scholarly journals Dating the Dead: New Radiocarbon Dates from the Lower Ica Valley, South Coast Peru

Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Cadwallader ◽  
Susana Arce Torres ◽  
Tamsin C O'Connell ◽  
Alexander G Pullen ◽  
David G Beresford-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
South Coast ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Peruvian Coast ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Burial Practice

This article presents radiocarbon dates from human bone samples (n = 13) from seven pre-Columbian cemeteries in the Samaca and Ullujaya Basins of the lower Ica Valley, south coast of Peru, spanning from the end of the Early Horizon to the Inca Late Horizon. These contexts have been severely looted. Yet, in all cases, their putative dating by material culture remains is confirmed by these 14C dates. This shows that such disturbed contexts, sadly typical of the Peruvian coast, can nonetheless still yield valuable bioarchaeological and burial practice data. These dates elaborate upon an emerging picture of the absolute dating of the cultural phases of the wider south coast region, in particular casting new light on the poorly understood Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate period transition. A paucity of archaeological data for this 3-century period has been taken as evidence of some sort of environmentally or socially induced lacuna. Instead, the 14C dates presented here suggest that the basins of the lower Ica Valley were continuously occupied over this period.

Singa Transitional: Rock-art Saywas Marking Boundaries of Identity and Socializing Landscape in Huánuco, Peru

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-263
Author(s):  
Jonathan J. Dubois
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Regional Survey ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
The North ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Early Horizon ◽  
Landscape Feature

This paper introduces a new art style, Singa Transitional, found painted onto a mountainside near the modern town of Singa in the north of Huánuco, Peru. This style was discovered during a recent regional survey of rock art in the Huánuco region that resulted in the documentation of paintings at more than 20 sites, the identification of their chronological contexts and an analysis of the resulting data for trends in changing social practices over nine millennia. I explore how the style emerged from both regional artistic trends in the medium and broader patterns evident in Andean material culture from multiple media at the time of its creation. I argue that the presence of Singa Transitional demonstrates that local peoples were engaged in broader social trends unfolding during the transition between the Early Horizon (800–200 bc) and the Early Intermediate Period (ad 0–800) in Peru. I propose that rock art placed in prominent places was considered saywa, a type of landscape feature that marked boundaries in and movement through landscapes. Singa Transitional saywas served to advertise the connection between local Andean people and their land and was a medium through which social changes were contested in the Andes.

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.

A Reevaluation of the Absolute Chronology of Cabuza and Related Ceramic Styles of the Azapa Valley, Northern Chile

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antti Korpisaari ◽  
Markku Oinonen ◽  
Juan Chacama
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Influence ◽  
Bayesian Probability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Northern Chile ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Intermediate Period ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
The Absolute

The nature and extent of the political and cultural influence of the Tiwanaku state (ca. A.D. 500—1100) in the Azapa Valley of northern Chile are debated topics. The absolute chronology of these contacts also remains somewhat unclear. Much of the debate has centered on the origins and chronological position of the Tiwanaku-related black-on-red ceramic style called Cabuza. In order to reevaluate the chronological position of the Cabuza, Maytas-Chiribaya, and San Miguel ceramic styles and associated cultural phases of the Azapa Valley, we obtained a total of 16 new radiocarbon dates for the Azapa-6, Azapa- 71a, Azapa-141, and Azapa-143 cemeteries. All but one sample dated to the Late Intermediate period (ca.A.D. 1000-1450). We compare our results with previously published radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates and carry out Bayesian probability calculations, establishing the most likely chronological ranges for the three ceramic styles. Based on this research, we argue that the undeniable Tiwanaku influence seen in the Azapa Valley more likely reflects processes set in motion by the collapse of the Tiwanaku state rather than an attempt to colonize or indirectly control the Azapa Valley during the Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 550-1000).

Tiwanaku's Legacy: A Chronological Reassessment of the Terminal Middle Horizon in the Moquegua Valley, Peru

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (03) ◽  
pp. 529-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Sharratt
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
State Collapse ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Intermediate Period ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Moquegua Valley

As in other examples of state collapse, political disintegration of the Tiwanaku state circa AD 1000 was accompanied by considerable cultural continuity. In the Moquegua Valley, Peru, the location of the largest Tiwanaku communities outside the altiplano, settlements and practices associated with this postcollapse cultural continuity are termed Tumilaca. Previous research indicated that Tumilaca was short-lived, with all vestiges of Tiwanaku gone from Moquegua's archaeological record by the thirteenth century when the valley was subsequently characterized by Estuquiña-style materials. This article discusses radiocarbon dates from Tumilaca la Chimba, a village established as the political authority of the Tiwanaku state waned. The 21 absolute dates from Tumilaca domestic, public, and funerary contexts span at least 350 years, from the late tenth to the mid-fourteenth centuries AD. They suggest that (1) Tiwanaku-affiliated communities endured well into the later Late Intermediate Period (AD 1200–1470); (2) ongoing debates about the emergence of Estuquiña communities must consider the role of terminal Tiwanaku populations; and (3) analyses of postcollapse continuity can be enhanced by considering peripheral locales and the particularities of continuity.

