Caballete2015_Report

<p>Caballete is a Late Archaic (3000 - 1800 BC) site located in a valley off the north bank of the Fortaleza River, approximately 8km from the Pacific coast. It consists of multiple lesser mounds and a single larger mound. One of the mounds sits as an outlier to the southeast while the other five form a U-shaped pattern on the terrace. The outlier is believed to be the earliest attempt at mound construction on the site. Three of the other mounds are associated with sunken circular plazas, one of which is outlined by <em>huancas</em>, or large standing stones.</p> <p>The aim of this project was to identify buried architecture for subsequent, targeted excavation at a Late Archaic ceremonial site in Peru. Two of the mounds (B and C) were surveyed using GPR, photogrammetry and magnetometry (Mound B only), with surveys occurring on the top and flank of Mound B. A low mound referred to as &quot;Center Area&quot; and the sunken circular plaza associated with the <em>huancas </em>and Mound A (the principal mound of Caballete) were surveyed with GPR, magnetometry and photogrammetry as well.&nbsp; Finally, a campsite area (20 x 40m) located to the northwest of the site&#39;s U-shaped configuration of features was surveyed using magnetometry. The site contains characteristics of typical campsite areas and, due to the ephemeral nature of campsites and general lack of permanent structures, was not surveyed with GPR or photogrammetry.</p> <p>This upload contains the report for the Caballete project produced shortly after the field season in 2015.</p>