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

本项目是对西半球文明起源的长期计划调查的第一阶段。在秘鲁中北部海岸的北奇科(北奇科)地区，在公元前三千年兴起了一种非凡的文化。在苏佩、帕蒂维尔卡和福塔莱萨这三个毗邻的小山谷，最近发现了一个由20多个主要考古遗址组成的建筑群，所有遗址都可以追溯到公元前3000年到1800年之间。这些遗址有巨大的平台土堆、圆形的仪式广场和广泛的社会分层居住区域，这些遗址似乎是美洲任何地方中央集权、等级制度和复杂社会的最早开花时期。对该项目的研究将探索福塔莱萨和帕蒂维卡两个山谷的遗址，主要目标有两个：1.确定每个主要遗址的占领和纪念碑建造的具体年表。所有被确定进行测试的地点都有一个显著的特征：它们都没有陶瓷。虽然陶器的缺失在技术上有有趣的影响，但在测定这些遗址的年代方面，它具有更直接的重要性。由于陶瓷在公元前1900年至公元前1800年之间被引入秘鲁，没有陶瓷的遗址通常可以推断为公元前1900年之前的日期。虽然这提供了一个有用的工具来基本确定早期遗址，但评估这些遗址是在同一时间还是在一千年内连续占据是不够的。需要准确的日期来确定这些巨大的平台土丘是在单个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中建造的。为了回答这些关于年代学的核心问题，将作出具体努力，从每个遗址的不同部分和纪念碑内获得碳14的年代测定材料。第二个辅助目标是获取文物和工具以及植物和动物遗骸的样本，以便开始重建属于这种早熟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，对石器的分析起着至关重要的作用。然而，到目前为止，还没有人对散落在这些遗址表面的无数石器--刮刀、刀片、刀具、钻头、冲击器、研磨机、锄头和镐--进行研究。还将尝试重建饮食。虽然美洲后来的所有文明都有主要以玉米(玉米)为基础的主食，但这种新大陆作物直到北奇科遗址被遗弃后很久才被引入秘鲁。居民们似乎依靠大量的水果和蔬菜以及大量的凤尾鱼、沙丁鱼和贝类作为蛋白质而生存下来。由于秘鲁沿海沙漠保存完好，在垃圾居民区发现了大量的动植物遗骸。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相关，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了解过去的考古窗口，以考察一种早期文化的起源，这种文化最终产生了印加及其在秘鲁的前身。

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.