Chronology, mound-building and

environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal

Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years ago
Tom D. Dillehay1,2 , Duccio Bonavia3 , Steven Goodbred4 ,
Mario Pino5 , Victor Vasquez6 , Teresa Rosales Tham6 ,
William Conklin7 , Jeff Splitstoser8 , Dolores Piperno9 , Jose Iriarte10 ,
Alexander Grobman11 , Gerson Levi-Lazzaris1 , Daniel Moreira12 ,
Marilaura Lopez13 , Tiffiny Tung1 , Anne Titelbaum14 , John Verano14 ,
James Adovasio15 , Linda Scott Cummings16 , Phillipe Bearez17 ,
Elise Dufour 17 , Olivier Tombret17,18 , Michael Ramirez19 ,
Rachel Beavins4 , Larisa DeSantis4 , Isabel Rey20 , Philip Mink21 ,
Greg Maggard21 & Teresa Franco1

Renewed in-depth multi-disciplinary investi-

gation of a large coastal mound settlement
in Peru has extended the occupation back
more than 7000 years to a first human
exploitation 13 720 BP. Research by the
authors has chronicled the prehistoric sequence
from the activities of the first maritime
foragers to the construction of the black mound
and the introduction of horticulture and
monumentality. The community of Huaca
Prieta emerges as innovative, complex and
ritualised, as yet with no antecedents.

Keywords: Peru, Holocene, ritual mound, horticulture

1
Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University, 124 Garland Hall, Nashville,
TN 37235, USA
2
Escuela de Antropologa, Faculdad de Ciensias Sociales, Universidad Catolica de Temuco, Manuel Montt 056,
Temuco, Chile
3
Academia Nacional de la Historia, Casa de Osambela, Jr. Conde de Superunda 298, Lima 1, Peru
4
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University, 5726
Stevenson Center, 7th floor, Nashville, TN 37240, USA
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 Tom D. Dillehay et al.

Introduction
The warming trend at the end of the Pleistocene led to new and generally richer terrestrial
and coastal environments that were exploited by human foragers in several regions of the

Research
world (Straus et al. 1996). Post-Pleistocene complex hunters and gatherers who practised
intensive maritime adaptations and established extensive often sedentary communities are
best represented by the Jomon culture in Japan (Habu 2004), the Erteblle culture in
Scandinavia (Miller et al. 2010), the ring-mounds in the south-east of the United States
(Thompson & Worth 2010) and the sambaqui mounds in Brazil (Fish et al. 2000). The
settlements of these cultures are invariably characterised by mortuary rituals suggestive of
social differentiation, and by extensive shell middens that have yielded a wide array of
marine and terrestrial species. At different times between 8000 and 4000 cal BP, some
of these communities also practised various degrees of horticulture as evidenced by the
appearance of food crops. Like these regions, the Pacific coast from southern Ecuador
to northern Chile witnessed the early rise of complex societies, especially in Peru where
sedentism and monumental non-domestic architecture appeared by at least 5200 cal BP
(Moseley 1975, 1992; Richardson 1981; Bird et al. 1985; Haas & Creamer 2004). Some
of these developments are due to the unique ecology of the region, with diverse and
abundant maritime resources closely juxtaposed with a long fertile but arid coastal plain,
through which rivers descend from the Andean mountains. Others are the result of emerging
ideologies adopted by these communities, which built monuments prior to the use of pottery.
Associated with these changes was a variety of food and industrial crops (Bird 1948; Pearsall

5
Instituto de Ciencias Geologicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia,
Chile
6
Laboratorio de Bioarqueologa, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Avda. Universitaria s/n, Trujillo, Peru
7
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA
8
Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, One Walker Creek Road, Barnardsville, NC 28709-0592, USA
9
Archaeobiology Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington DC 20013-7012, USA & Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama
10
Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK
11
Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Av. La Universidad s/n, Facultad de Ciencias, Lima 12, Peru
12
Departamento de Arqueologia, Universidade Federal de Rondonia, Avenida Presidente Dutra 2965, Porto Velho
78900-500, Brasil
13
Escuela de Arqueologa, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Avenida Juan Pablo II s/n, Ciudad Universitaria,
Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru
14
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, 101 Dinwiddie Hall, 6823 St Charles Avenue, New Orleans,
LA 70118, USA
15
Department of Anthropology, Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst College, 501 East 58th Street,
Erie, PA 16546-0001, USA
16
Paleo Research Institute, 2675 Youngfield St, Golden, CO 80401, USA
17
Museum National dHistoire Naturelle, Paris 75005, France
18
Universite de Picardie Jules Verne, Chemin de Thil, 80-025 Amiens, France
19
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 6 East Mall EPS RM 1.130, Austin, TX
78705, USA
20
Tissue and DNA Collections, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006
Madrid, Spain
21
Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
40506-9854, USA

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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Figure 1. Location of Huaca Prieta on the remnant Sangamon terrace and outlying wetlands and Preceramic domestic sites
in the Chicama Valley of the north coast of Peru.

2008). Particularly important was cotton for producing fishing nets, textiles and gourds for
net floats. One of the early coastal monuments is Huaca Prieta, a large stone and earthen
mound measuring 138 62 32m, built on the southern point of a remnant Pleistocene
terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean and estuarine wetlands and the delta plain of the
Chicama River valley (Bird et al. 1985) (Figure 1).
Huaca Prieta was first excavated by Junius Bird in the 1940s and radiocarbon dated to
between 5302 and 1933 cal BP in the 1950s (Figure 2; Table 1). Based on the large size
of the mound, on an abundance of marine resources, wood charcoal, ash and soot, thus the
appearance of a black or prieta mound, and on the presence of small stone structures, Bird
believed that the site was occupied by sedentary people living in pit-houses. In addition
to a marine economy, he documented incipient gardening and social differentiation, as
indicated by the remains of several food crops, the uninterrupted accumulation of cultural
layers, the presence of room structures, the interment of human burials with grave offerings
and a wide variety of material technologies including lithic, gourd, basketry, bone, wood
and textile. The most developed technology at the site was cotton weaving and netting (Bird
& Mahler 1952). The sites weavers devised sophisticated iconographic styles with various
designs. Iconography was also exhibited through incised and engraved gourds, hematite

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Research
Figure 2. View looking north-west toward the mound at Huaca Prieta. Scale indicated by workers standing on the side. The
Pacific Ocean is in the background. The wetland farm plot in the foreground is probably similar to those that existed near
the site in Preceramic times.

painted pebbles and recently recovered coral sculptures. A crude lithic industry included
grinding stones for processing plants and edge-trimmed pebble flake tools, hammerstones,
cores and other implements used for various tasks (Bird et al. 1985: 7791).
Until now, the broader importance of Birds pioneering work at Huaca Prieta has
been constrained by few radiocarbon dates and cursory study of the sites environment,
stratigraphy and chronology, architecture and off-mound activity. In 2006 we began an
interdisciplinary project at the site to re-examine the previous work and to better understand
the relationship between coastal environments, economies and mound building within the
sites changing social and natural landscapes. To date, we have excavated more than 2000m3
in old and new areas of Huaca Prieta, located and explored other domestic sites on the
remnant terrace, conducted a survey of Preceramic settlements along the coast of the
Chicama River valley and reconstructed the local palaeoecology (Figure 3).
The new work has greatly extended the time span of occupation at the site and increased
its significance for the understanding of the development of early societies in Peru. We
have documented the site stratigraphy encountered by Bird and the primary refuse of
charcoal, ash, burned rock, the remains of numerous marine organisms such as fish, urchins,
shellfish, sea lion and porpoise, birds and other fauna, and cultivated plants. We have also
obtained numerous radiocarbon dates from intact features and floors and defined several
site phases (Table 1), ranging in chronometric age from 13 72013 260 cal BP for the first
human presence, from 89797500 cal BP for a pre-mound occupational phase and from

