Content uploaded by Lidio M Valdez
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Lidio M Valdez on Apr 24, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
1
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ACARI VALLEY AND THE LEGACY OF FRANCIS
ALLEN “FRITZ” RIDDELL
Katrina J. Bettcher & Lidio M. Valdez
In 1954, archaeologists Francis Allen “Fritz” Riddell and Dorothy Menzel arrived in the Acari
Valley on the south coast of Peru with the purpose of investigating the site of Tambo Viejo as part
of the Inca Royal Highway Project directed by Victor von Hagen. Various sites in the region were
recorded and investigated. After retirement in the early 1980s, Riddell was drawn back to Peruvian
archaeology. With the California Institute of Peruvian Studies, projects involving Peruvian and
foreign archaeologists, as well as non-professional participants from Acari and abroad, revisited
sites and investigated new findings. Riddell was concerned about the destruction of sites that had
been recorded in the 1950s so he worked with local officials and citizens to encourage preservation.
Rescue excavations were carried out at Tambo Viejo. Materials from looted sites were recovered,
catalogued and stored. Though he passed away in 2002, Francis A. Riddell’s legacy endures in the
Acari museum that has been named after him and in continuing work at the site of Tambo Viejo.
Symposium: The legacies of archaeologists in the Andes.
Society for American Archaeology 83rd. Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, April 11 – 15, 2018.
We had the great privilege of working with Francis Allen Riddell, affectionately known as Fritz,
during archaeological field seasons in the Acari and Yauca Valleys during the late 1980s. As
participants of the California Institute for Peruvian Studies (CIPS), the institute that Riddell
created, we were witnesses not only to the fieldwork which recorded the rich archaeological
resources of the south coast of Peru but we also observed how Riddell engaged and encouraged
Peruvians and North Americans to care about and to protect the cultural heritage of the region.
His influence continues to be felt in the ongoing archaeological studies in the Acari Valley, as well
as in the efforts of Acari citizens to promote the value of their cultural heritage.
Figure 1. Francis A. “Fritz” Riddell, 1988.
2
Figure 2. Location of Tambo Viejo.
Riddell’s interest in Peruvian south coast archaeology began a few decades earlier. On March 30,
1954, archaeologists Francis A. Riddell “Fritz” and Dorothy Menzel Riddell (“Dolly”) arrived in
the Acari Valley on the south coast of Peru with the purpose of investigating the site of Tambo
Viejo as part of the Inca Royal Highway Project directed by Victor von Hagen. They spent six
weeks at Tambo Viejo, mapping the site, taking measurements, excavating trenches and making
surface collections. In order to understand the different components of Tambo Viejo, Riddell and
Menzel worked together on creating a site plan. This was a challenging task, as the site was large,
measuring 1.5 kilometres by 0.5 kilometre, with much of the site being an amorphous mass of
rubble. They observed that the site had Early Intermediate Period, Middle Horizon, Late Horizon
and post-conquest components. The Inca part of Tambo Viejo was comparable to other
administrative sites in terms of site planning but had local characteristics in terms of construction
materials and details. While Riddell was trying hard to record information about Tambo Viejo, to
his dismay, trucks were driving over the site to haul away adobes to be reused in bricks and cobbles
for making irrigation canals.
Figure 3. Tambo Viejo seen from the air.
3
Figure 4. Map of Tambo Viejo prepared by Francis A. Riddell in 1954.
In addition to the studies done at Tambo Viejo, Riddell and Menzel surveyed the middle and lower
Acari Valley and recorded a total of 25 sites that belonged to different time periods.
Though Riddell and Menzel knew that there was much more work to be done in Acari, the project
required a move to Quebrada de la Vaca (see Figure 2), another Inca site along the Inca road in
Chala. In June, many textiles were discovered in a burial house. These textiles were sent to the
Museo Regional de Ica. Riddell finished his stay in Peru by visiting other sites in the Yauca and
Nazca Valleys. While visiting the different sites along the south coast, it was noted that the Inca
sites were built over earlier sites, just as at Tambo Viejo.
