Loma Macanche: The Unique History of a Millenary Archaeological Complex

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Life on the Edge: Investigations in the Department of Piura, the “Extreme North” of the Central Andes, Peru" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Loma Macanche is located in the middle valley of the Piura River, in the center of the so-called Alto Piura region. Made famous by the discovery of a looted gold plaque in the style of the Chongoyape ornaments in the 1990’s, it has not been the subject of archaeological work since that time. In 2023, we began excavations on Mound 2, which is associated with the main mound of this important archaeological complex. Indeed, it is essential to rethink these kinds of sites not as single entities, but as multifaceted ensembles made up of a main mound (principal loma) and secondary mounds (lomitas). On Mound 2, the presence of burials from the Lambayeque-Sicán, Chimú and Chimú-Inka periods profoundly disrupted the original stratigraphy In spite of this, a large number of diagnostic ceramic sherds have enabled us to identify an ancient occupation dating from the Middle Formative or beginning of the Early Horizon (local Ñañañique/Panecillo phases), though it lacks associated architecture. These elements have allowed us to establish a general occupation sequence for the site spanning almost 2,500 years between the Middle Formative and the Chimú-Inka period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Life on the Edge: Investigations in the Department of Piura, the “Extreme North” of the Central Andes, Peru

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50652