Looking for Lomas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Loma Oases are ecosystems unique to the arid central-western coast of South America, formed by the winter fog that accumulates on the slopes of the Andean foothills. They become seasonal homes to a unique and diverse suite of plant and animal species. Consequently, archaeologists hypothesize that Loma environments were vital to prehistoric Peruvian subsistence and settlement practices. Andean archaeologist Frédéric Engel emphasized this "Loma hypothesis" in his 1980s work. Later research has lent support; however, data are limited. This hypothesis predicts that if Lomas were essential to past people living on the Peruvian coast, then archaeological remains of the prehistoric settlements should be located near ancient Lomas. We used Geographic Information Systems and statistical inference to evaluate this prediction and the relationship between archaeological sites and Loma locations. We digitized Engel's archaeological site maps from Ica, Peru, and georeferenced the archaeological site locations therein. We used these and the locations of known modern and ancient Lomas and variables known to facilitate Loma formation to model the relationship between Loma and archaeological site location. Model results provide insight into how Pleistocene humans chose their settlements and the types of non-maritime resources to which they would have access near the coast.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37507.0