PROYECTO MACHU LLAQTA
objectives
The fieldwork program was designed to answer one principal research question: What degree, and kind, of social inequality and heterogeneity is present within the site, and between this site and any nearby satellites? Given some degree of status differentiation, what sources of power formed the basis of it and reproduced it: mechanisms that had been emphasized in previous periods (e.g., feasting, management of ritual performances, and access to lowland resources like maize), or new mechanisms (e.g., warrior activity, access to ancestors, priority in colonizing the site)?
Pedestrian survey and systematic surface collections clarified the local settlement pattern sequence and the relationship between the site and its environs. Excavations targeted six residential compounds to date and two cemeteries at Machu Llaqta to examine social difference in faunal and botanical remains, valuable and exotic items, evidence of craft production and ritual activity, and house size and construction. Such data helps us understand social difference and similarity across Machu Llaqta.
Our informational brochures about the site are available at the local municipalities.
Leading a school tour to Machu Llaqta in 2013
Overview Background The Site Objectives Survey Excavations Members