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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Table 1. Radiocarbon dates from Huaca Prieta, nearby off-mound geological deposits and the
Paredones site.
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

Unit 2

AA76975 Unit 2 ext 24.4 3535+

35 38273696 38493639 Wood charcoal
west,
upper
Stratum 3
Beta233650 Unit 2, 22.2 3700+
40 40733893 40883844 Charred
lower material
Stratum 3
AA76974 Unit 2 ext 24.2 3588+
36 38733724 39563694 Wood charcoal
west,
Stratum
5a
AA76973 Unit 2, 24.0 3748+
40 41373933 41513898 Wood charcoal
Stratum
7a
AA81925 Unit 2, 19.1 3964+
41 44184259 45114159 Wood charcoal
Stratum
7b
AA85506 First mound 25.4 6641+
49 75557434 75717424 Wood charcoal
Layer:
Unit 2,
Stratum
7C-3
AA76972 Pre-mound 23.5 6797+
48 76567572 76807508 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion (?):
Unit 2,
Stratum
7C-7 base
Beta233651 Pre-mound 6920+
30 77407660 77867618 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion: Unit
2, Stratum
8, base
Unit 3

AA76977 Unit 3 ext 22.8 3530+

36 38273693 38493636 Wood charcoal
south,
Floor 2
AA76978 Unit 3 ext 19.6 3567+
40 38413717 39013643 Wood charcoal
south,
Floor 5a
AA76979 Unit 3 ext 19.6 3758+
40 41423978 42163901 Wood charcoal
south,
Floor 5b


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Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

Research
Beta247695 Unit 3, 20.8 4000+
40 45104296 45204245 Organic
Stratum 8, sediment
below
Floor 6
Unit 7

AA76970 Unit 7, 25.1 3649+

36 39643841 40723727 Wood charcoal
Floor 1
Unit 8

AA81916 Unit 8, 17.2 3534+

53 38333689 38923590 Bone
Tomb 4
Unit 9

AA81922 Unit 9, 22.0 3547+

40 38293705 38763640 Wood charcoal
Stratum
7a, top
AA84168 Pre-mound 22.8 7956+
50 89318599 89798592 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion: Unit
9, Stratum
8, base
Unit 10

AA81923 Unit 10, 25.7 3556+

44 38343705 38953640 Wood charcoal
Base of
Structure
2
AA81919 Unit 10, 26.4 3557+
40 38343716 38913642 Wood charcoal
Floor 4
Unit 12

AA81929 Unit 12, Ash 25.2 3441+

39 36883576 38173480 Wood charcoal
Stratum 1
Unit 13

AA81920 Unit 13, 19.7 3810+

41 42243996 42833974 Wood charcoal
Floor 3
Unit 14

AA81921 Unit 14, 25.1 3508+

40 38253641 38383588 Wood charcoal
Floor 4


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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

Unit 16

AA86935 Off-mound 22.6 6310+

33 72517162 72667021 Wood charcoal
domestic
Unit 16,
Stratum
13-7
Unit 20 (Paredones)
AA86936 Unit 20, 23.8 4783+
31 55785330 55835324 Wood charcoal
Stratum
5B
AA86937 Unit 20, 25.8 4849+
31 55895479 56035333 Charred wood
Stratum
6B-18
Unit 21 (Unit
15)

AA86941 Unit 21, 10.6 3599+

29 38893728 39563704 Corn cob
Floor 2-3,
16
AA86931 Unit 21, 25.2 3638+
29 39573838 39823728 Wood charcoal
Floor 3-2
AA86946 Unit 21, 11.9 3783+
41 41483988 42353928 Corn cob
Floor 9
AA75322 Unit 15, 29.4 5018+
86 58605599 59115488 Wood charcoal
Floor 26
AA85507 First mound 25.6 6522+
54 74297323 74747268 Wood charcoal
layer: Unit
15
AA75327 Pre-mound 29.5 7226+
44 80197947 81567871 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion: Unit
15, below
sunken
plaza in
mound
Beta290621 Buried 25.6 11500+
50 1340313294 1342013260 Charred wood
surface of
Sangamon
Terrace
Beta299536 Buried 28.3 11800+
50 1375713517 1379413459 Wood
surface of
Sangamon
Terrace


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 Tom D. Dillehay et al.

Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

Research
Unit 22 (Paredones)
AA86934 Unit 22, 13.4 4181+
34 48094570 48214527 Charred cob
Floor 6
Beta263320 Unit 22, 24.5 4590+
40 53085062 54355044 Wood charcoal
Floor 10,
Capa 14
Beta263321 Unit 22, 25.6 4790+
40 55805331 55855325 Charred
Floor 15 material
AA86947 Unit 22, 24.0 4898+
49 56445483 57115335 Wood charcoal
Floor 16,
Fill 10
AA83260 Unit 22, 26.0 5750+
60 65616405 66406319 Wood charcoal
Floor 24
Unit 23

AA86930 Unit 23, 10.0 1760+

29 16901557 16971539 Wood charcoal
Stratum
3-1
AA86949 Unit 23, 27.1 3467+
39 37043584 38283560 Wood charcoal
Floor 3-3
AA86948 Unit 23, 23.5 5059+
72 58875652 59025606 Wood charcoal
Floor 11
Birds HP-2

Beta233648 Basal mound 23.8 5110+

40 58915745 59195667 Organic
layer: sediment
HP-2 west
side of site
Libby-598 Test Pit 2; 22.2 4298+
230 52604439 54624152 Charcoal
Bottom
Birds HP-3

AA81926 HP-3, 28.0 3394+

40 36343485 36883464 Wood charcoal
Stratum 5
AA86943 HP-3, 24.6 3806+
28 42133999 42333985 Wood charcoal
Stratum
14
AA86940 HP-3, 25.6 3875+
30 42874107 44064090 Wood charcoal
Stratum
19
AA81924 HP-3, 23.5 3687+
40 40633876 40843838 Wood charcoal
Stratum
22
AA81927 HP-3, 17.3 3728+
40 40843927 41473875 Wood charcoal
Stratum
23


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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

AA86948 HP-3, 24.1 5020+

35 58305598 58485585 Wood charcoal
Stratum
35
AA82121 HP-3, 5980+
40 67896676 68826657 Cotton yarn
Stratum
52 (39),
upper part
AA81907 First mound 23.8 6170+
45 71546899 71626808 Wood charcoal
layer:
HP-3,
Stratum
52-53,
lower part
Beta263318 Pre-mound 24.9 7000+
50 78307703 79277673 Charred
occupa- material
tion:
Stratum
55
Beta294021 Pre-mound 23.3 7110+
50 79467840 79797752 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion:
Stratum
54
AA75321 Pre-mound 28.9 7195+
45 80097933 80407847 Wood charcoal
occupa-
tion: base
HP-3
Stratum
56, P-4
TP-3 (Ext. of HP-3)

Beta278233 Test Pit 3, 25.5 3660+

40 39723854 40813730 Charred
Stratum 2 material
TP-6

Beta247696 Test Pit 6, 18.7 3350+

40 35713464 38233483 Charred
Base material
TP-9-13

AA86944 Test Pit 9-13 28.1 3334+

38 35583455 36143398 Wood charcoal
TP-22

AA86947 Test Pit 22, 24.0 4898+

49 56445483 57115335 Wood charcoal
Stratum
10


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 Tom D. Dillehay et al.

Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

Research
Beta210862 Pre-mound 27.4 9530+
50 [11000]10501 [11000]10579 Wood charcoal
Occupa-
tion,
Stratum
20
Beta290620 Test Pit 22, 28.3 11780+
50 1373213510 1372013440 Wood
Stratum
25
Birds 14 C samples from HP-3
321 Test pit 3; 2966+
340 35552621 39052160 Gourds, chewed
Layer D fibre, squash
stems, cotton,
wood,
barkcloth
Beta9286 HP 3, E 3730+
300 44223634 48453272 Gourd
(Lagenaria
siceraria)
Beta9288 HP 3, F 3960+
100 45104157 47843989 Gourd
(Lagenaria
siceraria)
Beta9287 HP 3, J 3270+
100 35693343 36923169 Gourd
(Lagenaria
siceraria)
318b Test pit 3; 3550+
600 45693005 54462344 Twigs and
Layer J treated
huarango
wood
362 Test pit 3; 4044+
300 48453996 52983648 Carbonised
Layer K cattail roots
315 Test pit 3; 3572+
220 40883485 44233267 Shell
Layer M
316 Test pit 3; 4380+
270 53024539 55904158 Misc. woody
Layer M plants
313 Test pit 3; 4257+
250 52634411 54623999 Misc. woody
Layer Q plants
Geological dates mentioned in text
AA83255 Swash- 21.1 2767+
90 29242746 30772505 Wood charcoal
laminated
shoreface
sands
Beta244172 Muddy 19.1 2820+
80 29502778 30782742 Organic-rich
back-dune soil
swale
AA83252 Sandy 25.8 3521+
49 38283645 38683610 Wood charcoal
burned
cultural
horizon

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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Table 1. Continued
Conventional 1 -calibrated 2 -calibrated
Sample no. Provenience 13 C radiocarbon age range (BP) age range (BP) Material

AA81933 Swash- 24.7 3598+

40 38933725 39643696 Wood charcoal
laminated
shoreface
sands
onlapping
Huaca
Prieta
AA83258 Carbonate 6.0 5739+
51 65386404 66336321 Non-marine
lagoon gastropod
sediments
OS-77302 Organic 25.6 6180+
35 71556939 71586901 Plant matter
layer inter-
bedded
within
Carbonate
lagoon
sediments
OS82737 Organic 29.9 6500+
30 74217326 74287279 Plant matter
layer inter-
bedded
within
Carbonate
lagoon
sediments
OS77304 Organic 24.1 6500+
45 74227324 74327269 Plant matter
layer inter-
bedded
within
Carbonate
lagoon
sediments
OS77303 Organic 27.7 6600+
35 74837425 75187416 Plant matter
layer inter-
bedded
within
Carbonate
lagoon
sediments
All dates calibrated using shcal04 (McCormac et al. 2004).
[ ]= calibrated range impinges on end of calibration data set.

Birds corresponding layers in HP-3 are based on study of his photographs, notes, and profile drawings.

Calibration done on curve other than shcal04.


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Figure 3. Map of the remnant terrace showing the location of investigations at Paradones and Huaca Prieta. HP: excavations
by J.B. Bird; TP: test pit; GU: area of geophysical survey; U: excavations undertaken in the present campaign.


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 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

75554510 cal BP for subsequent mound-building phases. Our findings also indicate that
the site was first occupied by maritime foragers. After 7500 cal BP, activity shifted about
50m north and the first mound layers, associated with burning and mortuary rituals, were
built on the southern end of the terrace.

Method
During five recent field seasons, we recut, profiled and studied all of Birds prior pits on
the mound (Bird et al. 1985: 26), particularly his HP-2 and HP-3 units (Figure 4), taking
more than 15 000 measurements of stratigraphic profiles in 60 different archaeological
excavations, three with cultural deposits of 2232m. We selected several new areas for
extensive and deeper excavations, working with large teams of professional archaeologists
and experienced local workers. Specialists such as botanists, geneticists, malacologists and
geologists joined the research team for various periods of time to extract specific data sets.
In total, we excavated 31 block units ranging in size from 2 4m to 12 14m, 30
test pits ranging between 1 2m and 2 3m, more than 25 geological trenches and
hundreds of sediment cores on and off the site. Many of the test pits and small block
units were exploratory in nature, seeking to define the mound and off-mound stratigraphy,
function and chronology (Figure 3). Given the depth and size of the mound, which covered
or destroyed the early occupational deposits to a depth of 832m, we obtained only three
terminal Pleistocene and six pre-mound Early Holocene radiocarbon dates (Units 2, 9,
15 [21], HP-2, HP-3 and TP-22). Additionally, five large 20 20m block units were
subjected to geophysical mapping for purpose of testing deep subsurface features. Thus, the
majority of our work was located in areas not probed by Bird, such as the lower and upper
south side of the site and deposits buried underneath later Cupisnique and Moche mounds
(35001500 cal years ago) located immediately north of Huaca Prieta.
We also carried out block excavations at Paredones, a smaller 30 70m mound located
1km north of Huaca Prieta (Figure 3). Paredones dates between 6700 and 4200 cal BP and
presents a 6m-deep cultural sequence associated with domestic occupation. The stratigraphy
at both Huaca Prieta and Paredones is intact, with almost impenetrable cement-like floors
and floor fills. Minimal disturbance resulted from occasional architectural construction at
Huaca Prieta.
In this paper we focus on the dating of the sequence. Summary reports on the floodplain
deposits, mound stratigraphy, architectural phases, subsistence economy and off-mound
domestic sites (including Paredones) will be found in the supplement online (SOL) at
http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/dillehay331.

Holocene environmental history

Our recent palaeoecological studies indicate that the environs of Huaca Prieta are defined by
the interface of several geo-climatic settings, which present diverse natural resources (Dillehay
et al. 2010). Geological evidence reveals an intimate association with fertile deltaic wetland
systems that were juxtaposed with diverse semi-arid lowlands and coastal estuarine and
marine settings. Located at these ecological junctions, settings like that of Huaca Prieta were

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Figure 4. Topographic map of the mound at Huaca Prieta produced by digital contour mapping, GPR probing and pre-
excavation drawings and photographs by J.B. Bird. Top of the mound shows a height of 23m above datum at present-day
ground surface; however, the mound is 32m high from the top to the first mound layers buried below ground surface. Note
the location of the ramp, the circular sunken plaza and excavation units mentioned in the text.

susceptible to environmental changes forced by various phenomena: local (e.g. river avulsion,
earthquakes), regional (e.g. El Nino), global (e.g. sea-level change) or anthropogenic (e.g.
land use) (Bird, R. 1983; Sandweiss et al. 1999, 2009; Wells 1999). The earliest coastal
plain formation near the site is recorded by unique algal carbonate (Charophyta) and
interbedded organic sediments that indicate the development of a widespread wetland-
fringed, estuarine lagoon by 7457 cal BP (OS-77303, see Table 1). This setting persisted
until 6470 cal BP (AS-83258, see Table 1), after which the onset of El Nino floods
began to infill the lagoon with riverine silts. This major environmental transformation
from open-water lagoon to a well-drained floodplain occurs over 2000 years and is
largely complete by 4500 cal BP. Floodplain deposition, largely through El Nino flood
events, remains a continuous but episodic process up to the present (Sandweiss et al. 1999)
(SOL 1).

