Quebrada Jaguay-280 (QJ-280) under the Microscope: A Geoarchaeological Investigation of the Site Formation and Anthropogenic Features at a Peruvian Coastal Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Some of the earliest evidence for human settlement of Peru comes from lowland sites along the arid Pacific coast. Localities at Huaca Prieta, Quebrada Tacahuay, and Quebrada Jaguay demonstrate that during the Terminal Pleistocene, people had settled the coast and had incorporated marine resources into their subsistence strategy. Excavations led by Daniel Sandweiss at QJ-280 in the 1990s identified basal dates from the Terminal Pleistocene. QJ-280 contains numerous formal stone tools and lithic debitage, along with features related to house structures and a rich assemblage of marine faunal remains. However, only little is known about the site use, seasonality, and taphonomic processes. In the summer of 2017, QJ-280 was re-excavated to improve the chronology, illuminate its relation to highland sites, and to understand the site’s formation and life history. Here, we present the first results from the geoarchaeological investigation of QJ-280, combining high-resolution micromorphology and GIS data. This approach allows us to understand, visualize, and contextualize features – such as house floors, combustion features, and post-holes – to an extent that is impossible to reach by conventional archaeological techniques alone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24861