He Man from Pacaicasa Was the first man to tread the lands of Peru, according to the late American archaeologist Richard MacNeish.
Archaeological data record that the man from Pacaicasa lived in the Peruvian Andes around 20,000 BC, specifically in what is now known as the Pacaycasa district, in the province of Ayacucho, Peru.
The main archaeological remains of the man from Pacaicasa have been found in the vicinity and interior of a cave known as Pikimachay, which in native language means"cave of the flea."
The cave of Pikimachay is located at 2,850 meters above sea level and some archaeologists claim that this was the habitat of the man from Pacaicasa.
Other archaeologists say that the man from Pacaicasa lived in the years 13,000 BC. And some others affirm that the man of Pacaicasa did not exist.
However, the story told by the evidence dictates that the primitive man fabricated instruments to hunt the animals of his surroundings to be able to feed.
Large rocks have been found with pointed figures that are presumed to have been used by the man from Pacaicasa, as well as primitive stoves inside the cave of Pikimachay.
Main historical aspects of the man from Pacaicasa
Little relevant evidence exists regarding the man from Pacaicasa. The archaeological studies of MacNeish of the decade of the 60 have been much discussed by other great and respectable archaeologists.
The points below reveal both options, the opinion of MacNeish and that of other archaeologists who differ from the results of their discoveries.
The pioneer of Peru, or not?
The man from Pacaicasa, if he existed, was the pioneer in the manufacture of lithic instruments, both for hunting and gathering.
MacNeish states that in his investigation were found remnants of a megaterio (a bear of enormous dimensions) next to several pointed stones that, he assumed, were tools used for the hunting by the man of Pacaicasa.
Regarding this finding, other archaeologists like Lavallèe, affirm that it is impossible that the man has treaded the Peruvian lands by the date stipulated by MacNeish.
In addition, they declare that the remains found of the megaterium are not the fault of the man of Pacaicasa but that the megaterio died of natural way.
In addition, they insist that pointed stones were not the invention of the man from Pacaicasa, but earthquakes, earthquakes, and even the eruption of volcanoes were responsible for"creating"those stones.
According to archaeologists such as Lynch and Narváez, the lithic tools found in Pikimachay were not the work of the man from Pacaicasa but from other settlers who came to Peru a long time later, around 12,000 BC. These archaeologists claim that the pioneers of Peru were the men of Guitarrero.
What did the man from Pacaicasa eat?
It is presumed that the man from Pacaicasa went hunting in a group. The great men with their lances, stones, and other unknown instruments struck great animals that existed at that time.
Mastodons (giant elephants with horns), glyptodonts (giant armadillos) and saber-toothed tigers were part of the diet of the man from Pacaicasa.
In addition, there were other small animals much easier to hunt. From small animals such as rats and mice, through medium-sized animals such as rabbits and ducks, to large animals such as horses, deer and deer.
Now, after hunt the animal had to be skinned to eat. Here the dilemmas between archeologists and others begin.
MacNeish states that the man from Pacaicasa was a nomad who moved from one place to another in search of food, always hunting in places alien to him.
He also states that places like Pikimachay Cave were meeting places where large families would unite to skinned the hunted animals and cook them in the stoves.
However, other archaeologists claim that there is no evidence of stoves, traces of coal or other evidence to claim that the man Pacaicasa cooked their food. And if he did not cook them, then probably he did not either.
Those who make such statements explain that the Pacaicasa man must have been a nomad who ate the freshly hunted food and used his remains to shelter, to create weapons, or to manufacture harvesting and hunting tools.
These archaeologists point out that the man Pacaicasa ate fruits harvested from nearby trees, at least most of the time.
Nomads or sedentary?
The archaeological studies carried out in Ayacucho have determined that the Pacaicasa man made use of various tools.
To say that the man from Pacaicasa was nomadic or sedentary depends on the tools he used, among other things. For example, if he used an ax he was obviously a hunter and the hunters were nomads.
The hunters were nomads because they went out to look for food and could walk many miles to find out what to eat.
They did not have a fixed place of rest, if the night took them by surprise, they simply lay on the ground and slept anywhere. In addition, the collectors and explorers were also nomads.
The main tools found in the Pikimachay cave and its surroundings date back thousands of years, from the era when the man from Pacaicasa settled in Peru.
The most important tools that have been found have been: scrapers, splinters, hoes, knives, denticulate and bifaces.
These tools are evidence that the man from Pacaicasa was nomadic. Scrapers were used to remove meat from hunted animals.
The splinters were used to make weapons, probably for hunting. Hoes were used to open holes in the ground. Knives were used to kill and cut skins.
Likewise denticulate and bifaces were used to kill animals and eat their flesh to survive.
Consequently this evidence has been one of the proposals by MacNeish and has been accepted by the rest of the archaeological community. The man from Pacaicasa was nomadic.
The reason that the remains of the man from Pacaicasa were found in the Pikimachay cave is because this was a place of refuge. In this and other similar places the man from Pacaicasa took refuge, ate, kept rites and ceremonies and took care of the cold.
References
- Silva Sifuentes, Jorge E. T.: «Origin of the Andean civilizations». Included in the History of Peru, pp. 37-39. Lima, Lexus Editores, 2000. ISBN 9972-625-35-4.
- Siegfried J. de Laet, Unesco. (1994). History of Humanity: Prehistory and the beginnings of civilization. Google Books: Taylor & Francis.
- Kent V Flannery, Joyce Marcus, Robert G Reynolds. (2016). The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru. Google Books: Routledge.
- MAC NEISH, Richard. (1979). "Early man remains from Pikimachay Cave, Ayacucho Basing, Highland Peru". In Pre-Llano Cultures of the Americas: Paradoxes and posibilites edited by R.L. Hamphey and D Stanford, pp. 1-47.The Anthropological Society of Washingtong, D.C.
- Juan José Yataco. (2011). Review of the evidence of Pikimachay, Ayacucho, occupation of the Late Pleistocene in the Central Andes. Bulletin of Archeology, Vol. 15, Pag. 247-274. ISSN 1029-2004.
- César Ferreira, Eduardo Dargent-Chamot. (2003). Culture and Customs of Peru. Google Books: Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Museum of National History (Peru), Emilio Gutiérrez de Quintanilla. (1921). Memory of the director of the National History Museum, Volume 1. Google Books: Tall. Tip. Of the Museum by Ramón Barrenechea.
- Mario Benavides Calle. (1976). Archaeological sites in Ayacucho. Google Books: National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga, Academic Department of Historical Social Sciences.