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A prominent feature across the relatively flat and narrow coastal plain of the Chicama
River valley are several small drainages that cross-cut the plain as they descend from the
Andean foothills to the ocean. These drainages change depending on the level of the water
table and El Nino events, becoming larger when heavy rains in the highlands increase their
load. When these drainages reach the ocean and mix with its salty tidal water, numerous
estuary systems are formed between 2 and 20km north of Huaca Prieta. These estuaries are
generally narrow and 27km long, running perpendicular to the seashore, although they
may connect to lagoons that are elongated and parallel to the coast. Sand dunes created by
the sediments dumped by rivers and shaped by the action of waves separate these wetland
systems from the ocean. The wetlands provide a wide variety of edible plant and animal
life, in addition to various species of reeds used to make mats, baskets and other utilitarian
items. Today, people grow crops along the edges of the wetlands where the soils are rich and
humid year round (Figure 2).

Phasing and dating at Huaca Prieta

In total, more than 150 radiocarbon dates were obtained from 60 mound and off-mound
excavations and from various geological cuts and cores (Table 1). Not all floor and use
episodes were radiocarbon dated, which would require more than 1000 chronometric
measurements (see SOL). However, the deeper stratigraphic cuts were dated from the
top to bottom, as shown in Figures 57 for Units 2, 15/21 and HP-3. All radiocarbon
dates from Huaca Prieta and Paredones were taken on single chunks of wood charcoal,
maize and cotton textiles recovered from features embedded in floors. Unfortunately, not all
excavated strata contained single chunks embedded in floors or features. With the exception
of fragments of maize and other organic debris, which will be detailed in later publications,
all radiocarbon dates are on wood charcoal and cotton. No radiocarbon samples were taken
from fills and middens or from marine shells. Given the different organic materials dated
by four different laboratories over a period of six decades, nearly all dates agree and overlap
chronologically and stratigraphically at the 1 calibrated age range. There is also agreement
and stratigraphic alignment between Birds 14 C dates and his schematic profile of the north
to south oriented HP-3 trench and our 14 C dates and stratigraphy in this same unit (Bird et
al. 1985: 518) (Figure 5).
Our excavations at the site have defined limited terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene
occupational phases followed by four successive mound-building phases (Figures 8 & 9).
The terminal Pleistocene materials are buried in the upper surface deposits of the ancient
terrace upon which the mound sits at Huaca Prieta. Because these deposits are deeply buried
beneath the mound, we have not yet fully studied the spatial extent and geological setting
of this occupation. To date we have recovered simple edge-trimmed pebble flakes, several
bone remains of fish and sea lion, and fractured shellfish valves from these deposits, which
are dated between 13 720 and 13 260 cal BP (Table 1).
The mound sequence has been resolved in five phases. Phase I is dated 90007500 cal BP
and is associated with maritime foragers and incipient gardeners intermittently occupying
around 80m of the lower east side of the Sangamon terrace near the banks of the brackish
water, estuarine lagoon (see Table 1; Figures 3 & 4, Units 2, 9 & 15/21, HP-3 & TP 22).

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Research
Figure 5. Profile view of a section of the west wall in the north-south trench (Birds HP-3) showing the lower stratigraphic
levels at the north end of Huaca Prieta, the stratigraphic location of the Phase IVV ramp addition, and the combined
radiocarbon date locations of Birds and our excavations in the basal pre-mound and later mound layers in this sector of the
site. The numeration of strata in this unit does not follow a progressive sequence. Those strata in the west wall that correspond
with previously numbered strata in the east wall of the trench were given the same number, thus resulting in some strata with
higher numbers, assigned by our work, overlying or underlying lower or higher numbers, respectively. Dates with prefix of
Layer. . . are radiocarbon dated strata from Birds work at the site (Bird et al. 1985: figs 20 & 33). All dates are given at 1
calibration years before present. Radiocarbon laboratory numbers beginning with A are from the University of Arizona, with
B from Beta Analytic and with L are from Willard Libbys radiocarbon laboratory in the 1950s. The haystacking construction
technique is best represented by strata 54, 53, 39, 48, 22 and 23.

No architecture was detected for this phase. Phase II is dated between 7572 and 6538 cal
BP and represents the first mound construction stage. We estimate that the mound during
this phase minimally measured 5m high, 25m wide and 2535m long and consisted
of several cobblestone and soil layers. In Units 15/21 and HP-3, the first layers are dated
between 7429 and 6899 cal BP, with younger and older dates stratigraphically bracketing
these layers, respectively. In Unit 2, the first layer is represented by stratum 7C-2, which we
have not dated due to the absence of datable charcoal (Figure 6). However, this layer overlies
stratum 7C-3, which is AMS dated to between 7555 and 7434 cal years ago, suggesting
the former probably dates to at least 7000 cal years ago. The current evidence suggests
that the earliest mound layers were placed on the south-east flank and crest of the ancient

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Figure 6. Profile view of Unit 2 showing the pre-mound occupational layers and the initial mound and later strata. All dates are given at 1 calibration years before present. Radiocarbon
laboratory numbers beginning with A are from the University of Arizona and with B from Beta Analytic. The haystacking construction technique is represented by layers 7b, 7b2, 6 and
5b-1.
 Tom D. Dillehay et al.

terrace near the shoreline of the lagoon (Table 1, Units 2, 15/21 & HP-3; and see Figure 3
and SOL 2). From there, the mound appears to have gradually spread to the north and west
along this flank, with later construction layers reaching to the western edge of the terrace
in the vicinity of Birds HP-2 pit. The use of space along the eastern flank and the crest of

Research
the terrace eventually became more restricted by the increasing steeper sloping sides of the
mound. No stone room foundations were recovered for this phase, though a few postholes
and cane poles were excavated suggesting the construction of perishable structures.
The mound building phases, beginning with Phase II, did not develop from a gradual
accumulation of occupation midden but from deliberate and gradual, planned mounding
over a period of 3000 years. The beginning points of the individual mounding phases
are represented in the form of haystacking strata whereby a basal ring or layer of shingled
cobblestone berms are laid out and angled to define the outer limits of the structure and to
provide an architectural footing for the space inside to be infilled by floors and floor fills
(Figure 7).
During Phase III the focus of mound construction shifted more to the crest and the
western edge of the terrace (Figure 3; Table 1, Units 2, 15/21, HP-2, HP-3). Phase III dates
between 6538 and 5308 cal BP and is characterised by the addition of more artificial
layers, several small stone-faced, terraced rooms placed along the eastern and western slopes
of the mound and, at the end of this phase, the lower floors of a circular sunken pit
(Figures 7, 8 & 9: IIIa) on the south side, and the lower part of a stone retention wall on
the north-east side (see Figure 4 and SOL 3). These structural features are spatially and
architecturally conjoined, suggesting simultaneous planned construction and use across the
entire upper surface of the mound at this time. These features began to give the mound a
stepped platform-like form. During this phase, the mound expanded to 810m in height
in some places and 80m in length.
Phase IV dates from 53084107 cal years ago, when the mound spread over a more
extended area of old and new ground and increased in height (Figures 8 & 9; Table 1, all
units). Phases III and IV are separated by a yellowish clay cap 25cm thick placed over
most of the mound. Further additions during this phase were the first layers of a ramp
built on the east side, the upper portion of the retention wall and the stepped structures
in the sunken plaza (Figures 4, 8 & 9: IIIb) (see SOL 3). The ramp addition is 40m
long and 35m wide and characterised by a series of thick cobble stone berm layers and by
intervening floors built over and sealing the retention wall and the first construction phases
of the mound. Later the foundations of the ramp rested directly upon the eastern edge of
mound layers built during Phase III. The mound during Phase IV was roughly the size it is
today, although a few new layers were added in Phase V.
During Phase V the steep sloping flanks of the mound to both the east and west were used
less, with most activity now limited to the flat crest of the structure. It dates between 4107
and 3455 cal BP when, during the early part of this phase, cobblestone burial chambers
were built along the upper rim of the sunken pit and on the top of the mound. More
layers were also added to the ramp, which eventually covered and sealed the retention wall.
By 40003800 cal BP the Preceramic use of the site terminated. People of later ceramic
cultures, dating from the Cupisnique to Inca periods (3500600 cal years ago) carried out
rituals and buried their dead on the top of the mound.

