Spacial configuration and social organization: Analysis into accessing La Alumbrera (<i>ca</i>. 1400-650 BP, southern Argentine Puna)

Abstract

I present the study of the built environment in the archaeological site La Alumbrera, a fortified residential settlement located above 3,500 m.a.s.l. in the Antofagasta de la Sierra microregion and occupied during the Tardío, Inca e Hispano Indígena time periods (ca. 1000-1680 A.D.). There is a close relationship between the built environment, the social practices of encounters and social structure, making it possible to study this relationship from archaeological architecture. The aim of this paper is to study the archaeological site from its movement patterns and the possibilities of encounters that architecture created. Space syntax provided the methodology applied in order to characterize the socio-spatial system, and was based on the concepts of connectivity, ringiness, integration and segregation. Results showed a highly controlled access system materialized in the construction of two concentric surrounding walls. Also, two segregated yet internally integrated areas were observed in the central residential sector, suggesting the existence of a social and spatial structure organized in halves.