Landscapes of Change: Integrated Socio-ecological Histories in the Chicama Valley, Peru
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)
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.
Other Keywords
Peru •
Irrigation •
Geoarchaeology •
Ecology •
Paleoclimate •
Climate Change •
Settlement patterns •
preceramic •
historical ecology •
Moche
Geographic Keywords
South America •
Department of Martinique (Country) •
Republic of El Salvador (Country) •
Department of Guadeloupe (Country) •
Antigua and Barbuda (Country) •
Belize (Country) •
Anguilla (Country) •
Republic of Guatemala (Country) •
Republic of Honduras (Country) •
St. Lucia (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)
- Documents (8)
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The Chicama Valley Archaeological Project (1989-2000) Revisited (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Between 1989 and 2000, the Chicama Valley Archaeological Project, lead by Glenn S. Russell, Banks Leonard and Christopher Attarian, conducted archaeological survey and excavations in the lower Chicama Valley. This presentation will focus on a broad summary of settlement pattern change with reference to key excavation data that informs interpretation of the survey data. A focus will be how sociopolitical complexity developed in the context of control of irrigation systems. Approximately 25% of...
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The Chicama Valley in Time and Space (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Chicama is one of the largest valleys of the Peruvian coast, was part of the "heartland" of Moche culture, and a frontier between different cultural and linguistic regions at the time of Spanish arrival. This paper will review past and recent research in the valley and and their problems and potentials. Particular attention will be paid to landscape archaeology and the history of irrigation systems and land use through time, themes to be addressed in the other papers of the session.
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Climate Change and Moche Politics: A View from the Northern Chicama Valley, Peru (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
In this paper I will discuss the different lines of evidence pertaining to detecting El Niño and La Niña events at the site of Licapa II and surrounding Northern Chicama Valley. Flood deposits, dune encroachments episodes, malacological data, canal destruction and rebuilding events, and radiocarbon evidence are used as proxies to help understand the intensity and timing of ENSO events. I compare evidence from Licapa II to other sites inside and outside the Chicama Valley to highlight the...
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A History of Landscape Transformation and Environmental Change across the Ascope Irrigation System of the Chicama Valley. (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The sequence of landscape transformation across the area of the Ascope Canal System in the Chicama Valley involved both natural and anthropogenic events and processes that unfolded in nonlinear ways. We argue that early events were crucial in determining transformations later in the sequence. In the arid environment of the North Coast, water availability plays a key role in landscape histories. This paper highlights evidence for El Niño events, water management, and changing ecologies for the...
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Holocene Geology and Paleoenvironmental History of the lower Chicama River Valley and Coast (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This paper focuses on reconstructing the Holocene paleoenvironmental history of the lower Chicama River valley and coastal system, which has provided diverse natural resources for the Preceramic cultures at Huaca Prieta and Paredones. The archaeological site of Huaca Prieta is situated on the southern tip of a Pleistocene terrace along the shore, ~3 km north of the Chicama River mouth and floodplain system. Paredones is located 0.6 km to the north on the eastern edge of the terrace. Here we...
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Productivity in a human context: creating and applying proxies relevant to Chicama Valley archaeology. (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
El Niño-related changes in marine and terrestrial productivity impacted Chicama residents in several ways, including altering available marine species, soil productivity, and by extension, the technological and economic innovations necessary to adapt. The combination of marine and terrestrial resources were central to the economy of people living in the Chicama Valley throughout the Holocene. Estimates of El Niño’s effects on past marine productivity typically rely on open ocean proxies distant...
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Satellite Remote Sensing of Archaeological Environmental Change in the Chicama Valley (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
As global ecological change becomes a pressing contemporary issue, it’s beneficial to also consider how long term land use histories have effected current ecologies. Using imagery from several multispectral remote sensing satellites and field verification of detected sites, I describe how legacies from archaeological occupations impact modern industrial sugarcane production in the Chicama valley. Occupation sites and agricultural systems, both extant and remnant, continue to influence sugarcane...
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Where the Land Meets the Sea: Preceramic Complexities on the North Coast of Peru (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Interdisciplinary investigation of the large coastal mounds of Huaca Prieta and Paredones and their associated domestic settlements represent Preceramic human occupation as far back as ∼14000 cal BP. Research at these sites has documented a long Preceramic sequence from the activities of the first maritime/terrestrial foragers from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene to the construction of the mounds and the introduction and development of agriculture and monumentality from the middle to late...