The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond ◽  
Duncan Pring ◽  
Richard Wilk ◽  
Sara Donaghey ◽  
Frank P. Saul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Lowland Maya

Recent excavations in Belize have resulted in the discovery of an earlier period of sedentary occupation than has hitherto been documented in the Maya Lowlands. The Swasey phase is stratigraphically antecedent to occupations of the early Middle Formative, the earliest horizon located until now, and associated radiocarbon dates suggest a persistence from 2000–1000 b.c./2500–1300 B.C. The ceramic and lithic material culture of the phase are described, together with architectural construction and burial practice, and the overall cultural identity is recognized as ancestral to the known Maya Lowland Formative. External contacts of the Cuello site are documented by exotic minerals, and the possible external antecedents for the Swasey ceramic tradition are canvassed.

scholarly journals Stepping Stones to the Neolithic? Radiocarbon Dating the Early Neolithic on Islands Within the ‘Western Seaways’ of Britain

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 97-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Garrow ◽  
Seren Griffiths ◽  
Hugo Anderson-Whymark ◽  
Fraser Sturt
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Literal Sense ◽  
The North ◽  
Outer Hebrides ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology

The western seaways – an arc of sea stretching from the Channel Islands in the south, up through the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Man, and the Outer Hebrides to Orkney in the north – have long been seen as crucial to our understanding of the processes which led to the arrival of the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland in the centuries around 4000 cal bc. The western seaways have not, however, been considered in detail within any of the recent studies addressing the radiocarbon chronology of the earliest Neolithic in that wider region. This paper presents a synthesis of all existing 5th and 4th millennia cal bc radiocarbon dates from islands within the western seaways, including 50 new results obtained specifically for this study. While the focus here is insular in a literal sense, the project’s results have far reaching implications for our understanding of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland and beyond. The findings broadly fit well with the Gathering Time model of Whittle et al., suggesting that the earliest dated Neolithic in this zone falls into the c. 3900–3700 cal bc bracket. However, it is also noted that our current chronological understanding is based on comparatively few dates spread across a large area. Consequently, it is suggested that both further targeted work and an approach that incorporates an element of typo-chronology (as well as absolute dating) is necessary if we are to move forward our understanding of the processes associated with the appearance of the first Neolithic material culture and practices in this key region.

War, Chronology, and Causality in the Titicaca Basin

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Arkush
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Agricultural Lands ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Late Intermediate Period ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Traditional Assumption ◽  
Andean Highlands

In the Late Intermediate Period (ca. A.D. 1000-1450), people in many parts of the Andean highlands moved away from rich agricultural lands to settle in defensive sites high on hills and ridges, frequently building hilltop forts known as pukaras in Quechua and Aymara. This settlement shift indicates a concern with warfare not equaled at any other time in the archaeological sequence. While the traditional assumption is that warfare in the Late Intermediate Period resulted directly from the collapse of the Middle Horizon polities of Wari and Tiwanaku around A.D. 1000, radiocarbon dates presented here from occupation and wall-building events at pukaras in the northern Titicaca Basin indicate these hillforts did not become common until late in the Late Intermediate Period, after approximately A.D. 1300. Alternative explanations for this late escalation of warfare are evaluated, especially climate change. On a local scale, the shifting nature of pukara occupation indicates cycles of defense, abandonment, reoccupation, and wall building within a broader context of elevated hostilities that lasted for the rest of the Late Intermediate Period and beyond.

Prehistoric Genetic and Culture Change: A Bioarchaeological Search for Pre-Inka Altiplano Colonies in the Coastal Valleys of Moquegua, Peru, and Azapa, Chile

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Sutter
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Region ◽  
Genetic Change ◽  
Middle Horizon ◽  
Late Intermediate Period ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Moquegua Valley ◽  
Dental Traits ◽  
Case Basis

This investigation uses a bioarchaeological approach to test the existence of pre-Inka colonists within the Andean coastal valleys of Moquegua, Peru, and Azapa, Chile, as predicted by Murra's (1972) classic model of verticality. The archaeological evidence and biodistance results obtained using genetically controlled dental traits from 859 skeletal and mummified remains indicate that the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1100-1476) coastal Chiribaya people of the Moquegua Valley, Peru, likely represent descendants of altiplano populations that migrated to the coastal region following the disintegration of the Middle Horizon (A.D. 750-1100) Tiwanaku colony located in the middle Moquegua Valley. In the neighboring Azapa Valley, Chile, genetic change among prehistoric populations was due to gradual in situ microevolution of local populations rather than colonization by altiplano people. Coastal populations of the Azapa Valley maintained biocultural continuity with the Archaic period Chinchorro coastal population. It is concluded that Murra's model of direct verticality should be evaluated using both biological and archaeological data on a case-by-case basis.

THE LATER PREHISTORY OF THE SHAHRIZOR PLAIN, KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ: FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS AT GURGA CHIYA AND TEPE MARANI

Iraq ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 41-71
Author(s):  
Robert Carter ◽  
David Wengrow ◽  
Saber Ahmed Saber ◽  
Sami Jamil Hamarashi ◽  
Mary Shepperson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Halaf Period ◽  
Adjacent Site ◽  
Related Series ◽  
Southern Iraq

The Shahrizor Prehistory Project has targeted prehistoric levels of the Late Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic 4 (LC4; Late Middle Uruk) periods at Gurga Chiya (Shahrizor, Kurdistan region of northern Iraq), along with the Halaf period at the adjacent site of Tepe Marani. Excavations at the latter have produced new dietary and environmental data for the sixth millennium B.C. in the region, while at Gurga Chiya part of a burned Late Ubaid tripartite house was excavated. This has yielded a promising archaeobotanical assemblage and established a benchmark ceramic assemblage for the Shahrizor Plain, which is closely comparable to material known from Tell Madhhur in the Hamrin valley. The related series of radiocarbon dates gives significant new insights into the divergent timing of the Late Ubaid and early LC in northern and southern Mesopotamia. In the following occupation horizon, a ceramic assemblage closely aligned to the southern Middle Uruk indicates convergence of material culture with central and southern Iraq as early as the LC4 period. Combined with data for the appearance of Early Uruk elements at sites in the adjacent Qara Dagh region, this hints at long-term co-development of material culture during the fourth millennium B.C. in southeastern Iraqi Kurdistan and central and southern Iraq, potentially questioning the model of expansion or colonialism from the south.

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