Amazing

Three weeks in Zudañez have flown past and it was amazing! We concentrated in the first place on the rock plateau of Calle Calle, where we mapped an early settlement (probably BC) protected by a system of defensive walls. As this was a first season exploration was an important part of our work. Guided by information from the local communities and Edmundo´s previous investigations we recorded an amazing number of sites from a range of periods (approximately 1600 BC-1500 AD). Surrounding an Inca storage site with about 35 round food stores, for example, we discovered three settlements of a range of dates providing an interesting link between local cultures and the Incas. A real highlight was to record the rock art of Kaka Pintashka; two panels of paintings on the face of a vertical rock. Although this site was known to archaeologists before, it had never been documented in any detail. We saw human figures, a possible Supay (Andean spirit of fecundity), abstract motives such as a wheel, Christian crosses and a Colonial horse. This site is highly inaccessible and we walked for an hour, then scrambled up the rock with the help of some steps carved into the slope by our Bolivian companions. The effort involved in getting there probably added to the whole experience, it was like entering a prehistoric cathedral!

On the photos: vertical archaeology, recording rock art and some of the finds.