Omo 11

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.

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