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Figure 7. Plan and profile views of the circular sunken plaza showing stepped-rooms and platforms and radiocarbon dated
stratigraphy in Units 15 and 21. All dates are given at 1 calibration years before present. Radiocarbon laboratory numbers
beginning with A are from the University of Arizona and with B from Beta Analytic.


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Figure 8. Mosaic of the pre-mound and mound building Phases IV at Huaca Prieta. Phase I shows the pre-mound occupation area on the lower east side of the Sangamon terrace.
Phases IIV reveal the sequential development of the mound from a small, low hummocked structure to a flat-top pyramid with a sunken plaza and ramp.
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Figure 9. Schematic profile of the pre-mound occupational and mound building phases at Huaca Prieta.

Research
 Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru

Discussion
Huaca Prieta was a place where several important architectural, technological and artistic
innovations took place. The rich coastal environment of the site continuously supported
a mixed maritime, wetland and agriculture economy that gave rise to one of the earliest
developments of cultural complexity in the Americas (see also SOL 4). Complexity is
evidenced not only in the textile and gourd technology, iconography, burial chambers,
mound architecture and mixed economy of Huaca Prieta, but in the growth and density of
the Preceramic population in the diverse littoral environment north of Huaca Prieta of the
Chicama Valley.
Huaca Prieta is an enigma in Andean archaeology because it currently has no known
antecedents, either on the ancient terrace (see SOL 5) or further afield. Its complexity lies
in its form, function and location. The haystacking construction technique, the circular
sunken plaza and retention walls, and the multiple agglutinated rooms of the mound
impart a sense of site planning as evidenced at other public monuments during the late
Preceramic period (c . 50004500 cal BP), such as Alto Salaverry, Cerro Ventarron, Sechn
Bajo, Aspero, Bandurria and others along the north and central coast of Peru. However,
the architecture, stratigraphy and mortuary remains evidenced for Phases II and III are
different from the staircases, ramps and maze-like room construction of the late Preceramic
platform monuments at sites such as Sechin Bajo, Caral, Caballete and Cerro Lampay
located farther inland in coastal valleys farther south (Moseley 1975; Shady et al. 2001;
Haas & Creamer 2004; Fuchs & Briceno 2006; Alva 2010), suggesting different activities.
The inland sites do not exhibit large numbers of human burials, extensive soot layers and
burning, isolated retention walls or the stone- and earth-layered mound, as seen at Huaca
Prieta and Paredones. On the other hand, Phases II and III at Huaca Prieta are not associated
with large platform structures, suggestive of more formalised, non-mortuary architecture
and activity. Feasting associated with burned offerings and probably mortuary rituals appears
to have been a primary activity at Huaca Prieta. It was not until Phases IV and V, when the
agglutinated rooms and burial chambers on top of the mound and the ramp were added,
that Huaca Prieta appeared more typical of other coastal monuments. None of these early
coastal sites provide concrete evidence of permanent elites or authoritative figures.
The archaeological record and particularly the age and construction of the mound at
Huaca Prieta contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that the Early to Middle
Holocene period in the Central Andes was a complex mosaic of different economies and
social forms. For instance, in south-west coastal Ecuador (Piperno & Stothert 2003) and
the western montane slopes of northern Peru (Piperno & Dillehay 2008; Dillehay et al.
2008; Dillehay 2011), mixed farming and foraging societies existed by at least 10 0009000
cal BP. In the Andean highlands from Peru and Bolivia to northern Chile and Argentina,
economies focused on camelid husbandry and high-altitude crops were developed by at
least 6000 cal BP (Aldenderfer 1988; Bonavia 2008). Additional research will continue
to reveal that the origins of Andean civilisation have several interrelated regional roots,
each characterised by different social and economic conditions. In our perspective, a
critical threshold was crossed when these societies moved beyond the domestic context
to include planned sedentary communities and a formalised and structured public life. Not

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only did these societies establish social complexity and public monuments, but they also
initiated important environmental changes such as extensive landscape modification and
the domestication and spread of plants and animals that eventually led to the development
of early states in the Andes.

Research
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC), Lima, Peru for granting us the permission to
work at Huaca Prieta. We are grateful to Cesar Galvez and Jesus Briceno (INC, Trujillo) for their support.
Financial support for this project came from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society and
Vanderbilt University. Additional support was provided by the Lupinski and OLeary families. We also thank
Marshall Summar and Jessica Blair of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for genetic analysis. The first
author is grateful to the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History for granting
permission to study Junius B. Birds notes and photographs for Huaca Prieta, as well as the artefacts he recovered
from the site.

References FISH S., P. DE BLASIS, M.D. GASPAR & P. FISH. 2000.

Eventos incrementais na construcao de sambaquis,
ALDENDERFER, M. 1988. Middle Archaic phase litoral sul do Estado de Santa Catarina. Revista
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FUCHS, P.R. & J. BRICENO. 2006. Investigaciones
ALVA MENESES, I. 2010. Los complejos de Cerro arqueologicas en el sitio de Sechn Bajo, Casma.
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Arqueologia PUCP 12: 97118. HAAS, J. & W. CREAMER. 2004. Cultural
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BIRD, J.B., J. HYSLOP & M.D. SKINNER. 1985. The MCCORMAC, F.G., A.G. HOGG, P.G. BLACKWELL, C.E.
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Andean civilization. Menlo Park (CA): Cummings.
BONAVIA, D. 2008. The South American camelids
(Cotsen Institute of Archaeology monographs 64). 1992. Maritime foundations and multilinear
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DILLEHAY, T.D. (ed.) 2011. From foraging to farming in PEARSALL, D.M. 2008. Plant domestication and the
the Andes: new perspectives on food production and shift to agriculture in the Andes, in H. Silverman &
social organization. Cambridge: Cambridge W.H. Isbell (ed.) Handbook of South American
University Press. archaeology: 105120. New York: Springer.
DILLEHAY, T.D., J. ROSSEN, T.C. ANDRES & D.E. PIPERNO, D. & T.D. DILLEHAY. 2008. Starch grains on
WILLIAMS. 2008. Preceramic adoption of peanut, human teeth reveal early broad crop diet in
squash and cotton in northern Peru. Science 316: northern Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy
189093. of Sciences USA 105: 37685.
DILLEHAY, T.D., D. BONAVIA, S. GOODBRED & M. PIPERNO, D. & K. STOTHERT. 2003. Phytolith evidence
PINO. 2010. Un enfoque metodologico hacia un for Early Holocene Cucurbita domestication in
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RICHARDSON III, J.B. 1981. Modeling the development SHADY, R.S., J. HAAS & W. CREAMER. 2001. Dating
of sedentary maritime economies on the coast of Caral, a Preceramic site in the Supe Valley on the
Peru: a preliminary statement. Annals of the central coast of Peru. Science 292: 72326.
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SANDWEISS, D.H., K.A. MAASCH & D.G. ANDERSON. YESNER (ed.). 1996. Humans at the end of the Ice
1999. Transitions in the Mid-Holocene. Science Age: the archaeology of the PleistoceneHolocene
283: 499500. transition. New York: Plenum Press.
SANDWEISS, D.H., R. SHADY SOLIS, M.E. MOSELEY, THOMPSON, V. & J.E. WORTH. 2010. Dwellers by the
D.K. KEEFER & D.R. ORTLOFF. 2009. sea: Native American adaptations along the
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Research 12: 117.