After spending just over three months in Peru, Riddell returned to the United States where he had
a career in California archaeology, initially as curator of the State Indian Museum, afterwards in
1960 he became the first professional archaeologist hired by the State of California. He retired in
1983.
In 1984 Riddell was able to renew his interest in the archaeology of the south coast of Peru. He
founded the California Institute for Peruvian Studies (CIPS) which had the goals of discovering or
reexamining sites in the Acari Valley and neighboring areas to register the location and
significance of each site. Starting in 1984, various projects were carried out with the help of
professional archaeologists and students from Peru and North America, as well as avocational
volunteers and local Peruvian assistants.
One of Riddell’s first priorities was to carry out an archaeological survey of the Acari Valley in an
effort to record all the sites. It became clear that a considerable number of sites in the valley had
been looted with the result that countless archaeological remains had been scattered on the surface.
Due to these circumstances, Riddell decided that the survey must include recovery of the surface
remains which enabled CIPS to become familiar with the types of artifacts, their chronological
placement and cultural associations.
4
Just to give an example of the archaeological resources of the Acari Valley and some of the
participants, the following are some of the 1986 projects carried out by CIPS: Jonathan Kent
investigated Early Intermediate Period lines and ground figures; Roger Robinson excavated at the
Initial Period site of Hacha; Makoto Kowta excavated in the residential area of the Early
Intermediate Period sector of Tambo Viejo; Leigh Ann Hunt directed excavations at the Late
Horizon site of Puntilla; and a rescue excavation at the early Middle Horizon cemetery of Tambo
Viejo was conducted by Riddell, with the assistance of Vern Hensler and Kathy Niles.
Also in 1986, an agreement was signed with the Universidad Católica Santa María from Arequipa
to house CIPS collections in Arequipa. This was meant to be a permanent collection to be available
for study by qualified students and professionals.
From the moment Francis Riddell established CIPS, it was his desire to involve Peruvian
archaeology students in the archaeological research conducted in the Acari Valley. Riddell
believed that the young Peruvian researchers needed support in order to take a leadership role in
studying their own past history. Students from different Peruvian universities joined CIPS projects.
North American students also benefitted from working in Acari and produced graduate theses.
Figure 5. F. A. Riddell crossing the Acari River (photo J. D. Kent)
Riddell’s enthusiasm for Peruvian archaeology was infectious. The coauthor became interested in
the Early Intermediate Period settlements in the Acari Valley while working with CIPS. Riddell
shared his knowledge with the young student and encouraged his interest, with the result that much
of the archaeological career of Valdez has continued in the same sites that he first visited in the
1980s with Riddell.
I first witnessed Riddell’s influence just over thirty years ago while on a project in Northern
California. Breck Parkman was showing Eric Ritter photos of his trip to the south coast of Peru
and was talking about Riddell. These archaeologists would later publish papers about their interest
in the petroglyphs of the south coast. Just a few weeks after first hearing about Riddell, I met him
in person and was convinced to go as a volunteer with CIPS to Peru in 1988.
5
I was able to observe the impact that Riddell had on archaeologists, students, volunteers and the
people of Acari. The people of Acari knew that Riddell was carrying out legitimate archaeological
research and they felt comfortable telling him about new finds. While Riddell and CIPS
participants were making a surface collection at Tambo Viejo during the February-March 1988
field season, a local woman approached Riddell to report the recent looting of a cemetery which
was located near the ocean. The site would be later known as Huaca Juana to honor the local
woman. The CIPS group, which included textile expert Grace Katterman, visited the site where a
collection of textiles and other artifacts were made.
Figure 6. F. A. Riddell at Monte Grande Alto, Acari (photo P. H. Carmichael).
A couple of weeks afterwards, another important collection of textiles was reported to CIPS, this
time by a local assistant who mentioned that textiles had been discovered at Rodadero, across the
river from Tambo Viejo. Neatly folded, unused blankets of standard size, colour and manufacture
technique had been found in an adobe structure which must have been a storehouse along the Inca
road. The textiles were sent to Arequipa for storage.
