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Kuhikugu (MT-FX-11) is a major first order center and the
largest site in the study area (at roughly 50 hectares). To date, only limited
excavations. A single radiocarbon date from basal deposits places initial
occupations c. AD 1000 or before and another radiocarbon date places site
abandonment after c. AD 1500. The site was re-occupied by the Kuikuro after
their split from the ancestral group at Oti/Wagihïtï (c. 1860)
and there is no living memory of this occupation, so an estimated date of
abandonment is 1500-1750. The site is directly linked via its radial road
system to secondary centers of Asahïtï, Ugotahïtï, Kuhugupe,
and Maijeinei, as well as an area with limited evidence of domestic occupations
but extensive evidence of landscape alteration (artificial scrub/savannas),
perhaps indicative of its use for agricultural production.
Extensive anthropogenic dark earth and surface ceramics are apparent across
the site. In total, 1949 surface collection units (2m²) collected along
25 transects indicate that domestic occupations were distributed across
X11. Ditches at the site extend well over 2.5 km in length and sometimes
reach a depth of 4.0 meters or more. Roadways, like at Hialugihïtï,
reach 50 meters wide in the settlement confines, and road marginal curbs
reach over 2.0 meters as they come into the bowl-shaped plaza, the appearance
created by the large plaza marginal mounds.
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