brown pastes, with large flaring rims; these jars lack any decoration other than a broad red band or red slip on the rim. Chimu sherds are quite common on LIP sites in the west slope area, but absent from the Huamachuco area proper.

Masonry styles, are variable, with few sites in the west slope area (e.g., Huasochugo and Cerro Sulcha) and in the Huamachuco area (Cerro Grande) continuing to use the earlier masonry style. The long gallery buildings were no longer being constructed.

The archaeological evidence from the LIP cannot be aligned easily with information from the early Colonial Period about the location of the guarangas or of provincial bounda-ries. Huamachuco Incised pottery is some-what correlated with Llampa guaranga and the persistence of the Huamachuco masonry style, with its long and short work comers and ordered chinking, is loosely associated with Guacapongo guaranga. The sharpest division, running roughly along the continental divide, is between the area with Chimu trade sherds and the area lacking Chimu trade sherds, and this cuts through at least Llampa guaranga and possibly Guacapongo guaranga.

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