Prehistoric Llama Breeding and Herding on the North Coast of Peru

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melody Shimada ◽  
Izumi Shimada
Keyword(s):  
North Coast ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
The North ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
Range Of Functions ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

There is no clear-cut consensus or reliable body of published data in the Andean literature indicating whether llamas were bred and herded on the prehistoric North Coast of Peru or periodically imported from the highlands. Based on four lines of evidence—ethnographic, archaeozoological, physiological, and ethnohistoric—we argue that llamas (and perhaps even alpacas) were successfully bred and maintained on the North Coast from the early Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 600) and perhaps since the Early Horizon. More specifically, we discuss population structure, representation of body parts, climatic and dietary adaptability, and abundance of coastal forage. Both llamas and alpacas are physiologically well-adapted for the coastal environment and can efficiently process a wide range of forage. By the Middle Horizon, domestic camelids served a wide range of functions including transport, sacrifice, tools, and meat. Species identification, coastal herd management, effects of disease vectors, and other related issues are also discussed.

Ancient pre-Columbian Peru, Bolivia and Mesoamerica

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles R. Ortloff
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Canal Irrigation ◽  
Late Intermediate Period ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
The Many

Irrigation agriculture is a transformational technology used to secure high food yields from undeveloped lands. Specific to ancient South America, the Chimú Empire occupied the north coast of Peru from the Chillon to the Lambeyeque Valleys (Figure 1.1.1) from800 to 1450 CE (Late Intermediate Period (LIP)) and carried canal reclamation far beyond modern limits by applying hydraulics concepts unknown to Western science until the beginning of the 20th century. The narrative that follows examines hydraulic engineering and water management developments and strategies during the many centuries of agricultural development in the Chimú heartland of the Moche River Basin. The story examines how Chimú engineers and planners managed to greatly expand the agricultural output of valleys under their control by employing advanced canal irrigation technologies and the economic and political circumstances under which large-scale reclamation projects took place. The following time period conventions are used in the discussion that follow: Preceramic and Formative Period (3000–1800 BCE) Initial Period (IP) 1800–900 BCE Early Horizon (EH) 900–200 BCE Early Intermediate Period (EIP) 200 BCE–600 CE Middle Horizon (MH) 600–1000 CE Late Intermediate Period (LIP) 1000–1476 CE Late Horizon (LH) 1476–1534 CE. Chimú political power and state development was concentrated in Peruvian north coast valleys. Each valley contained an intermittent river supplied by seasonal rainfall runoff/glacial melt water from the adjacent eastern highlands. Over millennia, silts carried by the rivers from highland sources formed gently sloping alluvial valleys with fertile desert soils suitable for agriculture. An arid environment tied the Chimú economy to intravalley irrigation networks supplied from these rivers; these systems were supplemented by massive intervalley canals of great length that transported water between river valleys, thus opening vast stretches of intervalley lands to farming. The Chimú accomplishments and achievements in desert environment agricultural technologies brought canal-based water management and irrigation technology to its zenith among ancient South American civilizations, with practically all coastal cultivatable intervalley and intravalley lands reachable by canals brought under cultivation.

The Hunchback, the Contortionist, the Man with the Stolen Identity, and the One Who Will Be Born in the Afterlife

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-169
Author(s):  
Wiesław Więckowski ◽  
Miłosz Giersz ◽  
Roberto Pimentel Nita
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
The One ◽  
North Coast Of Peru ◽  
Northern Sector

During the 2010 and 2012 excavation seasons, a Polish-Peruvian team excavated a small elevated mound—the remains of a platform—located in the northern sector of Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, unearthing relics of stone architecture and a number of burials dated to the latter part of the Early Horizon (ca. 800–100 BC). Although the entire cemetery has not been excavated, the burial pattern that emerges from burials known to date is fairly clear and seems to be consistent with that of other Early Horizon sites from the north coast of Peru. Within the group of burials from Huarmey, four are rather atypical; they differ from the overall burial pattern in terms of body arrangement, as well as the presence of possible pre-and post-depositional alterations to the remains. Two skeletons of adult individuals were deposited in a completely different manner from the others, and two children were also buried in a rather unusual way. This chapter presents these four deviant burials, describes their context, and offers possible interpretations regarding the reasons for these atypical depositions using iconographic and archaeological analogies.

