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

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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.