Katterman has emphasized to this author that she owes her career in archaeological textiles to
Riddell. He paved the way for her to have access to the Quebrada de la Vaca burial house collection
recovered in 1954 and stored in the Museo Regional de Ica. He had the collection located for her.
She was able to analyze, conserve and restore the collection, then publish several articles about the
work. Subsequently, Katterman was able to share her knowledge with Peruvian, North American,
English and Japanese students by leading textile workshops in Ica, then later on in Arequipa, using
the 1954 and CIPS collections.
Though Riddell himself was more interested in site survey and surface collections, an excavation
during the 1988 season was carried out by Peruvian archaeologist Augusto Belan and CIPS.
Several Inca mummy bundles and offerings were excavated from the Cementerio de San Francisco
in the Yauca Valley.
Of all the sites in the Acari Valley, Tambo Viejo was very special to Riddell. Perhaps it was
because it was the first site where he worked, and by coincidence, Tambo Viejo was also the site
where he worked for the last time. In 1954 Tambo Viejo was an enormous site at some distance
from the modern town of Acari. By 1984 the situation had changed; [SLIDE 18] the expanding
town had reached the northern section of the site. Likewise, agriculture erased the western section
6
of the Tambo Viejo. In 1990 Riddell, along with the coauthor, conducted salvage work at the
northern sector of Tambo Viejo. Countless attempts were made to convince the local municipal
authorities to provide protection to the site. Despite these efforts, the northern section of Tambo
Viejo was invaded by citizens late in the 1990s and thereafter new buildings were constructed.
Figure 7. F. A. Riddell at the Cemetery of San Francisco, Yauca Valley.
Beyond the Acari Valley, Riddell surveyed the neighboring valleys of Yauca-Jaqui, Atiquipa,
Chala and Chaparra. The survey results were published shortly thereafter. Riddell’s last trip to
Peru was in 1998 when he visited the Chala region to make a final visit to the Inca site of Quebrada
de la Vaca. On his return from Chala to Lima, Riddell made a stop in Acari so as to walk over the
ruins of Tambo Viejo for the last time. Shortly after this trip his health began to deteriorate,
preventing his return to his second home: Acari.
Though Riddell passed away in 2002, his legacy endures in the Acari museum named after him.
While they may not have known Fritz personally, local high school students and their teachers
were inspired to create the Museo Arqueológico de Acarí “Francis A. Riddell”. Through the
students’ hard work, support from the local authorities and citizens, along with the help of
participants in the Amato Project, the museum was inaugurated on July 25, 2006. It was a
momentous day with a blessing by the priest, speeches, a christening with chicha, a plaque
unveiling and a ribbon cutting ceremony. A pamphlet describes the museum as a place where the
people may value and preserve their cultural patrimony, much of which has been destroyed. [At
present the museum collections are limited, with some specimens from Acari projects that were
carried out in the new millennium and by donations from local people.
Archaeological research will continue at the Inca administrative center of Tambo Viejo, Riddell’s
special site. Recently the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has
provided a grant to carry out investigations regarding the Inca presence in Acari. Last summer site
7
mapping was done and excavations are planned for this coming July of 2018, as well as for
July/August of 2019. In addition to learning about Tambo Viejo and the Inca presence in Acari,
we believe that this work is a way to honor our dear friend and mentor, Francis Allen Riddell,
affectionately known as Fritz.
Figure 8. The Museo Arqueológico Francis A. Riddell de Acarí.
As an important note, when the coauthor informed Dorothy Menzel that Fritz would be
remembered at this session, her response was: “That’s fantastic! He deserves it!” She described
Fritz as being resourceful and a great field man. For further information about Fritz and CIPS,
please refer to the California Institute for Peruvian Studies website. Also, read the Andean Past
(2005) obituary written by Jonathan Kent.
Fritz did not speak much Spanish but for us it was enough. So, we conclude by saying, with
gratitude and respect for all the work Fritz did in Acari and for all the people he supported:
¡Es Bueno!