Guitarrero Cave is an ancient rockshelter located in the intermontane region of Callejon de Huaylas, Ancash, Peru. The cave sits at 2,380 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level, and 150 meters (500 feet) above the valley floor. Guitarrero Cave's deposits contain evidence of human occupations beginning approximately 12,100 years ago, and include the earliest textiles identified in South America to date.
Guitarrero Cave Stratigraphy
Two early complexes are mapped at Guitarrero Cave. The earliest, called Complex I and located in the back of the cave, includes stone tools and debitage, the tiny flakes created as a byproduct of stone tool production. Tools in Complex I include scrapers and a tanged triangular-bladed projectile point. Animal bones from this earliest complex include deer and small game such as rodents, rabbits and birds.
Complex II, located primarily in the central part of the cave, is characterized by lanceolate, triangular and contracting-stemmed projectile points; similar animal bones; and a number of artifacts made from wood, bone and plant fiber. Although there is no direct connection between Complexes I and II, the latest research (Jolie et al 2011) suggests taht the two represent contemporaneous occupations, and together they probably represent several brief site visits. AMS radiocarbon dates on fibers from Complex II range between 12,100 and 11,800 calendar years BP.
Above Complex II is a series of Archaic period campfires, dated between about 10,500 years ago and 9,000 years ago, but disturbed by both animal burrowing and looting. Wood, bone, antler, and fiber cordage artifacts were recovered from these levels, as were willow leaf, tanged, lanceolate, and concave base Ichuna/Arcata projectile points. A single grinding slab and a bone flesher were also recovered from this part of the site.
The most recent levels at Guitarrero Cave include Early and Middle Horizon occupations, cist tombs, and wall paintings between about 1000 BC-AD 1000. These deposits too have been disturbed by looting and rodent burrows.
Animal and Plant Remains at Guitarrero Cave
Preservation at Guitarrero Cave is remarkable: textiles, wood and leather tools and basketry have been preserved at the site. Animal remains identified in Complexes I and II include wild cuy (guinea pig, (Cavia porcellus). Plant remains are substantial, including sweet potato, domestic chili (Capsicum chinense), and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris and P. lunatus), including seeds and pods. Most astonishing are the textile remains, which are currently (April 2011) the earliest textiles yet discovered in South America.
Two bundles and four coils of fiber, 53 pieces of knotted and unknotted cordage, and three fragments of woven textiles were found within Complex II. Plant species of the cordage could not be identified, but are assumed to be agave or bromelids, both native to the region and currently growing near the cave.
- Read more about Textiles at Guitarrero Cave
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to American Archaic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Adovasio JM, and Lynch TF. 1973. Preceramic Textiles and Cordage from Guitarrero Cave, Peru. American Antiquity 38(1):84-90.
Jolie EA, Lynch TF, Geib PR, and Adovasio JM. 2011. Cordage, Textiles, and the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Andes. Current Anthropology 52(2):285-296.
Lynch TF. 1971. Preceramic Transhumance in the Callejon de Huaylas, Peru. American Antiquity 36(2):139-148.
Lynch TF, Gillespie R, Gowlett JAJ, and Hedges REM. 1985. Chronology of Guitarrero Cave, Peru. Science 229:864-867.
Lynch TF, and Kennedy KAR. 1970. Early Human Cultural and Skeletal Remains from Guitarrero Cave, Northern Peru. Science 169:1307-1309.
