Investigations of the town have relied extensively on mapping using a total station (a measuring device combining optical sighting with digital recording onto a computer), ground-penetrating radar, and visual inspection (see also mapping). Because quincha walls were visible on the surface we also used hand tools to extend lines of quincha, thus following walls. This work has allowed us to develop a map of the town, at least based on the quincha walls.

Left: Unit 1, in the foreground, reveals an adobe house in the town. Right: A line of quincha that once formed the wall of a house compound.

The only extensive excavations in the town occurred in 2006. Unit 1 was placed at the intersection of a street and an avenue. The excavations mostly followed the quincha walls northwards, producing a long, narrow excavation. The most striking discovery found in this work was the presence of adobe architecture below the quincha. There appeared to be three different kinds of construction. Proceeding from the lowest (earliest) colonial level there is substantial adobe architecture, including some walls made of two courses of adobe bricks. Next there is construction of what appear to be reused adobes and quincha. At the upper level there are only quincha.walls. It appears that the settlement was first established with the construction of adobe buildings. The old adobe and quincha and the only-quincha structures may have been constructed after an earthquake leveled the adobe architecture.

Initial clearing of Unit 2 in 2006 revealed interior rooms with quincha walls within a larger compound.

At the north end of the excavation early occupation floors were found associated with an adobe wall. On one of these floors we found a scrub brush with a rag attached to it by a string, a cut copper form which might have been part of the decoration of a hat or perhaps some other piece of clothing, and a small hand-carved wooden cross. Elsewhere on the same floor we found a cut gourd which had been used as a container. It was filled with pieces of textile and unidentifiable material which will be studied in the laboratory. We also found the triangular base of a bronze object, perhaps a candlestick or a quill holder for aid in writing. A carved piece of wood which may have been a decorative element on a piece of furniture was also encountered.

Left: A cut gourd filled with materials was found on the floor of a room in Unit 1. Right: The base of a bronze candle stick or similar item was found on the floor of a room in Unit 1.

The other extensive excavation was Unit 19. Also excavated in 2006, this unit was at the northern end of the north-south running avenue which borders the west side of the plaza, the same thoroughfare parallel to Unit 1. This excavation unit measured 1 x 2 m and was placed on the edge of a deep looter’s pit so that we could control of the removal of strata as work proceeded.

Gabriel Prieto, left, and Parker VanValkenburgh in the early stages of excavating Unit 19.

The area selected for work was clearly an old trash midden. No evidence of recent activities was found in any of the deposits: there was no plastic, cardboard, or any other materials that would indicate the presence of 20th century or even 19th century occupations in the area. The upper layers contained great amounts of goat remains including hair, hide, and horn. Like the upper levels of Unit 1, it appears that the last occupation of this area was devoted to activities related to raising and keeping these animals.

View of the deposit in the lower levels of Unit 19 possibly deposited by El Niño rains.

As work proceeded it became clear that at various times people had lived in the trash midden, laying down clean floors on top of the remains from earlier periods. While this may be hard for modern people to understand we must remember that ideas of hygiene did not exist; proximity to the center of town may have out weighed other concerns. Fragments of nets and native-style textiles were discovered in some of these floors as well as food remains. Some kind of ritual in which glowing coals were placed in a gourd bowl and then inverted onto the ground surface also seems to have been practiced. In one of two examples we found of this practice a large Venetian glass bead had been placed in the center of the burning materials.

Left: A glazed ceramic sherd on an occupation surface. Right: A small figurine from the top of a prehispanic style bottle in a green glaze introduced by the Spanish.

At the lowest level, between 69 and 74 cm below the surface, we found a layer of very clean, fine-grained, sandy-like soil. We believe that this soil may have been deposited during El Niño rains and that it represents the ground surface on which the colonial occupation was established. We also encountered the remains of flies and scorpions and we suspect that they hatched in the soil when it was wet. Excavations did not continue lower than this level due to lack of time. We will excavate more deeply in this pit or the vicinity in 2007 to confirm the prehistoric occupation below the colonial materials.

Discussion of the artifacts found in these excavations may be found in the Material Culture section of this web site. The analysis of plant and animal remains is being undertaken and a report on results will appear in this web site at a future date.

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