Early Horizon Warfare and Defensive Architecture in the Lower Nepeña Valley, Coastal Ancash

Summary

Results of systematic surface surveys and excavations at Early Horizon sites in the lower Nepeña Valley indicate the increased importance of armed conflicts and intercommunity violence, especially during the second half of the first millennium BC. Although scholars agree that warfare likely played a major role in shaping local sociopolitical and ritual landscapes during the Early Horizon, little is known about the nature of warfare and associated defensive strategies in Nepeña. This paper presents results of recent fieldwork carried out at the complexes of Caylán, Samanco, and Huambacho. Data from pedestrian surveys and excavations are combined to analyzed the architectural and spatial features of defensive structures. Spatial data are analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to shed light on the scale and intensity of Early Horizon conflicts, the type of military strategies deployed, and the potential coordination of defense between coastal settlements.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Social Complexity in the Central Andean Region: Current Research on the Initial Period and Early Horizon Part 2

Keywords

Spatial Coverage