Environmental change and economic development in coastal Peru between 5,800 and 3,600 years ago

Abstract

Between Ϸ5,800 and 3,600 cal B.P. the biggest architectural monuments and largest settlements in the Western Hemisphere flourished in the Supe Valley and adjacent desert drainages of the arid Peruvian coast. Intensive net fishing, irrigated orchards, and fields of cotton with scant comestibles successfully sustained centuries of increasingly complex societies that did not use ceramics or loombased weaving. This unique socioeconomic adaptation was abruptly abandoned and gradually replaced by societies more reliant on food crops, pottery, and weaving. Here, we review evidence and arguments for a severe cycle of natural disastersearthquakes, El Niñ o flooding, beach ridge formation, and sand dune incursion-at Ϸ3,800 B.P. and hypothesize that ensuing physical changes to marine and terrestrial environments contributed to the demise of early Supe settlements.El Niñ o ͉ geoarchaeology ͉ Preceramic collapse ͉ Mid-Holocene A dapted to a coastal desert broken by verdant river valleys and fronted by a productive near-shore fishery, the north central coast of Peru was very different from other centers of ancient development. Although characterized by complex social organization and large centers dominated by stone-faced temple mounds, early coastal Peruvians did not produce pottery or loom-woven cloth. Animal protein came entirely from the sea, not from domesticated or terrestrial animals. Irrigated farming focused on cotton; among the remains of food crops are the tree fruits guayaba (Psidium guajava) and pacae (Inga feuillei), achira (Canna edulis, a root crop), beans, squash, sweet potato, avocado, and peanut. This unique evolutionary experiment thrived for Ϸ2 millennia (the Late Preceramic Period, ca. 5,800-3,800/ 3,600 cal B.P.) in the Río Supe and adjacent desert drainages (1-3) (Fig. 1). Ending abruptly, this Late Preceramic society was gradually replaced by more typical or normative economies that emphasized plant and animal domesticates while also producing pottery and woven goods.Eustatic sea level stabilization between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago set the stage for the Late Preceramic developments, both natural and cultural. Rising sea level had inhibited the establishment of sandy beaches, beach ridge formation, and consequent inland sand dune deposition while leading to the development of large, protected bays. When sea level transgression ceased in the Mid-Holocene, this geophysical configuration changed significantly. Approximately 5,800 years ago, the return of El Niño (the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon, or ENSO) after a hiatus of several millennia (4, 5) coincided with emplacement of the modern fishery dominated by small schooling fish (6, 7) and of the contemporary coastal regime dominated by powerful north-flowing longshore currents and strong daily winds blowing inland NNE off the sea. Establishment of these conditions created the beach ridge and sand dune geomorphic regime that has characterized the north coast of Peru since the Mid-Holocene (e.g., ref. 8). In this tectonically ...

Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

“…More importantly, increased frequency and intensity of warm water currents associated with strong El Niño events (61) began to extend their effects into northern Chile and precipitated the decline of the Chinchorro culture through a collapse of available marine resources, as suggested by Williams et al (32), and likely in conjunction with other natural disasters, as has been suggested for north central Coastal Peru (62). These environmental events are consistent with the hypothesis that there was a decrease in population size (to levels before 7 ka BP; Fig.…”

Landscape and Environment: Insights from the Prehispanic Central Andes

“…Simple extrapolation from historic recurrence intervals suggests their likely regularity in Andean prehistory (Comte and Pardo 1991;Degg and Chester 2005;Dorbath et al 1990); Bandelier (1906) anticipated this research by nearly a century. In a handful of contexts, archaeologists and/or geologists believe they have identified evidence of earthquake damage (Kovach 2004;Rick 2008;Sandweiss et al 2009;Shimada 1981). The design of Inca architecture, in particular, has been analyzed to learn whether it is engineered to withstand earthquakes (e.g., Cuadra et al 2008).…”

Climate change underlies global demographic, genetic, and cultural transitions in pre-Columbian southern Peru

“…The frequency of climatic changes seems to have been accelerated with the establishment of modern atmospheric conditions and increasing variability of the El Niño Southern Oscillation around the end of the Mid-Holocene (4,5), resulting in multiple transient and protracted environmental impacts on the Central Andean region (6,7). Several studies have pointed at the temporal coincidence of occasional environmental and catastrophic events (7,8) and long-term climatic alterations (5, 9) with episodes of cultural transition and changes of socioeconomic structure throughout the pre-Columbian period, suggesting that climate has played a major role in the formation of the cultural and demographic complexity of the Central Andean area (5,7,8,10). Adaptive responses of the Andean populations to environmental impacts (e.g., droughts) such as the intensification of irrigation and extensive terracing have been directly inferred from the archaeological record (7,8,(10)(11)(12).…”

“…Several studies have pointed at the temporal coincidence of occasional environmental and catastrophic events (7,8) and long-term climatic alterations (5, 9) with episodes of cultural transition and changes of socioeconomic structure throughout the pre-Columbian period, suggesting that climate has played a major role in the formation of the cultural and demographic complexity of the Central Andean area (5,7,8,10). Adaptive responses of the Andean populations to environmental impacts (e.g., droughts) such as the intensification of irrigation and extensive terracing have been directly inferred from the archaeological record (7,8,(10)(11)(12). However, demographic changes including migration in response to climatic alterations have so far only been inferred indirectly (7,9,12,13).…”