Emergence of Sociopolitical Complexity in Northern Peru: A Diachronic Perspective from the Huancabamba Valley

Summary

This paper focuses on the emergence and diachronic development of sociopolitical complexity in northern Peru during the Initial Period and Early Horizon using new excavation and settlement pattern data from the site of Ingatambo in the Huancabamba Valley. I argue that significant changes in sociopolitical complexity occur alongside shifts and intensification in interregional interaction.

During the Pomahuaca phase (BC. 1200-800); ceremonial centers with platform architecture appear suddenly throughout the valley alongside the expansion of roads and long distant interaction networks. By the subsequent Ingatambo phase (800 - 550 B.C.), the number of ceremonial centers in the valley decreased despite the florescence of monumentality at the site of Ingatambo and the increase presence of foreign pottery and other exotic materials. This data suggests that the long term development of sociopolitical complexity within the Huancabamba Valley was strongly linked to its interregional relationships and that Ingatambo, as a result of its strategic location, would eventually grow into a major node for both inter-regional and intra-regional interaction.

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): 21847