|
The Omo M11 village site typifies the post-expansive
period of Tiwanaku influence in the Moquegua Middle Valley known as the
Tumilaca Phase. M11 was a village six hectares in area, located on the
central of the three Omo bluffs. The site is distinguished by a stone
perimeter wall that separated the domestic area from an associated cemetery
to the east. The eastern wall and moat were traversed by a gateway 3 m
in width and an earthen bridge leading to the cemetery.
The M11 village consisted of residential compounds built on leveled
house platforms with single course stone retaining walls. M11's Tumilaca
Phase houses were of freestanding quincha (cane wattle and daub) wall
construction, with substantial wooden posts to support the roof structure.
Most domestic compounds also included rectangular stone storage bins,
lined with clay. Surface architecture gives no indication of special purpose
buildings or elite sectors of town. 1987 excavations in three structures
indicate that household space and domestic activities can be divided into
three categories: a central roofed core, unroofed contiguous walled space
and exterior space. Artifact, faunal and botanical assemblages indicate
a full range of domestic activities and autonomous household production.
Back to Omo Homepage
|
|