Ilo-Cabuza ware is found primarily in parts of Peru and Chile.  These artifacts have been found in two types of environments. The first consists of long terraces low onthe coastal valley wall or large natural flats.  The second consists of small terraces running up steep ravines high in the side of the valley.  One site, Loreto Alto, wasexcavated in 1989-90 revealing ceramics exclusively of the Ilo-Cabuza tradition.  According to an article by Bruce Owen, three separate Ilo-Cabuza cemeteries are located on the uphill side of the canal. 

The Ilo-Cabuza style for their ceramics includes paste and temper, slip, paints, and burnishing. Bruce Owen states that the later Ilo-Cabuza ceramics were absent because a nearby settlement, the Chiribaya, inreased in number and “sociopolitical complex.”  This growing settlement eventually took over limited resources such as bows, arrows and axes. Less labor was invested into their ware, using only a single color, reducing amount of burnishing, and neglecting to smooth the outsides.  Eventually the Ilo-Cabuza tradition disappeared.

The radiocarbon dates indicate that the Ilo-Cabuza tradition continued until around 1250 AD; two dates fall in the last thirty years of that span.

References:

Owen, Bruce. Coastal Colonies and the collapse of Tiwanaku: The Coastal Osmore Valley, Peru. 1992.

Sutter, Richard C. Chapter11: A Bioarchaeological Assessment of Prehistoric Ethnicity Among Early Late Intermediate Period Populations of the Azapa Valley, Chile.

Written by: Amy Sharping