Environmental change and economic development in coastal Peru between 5,800 and 3,600 years ago

Daniel H. Sandweissa,1, Ruth Shady Solísb, Michael E. Moseleyc,1, David K. Keeferd and Charles R. Ortloffe

Contributed by Michael E. Moseley, December 11, 2008 (received for review October 10, 2008)

Next Section Abstract Between ≈5,800 and 3,600 cal B.P. the biggest architectural monuments and largest settlements in the Western Hemisphere flourished in the Supe Valley and adjacent desert drainages of the arid Peruvian coast. Intensive net fishing, irrigated orchards, and fields of cotton with scant comestibles successfully sustained centuries of increasingly complex societies that did not use ceramics or loom-based weaving. This unique socioeconomic adaptation was abruptly abandoned and gradually replaced by societies more reliant on food crops, pottery, and weaving. Here, we review evidence and arguments for a severe cycle of natural disasters—earthquakes, El Niño flooding, beach ridge formation, and sand dune incursion—at ≈3,800 B.P. and hypothesize that ensuing physical changes to marine and terrestrial environments contributed to the demise of early Supe settlements.

El Niño geoarchaeology Preceramic collapse Mid-Holocene

Adapted to a coastal desert broken by verdant river valleys and fronted by a productive near-shore fishery, the north central coast of Peru was very different from other centers of ancient development. Although characterized by complex social organization and large centers dominated by stone-faced temple mounds, early coastal Peruvians did not produce pottery or loom-woven cloth. Animal protein came entirely from the sea, not from domesticated or terrestrial animals. Irrigated farming focused on cotton; among the remains of food crops are the tree fruits guayaba (Psidium guajava) and pacae (Inga feuillei), achira (Canna edulis, a root crop), beans, squash, sweet potato, avocado, and peanut. This unique evolutionary experiment thrived for ≈2 millennia (the Late Preceramic Period, ca. 5,800–3,800/3,600 cal B.P.) in the Río Supe and adjacent desert drainages (1–3) (Fig. 1). Ending abruptly, this Late Preceramic society was gradually replaced by more typical or normative economies that emphasized plant and animal domesticates while also producing pottery and woven goods. Read more at www.pnas.org