In the Land of Llamas and Ají: New Insights into the Late Horizon Inca Occupation of the Middle Sama Valley, Southern Peru

Summary

Since the 1970s, the Sama valley on the far south coast of Peru has been known to house the Inca site of Sama Grande since the excavations of German archaeologist Hermann Trimborn. Situated at the crossroads of the Quapaq Ñan running parallel to the Andean foothills and from the coast to the highlands, Sama Grande was assumed to direct people, animals, and goods across the region during the Late Horizon (14th-15th century AD).

In 2017, full-coverage pedestrian survey of the coastal desert plain overlooking the middle Sama valley near the foothill zone (400-600 masl) revealed a wider Inca presence dating to the Late Horizon and early Colonial period in the form of architecture and other material culture. The predominance of Inca-Cusqueño and Inca-Altiplano ceramic styles, with an emphasis on depictions of llamas and ajíes (chili peppers), suggests that under Inca control the valley was principally used for camelid pasture and ají cultivation.

These research results highlight the importance of the Sama valley, a previously unexplored area, within the broader regional network of Inca imperial presence on the far south coast of Peru, and add to current models of the transformative impacts of imperial strategies on local landscapes and resources.

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): 20826