Don Mateo-El Cerro, a Newly Rediscovered Late Period Settlement in Yocavil (Catamarca, Argentina)

Abstract

The Yocavil or Santa María Valley forms part of the region of mountains and valleys of NOA. It is one of the best known archaeological zones, and much work has occurred there. This is mainly because of the size and quantity of Late Period sites, among them many pukara. The valley runs from Punta de Balasto in Catamarca Province to its joining with the CalchaquíRiver Valley at Cafayate in Salta Province. It is bounded by the Sierra del Cajón or Quilmes on the west and by the Calchaquíes Peaks (Cumbres Calchaquíes) and the Sierra del Aconquija on the east (Figure 1). In April 2011, as part of her doctoral thesis on settlement patterns and archaeological landscapes, Alina Álvarez Larrain conducted survey in the archaeologicalzone of Andalhuala, in the southeast of the Yocavil Valley (Álvarez 2014). This allowed Álvarez and her team to locate a Late Period settlement known as Don Mateo or Rincón del Tío Mateo, that they believe is the settlement identified in 1960 as El Cerro, and whose exact location had been previously unknown (Arocena and Carnevali 1960). Don Mateo stands at 26E53´13.71" south, 66E2´2.63" west. This site poses new questions about the relationship between the pukara and settlements without defensive features. It also offers new information about the beginning of the Late Period in Yocavil and the southern Andes.