Pikimachay Cave (Pikimachay Ayacucho)
Pumapachayoc? Phe cave · Ayacucho Cave
Pleistocene? contested 20,000 BP + secure Early Holocene 9,000 BCE – Formative 1800 BCE·Pacaicasa – Ayacucho Preceramic → Wari?·🇵🇪 Ayacucho, Huamanga Province, Peru
About
About Pikimachay Cave (Pikimachay Ayacucho)
Deep limestone cave 30 m entrance, 13 m depth in Ayacucho basin: stratified sequence spanning Pleistocene to Formative with contested earliest layers (Pikimachay phase 20,000–12,000 BP lithic choppers, sloth bone association by MacNeish 1969 controversial) and solid Early Preceramic 9,000 BP guanaco hunter strata, Pacaicasa hearths and later Ayacucho Formative textiles. Richard MacNeish's Ayacucho-Huanta Archaeological-Botanical Project 1969–70 initiated New World earliest occupation debate; re-dating by Rick/Weitzel questions Pleistocene layers. Still type-site for Andean Foothill forager chronology.
Why it mattersControversial proposed earliest South American cave occupation (20k) that launched Pre-Clovis Andean debate; secure 9k Early Preceramic Andean foothill forager adaptation type-site and plant domestication evidence (squash 7k).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Are 20k choppers eoliths vs genuine tools
- 02Mastodon bone association human-modified
Theories
- 01Ayacucho corridor as initial Andean entrada from coast
- 02Cave as seasonal highland hunting refuge
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- naturally formed cave occupied episodically
- Period
- Pleistocene? contested 20,000 BP + secure Early Holocene 9,000 BCE – Formative 1800 BCE
- Culture
- Pacaicasa – Ayacucho Preceramic → Wari?
- Purpose
- Rock shelter / hunter-gatherer camp and later ritual cave
- Excavation
- Excavated
naturally formed cave occupied episodically
Initial construction
c. 1616 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
13.0383° S · 74.2292° W · 2850 m · 2 mapped features
Main cave chamber stratified deposits
cave6 m sequence from Pacaicasa to Formative with 12 culture layers
13.0381° S · 74.2290° WPacaicasa hearth stratum
middenContested 20k BP hearth and chopper locus at base stratum
13.0385° S · 74.2293° W