A06_P07

New dating sequence for Andean oracle at Maucallacta; Arequipa, Peru

Sobczyk M¹, Huels M², Rakowski A³,  Olaya Cotera C⁴, Kłaput J¹, Pawlyta J⁵, Sieczkowska D¹, Ziółkowski M¹

¹University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, ²Uni Kiel, Kiel, Germany, ³SUT, Gliwice, Poland, ⁴Independent researcher, Lima, Peru, ⁵AGH, Kraków, Poland

The acheological research related to the Maucallacta site is part of the project carried out since 1996 by the University of Warsaw, (Poland) and the Catholic University “Santa María” (Arequipa, Peru). The Project covers archaeological investigation in the vicinity of the snow-covered volcano Coropuna which was frequently mentioned by chroniclers of the 16th and 17th centuries as an oracle, worshiped since pre-Inca times.The archaeological site of Maucallacta is located approx. 170 kilometers north-west of the city of Arequipa in thesouthern highlands of Peru in District of Pampacolca, Province of Castilla, Department of Arequipa (LS; 3,750 m asl). The architectural complex of Maucallacta, composed of more than three hundred stone buildings, tombs and ceremonial structures. Maucallacta may be considered the principal administrative, pilgrimage and religious center related to the volcano and one of  the most important Inca site discovered in Kuntisuyu, the Fourth Quarter of the Inca State. The ceremonies that took place there are evidenced by extensive deposits containing numerous organic remains, including fragments of camelids bones (lama, alpaca). They were discovered at the foot of the largest square, located on a huge stone platform. The dating of the material (bone fragments) from the individual layers of the stratigraphic deposits allows to obtain new data on the probable sequence of celebrations carried out in this complex.