Buried Sites in the Chincha Valley Floodplain

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From the Paracas Culture to the Inca Empire: Recent Archaeological Research in the Chincha Valley, Peru" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Peruvian coastal valley of Chincha is the largest in the south coast of Peru. Research by our team since 2011 has discovered and excavated a number of archaeological sites that date from 3200–1000 BP. The data from this research provide exciting data to test models of early social complexity in Andean society. First, we discovered buried Paracas villages (ca. 800–200 BCE) under two meters of sediment in the floodplain suggesting a vastly larger population. It is probable that heretofore "missing" Initial and Preceramic period sites are also buried in the floodplain. Second, our paleobotanical and other data indicate that at least some areas of the valley prior to initial village settlement were rich natural marshes and not open desert as has been generally presumed. Instead of a scenario of early agricultural settlement that irrigated the desert valley floors, we have data that suggest that these marshlands were drained and converted to agricultural landscapes. If this empirical fact is correct, it may be key to understanding why complex societies developed late on the south Peruvian coast, relative to the north.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From the Paracas Culture to the Inca Empire: Recent Archaeological Research in the Chincha Valley, Peru   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23920