Los Morteros and Pampa de las Salinas: Early Monumentality and Environmental Change in Preceramic Peru

Summary

Los Morteros is a preceramic archaeological site located on Pampa de las Salinas, in the lower Chao Valley, north coast of Peru. Archaeological excavations in 1976, Los Morteros was identified as a "stabilized dune" whose top was used as a cemetery for pre-pottery people around cal. 5000 BP. Excavations in 2012 and 2016 have uncovered a very long and complex history of occupation of Los Morteros which includes the presence of early adobe monumental architecture dating before 5500 cal. BP, more than 1000 years earlier than this type of architecture was previously recognized in the Chao Valley. On the other hand, Pampa de las Salinas is a preceramic archaeological complex composed by more than 20 archaeological sites and features including monumental sites, shell middens, geoglyphs, and trails, all of which combined into a preceramic ceremonial landscape. Our research has shown that the preceramic occupation of Los Morteros and Pampa de las Salinas was closely related to constant environmental transformations of the local environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18701