Received: 19 April 2011; Accepted: 20 June 2011; Revised: 27 June 2011


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 1

Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from

13 700 to 4000 years ago
Tom D. Dillehay1,2, Duccio Bonavia3, Steven Goodbred4, Mario Pino5, Victor Vasquez6,
Teresa Rosales Tham6, William Conklin7, Jeff Splitstoser8, Dolores Piperno9, Jos
Iriarte10, Alexander Grobman11, Gerson Levi-Lazzaris1, Daniel Moreira12, Marilaura
Lopz13, Tiffiny Tung1, Anne Titelbaum14, John Verano14, James Adovasio15, Linda Scott
Cummings16, Phillipe Bearz17, Elise Dufour 17, Olivier Tombret17, 18, Michael
Ramirez19, Rachel Beavins4, Larisa DeSantis4, Isabel Rey20, Philip Mink21, Greg
Maggard21 &Teresa Franco1

1
Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Science, Vanderbilt University, 124
Garland Hall, Nashville, TN 37235, USA; 2 Escuela de Antropologa, Faculdad de
Ciensias Sociales, Universidad Catlica de Temuco, Manuel Montt 056, Temuco, Chile
3
Academia Nacional de la Historia, Casa de Osambela, Jr. Conde de Superunda 298,
Lima 1, Per; 4 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and
Science, Vanderbilt University, 5726 Stevenson Center, 7th floor, Nashville, TN 37240,
USA; 5 Instituto de Ciencias Geolgicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de
Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile; 6 Laboratorio de Bioarqueloga, Universidad
Nacional de Trujillo, Avda. Universitaria s/n, Trujillo, Per; 7 Department of
Anthropology, Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA;
8
Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, One Walker Creek Road, Barnardsville,
NC 28709-0592, USA; 9 Archaeobiology Program, Department of Anthropology,
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20013-
10
7012, USA & Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama; Department
of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter EX4
11
4QE, UK; Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Av. La Universidad s/n, Facultad
12
de Ciencias, Lima 12, Per; Departamento de Arqueologia, Universidade Federal de
Rondnia, Avenida Presidente Dutra 2965, Porto Velho 78900-500, Brasil; 13 Escuela de
Arqueologa, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Avenida Juan Pablo II s/n, Ciudad
Universitaria, Trujillo, La Libertad, Per; 14 Department of Anthropology, Tulane

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 2

University, 101 Dinwiddie Hall, 6823 St Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA;
15
Department of Anthropology, Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst
College, 501 East 58th Street, Erie, PA 16546-0001, USA; 16
Paleo Research Institute,
2675 Youngfield St, Golden, CO 80401, USA; 17
Museum National dHistoire Naturelle,
Paris 75005, France; 18 Universit de Picardie Jules Verne, Chemin de Thil, 80-025
19
Amiens, France; Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 6
20
East Mall EPS RM 1.130, Austin, TX 78705, USA; Tissue and DNA Collections, Museo
Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain;
21
Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky 40506-9854, USA

This paper is published in full in Antiquity 86

(http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860048.htm). Here we publish supplementary
material.

The article by Dillehay et al. in Antiquity 86 summarised recent research at the mound of
Huaca Prieta on the north coast of Peru where a first human presence was documented
between ~13 700 and 13 300 cal BP, a combined maritime and incipient crop economy
developed between ~9000 and 4000 cal BP and mound building began ~7500 cal BP.
The findings contribute to knowledge of the origins of ancient monuments across the
globe and to understanding the rise of early social complexity on the coast of Peru. The
campaign also included exploratory work on the remnant Pleistocene terrace which has
Huaca Prieta at its tip (Figure S1). The supplementary material provided here gives
essential data on the floodplain, the stratification of the mound, structural features in the
mound, the subsistence economy and domestic sites beyond the mound.

Keywords: Peru, Holocene, ritual mound, horticulture

SOL 1. Floodplain deposits

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
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The specific floodplain deposits of interest here comprise 18m of sand, mud and
carbonate sediments that were deposited within various river, floodplain and coastal
settings over the past 8000 years. The base of the Holocene sequence is readily identified
by a sandy gravel and cobble surface that represents alluvial fan deposition during the
late Pleistocene. The earliest Holocene sediments deposited over the lowstand gravels are
silty, fine to medium sands typically found 68m below the modern surface. These sands
are non-fossiliferous and lack any mud drapes or associated overbank muds, suggesting
that they are channel and bar deposits of a largely clear-water, bedload-dominated stream
channel, one presumably fed by meltwater from snow and glaciers in the Andean
highlands. Such a fluvial system is probably not unlike the modern Chicama River
during normal discharge regimes (i.e. a non-El Nio year). These fluvial sands are
sharply overlain by a complex sequence of well-bedded lagoon deposits that extend
<1km inland of the modern shoreline, reflecting the backwater influence of rising sea
level. These Early Holocene lagoon sediments are 13m thick and characterised by thick,
alternating layers (520cm) of algal carbonates (primarily Charophyta) and micro-
fossiliferous blue muds (primarily Ostracoda). The ecology of both types of deposits is
species depauperate (<6 total species) with intermittent wood, detrital organic layers and
seagrass seeds (Ruppia maritima). Based on sediment lithology and ecological
communities, these units reflect a predominantly oligotrophic and oligohaline lagoon,
perhaps groundwater fed, with fringing wetland vegetation, a weak to intermittent
connection to the sea and limited fluvial sediment input. Found at depths of 36m below
the modern surface, three radiocarbon dates near the base of the lagoonal sequence bound
its lower age to ~7500 cal BP (~69397483 cal BP, see Table 1), with one shallower date
(64046538 cal BP) showing that this open-water lagoon persisted for at least 1000 years.
These lagoon deposits correspond with the deepest pre-mound and early mound building
layers at Huaca Prieta, located on the lower inland side of the terrace and dated to ~9000
7600 cal BP (Table 1). Preliminary data indicate that the lowstand gravels are overlain by
dark to silty sands that roughly correspond to the ~90008000 cal BP phase of initial site
occupation and probably represent an environment similar to the shallow, outwash
wetland channels carved into the gravels and filled with vegetated sands and muds

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
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located 220km to the north of the site today. These data confirm that early settlement
and mound building at Huaca Prieta was coincident with the long-term development of
an expansive wetland-fringed, estuarine lagoon.
After ~6500 cal BP, the carbonate and muddy lagoon sediments become increasingly rare
in the stratigraphic record and are permanently replaced in the upper 3m by 10cm-thick,
yellowish-brown silt layers. The silt deposits are massively bedded and characteristic of
the modern floodplain, thus reflecting a major environmental transition from open-water
lagoon to emergent riverine floodplain. This conversion began by at least 5000 cal BP
and appears to have been largely complete by ~4500 cal BP as indicated by a complete
lack of carbonate or fossiliferous mud layers after this time. Sediments between the
lagoon deposits and floodplain silts contain regular organic-rich horizons that represent
ephemeral wetlands that existed during the transition. The driving mechanism for this
environmental change requires an increased flux of riverine sediment to the coast, which
infilled the lagoon and developed an expansive subaerial floodplain, which provided
additional cultivable land.

