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Nami, H. G., Chichkoyan, K. V., Yataco Capcha, J., & Lanata, J. L. (2023). New Taphonomic Approach Applied to the Late Pleistocene Bone Remains from Pikimachay Cave, Ayacucho Basin, Peru: Possible Implications for the Debate on Human Colonisation of Western South America. Bulletins et mémoires de la société d’anthropologie de Paris, 35, 4-24.
https://doi.org/10.4000/bmsap.12018

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Reevaluating the MacNeish Legacy Collections: Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Archaeology from the Ayacucho Basin, Peru

  AUTHORS: Hugo G. Nami, Juan J. Yataco Capcha

  KEYWORDS: Material Culture, Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene, Ayacucho Basin, Andean Region, South America

  JOURNAL NAME: Archaeological Discovery, Vol.14 No.1, December 9, 2025

  ABSTRACT: A ground-breaking endeavor led by Richard MacNeish between 1966 and 1972 was the “Ayacucho Archaeological-Botanical Project” in south-central Peru. For more than ten years, we have reviewed the lithics recovered in this fieldwork. As part of this research, we carried out detailed reevaluations of the lithic remains from the lower strata of three caves excavated in this project. Presented here are the artifacts from the lower levels of Pikimachay, Jaywamachay, and Puente. Careful laboratory analysis of the artifacts enabled the distinction between humanly modified and naturally formed items. This process identified 9760 anthropogenic pieces, including bifacial and unifacial points, scrapers, and cores. Modified faunal bones, used as tools and displaying polishing and cut marks, were also among the findings. We present an overview of the lithic analysis performed, as well as a morpho-technological description of the archaeological remains witnessing the material culture of the hunter-gatherers living in the Ayacucho basin during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene.