The Late Prehispanic Period in Chira: A View from Monte Lima

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.

At least five monumental centers were occupied in the lower Chira Valley during Piura Phase 3 and 4 (1000-1532 CE). Richardson et al. (1990) attribute this settlement pattern, along with the introduction of blackware ceramics and the intensification of irrigation agriculture, to influence from, and perhaps integration into, expanding Lambayeque and Chimu states during a period of intensified trade with polities in what is now Ecuador. However, neither the timing and nature of these interactions, nor the sociopolitical and economic organization of local Chira communities, are currently well understood. We draw on preliminary results from recent excavations at Monte Lima, one of these large monumental centers, to begin to evaluate Richardson’s models for the role of the lower Chira in larger regional dynamics. Specifically, we use new calibrated radiocarbon dates to place Monte Lima within regional chronologies for Lambayeque, Chimu, and Inka expansion. Contrary to initial expectations of an occupation spanning interaction with Lambayeque and Chimu polities, our dates place various site components between 1400-1550, potentially suggesting a very late period of more intensive Lambayeque interaction, followed by an extremely short period of Chimu influence and a domestic occupation that extended into the early colonial era.

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): 50649