Discussion

Evidence from these test units suggest that the small hearth was built between windscreens and walls made of standing slab rocks. Based on the small size of the hearth and the structure size, the hearth seems to have been a residential feature. Assuming the overall site configuration at Pausa involved two large ovals of rocks that may be observed today, the structure that was encountered in unit 3 and 4 pits would be immediately north of the internal oval. These ovals may have been herd control features, such as large corrals with well constructed wall bases on slightly raised mounds, and this residential structure would have been constructed against the north perimeter of the inner circular corral feature. Evidence from lithic reduction show that advanced stages of lithic reduction were occurring here, and while the evidence of bifacial production and pressure flaking absent from the Chivay workshop area, such activities appear to have been occurring with greater frequency in Block 2.