August updates

It has been a while since posting... we have been busy! The crew and students have been out at Pukara for the last few weeks. The photo above is the team with the Alvarez family, the local landowners of one of the important mound complexes at the site. As you can tell, it was really cold and windy the first few weeks in the field. It even snowed briefly one day!

Much of our time has been dedicated to mapping the site (see Matt/Karl and Joe photos below) and cleaning up some areas of the site for future excavations (see above). The most exciting thing has been cleaning the paja (grass) off of some early excavations (Alfred Kidder II, 1939) and revealing some incredible Pukara-period architecture that we can document and then use to guide our future fieldwork. The students have been learning to draw these newly exposed areas, which is a key skill for any archaeologist, and are now experts with picks and trowels.


We are also lucky to have a new member on our crew, Francois Cuynet, who recently finished his master's thesis in France on the Pukara culture. He is a specialist on stone sculpture and spent a day teaching a few of the students how to document both monoliths (see below) and portable stone sculpture.

In addition to working in the field and lab, we have had a number of field trips in the region. On Friday we visited the house of Honorato Taca, a potter in Pucará and long-time member of our research team, to learn about modern pottery production and exchange in the region. Yesterday we spent the afternoon visiting the taller (workshop) of the Saraza family, famous mask-makers here in Puno. We plan to help them put together a website soon for their workshop (thanks to Matt W. for the photos).


While most of us are in Puno, a few of the the students went to Cusco/Machu Picchu this weekend, so I am sure we will have photos to share next week! This upcoming week is the last week for the students at Pukara, which promises to be full of long days in the field and their final exam of pottery identification. We will keep you all posted!

Insights into Rural Life

Today we spent the afternoon at Fundo Chincheros, a restored hacienda from the 1550s located just outside of Puno. They hosted us for a typical Puneño lunch (quinoa soap, alpaca stew, and other goodies), taught us about llamas, alpacas and vicuña (see photo of Benito), and then we took a hike up to a Formative Period archaeological site overlooking Lake Titicaca.


The weather was perfect, food was fantastic, and we had the opportunity to see the "behind the scenes" of a working dairy and wool farm. Thank you to our wonderful hosts!

Pukara... here we come!

We spent Thursday at Pucará (the modern town name) visiting the site museum, having a site tour of Pukara (the site name), and experiencing the annual feria/market.

The feria was quite an experience! The town was packed with thousands of people selling everything from traditional medicines to metal doors to hats and clothes. You really can get ANYTHING at the annual feria if you are willing to push, pull, and plow your way through the crowds. It is an interesting opportunity to see people from all over the Andes (the chicha/corn beer sellers were there from Cuzco, for example) and the different kinds of goods they bring with them from the coast, other parts of the highlands, and even the jungle areas.

The site visit was much calmer and we had the opportunity to see (from afar!) the areas of the site where we will be excavating. There were many groups of people up at the site, still using the central sunken courts and surrounding rooms to hang out, eat, and celebrate with family.


Thanks to Matt Wilhelm for the Sillustani and Pukara photos!

Getting to Know the Altiplano...

Today we started our class with a lecture about our goals at Pukara this year, followed by short workshops on ceramics, lithics (stone tools), and fauna (animal bones). The students had the opportunity to handle some artifacts and are getting excited to be in the field next week.

In the afternoon we headed to Sillustani, an incredible archaeological site about 45 minutes away from Puno. The site overlooks Lake Umayo and includes dozens of burial towers from the Altiplano Period (immediately pre-Inca) and the Inca occupation of the Titicaca Basin. The students were busy taking pictures, as were we. Here is a picture of the group with Lake Umayo in the background. There is a vicuña preserve on the island behind the students.

Off to Pucara tomorrow to see the feria (annual market) and give an introduction to the archaeological site and community where we will be living the next month.

The Students Have Arrived!

Miraculously, all 10 students plus a volunteer made it to Puno this past weekend. They arrived at the Juliaca airport and their first adventure included a trip through town (like driving in a video game!) and several off-road experiences due to road repairs. They all seem to be adjusting well to the altitude and are VERY excited to get out into the field.

Monday and Tuesday have been spent in general orientation, a city tour (including tricyle rides across Puno), a visit to the local university (UNA-Puno) archaeology museum, and classroom discussions of regional prehistory and modern cultures of the Lake Titicaca Basin. Thanks to Becca for the photo and to Professor Mario Nunez for the tour of the facilities. Tomorrow we plan to get our hands dirty in the lab and then head to Sillustani in the afternoon to visit the incredible burial towers there.

Getting Ready!

We have just finished our cross-country trek and can now finish getting ready to leave... we have a box of Marshalltown trowels and a bunch of other equipment to smash into a few duffle bags by next Wednesday. Anyone getting excited yet???

Posts for this summer at Pukara

Greetings everyone! This blog can be used by members of the 2009 Pukara field crew to post comments, thoughts, stories, and photos for other team members and interested colleagues, friends, and family. I am sure there will be lots to share!