“Los Adobes Cónicos building”

Located in the core area of Allpacoto, southwest of the Major Public Pyramidal Building C1. The main façade faces east, towards the central square, where the façades of: Major Public Pyramidal Building C1, Major Public Pyramidal Building B2, Minor Public Pyramid Building E1 (Las Hornacinas Building) and Minor Public Pyramidal Building D1 also converge.

The building has a quadrangular base with an area of 1,000 m2 and is 3.8 m high. It is com- prised by a wide platform that was accessed using a central staircase. On top of the platform, in the main axis, there is a sunken quadrangular space and a central room, with a circular fire pit, benches and side areas.

In the first period, the building was built on natural ground. The walls were built with conical adobes made of yellow and gray clay, mixed with fine gravel, joined with gray clay mortar. The walls are plastered with yellow clay.

That first construction was covered with structured deposits of coarse gravel and pebbles, contained by the walls of a cut stone platform, joined with gray clay mortar, plastered with yellow clay. New rooms made of conical adobe were built on the platform.

In the last periods, new platforms were built with rooms on top, all made of cut stones joined with gray and beige clay mortar, with yellow, beige and white plasters.

Fragment of stone mortar, with traces of ocher-colored pigment.

Needle.

Ceramic piruro (spindle whorl) with lineal designs.

Ceramic piruro (spindle whorl) with lineal designs.

Stone bead.

Findings In Minor Public Building G

Stone piruro (spindle whorl).

Musical wind instrument, of vegetal material, with two circular holes and stepped design.

(spindle whorl).

Ceramic

(spindle whorl).

Economic Aspects

The population of Allpacoto’s urban center set up agricultural fields to produce a variety of species, such as guava, peanut, achira (arrowroot), cotton, mate, pacae, lucuma, beans, chili, basul and prunes, among others, intended for food and trade with coastline communities. They also had access to natural resources from nearby hills. Irrigation water came from the Supe River and from local springs.

They extracted clay and stone from nearby quarries, and extracted huarango, gynerium and willow from the river forest. In the exchange with coastline populations they obtained fish such as anchovy, sardine, lorna, croaker, cachema weakfish and jack mackerel; and shellfish such as mussels, clams, limpet, etc.

Social, Political and Ideological Aspects

A public building with a sunken circular square from the Initial Formative period has been identified on this site, evidencing that meetings were held there on a regular basis. Later, during the Early and Middle Formative period they erected public pyramidal buildings and residential complexes of high-quality architecture, arranged around quadrangular spaces.

The variations in the buildings’ design and volume show a hierarchical social system resulting from a production surplus and the trade with neighboring and external populations of the Supe basin.

Residential complexes, with fine finishes, were located around the Major Public Pyramidal Buildings, where social, political and religious activities were conducted. The lower-ranking population built their homes on the periphery of the urban center, near agricultural areas.

Urban planning, architectural design and the distinction of major and minor Public Pyramidal Buildings show a complex socio-political organization, with authorities capable of generating mechanisms to reinvest surpluses into labor force and into the implementation of exchange networks.

The authorities directed activities on the site and had links with leaders of other urban centers of the Supe Valley, the coastline and other central-Andean regions.

They maintained social order in an ideological system with a strong religious content, shared by the populations of the different settlements. The religious ideology helped legitimizing the control of the population’s workforce and the delivery and optimization of the produced surplus. The ideological aspect would mainly materialize into the construction of monumental buildings, where power was also centralized. Through the continuous remodelling of buildings, social relations were renewed and power was increased and sustained.