SOL 2. Mound stratigraphy

The stratigraphy of the mound is complex. Certain individual strata within the mound
represent discrete cultural use components and others collectively constitute single
components. Others cease toward one end or both horizontal ends of the mound in such a
fashion that the underlying layers unite to clasp them and hold them within a uniform
mass. Others join up laterally, like fingers extending from the palm of the hand,
signalling contemporaneous strata (Figures 57). Thus, there is little current evidence to
suggest that a single use or construction layer ever completely and evenly developed
across the site, although such surfaces surely once existed. Furthermore, all stratigraphic
components must have been subjected to different rates of deposition, as a result of short-
or long-term use episodes, construction phases and, very infrequently, the deposition of
thin water-borne and wind-borne deposits in the basal levels. It was thus necessary to
clearly distinguish between these types of strata and those that represent physical
boundaries between components. A case in point is a succession of strata that represent

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
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intermittent use episodes with time gaps between episodes. In such cases, the sediments
at the point of juncture between any two components may be a floor, a fill layer or an
architectural wall or room. To isolate discrete use episodes and component assemblages
involved differentiating between fill and primary-deposition units, the latter best defined
by floors and their in situ features and artefact offerings located on floors. Another
important element in the stratigraphic analysis was the common practice of burying the
dead in fills under floors in the mound. Graves served as reliable stratigraphic markers.
Knowing the site was comprised of discrete depositional units, we devised an excavation
strategy to examine and date as many horizontal and vertical components as possible by
conducting deep trenching and horizontal stripping to examine strata, floors and features.
We also carried out extensive off-mound trenching and block excavation to detect
associated domestic areas (Figure S2). Given these stratigraphic characteristics, the
excavation of the site involved a variety of techniques ranging from wall clearing, floor
and use-surface stripping, trenching, block excavation or some other tactic designed to
expose vertical profiles of a wide variety of cultural deposits both on and off the mound.

SOL 3. Observations on the architectural phases

Remnants of the pre-mound occupation and the subsequent early mound layers of Phases
II and III were eventually deeply buried beneath later mound constructions, thus making
it very difficult to expose them during excavation. Birds (Bird et al. 1985: 3543, 518)
excavations were located on the ramp on the east side of the mound (HP-3), on its
western edge (HP-2), and on top of it (HP-3), areas all dating to Phases IV and V. His
excavations never reached the deeper, more interior layers of the mound, which are
located ~34m directly below and behind the foundation stones of the Phase III retention
wall. Thus, Birds excavations in HP-3, the long north to south-trending trench on the
eastern flank of the mound, exposed stratigraphy primarily associated with the ramp
during Phases IV and V, which accounts for all of his radiocarbon dates between ~4500
cal BP and younger. His work in this area also exposed a stone-faced retention wall built
during Phases III and IV, which was later covered by construction of the ramp during
Phase V. Bird (Bird et al. 1985: 401) reports that he terminated excavation in HP-3

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
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when he reached a culturally sterile conglomerate rock layer, but what he exposed was an
artefact-free fill composed of rock and clean sediments, which corresponds to our stratum
35 in this unit (Figure 5). Our excavation below stratum 35 recovered nearly 3m more of
cultural deposits.
Bird (Bird et al. 1985: 436) thought that the Phase III circular sunken pit on the south
side of the mound was a looters hole. However, our excavations have revealed that it is a
sunken plaza defined by a series of stone-faced, stepped platforms and small rooms with
stone walls constructed across a deep, roughly circular, concave-pit measuring ~25m in
diameter. Shell, coca, bird feathers and other offerings, dating from at least ~4000 cal BP,
were recovered from floors of the rooms and platforms of the plaza. The north end of the
plaza ascends through a sinuous pathway to connect to burial chambers located on top of
the mound that date to Phases III, IV and V.
After each use and building episode, the mound was completely capped by a hardened
artificial cement layer composed of saltwater, sediment, ash, crushed shells and other
organic debris. These layers not only sealed the prior floors and fills but also prevented
erosion of the site. Scattered among the floors and rooms are artefacts, extensive burned
areas and deposits of ash and charcoal, articulated and disarticulated human remains, and
ritual offerings. No hearths, post-holes, storage pits, food containers and other indicators
of domestic occupation were recovered from the mound. While Bird (Bird et al. 1985:
438) thought that the small, low-ceiling stone rooms (~1m high and 23m in diameter)
on top of the mound were habitation structures, our excavations indicate they are burial
chambers (cf. Rick 1990) containing articulated human skeletons and dated to Phases III
V. Human burials were recovered from all mound-building phases, suggesting the
structure was closely associated with mortuary rituals. However, the most prevalent
activity associated with the mound is thousands of individual burning episodes within and
across all strata in the site, suggesting it was built by limited groups of people during
numerous ritual and construction episodes over a period of ~3500 years. Also notable is
the absence of domestic debris throughout the mound. Off-mound domestic areas appear
~7000 cal BP just north of the mound (Units 16 & 24), near Paredones and at domestic
sites located several kilometres north in the coastal wetlands (Figure S1).

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
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SOL 4. Subsistence economy

We recovered over 200 000 floral and faunal remains representing more than 360
individual species (Vasquez & Tham 2010), 65 of which correspond with Birds findings
in the 1940s (Bird et al. 1985: 22944). A detailed quantitative report on the specific taxa
far exceeds the space limits here, thus a brief listing of the major species is provided.
Marine species dominate throughout all time periods, with fish and shellfish being the
most abundant and diverse remains. There are 34 shellfish species: Chiton, Fissurella,
Collisella, Tegula, Polinices, Concholepas, Oliva, Cancellaria, Helisoma, Protothaca,
Semele; 5 crustacean species: Cancer, Platyxanthus; 2 echinoderm species: Tetrapygus,
Caenocentrotus; 19 fish species: Galeorhinus, Mustelus, Squatina, Rhinobatos,
Myliobatis, Galeichthys, Engraulins, Ethmidium, Sardinops, Mugil, Trachurus, Sciaena,
Anisotremus, Sarda; 11 bird species: Spheniscus, Diomedea, Charadrius, Larus, Egretta,
Pelecanus thagus, Phalacrocorax, Sula, Zenaida, Podylimbus, Anas, and 8 mammalian
species: Cavia, Canis, Lycalopex, Otaria, Balanidae, Delphinus, Odocoileus, Lama. The
frequency of these species changes throughout time, which probably reflects changes in
the local environment.
Bird also recovered squash, chili pepper, lima bean, jack bean, gourd, cotton and other
cultivars (Bird 1948; Bird et al. 1985: 22940). Results of our macro-botanical study of
floated feature fills and floor sediments, as well as starch grain, phytolith and pollen
analyses, have added several additional species, including Preceramic maize (Zea mays),
coca (Erythroxylum coca), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), chirimoya or guanbana (Annona
sp.), pacae (Inga feuillei), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), yuca (Manihot esculenta),
avocado (Persea sp.), quinoa (Chenopodium sp.), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris & Phaseolus
lunatus), various tubers (Solanum sp.) and other crops. Not yet determined for some
species is whether the morphological features are associated with domesticated forms. All
of these crops are exotic to the littoral zone of the site.
Our combined ecological and dietary evidence indicates that the initial economy of Phase
I (~90007500 cal years ago) depended primarily on fish, shellfish, birds, seaweeds and
sea lions. Squash (Cucurbita sp.), lima bean, and avocado were minor food elements.

