Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Preceramic Cultural Adaptation and Diversity on the North Coast of Peru

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Under the supervision of Dr. Tom D. Dillehay, Greg Maggard, A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kentucky, will conduct analyses of archaeological materials recovered from the excavation of several Early Preceramic period sites located in the Quebrada del Batan on the north desert coast of Peru. The Early Preceramic period, which lasted from 11,200 - 9,000 years ago, represents the initial human colonization in this region of western South America. The early hunter-gatherer populations that are represented by the sites in the Quebrada del Batan include several technological complexes (e.g., Fishtail, Paijan, and unifacial). These complexes suggest diverse adaptations to different environmental zones and distinct lifeways.The distinct cultural adaptations of the Early Preceramic period include different patterns of site location, types of resources exploited, and stone tool technologies. It is during this period that gradual adaptation to highly varied environmental zones are believed to have fostered diverging strategies of movement between early hunter-gatherer groups and to have set in motion important local and regional processes. These processes, which continued and intensified throughout later Preceramic periods in Peru, are believed to have given rise to early social and organizational features such as the domestication of plants and animals, sedentary life, population aggregation, and territorialism, which are suggested to have laid the initial foundations for the appearance of later Andean civilizations.New archaeological data from ongoing excavations is revealing clearer geological and spatial relationships between the poorly understood Early Preceramic complexes of the north desert coast. Additionally, for the first time we have the opportunity to examine plant exploitation and past environmental data from different Early Preceramic sites. The proposed study will conduct several specialized analyses of floral, faunal, and radiocarbon samples collected during the survey and excavation of several sites in the Quebrada del Batan. Specialized analysis of these materials will provide an important opportunity to study: 1) organizational changes in the movement, settlement, diet, and technology of these Early Preceramic complexes, 2) how these features relate to differing local and regional processes, and 3) how they laid the socio-economic foundations for subsequent changes after the last Ice Age.Because the change from a general hunting and gathering pattern toward a more intensive, broad-spectrum economy occurred in other parts of the world during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene period (e.g., Levant, coastal California, Great Basin), this study will not only provide increased understanding of the early inhabitants of western South America, but will also provide an important comparative case for evaluating the similarities and dissimilarities in the cultural and environmental contexts in which local and regional processes occurred around the world. Results from these investigations will be conveyed to the broader scientific community through publication in refereed journals and presentations at professional conferences. Lastly, this research is the principle focus of the graduate student's dissertation and will provide integral training andexperience.