Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since the late 1970s, Japanese teams have been investigating early ceremonial centers in the Peruvian North Highlands, with an intensive focus on the Cajamarca region. The importance of the region in the formation of Andean civilization is becoming clear based on long-term investigations carried out at the sites of Huacaloma, Kuntur Wasi, and Pacopampa. In particular, recent data from Pacopampa provide new perspectives on important issues in Andean Archaeology, such as the emergence of monumental architecture and social complexity in relation to the acceleration of interregional interactions and transformations in subsistence economy which includes the development of animal domestication in the region. In addition, the data obtained from early highland centers in the Central Andes made it possible to carry out productive comparative studies between Pacopampa and other centers. Therefore, this session aims to discuss the Early Andean societies based on the data from the North Highlands, represented by those from Pacopampa, and thus focuses on three topics: (1) ongoing research results of the Pacopampa Archaeological Project; (2) the nature of the socioeconomic process during the Formative Period in the North Highland; (3) comparisons between the North Highlands and other regions such as the North Coast and Central Highlands.

Other Keywords
Chronology • Trade and exchange • Social and Political Organization • South America: Andes • Monumentality

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-14 of 14)

  • Documents (14)
Documents
  • Chronologies of Interaction: Bayesian Modeling of the Chavín Phenomenon (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniel Contreras.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Even after nearly a century of research into the relationships between the monumental centers of the Middle Formative Period in the Central Andes, chronological precision remains as elusive as it is fundamental to...

  • Cupisnique y Salinar: Nuevas Investigaciones Arqueológicas en el Valle de Chicama y Áreas Cercanas (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Henry Tantaleán.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En esta ponencia se revisan las diferentes investigaciones relacionadas con el denominado periodo Formativo (1800-200 a.C) en el valle de Chicama y áreas cercanas. Asimismo, se presentan las nuevas evidencias generadas...

  • The Development and Expansion of a New Subsistence System in the Late Formative Period (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mai Takigami.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Multi-isotope analyses of human and animal remains at the Pacopampa site have unveiled a significant transformation in food resource utilization during the Late Formative period. The increased consumption of C4 plants...

  • El festín y los muertos: encontrar dos rituales en la sociedad estratificada (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nagisa Nakagawa.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En esta ponencia, se muestran dos contextos del Periodo Formativo en el sitio arqueológico de Pacopampa: uno de festín y otro de los entierros en la Tercera Plataforma. Basado en los datos arqueológicos, se discutirá la...

  • Energetics Approaches to Early Ceremonial Centers in Highland Peru (1000-500 BCE) (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jason Nesbitt.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The late second millennium BCE is characterized by the appearance of several major highland civic-ceremonial centers including, Chavín de Huántar, Canchas Uckro, Pacopampa, Kuntur Wasi, Atalla, and Campanayuq Rumi, among...

  • Generating the Architectural Landscape at the Capilla and Pacopampa: From the Pandanche Phase to the Pacopampa Phase (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Masato Sakai.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation will focus on the architectural landscape of the Capilla Mound and the Pacopampa Temple, which are part of the Pacopampa archaeological complex. Excavations at the Capilla have revealed elite tombs and...

  • La Tumba del Sacerdote de los Sellos en La Capilla, complejo arqueológico Pacopampa, al inicio del primer milenio a.n.e (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Juan Pablo Villanueva Hidalgo.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> La Capilla es un edificio construido a 0.5 km al oeste de Pacopampa, el cual presenta una temprana ocupación correspondiente a la Fase Pandanche (Formativo Temprano) asociada a la Tumba del Sacerdote de los...

  • Metallurgy at the Pacopampa Site (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Megumi Arata.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The excavations and subsequent analysis of the unearthed artifacts have provided evidence of metal smelting and metalworking at the Pacopampa site. Although the production workshop remains unidentified, it has been...

  • Pacopampa and the Chavin Cult (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Burger.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Before the extensive work at Pacopampa directed by Yuji Seki and Daniel Morales, I hypothesized that Pacopampa was linked to Chavin de Huantar by its involvement in the Chavin cult, perhaps as a branch oracle or shrine....

  • Pacopampa and the Development of Social Complexity in the Jaén Region (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Atsushi Yamamoto.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent research in the Jaén region of the eastern Andean slopes of Northern Peru indicates that this zone was closely linked to cultural developments occurring in the Central Andean highlands during the Formative Period....

  • Procesos sociales durante el Período Formativo a partir de las evidencias del sitio arqueológico de Kuntur Wasi del Perú (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kinya Inokuchi.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El sitio Kuntur Wasi es un centro ceremonial que funcionó durante el Período Formativo Medio y Tardío de la sierra norte del Perú. Si bien Kuntur Wasi comparte similitudes y fenómenos paralelos con el sitio Pacopampa en...

  • Recent Excavations at Campanayuq Rumi and Chupas: Implications for Understanding Socio-economic Transformations during the Late Initial Period and Early Horizon in the Peruvian South-central Highlands (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Yuichi Matsumoto.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent investigations in the south-central highlands of Peru demonstrate that this region played an important role in the early formation of complex societies in the Andes. Our excavations at Campanayuq Rumi strongly...

  • Social Transformations During the Late Formative Period: Evidenced by the Emergence of Llama Husbandry and Shifts in Animal Utilization at the Pacopampa Site (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kazuhiro Uzawa.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. By 500 BC, domesticated camelids had spread to Peru’s Northern Highlands. The complexity and societal development that emerged in the region have been attributed to the social networks facilitated using llamas as pack...

  • Twenty Years of Pacopampa Arcaheological Project: Chronology and Social Change (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Yuji Seki.

    This is an abstract from the "Social Dynamics in the North Highlands of Peru during the Formative Period: Pacopampa project’s Contribution for Understanding the Early Complex Societies in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Pacopampa Archaeological Project was initiated in 2005 through an academic agreement between the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan and the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru. Pacopampa is a huge...