Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Charles Stanish, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Robert H. Tykot, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Christian Wells, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Daniel Sandweiss, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Alice Kelley, Ph.D.

Keywords

Andes, Environmental Archaeology, Paracas, Pozuelo

Abstract

This research is a part of a larger project, undertaken by the Programa Arqueológico Chincha (i.e., PACH). The focus of the project centered on the societal, economic, political, and environmental mechanisms involved in the advent of social complexity on the south coast of Peru, specifically in the Chincha Valley. PACH comprehensively studied archaeological sites in the upper, middle, and lower valleys. One of the sites studied was Pozuelo. Pozuelo is a type site located in the lower Chincha Valley (and the focus of this dissertation). Pozuelo possesses the earliest ceramics, domestic activities, and mound structures in the Chincha Valley. Furthermore, the site has evidence of the oldest complex society on the south coast of Peru (i.e., Paracas).

Previous research by PACH in the lower Chincha Valley revealed the possibility of an environmental context much different from what is seen on the south coast today. This required a re-evaluation of the paleoecology of the region and its implications for the advent of complex society on the Peruvian coast, using Pozuelo as a model. Paleobotanical and geomorphological evidence suggests the environment at Pozuelo was a mosaic of wetlands, natural dunes, and riparian landscapes. This resource-rich environment allowed for the advent of a complex society, with cooperative social dynamics, followed by a combination of natural resource exploitation and environmental events that led to the current barren landscape and the adoption of large-scale irrigation agriculture.

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