Fishing, Shellfish Collecting, Hunting and Planting from Late Preceramic to Initial Period: A Case Study from Huaca Nagea, Viru, North Coast of Peru

Summary

By studying fauna and botanic remains unearthed from Huaca Negra Archaeological Project, this presentation seeks to understand subsistence system and daily life in Late Preceramic Period, and how it might have changed in later Initial Period.

Huaca Negra is a fishing village located in the northwest of the Virú Valley and is 1.2 kilometers from the current shoreline. The site was occupied between 5,000-3,200 CalBP, from Late Preceramic Period to Initial Period, which witnessed the transitions from non-sedentary activity to a settled village, from sedentism to the construction of the mound, and finally from the usage to the abandonment of the mound.

Along with these social changes, the long-term occupation provides a unique opportunity to study early coastal life. The comparison of four activities (fishing, shellfish collecting, hunting, and planting) and its diachronic change help to reveal the nature of subsistence system in both Late Preceramic and Initial Period. The preferred catchment zones, change of coping strategy and the implication of social change will also be addressed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20454