Coyo Oriente. Prototype of San Pedro de Atacama's Middle Period

Abstract

The archaeological cemetery of Coyo Oriente was used by Tarrago (1968, 1989) as prototype to define San Pedro de Atacama's Middle Period; nevertheless, thus far only partial analyses have been published and no detailed and thorough review of the site exists. For this reason, we considered important to conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of these contexts and provide documented information about a site that is considered a fundamental reference in structuring the chronological sequence of the agroalfarero period of San Pedro de Atacama. Coyo Oriente has the second most Tiwanaku objects in San Pedro de Atacama, and also includes an important presence of Aguada material culture (NW Argentina). Here, we also discuss the issue of ethnicity and foreignness. Status indicators and their behavior over time are analyzed. The analysis of the surveyed information, supplemented with existing information enable us to define the Ergologic Profile of this site, describing its contextual components and relating them to their corresponding Index of Representativeness, projected for this site and as benchmarks for the Coyo and Yaye phases.