Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Alto Salaverry: a Peruvian coastal Preceramic site

1979; Volume: 48; Linguagem: Inglês

10.5962/p.330855

1943-6300

Thomas Pozorski, Shelia Pozorski,

Archaeological and Geological Studies

Alto Salaverry is one of two known Cotton Preceramic (2,500-1,800 B.C.) sites on the coast of the Moche Valley, Peru.The site consists of both domestic and nondomestic architecture, burials, and dense concentrations of refuse.Each of these site components was studied in detail, resulting in much information about all features of the sitejt The I architecture is highly variable and provides functional information as well as evidence i of an incipient ranked society.Burial patterns are examined on the basis of interments i both within and outside the confines of the site.Subsistence remains point to a predom-' inantly marine economy supplemented by a great variety of plants.Annals of Carnegie Museum VOL.48 personal communication).About 400 m in front of the site and toward the ocean, this terrace drops off sharply to a point where the land is only about 4 to 6 m above sea level.Ongoing investigations within the Moche Valley have revealed that the formation of much of the land between Alto Salaverry and the ocean was a relatively recent phenomenon resulting from generalized coastal uplift correlated with tectonic activity.When uplift occurred, the existing beach line was raised 4 to 6 m higher and substantial areas of previously submerged land were no longer covered by water.On the basis of the archaeological record, it appears that the major documented time of tectonic activity was near the beginning of the Moche portion of the Early Intermediate Period (A.D. 0-200).This chronological placement is based on two lines of evidence-settlement pattern data and subsistence changes.Survey by members of the Chan ChamMoche Valley Project within the Moche Valley revealed that all sites of a Salinar date or earlier, including both early ceramic and Cotton Preceramic examples, are located back from the modern beach