scholarly journals Tapestry-Woven Textiles from Castillo de Huarmey, Peru and the Wari-Huarmey Textile Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Laszczka
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
The North ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

Peruvian tapestries are prestige textiles, known for their mosaic-like patterns made of multicoloured yarns. Numerous tapestry fragments from the Middle Horizon Period (650-1050 A.D.) were found at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site on the North Coast of Peru, where an intact Wari royal mausoleum was discovered. Relying on technological and iconographical analyses and, also on the context of the entire textile collection, a new Middle Horizon tradition associated with the expansion of Wari culture is proposed.

Maritime Communities and Coastal Andean Urbanization

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-187
Author(s):  
Matthew Helmer
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Important Crop ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

Chapter 6 discusses the Early Horizon, first millennium BC site of Samanco (450 to 150 cal BC), near the shore in the Nepeña valley on the north coast of Peru. Fishing and shellfishing were important, as was agriculture, with maize as the most important crop. Samanco was a food production center supplying inland polities with subsistence goods from the sea and from fields in the Nepeña delta. Trade in local, utilitarian goods was a defining feature of Samanco identity.

The Early Horizon Site of Huaca de los Reyes: Societal Implications

1980 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pozorski
Keyword(s):  
Initial Period ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Moche Valley ◽  
The North ◽  
The People ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
Architectural Planning ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

From 1973 to 1974, investigations were carried out at a series of Initial Period and Early Horizon sites known as the Caballo Muerto complex, located in the Moche Valley on the North Coast of Peru. One site, Huaca de los Reyes, contains numerous adobe friezes that are noted both for their wide variety and early date. The amount of labor investment and the degree of architectural planning of the site strongly imply ranked societal divisions of the people responsible for its construction. Differential frieze distribution also supports this contention.

Huaynuná, a Late Cotton Preceramic Site on the North Coast of Peru

1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pozorski ◽  
Shelia Pozorski
Keyword(s):  
North Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

BIOLOGICAL DISTANCE PATTERNS AMONG THE NORTHERN MOCHE LORDS: DENTAL PHENOTYPES AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN ANCIENT PERU

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 696-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haagen D. Klaus ◽  
Walter Alva ◽  
Steve Bourget ◽  
Luis Chero
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Biological Distance ◽  
R Matrix ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
The North ◽  
Limited Gene Flow ◽  
Dental Traits ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

Between AD 100 and 800, the Moche culture emerged on the north coast of Peru. Diverse debates surround the nature of Moche territorial and political centralization, sociopolitical identities, and the internal social diversity of Moche society. Here we address some of these issues in a biodistance study based on phenotypic variation of inherited dental traits within and between 36 individuals in the royal tombs of Sipán (Lambayeque valley), Úcupe (Zaña valley), and Dos Cabezas (Jequetepeque valley). Metric and nonmetric dental trait data were analyzed using hierarchical cluster and R-matrix analyses. The results independently indicate that the highest-level Sipán and Dos Cabezas lords likely represented different endogamous kin groups, while limited gene flow occurred between groups of Moche lower nobility between the Lambayeque and Jequetepeque regions. Although biology and material cultural link the Lord of Úcupe to Dos Cabezas, many objects in his tomb demonstrate his participation the world of the Sipán elites. These Moche lords were, on some levels, bioculturally interconnected. Nonetheless, the data broadly lend support to a “many Moches” model of sociopolitical structure, further casting doubt on earlier one-dimensional visions of a centralized hegemonic Moche polity.

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