Micro-remains, ENSO, and environmental reconstruction of El Paraíso, Peru, a late preceramic site

Caramanica, Ari; Quilter, Jeffrey; Huamán, Luis; Villanueva, Fiorella; Morales, Claudia R.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.11.026

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Guevara and Ocaña, 1982). Increased river flows recharge aquifers and bolster riparian woodlands and wetlands (Caramanica et al, 2018). Many marine species also undergo some form of migration, spawning, and recruitment annually.…”

Section: Enso Oscillations In the Coastal Desertmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, humans have actively capitalized on and prepared for ENSO-related changes to local ecology and the landscape itself in the past and present. Subsistence practices include taking advantage of El Niño floodwaters for agriculture (Caramanica et al, 2020; Dillehay and Kolata, 2004; Mauricio, 2018), exploiting resources from lomas and wetlands that flourish with ENSO-related rainfall and fog (Beresford-Jones et al, 2015; Caramanica et al, 2018) and capitalizing on bay scallop population booms triggered by strong El Niños (González, 2013). Direct evidence of El Niño or La Niña can be scarce in the archeological record.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Marine shellfish exploitation as a means of reducing vulnerability to resource uncertainty in southern coastal Peru (200 BCE–150 CE)

2022

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The effects of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are notoriously hazardous for human populations of the hyperarid Peruvian coast. Yet, ENSO climate fluctuations are fundamental to the ecology of desert plant and animal resources that have been incorporated into human subsistence economies for millennia. We examine marine shellfish exploitation among early complex societies in southern coastal Peru at the end of the first millenium BCE to better understand the subsistence vulnerability of communities in arid environments with variable resource availability and productivity. We analyze new shellfish data from Jahuay, a shoreline fishing settlement in the Topará Quebrada occupied amidst new regional social hierarchies and intensifying inner-valley agriculture. We compare mollusk taxonomic diversity and taxa rank order with published assemblages from four near-contemporaneous sites to assess local and regional trends in resource exploitation. At Jahuay, a unique focus on foraging plentiful Donax obesulus clams resistant to ENSO effects may reflect a local buffering strategy to ensure a resource supply through interannual and decadal climate oscillations. Our comparative results suggest regional reliance on intertidal resource patches, especially rocky habitats, for consumable shellfish. The relative convenience of gathering sessile intertidal taxa that form dense settlements may partly explain their regional popularity. The potential to dry and exchange mollusk meat as a protein source likely enhanced diet diversification while supporting economic and social relationships between communities. Overall, our findings imply that mollusks and intertidal foraging landscapes were important within a broad-spectrum subsistence strategy suited to maintaining and coordinating food availability in a dynamic environment.

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Section: Enso Oscillations In the Coastal Desertmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine shellfish exploitation as a means of reducing vulnerability to resource uncertainty in southern coastal Peru (200 BCE–150 CE)

2022

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“…Given the importance of these questions, it is surprising that no detailed archaeobotanical studies, especially phytolith analysis, have been conducted on pre-Hispanic terraces especially considering their role in Andean agricultural systems. Instead, studies have focused on a range of archaeological sites and agricultural features located in both the coastal and highlands of Peru, including mounds (Grobman et al 2012;Dillehay 2017), ceremonial sites (Tykot et al 2006;Sayre 2010;Castillo Luján 2019), human remains (Correa Trigoso 2018), settlements (Lavallée et al 1999(Lavallée et al , 2011Perry et al 2006Perry et al , 2007Chevalier 2008;Caramancia et al 2018) and corrals (Duncan 2003). Whilst these studies have provided valuable information on crop selection and the environmental context of human activities through phytolith analyses, the potential of phytolith studies on agricultural terraces has not been explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Hispanic terrace agricultural practices and long-distance transfer of plant taxa in the southern-central Peruvian Andes revealed by phytolith and pollen analysis

