Blog Post – Matt Mcguire – 7/18/09

Today I´m going to Pukarito to excavate a site thought to be inhabited by both Inca and Pre-Inca Peoples.  For the past few weeks I´ve been excavating at sites along the west side of the hill along what seems to be a cangahua melt wall.  Cangahua is hard packed volcanic ash soil that can be used to form structures and blocks.  The Caranqui or the people of Northern Ecuador before the Inca arrived used Cangahua to build many of their structures, while the Inca use primarily stone but use Cangahua to patch their buildings. During these excavations we uncovered burned soil with burnt corn and bone.  Half a meter to the south, we found a series of faced Cangahua blocks that seem to form two walls.  Its hard to tell what this site is because much it has been destroyed by farming, though some would argue that the walls are from a residential structure and the burnt soil is a hearth used to cook food (though this sentiment isn´t shared by everybody).

However, today I´m working at a unit in the Northeast of the site.  We just openned a 5 meter by 5 meter unit because of results from a grounding penetrating radar.  It showed three different possible structures, so we have to excavate down around 60 cm to discover what they are if anything.  We uncovered the first of the possible structures and it appears to only be naturally formed cangahua and nothing more.  Later we found what appears to be a nicely face Cangahua wall along the north side of the unit.  We have to excavate quickly because we only have a few days left before we leave for the year.

When we´re not excavating we have to fill out all kinds of paper work or draw maps.  These are extremely important for people who want to look at your finds in later years.  Pukarito is extremely windy, so we have to eat lunch behind agave and tree to stay warm.  Pukarito has been an interesting place to work, the weather and finds make everyday an adventure.

Matt McGuire