Soil Conservation Past and Present: A Study of Archaeological Raised Fields in North Coastal Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Humble Houses to Magnificent Monuments: Papers in Honor of Jerry D. Moore" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Casma Valley, on the central-northern coast of Peru, is home to a relatively unique system of raised agricultural fields. Relicts of prehispanic culture, these fields are unusually well preserved. The most significant research on these fields was completed by Jerry Moore, along with excavations of the nearby site of Quebrada Santa Christina. Now, new investigations of the Casma Valley raised fields in 2021 revealed distinct patterns of soil alteration and landscape modification by past humans. The goal of this research is to assess why Late Chimu (AD 1300–1470) societies in the Casma Valley converted 200 hectares of land into raised agricultural field systems, understand the cultural processes that were key to field operation, and determine how this information can contribute to modern sustainable development. Diverse data on soil composition is used to isolate soil conditions that represent ancient human activity from modern processes. This past-to-present spectrum is explored to look at modern anthropogenic soils and the long-term repercussions of cultivation. Multisensor geophysical methods are integrated here to examine these agricultural systems from multiple scales, and a new methodology for low-cost thermal photogrammetry is used to assess soil temperature and field drainage system operation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Humble Houses to Magnificent Monuments: Papers in Honor of Jerry D. Moore

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35941.0