Late Horizon

I identified four distinct Late Horizon ceramic styles on the Taraco Peninsula. These are, in order of descending frequency of occurrence,

By far the most common of these was a local Late Horizon style associated with the Pacajes polity and/or ethnicity. The style has variously been termed ``Pacajes-Inka'' ([Albarracín-Jordan 1992,Albarracín-Jordan and Mathews 1990,Mathews 1992]), Saxamar ([Browman 1985,Daulsberg H. 1960]) and ``llamita ware'' ([Graffam 1990]). I prefer Saxamar. Examples are illustrated in Figure 10.1p-ae. Saxamar ceramics consist exclusively of shallow bowls, plates or basins. These are typically slipped a deep red and polished to a high burnish on both the interior and exterior. The paste is very fine, dense and well-fired. Bowl or plate rims are usually direct and rounded, but often have a slight interior bevel. Saxamar bowl rims are only very rarely flared, and never tapered. Therefore, slip color and rim form alone are normally enough to distinguish Saxamar from Early Pacajes open vessels.

Saxamar modeled decoration occasionally includes what appears to be a duck head (Figure 10.1p) or more commonly single or double nubs (Figure 10.1q-r) protruding from the rim. Painted decoration is always applied using a black pigment. I have encountered only a single example of a Saxamar polychrome (Figure 10.1p). This example used a white pigment to color the beak and neck of a stylized duck head. Cross-hatching on an interior rim bevel is extremely diagnostic of this style (Figure 10.1s-w), and an undulating line occupying the same position is not uncommon (Figure 10.1z-aa). Also extremely diagnostic are arrays of what appear to be stylized camelids rendered with very delicate brush strikes (Figure 10.1p-r, t-z). These are clearly distinguishable from their thicker and coarser Early Pacajes precursors.

While the stylized camelid motif is the most common element in Saxamar decorative painting, other objects and animals are also represented. These include lake birds - possibly flamingos - (Figure 10.1ad-ae), what appears to be a grasshopper (Figure 10.1ac), and a branching design, possibly representing a tree or other plant (Figure 10.1aa-ab). This last motif is particularly interesting, because it becomes much more common in the subsequent Late Pacajes phase. All three of these non-camelid motifs are quite rare in the Saxamar style.

**Figure 10.1:** Late Horizon ceramics
Styles: a-c) Taraco Polychrome, d-n) Chucuito Black on Red, o) Chucuito Polychrome, p-ae) Saxamar (Pacajes-Inka), af-am) Inka Imperial.

The second most common Late Horizon style on the Taraco Peninsula is related the Inka Imperial style (Figure 10.1af-am), and is related to the imperial Cuzco A and B styles ([D'Altroy and Bishop 1990,D'Altroy 1993,Rowe 1944,Tschopik 1946]: 36-39). Ceramics of this general style are found throughout the former territory of Inka empire and are the principal markers of the Late Horizon. These vessels are of two main types: shallow bowls or plates, clearly the inspiration for the Saxamar examples, and large restricted-neck jars generally known as aryballoid vessels, or arybalos. Both are normally fine, dense and well-fired, and are slipped a deep red (though exceptions exist, such as Figure 10.1ak, which has a white slip). In fact, the Saxamar style's technology and slip color are pretty clearly in imitation of the Inka Imperial style. Inka Imperial plates also frequently have modeled decoration, in the form of bird heads or nubs, on the rim. In addition, arybalos typically sport a highly stylized modeled animal head on their body. This head, known as an adorno, is usually though to have served to attach a tumpline. Inka Imperial bowls often are decorated with chains of triangles pendant from the rim (Figure 10.1aj-am). Arybalos are often decorated with chains of triangles or diamonds (Figure 10.1af-ag), or with a highly distinctive motif probably representing some kind of plant (Figure 10.1ah-ai). Ceramics of the Inka Imperial style seem to have been produced by state specialists, and distributed as part of the functioning of the administrative apparatus ([Costin and Earle 1989,Costin and Hagstrum 1995]).

The third most common Late Horizon style is the Chucuito style. The center of the distribution of the Chucuito styles seems to be the western Titicaca Basin, south of Puno and north of Yunguyu. Essentially, this was the territory of the Lupaqa ``kingdom'' ([Hyslop 1976,Murra 1968,Murra 1970]). A small number of trade pieces seem to have been transported to the southern Titicaca Basin. The Chucuito styles were originally described by Tschopik, and her analysis is still the best source on the style ([Tschopik 1946]).

Chucuito polychromes ([Tschopik 1946]: 27-29) are very rare on the Taraco Peninsula. Only one example was recovered in the survey, which seems to represent some kind of catfish (Figure 10.1o). More common is Chucuito Black on Red ([Tschopik 1946]: 29-31). These ceramics are very similar to the Saxamar style in terms of basic technology. They also are fine and dense, and are decorated with a glossy black pigment over a deep red slip. Diagnostic - that is, painted - examples are exclusively open bowls. Tschopik documents a wide variety of decorative motifs for this style. On the Taraco Peninsula, very few of these motifs are represented. Some figurative elements are present (Figure 10.1d, g-h), but most examples present some combination of spirals, undulating lines, and pendant loops (Figure 10.1e-f, i-l). In this, at least, my sample seems to resemble that of Stanish from the Juli area of Peru ([Stanish et al. 1997]: 47-48, 55).

The fourth and final Late Horizon ceramic style is Taraco Polychrome, also first defined by Tschopik (also see [Julien 1993]: 190-191). The distribution of this styles seems to be centered in the Peruvian town of Taraco on the northern side of the lake. It is exceedingly rare in the southern Titicaca Basin. I recovered only four examples from the Taraco Peninsula, three of which are illustrated in Figure 10.1a-c. Tschopik described the style as follows: