Investigations at Pichao

Description

This volume present results from a joint Swedish-Argentinian research and excavation project titled ‘Emergence and Growth of Centres: A Case Study in the Santa Maria Valley, North-western Argentina’. It includes archaeological reports, a section on bio-anthropology, articles related to the written sources, and a discussion on the impact of the project on the present-day village. Today, the Pichao site contains low stone walls of buildings and terraces, and several cemeteries. The site covers a great time span, but the buildings mostly date to the 14th and 15th centuries AD. One result of the project, however, was the discovery of earlier material, namely from the so-called Formative Period (200 BC to AD 800). It was also possible to delimit a settlement dating from the early period of Spanish Contact, adjacent to the more ancient one. It is hoped that this report will open the world of Pichao to the reader.