Handley,

Branch,

Meddens

et al. 2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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The archaeological excavation of two abandoned prehispanic agricultural terraces (Infiernillo and Tocotoccasa) in the Chicha-Soras Valley (Apurimac) in southern-central Peru revealed the presence of palaeosols. The palaeosols represent soil that developed following construction of agricultural terraces during the Middle Horizon. The soil profiles at the current surface developed following reconstruction of the terraces during the Late Intermediate Period. Phytolith analysis revealed an unexpected presence of Arecaceae (palm family) and Marantaceae (arrowroot family) in both terraces, which has been attributed to local cultivation and/or transportation and use of soil, dung, plant material or implements (made of Arecaceae) on the terrace surfaces. Pollen analysis of a nearby wetland (Ayapampa) did not provide evidence for Arecaceae or Marantaceae. Both phytolith and pollen analysis of the terraces and wetland (respectively) indicated that Zea mays was cultivated locally during the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Period, although phytoliths of maize are absent from the wetland record during the Middle Horizon. The presence of Solanaceae and Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae pollen in the wetland may be indicative of cultivation of further important taxa during the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Period, which continued into the Late Horizon together with Zea mays.

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“…; stalagmite (Asmerom et al, 2007;Zhu et al, 2017b); fish detritus (Patterson et al, 2004;Skrivanek and Hendy, 2015); lake (Anderson et al, 2005;Bennett et al, 2001;Benson et al, 2002;Conroy et al, 2008;Enzel and Wells, 1997;Higley et al, 2018;Loubere et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2014); terrestrial (Barron et al, 2003;Barron and Anderson, 2011;Caramanica et al, 2018;Hendy et al, 2015;Staines-Urías et al, 2015); and sedimentological parameters (Moy et al, 2002) including varves (Du et al, 2018;Thurow, 2001, 2006) to reconstruct long-term variations in ENSO and its impact upon both regional and global sea surface temperature (SST). An integrated approach combining palaeoclimate proxies (Ford et al, 2015;Garidel-Thoron et al, 2007;Koutavas et al, 2006;Koutavas and Joanides, 2012;Koutavas and Lynch-Stieglitz, 2003;Leduc et al, 2009;White et al, 2018) and computer models (Zhu et al, 2017a) can help shed light on the triggers of past ENSO events, their magnitude and their spatiotemporal distribution.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the validity of foraminifera-based ENSO reconstructions

Metcalfe¹,

Lougheed²,

Waelbroeck³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. A complete understanding of past El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) fluctuations is important for the future predictions of regional climate using climate models. Reconstructions of past ENSO dynamics use carbonate oxygen isotope ratios (δ18Oc) and trace metal geochemistry (Mg / Ca) recorded by planktonic foraminifera to reconstruct past spatiotemporal changes in upper ocean conditions. We investigate whether planktonic foraminifera-based proxies offer sufficient spatiotemporal continuity with which to reconstruct past ENSO dynamics. Concentrating upon the period of the instrumental record, we use the Foraminifera as Modelled Entities model to statistically test whether or not δ18Oc and the Temperature signal (Tc) in planktonic foraminifera directly records the ENSO cycle. Our results show that it is possible to use δ18Oc from foraminifera to disentangle the ENSO signal only in certain parts of the Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, a large proportion of these areas coincide with sea-floor regions exhibiting a low sedimentation rate and/or water depth below the carbonate compensation depth, thus precluding the extraction of a temporally valid palaeoclimate signal using long-standing palaeoceanographic methods.

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Micro-remains, ENSO, and environmental reconstruction of El Paraíso, Peru, a late preceramic site

Cited by 5 publications

References 59 publications

Marine shellfish exploitation as a means of reducing vulnerability to resource uncertainty in southern coastal Peru (200 BCE–150 CE)

Marine shellfish exploitation as a means of reducing vulnerability to resource uncertainty in southern coastal Peru (200 BCE–150 CE)

Pre-Hispanic terrace agricultural practices and long-distance transfer of plant taxa in the southern-central Peruvian Andes revealed by phytolith and pollen analysis

On the validity of foraminifera-based ENSO reconstructions

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