Late Pleistocene Aggregation Sites on the Peruvian North Coast: A New Look at Paiján Settlement

Summary

Although specific examples are rare, the concept of seasonal or periodic group aggregation is often employed by studies of early foragers in the Americas as a functional process to explain the formation of social networks, information exchange, group ritual, exogamy, and the long-distance movement of materials. In spite of frequent use when modeling mobility and settlement, the material, spatial, and social characteristics of aggregation sites remain poorly understood. Here, we provide two examples of aggregation sites related to the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Paiján complex of northern Perú. These early foragers occupied an ecotonal boundary zone along the western Andean foothills, which afforded access to the nearby Pacific coastal plain and adjacent highlands. Paiján settlement organization has been characterized as primarily logistical, with small task- or resource-specific locations and basecamps located in proximity to resource-rich zones. Two large sites (Je-431 and Je-790) in the Río Seco de Chamán drainage provide evidence for and insights regarding the aggregation process, as well as Paiján social organization. We contend that these sites primarily served to organize communal foraging parties, as well as nodes for the exchange of information and materials.

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): 21274