The Ancient Occupation of the East Terrace at Cerro San Isidro, Moro District, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster reports on the results of archaeological excavations carried out at the ancient human settlement of Cerro San Isidro located in the Moro region of the middle Nepeña Valley, north central coast of Peru. In particular, we expose and analyze stratigraphic, architectural, and material data recovered in the unidad de excavación 5 (UE5) at the East Terrace (Terraza Este) in 2022. The East Terrace is one of several human-made flat areas perched on the slopes of the San Isidro hill where fieldwork since 2019 has revealed a rich and complex human occupation going back more than 2500 years ago. Through block excavations, UE5 sampled 125 square meters and vertically exposed stratigraphic contexts with multiple superimposed occupational and architectural phases. Overall, the contextual information recovered, including the architectural organization, hearths, storage areas, food remains, animal dung, and other material remains, point to a series of multi-functional residential occupations over the long history of the East Terrace. Three radiocarbon measurements from the East Terrace point to a complex and intermittent occupation between 350 cal BCE and 1450 cal CE. We integrate the various strands of evidence into a discussion of the ancient occupation of the East Terrace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39984.0