Solstice and Scorpius Alignments of the Jaboque Petroform Menhirs

As part of the "Botanical Archaeological Project Ayacucho-Huanta" in central Peru, excavations at Jaywamachay rockshelter were performed in 1969-1970. To reevaluate the rockshelter's oldest human occupations, remains from its lower levels (layers J2 and J3) are currently under study. Based on new radiocarbon dates and technological/morphological observations made of tools, we confirm that Jaywamachay is one of the few dated sites with evidence of hunter-gatherers using fishtail points in highland Peru during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.

2018

The importance of perceptions of geographical latitude and its calendrical properties have been emphasized in studies of cultural astronomy (Broda 2004), as well as the link that is generated between the landscapes that serve as horizons and the observations themselves, especially solar. The pre-Hispanic world views, quite possibly, were heavily loaded with dualistic perspectives, especially the astronomical phenomena among the American tropics (Isbell 1982: 354). The search for temporary refer-ents, especially seasonal associating them with contrasting moments such as sowing activities in front of harvest, with positions of the sun, both in the zenith and in the nadir. In this context in Inca archeology, spatial configurations have been identified, which could be qualified as ritual landscapes, constituted by carefully designed settlements and their corresponding geography of the environment, immediate geography as well as geographical aspects at great distances. Settlements and ge-ographies closely linked by scheduled ritual activities, such as pilgrimage tours, territorial exercises and memory constructions. These particular configurations were denominated as Cuzco, which the Inca society replicated in several territories and many of them to great distances at continental level (Hylop 1990, Far-rington 1999), while Cuzco represented a concept goes beyond trying to repeat Symbolic spaces in the Inca foundations in the wamanis (spaces where certain ancestors exercised territoriality), in an attempt to hier-archize the spaces as part of a process of constitution and unification of the Tawantinsuyu. In this sense, in the "New Cuzcos" we find manifestations of the Inka ideology, but these are not copies or repetitions of their imperial capital, but they sought to adapt to particular situations in the conquered territories (Pino Matos 2004). The strategy of appropriation of the conquered sacred sites was based on the re-signification of the local huacas (deities and ancestors located in notable aspects of geography) in function of a significant solar phenomenon, (Example: In Chinchaycocha, the ushnu de Pumpu is in the direction of an important local mountain-Nevado de Ulcumayu-, that coincides with the sunrise the day of the passage of this star by the zenith (Pino Matos and Moreano Montalvan 2014), in the Shincal, the ushnu is oriented towards the sunrise at the middle temporal equinox and towards huacas in the eastern and western hills. In the present work, two sites will be analyzed, one in Argentina and the other in Peru, trying to understand the management of time and the construction of ritual landscapes at different latitudes during the Inca period .

PLoS ONE, 2016

The archaeological sites near Monte Alegre, along Brazil's lower Amazon River, provide new information on the little-known activities and symbolism of South American Paleoin-dians toward the end of the Ice Age. While paleoindian sites like Monte Verde in Chile, or Guitarrero Cave in Peru, are located near the pacific coast, Monte Alegre lies much further inland, 680 km upriver from the mouth of the Amazon River and the Atlantic Coast. With excavated wood charcoal radiocarbon dated as early as 13,200 calibrated years ago, the hill—as a source of sandstone and quartz lithics—supplied early pioneers with adequate tools needed for colonizing the interior of the continent. Once there, they painted rock art on the landscape, which bears a record of the sun's horizon positions throughout the year. At just 2˚south of the equator, Monte Alegre shows no overt seasonal changes beyond fluctuating rainfall amounts, unlike at higher latitudes where temperature, amount of daylight, foliage, and forms of precipitation markedly change. Near the equator, solar and stellar horizon sightings most visibly track the passage of time and seasonal cycles. However, horizons are often hidden behind high forest canopy throughout much of the Amazon Rainforest; but in the Monte Alegre hill ridges looming above the river, paleoindians could hike above the canopy to peer at the horizon, more effectively synchronizing their activities to ecological cycles. This research suggests that Monte Alegre paleoindians delimited the azimuthal range of the sun in a solar year with notational pictographs aligned to horizon sightings at Painel do Pilão, and leaving a painted grid of tally marks that might have served as a rudimentary early calendar. The broad-reaching implication for early Americans is that through the strategic placement of rock art, these ancient artists fostered predictive archaeorecord-ing from which resources could be optimally extracted, ceremonial activities could be consistently scheduled, and gatherings for social and economic exchange could be more efficiently coordinated.

Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 2016

In this paper, we present results of astronomical and landscape analysis at four Inca sites located in the Nevados de Cachi area, North Calchaquí Valley, Salta Province, Argentina. Selection criteria took into consideration the existence of certain traits of paramount importance amongst Inca architecture, such as ushnu platforms, gnomons and a particularly interesting petroglyph located in a high-altitude sanctuary. Results show that the location and spatial layout of certain Inca settlements, as well as certain structures within, were designed and located based on astronomical observation patterns centred on solstices, equinoxes and lunar standstills.

As part of the “Botanical Archaeological Project Ayacucho-Huanta” in central Peru, excavations at Jaywamachay rockshelter were performed in 1969–1970. To reevaluate the rockshelter's oldest human occupations, remains from its lower levels (layers J2 and J3) are currently under study. Based on new radiocarbon dates and technological/morphological observations made of tools, we confirm that Jaywamachay is one of the few dated sites with evidence of hunter–gatherers using fishtail points in highland Peru during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.

In this paper we outline the results of an archaeoastronomical analysis of a group of Pre-Inca sites, located along the banks of the Rio Grande, Perù. We recognized at about 40 sites analyzing the high-resolution satellite images from Google Earth Pro. They consist mainly of monumental architectures and platform mounds of which we measured the geodetic azimuth of orientation. Subsequently an appropriate statistical study was carried out in order to infer their distribution function with the aim to perform an appropriate archaeoastronomical analysis. Following the data obtained, we can suggest an astronomical significance of these analyzed sites.

Recent archaeological research on the south coast of Peru discovered a Late Paracas (ca. 400-100 BCE) mound and geoglyph complex in the middle Chincha Valley. This complex consists of linear geoglyphs, circular rock features, ceremonial mounds, and settlements spread over a 40-km 2 area. A striking feature of this culturally modified landscape is that the geoglyph lines converge on mounds and habitation sites to form discrete clusters. Likewise, these clusters contain a number of paired line segments and at least two U-shaped structures that marked the setting sun of the June solstice in antiquity. Excavations in three mounds confirm that they were built in Late Paracas times. The Chincha complex therefore predates the better-known Nasca lines to the south by several centuries and provides insight into the development and use of geoglyphs and platform mounds in Paracas society. The data presented here indicate that Paracas peoples engineered a carefully structured, ritualized landscape to demarcate areas and times for key ritual and social activities. chiefdoms | Andean

Latin American Antiquity, 2010

Recent investigations at mountaintop sites around the Ayacucho Basin in the central Andes have identified a distinctive category of isolated Inca stone-faced platforms. Test excavations of the three-tiered platform at one site, Incapirqa/Waminan, revealed a narrow vertical shaft penetrating from the original surface through the fills to a small basin cut into the underlying andesite bedrock. A carefully arranged deposit of three unusual stones was found in this basin. Early Spanish chroniclers give firsthand accounts of a variety of Inca solar rituals observed in Cuzco in which revered objects were deployed, including some sculpted in stone. The detailed descriptions of these stone objects are corroborated by the excavated finds at Incapirqa/Waminan and offer suggestive analogies for interpreting their context and significance.