UCHCUMACHAY
4110 meters above sea level, 11º South
Uchcumachay, located south of Chinchaycocha (Lake Junin), is a limestone cave site discovered by Ramiro Matos and excavated by Peter Kaulicke in 1972. Kaulicke's team discovered a rich sequence of lithic and faunal remains, including bones of extinct Pleistocene Equidae (horse) and Algamaceros sp. (cervid) in the deepest deposits. Was this evidence of humans hunting Ice Age fauna? The site was never radiocarbon dated, leaving the matter unsettled.
Because all previous collections were lost in a museum fire, the Paleo Andes team re-excavated Uchcumachay in 2024, funded by the Elfrieda Frank Foundation. We documented organic midden deposits with abundant stone tools and bones of extant fauna overlying a stratum containing bones of extinct giant ground sloth and horse. The next step is to radiocarbon date these remains to determine the age of the Pleistocene fauna and the human occupation of the site. This will indicate whether Uchcumachay's occupants encountered and perhaps hunted Ice Age fauna in the Junin basin.
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LOMAS-1
60 meters above sea level, 15.6º South
On the south coast of Arequipa is a dune containing human burials discovered by paleontologist Mario Urbina. Active wind deflation is exposing these burials, leading to rapid disintegration. To salvage these burials before they were completely lost to erosion and looting, the Paleo Andes team excavated four burials from Lomas-1 in early 2022, supported by a Faculty Initiatives Fund from Michigan State University. The burials were naturally mummified due to the hyper-arid climate and sea salt-filled sediments. Burial wrappings of vegetal fibers, cordage, and human soft tissues were extremely well preserved. Intriguingly, there were no associated artifacts that could indicate whether these people inhabited the coast or were migrants from the Andean interior.
These four burials date to ~8100 years old, some of the most ancient known from the Pacific Coast of Peru. We are analyzing the fiber technology, stable isotopes of human bones and tooth enamel, and the morphology of the skeletons to learn more about these early people and how they relate to contemporary burials from the adjacent Andes.
PACHAMACHAY
4300 meters above sea level, 11º South
Pachamachay is a limestone cave located in the Puna of Junín. The site was first identified and excavated by Ramiro Matos in 1969. Subsequent excavations by Peter Kaulicke and John Rick in the 1970s revealed a 2.5-m deep occupation sequence. Like nearby Panaulauca, the site is interpreted as a residential base camp periodically occupied by hunter-gatherers beginning in the Early Holocene.
Our team re-excavated Pachamachay in 2019 to improve the chronology and study formation processes, ahead of planned re-analysis of the site's legacy collections.
PANAULAUCA
4150 meters above sea level, 11º South
Panaulauca is a large limestone cave located in north-central Peru southwest of Chinchaycocha (Lake Junín). The site was discovered and tested in the 1970s by Ramiro Matos and Peter Kaulicke, and excavated in the 1980s by John Rick, Katherine Moore, and others. It contains a ~3-m sequence of deposits, including stone tools and debris and the richest faunal assemblage of any hunter-gatherer site in the high Andes. The site is interpreted as a residential base camp periodically occupied by hunter-gatherers beginning in the Early Holocene, about 11,000 years ago.
As a clear residential function is suggested by the site's artifacts and food remains, we are studying Panaulauca to understand similarities and differences with other early residential sites in the high Andes, such as nearby Pachamachay and Uchcumachay, and Cuncaicha rockshelter in southern Peru. Our team re-excavated Panaulauca in 2019 to improve the chronology and study formation processes, ahead of planned re-analysis of the site's legacy collections.
PAMPA COLORADA
300 meters above sea level, 15º South
Pampa Colorada is a colorful coastal plain west of Quebrada Jaguay. The area is rich with shell middens, stone tools, and burials, initially discovered in the 1960s. Investigations in the 2000s showed that many of these sites date from 11,000 to 8000 years ago. Petrified wood and Alca obsidian at sites indicate a long-lasting connection between this area and the high Andes.
In 2017 we rescue-excavated surface burials being exposed by wind erosion. Our team is now conducting provenance analysis of stone tools and studying human skeletons to examine local adaptations and inter-zonal connections with the highlands.
QUEBRADA JAGUAY
30 meters above sea level, 15º South
Quebrada Jaguay 280, located 150 km south of Cuncaicha on the southern coast of Peru, is one of the earliest maritime sites in the Americas. The site was discovered Bernardino Ojeda, tested by Frederic Engel in 1970, and excavated in the 1990s by Dan Sandweiss.
From perhaps as early as 12,500 to 8000 years ago, some of the earliest Americans lived on the rich bounty of the Pacific Ocean. Remains of Early Holocene combustion features are preserved. Non-local petrified wood, prickly pear cactus fruit seeds, and Alca obsidian show that this coastal site was linked with others in the intermediate and high Andes, including Cuncaicha rockshelter.
Like many coastal sites in Peru, QJ-280 is under imminent threat of destruction. The site is being mined for gravel and sand and has lost nearly half of its deposits to bulldozers.
Our 2017 project mapped the site with drone and ground-penetrating radar and opened new excavations for precise radiocarbon dating and studies of seasonality and site formation processes.
CARBUN RUAN
4100 meters above sea level, 15º South
Carbun-Ruan is a large rockshelter located at the edge of the Andean plateau in southern Peru. It occupies an intermediate location between Cuncaicha and Quebrada Jaguay and Pampa Colorada. The team excavated Carbun-Ruan in 2014. Preliminary radiocarbon dates suggest this rockshelter is 10,000 to 7000 years old. Carbun-Ruan contains stone tools made from both high-elevation and lower-elevation raw materials. Study of these artifacts may shed light on coast-highland connections in the Early Holocene.
CUNCAICHA
4480 meters above sea level, 15º South
Cuncaicha is the highest known Pleistocene archaeological site in the western hemisphere. Kurt Rademaker discovered this site in 2007 and led teams to excavate here from 2010-2015. With well-dated deposits spanning from ~12,000 years ago to present day, the site is important for understanding how humans came to settle and adapt to life at high elevation.
Early inhabitants used Fishtail and stemmed projectile points made of local Alca obsidian to hunt wild camelids vicuña and guanaco, Andean deer, and rabbit-like vizcachas. They worked hides with stone scrapers, fashioned beads out of bird bone, and collected quartz crystals, chert, and plants from the plateau.
Men, women, and children lived here episodically for millennia in the Pucuncho Basin. Beginning in the Early Holocene, about 9000 years ago, some of these people were buried in Cuncaicha rockshelter. Insights about early Andean diet, mobility, and adaptations - and how these patterns changed over time - are coming from biological anthropology, stable isotope, and paleogenetic studies of these skeletons.