Collaborative Research: Preceramic Chronology in the Norte Chico Region of Peru

目前的项目是对西半球文明起源进行长期调查的第一阶段。 在秘鲁中北部海岸的一个被称为“北奇科”的地区，（“小北方”）一个显着的文化出现在公元前3000年，在三个小相邻的山谷，苏佩，帕蒂维尔卡和福塔莱萨，一个复杂的20多个主要的考古遗址最近被发现，所有的日期大约在公元前3000年和1800年之间的时间与巨大的平台土丘，这些遗址环绕着举行仪式的广场和广泛的社会分层住宅区，似乎是美洲任何地方最早的集中化、等级制和复杂社会的繁荣时期。 该项目的研究将探索两个山谷，福塔莱萨和帕蒂维尔卡的网站，有两个主要目标：1。确定每个主要遗址的占领和纪念碑建设的具体年表。 所有确定进行测试的地点都有一个重要的特点：它们都没有陶瓷。 虽然在技术方面，陶瓷的缺失有着有趣的含义，但在确定这些遗址的年代方面，它具有更直接的重要性。 自从陶瓷在公元前1900年至1800年之间的世纪被引入秘鲁以来，没有陶器的遗址可以推断为公元前1900年之前。虽然这为早期遗址的基本鉴定提供了一个有用的工具，但它不足以评估这些遗址是在同一时间还是在一千年的时间内相继被占领。需要精确的日期来确定纪念性的平台土丘是在一个单一的大型建筑事件中建造的，还是在很长一段时间内建造的许多较小的事件。 为了回答这些关于年代学的核心问题，将做出具体努力，从每个遗址的不同部分和纪念碑内获得碳14测年的材料。第二个次要目标是获得人工制品和工具以及植物和动物遗骸的样本，以便开始重建属于这个早熟的早期文明的人们的经济、技术和生活方式。 在没有陶瓷的情况下，对石器的分析就显得至关重要。 然而，到目前为止，还没有人对这些遗址表面散落的无数石器进行过研究--刮刀、刀片、刀具、钻头、捣锤、研磨机、锄头和镐。还将尝试重建饮食。虽然美洲所有后来的文明都以玉米为主食，但这种新世界作物直到所有的北奇科遗址被遗弃后才被引入秘鲁。 居民们似乎靠各种水果和蔬菜生存下来，还吃了大量的鳕鱼、沙丁鱼和贝类来获取蛋白质。 由于秘鲁海岸沙漠保存完好，在垃圾堆中发现了大量的植物和动物遗骸。 为了收集石器和动植物遗骸，将在每个遗址的不同部分挖掘试验坑，这些试验坑与各种住宅建筑有关，并反映遗址区域的全部范围。该项目的最终目标是提供一个考古窗口，以研究早期文化的起源，最终导致了印加及其秘鲁的前辈。

The present project represents the first phase of a planned long-term investigation into the very beginnings of civilization in the Western Hemisphere. In an area on the north-central coast of Peru, known as the "Norte Chico" ("Little North") a remarkable culture arose in the 3rd millennium B.C. In three small adjoining valleys, Supe, Pativilca and Fortaleza, a complex of more than 20 major archaeological ruins have been recently discovered, all dating roughly to the time between 3000 and 1800 B.C. With enormous platform mounds, round ceremonial plazas and extensive areas of socially stratified residences, these sites appear to be the earliest florescence of centralized, hierarchical, complex societies anywhere in the Americas. The research on this project will explore sites in two of the valleys, Fortaleza and Pativilca with two primary goals: 1. Determine the specific chronology of occupation and monument construction at each of the major sites. All of the sites identified for testing share one significant characteristic: they all lack ceramics. While there are interesting implications to the absence of ceramics in terms of technology, it has more immediate importance in terms of dating these sites. Since ceramics were introduced to Peru in the century between 1900 and 1800 B.C., sites without ceramics can be inferred to generally date prior to 1900 B.C. While this provides a useful tool in the basic identification of the early sites, it is insufficient to make assessments about whether the sites were occupied all at the same time or sequentially over the span of a thousand years. Precise dates are needed to determine whether the monumental platform mounds were constructed in a single massive building event or numerous smaller events over a long period of time. In order to answer these central questions about chronology a specific effort will be made to obtain materials for Carbon 14 dating from different parts of each site and from within the monuments.2. A second subsidiary goal is to obtain samples of artifacts and tools as well as plant and animal remains in order to begin reconstructing the economy, technology and lifeways of the people who belonged to this precocious early civilization. In the absence of ceramics, the analysis of stone tools assumes central importance. Yet, to date, there has been no work done on the myriad stone tools that litter the surface of these sites - scrapers, blades, knives, drills, pounders, grinders, hoes and picks. An attempt will also be made to reconstruct diet. While all later civilizations in the Americas had staple diets based largely on maize (corn), this New World crop was not introduced in Peru until well after all the Norte Chico sites were abandoned. Inhabitants appear to have survived on a wide mix of fruits and vegetables with a heavy dose of anchovies, sardines and shellfish thrown in for protein. Because there is excellent preservation on the Peruvian coastal desert, plant and animal remains are found in abundance in the trash midden areas. To obtain collections of stone tools and the plant and animal remains test pits test pits will be excavated in different parts of each site associated with various kinds of residential architecture and reflecting the full extent of the site area. The ultimate goal of the project is to provide an archaeological window into the past to examine the very beginnings of an early culture that ultimately gave rise to the Inca and their predecessors in Peru.