Landscapes of Change: Integrated Socio-ecological Histories in the Chicama Valley, Peru

Growing research demonstrates that Peruvian coastal valleys are not static oases cutting the desert, but dynamic environments shaped by millennia of climatic variability and anthropogenic change. Despite rich cultural, climatic and biotic data, we lack integrated histories that comprehensively synthesize the evolution of socio-ecological relationships. Importantly, we have little understanding of how recursive ties between environmental change (both natural and anthropogenic) structured societal development, nor how legacies of change resonate in modern ecologies.

This symposium presents a socio-ecological synthesis of the Chicama Valley, a key Andean region. We develop a platform for integrating cross-disciplinary, multi-project information to develop new interpretations of the valley’s historical ecology as a cohesive entity. Thematic papers synthesize archaeological, palaeoclimatic, geomorphologic, geospatial, and agronomic data. We discuss demographic and settlement dynamics, environmental change precipitated by premodern communities, and the impacts of climatic trends to understand the effects of path dependencies and disturbance socio-natural ecology of Chicama.

We hope to establish a collaborative framework for effectively integrating information from independent research initiatives into a regional dataset, so that we can address broader socio-ecological questions. This symposium identifies crucial lacunae requiring future investigation so that the full importance of recursive socio-environmental dynamics can be better understood.