Animal exploitation at Castillo de Huarmey site, Northern Coast of Peru: The case of South American Camelids.

Summary

The Castillo de Huarmey archaeological expedition has been working since 2010 and so far, faunal remains from 3 different contexts were analyzed. Although the zooarchaeological analysis is still not completed, the importance of South American Camelids seems to be significant. In all of the contexts, remains of these species predominated. Formative settlement delivered small assemblage, but with high numbers of consumption patterns. Dated for Early Intermediate Period and Middle Horizon palatial complex contained few complete skeletons of camelids' sacrifices, however they were very poorly preserved. The upper layers of main Wari elite mausoleum were filled with a plethora of animal sacrifices. Other species remains such as sea lion (Otaria flavescens), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or condor (Vultur gryphus) were encountered, but they represented mostly single offerings, not as abundant as camelids. This ratio could suggest the increasing of camelids importance among the time and prevalence of their exploitation at this part of North Peruvian Coast.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage