Cultural Responses to Climate Changes in Preceramic Coastal Peru
Author(s): Paul Pluta
Year: 2017
Summary
Research at the archaeological site of Yara in southern coastal Peru has revealed at least three separate levels of human occupation in sequence with several large debris flow deposits. In this extremely arid environment these debris flows represent strong El Niño events that were potentially catastrophic to the inhabitants of the region. Evidence for the repeated occupation of the landscape in the face of these episodic hardships provides a window into human responses to the changing mid-Holocene climate, a period of instability in El Niño’s frequency and intensity. Ongoing research at the site has the potential to yield a wealth of information on the lives of early fisherfolk living along the Pacific coast of South America, as well as past changes in El Niño behavior.
Cite this Record
Cultural Responses to Climate Changes in Preceramic Coastal Peru. Paul Pluta. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430374)
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Keywords
General
Climate Change
•
Coastal Archaeology
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El Niño
Geographic Keywords
South America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 17588