Highland Communities of Central Peru 
A Regional Survey 
By Harry Tscuopik, JR. 
INTRODUCTION 
The field data on which the present paper is 
based were collected during a rapid survey of 
2 months’ duration in four Departments of the 
Central Peruvian Highlands: Huancavelica, Aya- 
cucho, Junin, and Pasco (map 1). This project 
was undertaken by the Institute of Social Anthro- 
pology of the Smithsonian Institution, repre- 
sented in the field by the writer, in cooperation 
with the Ministry of Education of the Peruvian 
Government. The Peruvian personnel, under 
the supervision of Dr. Luis E. Valearcel, Minister 
of Education, included Sefores Jorge C. Muelle, 
Gabriel Escobar, and José M. B. Farfan. During 
the course of the survey the primary concern of 
Muelle, Escobar, and the writer was the selection 
of a representative Central Highland community 
for future intensive social anthropological study, 
while Farfin was occupied chiefly with the col- 
lection of data for a distributional survey of the 
Central dialects of the Quechua language and the 
illustration of these with phonetic texts. At the 
termination of our 2 months’ tour of the four 
Central Departments, the town of Sicaya in the 
Jauja Valley of Junin Department was selected 
as a suitable community for intensive investiga- 
tion. The studies, which were initiated there in 
June 1945, by Muelle, Escobar, and the writer, 
continue at the present writing, while Farfan 
has extended his linguistic survey to include 
regions north and west of the area described in 
the present paper. Our survey must be consid- 
ered as a cooperative enterprise; while the writer 
has undertaken to compile and present the results, 
the field materials set out in the following pages 
were collected by the four of us. 
The Central Sierra of Peru was chosen as a 
profitable region for social anthropological research 
by Dr. Julian H. Steward, Director of the Institute 
of Social Anthropology, and by Dr. Valedércel in 
view of the fact that, in the past, most investiga- 
tions in this field have centered in southern Peru, 
particularly in the Departments of Cuzco and 
Puno. It was felt that the location of such studies 
almost exclusively in the south had tended to 
overemphasize Indian communities to be found 
there at the expense of the rest of the Republic. 
It was also for this reason that the members of our 
field party subsequently selected the town of 
Sicaya, an active and progressive Mestizo town, 
as the site for further research. In certain respects 
such communities, while less picturesque, perhaps, 
than the colorful and largely self-sufficient Indian 
towns of the south, are of more importance to 
Peru in that they take an active part in the nation- 
al economy and participate more fully in the life 
of the country. 
We visited, then, during April and May, 1945, 
a total of 14 communities in 4 highland Depart- 
ments of Central Peru, as follows (map 2): Huan- 
cavelica Department—Santa Barbara, Huay- 
lacucho, Castrovirreina, Choclococha; Ayacucho 
Department—Carmen Alto, Quinoa; Junin De- 
partment—Chupaca, Sicaya, San Gerénimo, Cajas, 
Muquiyauyo, Paca; Pasco Department—Huayllay 
and Huaychao.! While these towns are undoubt- 
edly representative of many others in the areas 
visited, we make no claim that our survey was 
1 It will be noted that, in the pages which follow, Huaylacucho, San Geron- 
imo, Cajas, and Paca do not receive separate treatment. This is because 
Huaylacucho bears close resemblance to Santa Barbara; San Gerénimo and 
Cajas to Sicaya and Chupaca; while Paca is in general similar to Muquiyauyo, 
1 