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 8

Between ~70006000 cal BP, chili pepper (Capsicum sp.) and gourds (Lagenaria
siceraria) were added. Around 6800 cal BP (Table 1), when the deltaic floodplain began
to form, there is evidence for cotton production. Corn and the other crops were
incorporated in Phases II to V, after ~6500 cal BP. Although increases in plant species
show a continuous greater reliance on cultigens, marine species dominated the diet
throughout all phases.

SOL 5. Off-mound domestic sites

Our research also located 38 Preceramic domestic sites between the shoreline and
backwater wetlands within 100m to 20km of Huaca Prieta (Figure S1). Preliminary
results show that although these sites yield artefacts and food remains similar to those at
Huaca Prieta, they differ significantly by containing domestic hearths, food preparation
areas, middens and residential structures. However, they do not contain the black soot
and ash found at Huaca Prieta. Geological dates and diagnostic artefacts place the
majority of these sites between ~6000 and 4000 cal BP, which roughly corresponds with
Phases IIIV at Huaca Prieta and with an apparent population increase along this sector
of the coast. The mound at Huaca Prieta was built and maintained probably by people
living at these sites, especially Paredones, a large, deeply stratified domestic midden
located ~1km to the north. The mound probably served these people for many
generations as a communal ossuary and as a continuing focus for public events beyond
the household and community levels.
The stretch of the coast north of Huaca Prieta is an area that shared characteristics of
material culture dating between at least 6500 and 500 cal BP and evolved as an integrated
region. Cursory observation of Preceramic sites (n=38) along this stretch shows that low
house mounds consisting of small cobblestone structures, midden refuse and human
burials characterize them. In some locations, the mounds form small hamlets or
communities comprised of several households and an open plaza-like area. One exception
to these sites is Pulpar, a smaller version of Huaca Prieta that is also built on a terrace
remnant and has similar tomb construction and cultural debris, but probably dates to our
Phases IV and V. These communities are located on both the coastal and inland sides of

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 9

the estuarine wetlands, and were probably linked to Huaca Prieta and to late preceramic
domestic sites situated farther inland, on the coastal plains and in the foothills of the
Andes. The larger coastal sites are about 200m in length and defined by several mounded
areas. Smaller sites have one to two house mounds and midden areas. As evidenced by
study of the stratigraphy and artefact content in looter holes and natural drainages, many
sites were continuously occupied from middle Preceramic to Chimu times (~5500700
cal BP).
Particularly significant is the discovery of raised agricultural platforms buried ~1.5m
below the present-day ground surface in ancient wetlands immediately east of Huaca
Prieta and the domestic sites. The fields are radiocarbon dated to ~4800 cal BP, contain
phytoliths of beans, squash and chili pepper, and are probably where crops were grown
by occupants of Paredones and other nearby domestic sites.

References
BIRD, J.B. 1948. Americas oldest farmers. RICK, J. 1990. Review of The Preceramic
Natural History 17: 296303. excavations at Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley,
BIRD, J.B., J. HYSLOP & M.D. SKINNER. 1985. Peru, Anthropological Papers of the American
The Preceramic excavations at the Huaca Prieta, Museum of Natural History, New York, by J.B.
Chicama Valley, Peru (Anthropological papers Bird et al. 1985. American Anthropologist 92:
of the American Museum of Natural History 62: 54344.
1). New York: American Museum of Natural VASQUEZ, V. F. & T.E. THAM. 2010. Resumen
History. Final 2010: Restos de fauna y vegetales de
MCCORMAC, F.G., A.G. HOGG, P.G. Huaca Prieta y Paredones, Valle de Chicama.
BLACKWELL, C.E. BUCK, T.F.G. HIGHAM & P.J. Manuscript housed at Vanderbilt University,
REIMER. 2004. SHCal04 Southern Hemisphere Nashville.
Calibration 011.0 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46:
10871092.

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 10

Figure S1. Photomosaic of cutbank exposures (AC) at the Chicama River mouth (shoreline is 50m left of
A), plus a core section from the underlying stratigraphy (D). Each panel (AC) is contiguous and shown
together in the top panel. The stars mark the location of radiocarbon ages, reported in calendar years BP.
Overall, the stratigraphy here records a late Holocene prograding cobble-and-sand shoreface sequence
(lower B) capped by younger muddy El Nio flood deposits (upper B) that prograde seaward (A). In panel
B the cobble shoreface deposits are truncated by a curvilinear surface that extends over 100
landward (panel C) before transitioning into a thin-sand layer reaching another 100m onto the floodplain,
representing a tsunami that impacted the coast just before the 1940 cal BP radiocarbon age from the
overlying sandy shoreface. The remnant of an earlier tsunami truncation surface is preserved on the right
side of panel B, just up and left of the 2833 cal BP radiocarbon age. Another age of an organic-rich swale
deposit that is capped by the cobbles dates to 2880 cal BP (panel C), confirming the occurrence of this
first, earlier tsunami. The point of maximum shoreline transgression is recorded where shoreface cobbles
onlap backdune sediments dated to 3740 cal BP (panel C), roughly the same age as a 3847 cal BP-dated
human occupational horizon around 25m away. Underlying the exposed shoreface and floodplain
sequence are a series of carbonate-rich coastal lagoon deposits dating from ~65007500 cal BP (panel D).
These well-bedded sediments include alternating layers of carbonate, organic-rich sediments, and blue
mud that each represents changing fluvial sediment inputs and water levels during time of deposition. The
carbonates suggest deeper clear water, with the organic deposits indicating shoaling water with emergent
vegetation, and the blue muds reflecting river sediment discharge into the lagoon.

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 11

Figure S2. Topographic contour map of Huaca Prieta and Paredones, showing all excavation and
geophysical units and the position of the Pacific Ocean and the ancient lagoon to the sites. This stretch of
the coast north of Huaca Prieta is an area that shared characteristics of material culture dating between at
least 6500 and 500 cal BP and evolved as an integrated region. Cursory observation of Preceramic sites
(n=38) along this stretch shows that sites are characterized by low house mounds consisting of small
cobblestone structures, midden refuse and human burials. In some locations, the mounds form small

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
 12

hamlets or communities comprised of several households and an open plaza-like area. One exception to
these sites is Pulpar, a smaller version of Huaca Prieta that is also built on a terrace remnant and has
similar tomb construction and cultural debris, but probably dates to our Phases IV and V. These
communities are located on both the coastal and inland sides of the estuarine wetlands, and were probably
linked to Huaca Prieta and to domestic sites situated farther inland on the coast plains and in the foothills
of the Andes. The larger coastal sites are about 200 m in length and defined by several mounded areas.
Smaller sites have one to two house mounds and midden areas. As evidenced by study of the stratigraphy
and artefact content in looter holes and natural drainages, many sites were continuously occupied from
middle Preceramic to Chimu times (~5500700 cal BP).

Dillehay, T.D. et al. 2012. Chronology, mound-building and environment at Huaca Prieta, coastal Peru, from 13 700 to 4000 years
ago. Antiquity 86: 4870.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.