Early New World Monumentality

13. Preceramic and Initial Period Monumentality within the Casma Valley of Peru

13 Preceramic and Initial Period Monumentality within the Casma Valley of Peru Thomas Pozorski and Shelia Pozorski Some 20 years ago, Trigger published his ideas about how monumental architecture and other examples of conspicuous consumption represented universally understood expressions of power (Trigger 1990). At that time, he was also expressing a universally assumed feature of the study of complex societies. In their introductory chapter, Rosenswig and Burger (this volume) discuss this more fully and point out that such assumptions can result in circular arguments if we assume a priori that big mounds necessarily reflect the presence of an elite individual or group. They call for independent evidence of the existence of a political hierarchy and its associated societal features. While we believe that due credit should be given to Trigger and Renfrew (1973) because they stimulated research and theoretical dialogue about complex societies, we also believe that a major potential theoretical contribution of this volume is its effort to better document the existence and nature of complex societies by questioning the assumption that monumental construction necessarily reflects political power and social hierarchy. The archaeology of the early sites in the Casma Valley on the north coast of Peru can contribute much to the debate concerning the nature of early complex societies. The Casma Valley on the north coast of Peru saw its grandest development when the Sechín Alto polity existed there during the middle of the Initial Period (1800–1400 bc). At this time, both branches of the valley contained large planned cities composed of multiple mounds, substantial intermediate-sized architecture, and residential structures (Pozorski and Pozorski 1986, 1987, 1992, 2005, 2008). Paramount among this early architecture is the main mound at the Sechín Alto site, which was the largest Preceramic and Initial Period Monumentality within the Casma Valley of Peru · 365 structure in the entire New World at this time (Pozorski and Pozorski 2002a, 2005). While inland sites were predicated on irrigation agriculture, animal protein was largely supplied by coastal satellite sites with ready access to marine resources (Pozorski and Pozorski 1987). This Initial Period florescence does not represent the first substantial prehistoric cultural development within the Casma Valley area. Sizeable Late Preceramic (3000–2100 bc) coastal settlements were documented there as early as the 1950s (Bischof 1995; Engel 1957a, 1957b; Fuchs 1997; Lanning 1967; Moseley 2001; Pozorski and Pozorski 2006), and there is tantalizing recent evidence of complementary inland Preceramic sites (Bischof 1995; Vallejos 2008; Fuchs 1997; Whalen 2008). This chapter is based on results of our archaeological fieldwork in the Casma Valley between 1980 and 2002 (Pozorski and Pozorski 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994a, 1994b, 1996, 1998, 1999a, 2000; T. Pozorski and S. Pozorski 1990). It traces the development of early monumentality within the Casma Valley by examining its Preceramic roots and by exploring the Initial Period florescence. Data on construction volume and techniques, labor estimates, site planning, and subsistence are critical to this reconstruction of early Casma Valley prehistory. Preceramic Antecedents Fieldwork since 1996 in the Supe Valley at the central coast site of Caral and more generally within the Huaura to Fortaleza valleys (an area known as the Norte Chico region) has revealed that coastal Peru is one of few areas of the world where civilization arose independently—with no evidence of outside influence (Haas and Creamer 2004, 2006; Haas, Creamer, and Ruiz 2004, 2005; Ruiz, Creamer, and Haas 2007; Shady 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007a, 2007b; Vega Centeno et al. 1998). By 3000 bc complex societies there were constructing sizeable planned sites characterized by clusters of mounds and supported by a subsistence exchange system involving both irrigation agriculture and marine resources. Excavation data available to date document important similarities among these early centers. Most notably , at inland sites individual mounds are internally symmetrical and are characterized by a central staircase, adjoining plazas that are also symmetrical , circular plazas that tend to be freestanding, principal mounds that exhibit multiple small construction phases; and some evidence of overall site planning but not precise site-level symmetry. Complementing the inland sites are complex sites such as Áspero (Shady and Cáceda 2008) and Bandurria (Chu 2008) that comprised the coastal components of the system. 366 · Thomas Pozorski and Shelia Pozorski Interpretations of the central coast data differ. Shady describes Caral as the center of an integrated statelike polity that governed the Norte Chico region (Shady 2000, 2006). Leading up to this complexity, relatively...