16
Conclusions
CHRISTINE A. HASTORF
W       HIILE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND the Formative-
Initial/Early Horizon phase in the south-
central Andes, we are especially interested in the
early evidence for increasing political scale and
agricultural systems. We are trying to uncover
evidence of the domestic areas and activities. We
also realize that the Formative world included
ritual as central and thus are integrating the ritual
evidence into our views of Chiripa. We have
excavated in two areas, above and below the
mound, looking for domestic houses and middens.
In both areas of the site, Llusco and Santiago, we
have instead found large (approx. 13 by 13 m)
semi-subterranean cobble stone-walled enclosures.
At this stage in our research we believe these to be
ceremonial (gathering) areas rather than habita-
tion. The Llusco enclosure dates to the early Late
Chiripa phase, we believe dating to about 800-600
B.C. The area of Santiago to the east of the
enclosure directly overlooks the lakeshore. This
zone is a complex of use and rebuilding layers
throughout all of the Formative times and into the
Tiwanaku phases. While there are surfaces, the
later ones seem to be fairly clean and in some
cases plastered with yellow or white, with burials
throughout. The earlier surface use is not clear.
Although the rubbish suggests daily life tasks were
performed, there is no evidence for houses as we
understand them in the Andes. At some point the
walls were collapsed and a mound of rubble was
formed running north-south in this area. What
these different surfaces mean is still very hard to
determine. This area of the site is extremely
important yet still quite mysterious as to the types
of activities that occurred there. More analysis
must be done there to explain this sector.
To the west of these surfaces and cuts, at the
end of the 1996 season, we discovered a 14 by 14
m stone-walled enclosure that we think is another
of these semi-subterranean enclosures. This one
could date as early as 1300 B.C. Because we only
outlined this structure in the last few days of
excavation, we do not know the details of its
construction, but we do know that its east wall had
a small stone niche that had nothing visible in it.
This could be what we see in later Tiwanaku and
even Inkaic enclosures, niches that held important
sacred objects.
124    Earvl Settlement at Chiripa, Bolivia
The research on the mound provides us with
a much better view of its history. We now know
that there were a series of house and floor
rebuildings during the Formative times, as well as
several reorientations of the structures. The
painstaking work on the profiles has led to a map
of the actual measurements as well as an under-
standing of what is left of the Formative site.
Sadly, no structure remains untouched, although
some are in quite good shape.
The Liusco and Santiago enclosures are the
earliest in this region. Previously investigated
structures such as these have dates in the 400-200
B.C. range. This evidence suggests that Chiripa
had some of the earliest ceremonial sectors in the
region. Its importance is further seen in the
systematic surface collections that were completed
this year. The Formative site now seems to be
about 7 ha. in size. Given that the ceremonial
areas, Llusco, Monticulo, and Santiago only make
up less than 1 ha. in area, there seems to have been
substantial residence surrounding this central
precinct, much larger than other Formative sites
found in the nearby regional surveys. This larger
area will be studied in the next field season.
Chiripa has opened up the view of early
settled life in the Titicaca Basin, allowing us to
begin to see how people lived in a world that was
simultaneously ritualized while being routine.