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

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.11.026Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Presentation of pollen and phytolith analysis from Late Preceramic El Paraíso

  • Radiocarbon dating of an El Niño Southern Oscillation period

  • Identification of ENSO-related lomas and marshland plant florescence

  • Identification of seasonal tropical plant growth

Abstract

The transition from the Middle Preceramic (8000–4500 cal BP) to the Late Preceramic Period (4450–3800 cal BP) in coastal Perú witnessed a dramatic change in both resource management and subsistence practices: lomas environments were abandoned in favor of riparian and littoral ecozones, while hunting and gathering was increasingly replaced by agriculture. The reason behind this transition remains a subject of debate; it has been attributed to population pressure, the development of domesticates, especially maize, environmental degradation or climate change. A recent regional study (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015) supports the 1960s Edward Lanning hypothesis that a combination of environmental and climate change forced Middle Preceramic occupants to move toward the river estuaries on the South Coast. Here, microbotanical data from the Late Preceramic site of El Paraíso on the Central Coast of Peru tests the Lanning hypothesis at the site-scale. The data demonstrate that inhabitants practiced a seasonal, Broad-Spectrum strategy by taking advantage of an ENSO-related florescence. Meanwhile, a trend toward increased salinity of nearby marshlands impacted the continued occupation of the site.

Introduction

In the 1960s through the mid-1980s, several competing hypotheses set out to address subsistence and its relationship to the origins of socio-political complexity in Peru. V. Gordon Childe's (Childe, 1950) Neolithic Revolution held that the domestication of staple grain crops in Mesopotamia catalyzed a fundamental change toward complex agricultural societies. In the Andes, the apparent absence of such crops, specifically maize (Zea mays), at the moment of emergence of such hallmarks as monumental architecture, and hierarchical organization, led to alternate explanations for the economic base of complexity. In response, though yet not evident in the archaeological record, maize was argued to have played a critical role (Cohen, 1975, Moseley, 1972, Raymond, 1981, Wilson, 1981). Michael Moseley's Maritime Hypothesis (1975) posited that the rich marine resources of the Peruvian coast provided sufficient caloric surplus to allow for the development of complex society; the increased need for cotton fish nets would encourage agricultural practices leading to a shift inland and, eventually, to irrigation agriculture (Moseley, 1975; see also Beresford-Jones et al., 2017). The overwhelming presence of malacological and fish remains at preceramic sites lent credence to this claim, though not without critique (Osborn, 1977, Raymond, 1981, Wilson, 1981). Meanwhile, others argued that there was little evidence for a linear evolution from fishing to agriculture: the Pozorskis proposed that the site of Las Haldas represented a fishing community that never adopted agriculture or moved inland, instead relying on a network of exchange for fresh water and cultigens (Pozorski and Pozorski, 2006). Recent work by Grobman et al. (2012) on the Preceramic occupations at Huaca Prieta and Paredones has pushed back the dates for early maize in the region to at least 4821–4527 cal BP through directly AMS-dated charred corn cobs (see 2012: Table 1); however the authors acknowledge that the crop was not a major food source before 4500–4200 cal BP (1759).

Early research on the Central Coast by Edward Lanning, 1963, Lanning, 1967 and Frederic Engel, 1967, Engel, 1973, and specifically, at El Paraíso (Quilter, 1985, Quilter et al., 1991, Quilter and Stocker, 1983, Narváez, 2016) support a Broad Spectrum approach (Flannery, 1969, Zeder, 2012) to preceramic subsistence, with evidence for a variety of both domesticated and wild plants, fauna, and shell remains extracted from multiple ecological niches (see Beresford-Jones et al., 2015, Quilter and Stocker, 1983; Quilter and Stocker 1991). The well-recorded macrobotanical presence of domesticated cultigens alongside gathered wild flora in archaeological contexts at El Paraíso point to a Broad Spectrum strategy that includes some, though probably limited, agriculture.

Through the 1980s, many of these studies relied exclusively on macrobotanical identification of plant remains. Recent research in the on the North Coast (Piperno and Dillehay, 2008), Norte Chico region (Haas et al., 2013), in the upper Chillón Valley (Duncan, 2010, Duncan et al., 2009), Lurin Valley (Tykot et al., 2006), the southern Andes (Perry et al., 2006), and in later periods on the South Coast (Beresford-Jones et al., 2009), demonstrate the importance of complementary microbotanical evidence.

This paper provides microbotanical-based environmental reconstruction of the area around the Late Preceramic Site of El Paraíso (Fig. 1). Fourteen (14) sediment samples, originally collected by Jeffrey Quilter and the Proyecto Bajo Valle del Chillón in 1983, were processed and analyzed for phytolith and pollen remains. Concentrations did not warrant abundance-data analysis, therefore, presence-absence data are presented here (Fig. 3). These data are combined with two new radiocarbon dates to provide 1) the identification of a previously unknown ENSO-related lomas and marshland florescence; 2) evidence of seasonal plant management; and 3) an overall trend toward increasingly saline or brackish wetlands.

The coastal desert of Peru features two sources of surface water: glacial or rain-fed rivers and streams and coastal fogs, which feed ‘fog oases’ known as lomas (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015:198; Péfaur, 1982). During winter months (May to October), a stratus inversion layer is blown inland by trade winds and meets the steep flanks of the Andean foothills where it begins to cool and condense. The layer forms a fog, known locally as garúa, which supports fog-drip vegetation communities. Today, lomas typically occur between 600 and 1000 masl, though they can extend to below 300 masl. Lomas cluster between 8 and 30 ° S in Peru and Chile, in areas where steep coastal hills occur in close proximity to the coastline (Péfaur, 1982, Weberbauer, 1945[1911]). David Beresford-Jones et al. (2015) observed that Middle Preceramic sites on the South Coast often are located along watercourses that originated in lomas; moreover, evidence of water flows in the lomas themselves has been recorded (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015, Fontugne et al., 1999). Lomas support a variety of both flora and fauna,1 and the extenuating effects on their immediate environment, such the availability of fresh water, made them potential loci for experimentation with agriculture in prehistory.

Up to 1400 plant species have been identified in the lomas of Peru and Chile from 108 different families (Dillon, 2005:135), and approximately 40% of these are endemic, indicating a long history of isolated evolution (Rundel et al., 1991:1). Beresford-Jones et al. (2015) estimates that 40% of lomas plant species are perennial and feature starchy root systems or tubers (198). Lomas plant communities include potential food sources including varieties of Solanaceae (wild potato and tomato) and Carica candicans (wild papaya), but also fiber (Tillandsia), and medicinal products (Ephedra sp., Plantago). Plants tend to cluster in altitudinal belts, with the majority of herbs located along lower terraces (300–600 masl), and large shrubs or trees occurring as altitude increases (600–900 masl). Dillon et al. (2011) list the plant families with the highest diversity at the generic or species level occurring in the Peruvian lomas (2011: Table 1)(Table 1):

Several other families are commonly found in Peruvian lomas: Begonaceae (Begonia), Cucurbitaceae (Cyclanthera), Euphorbiaceae (Euphorbia), Lamiaceae, Polygalaceae (Monnina), and Salicaceae (Salix humboldtiana), (see Péfaur, 1982, Rundel et al., 1991).

Several species are particularly sensitive proxies for lomas water availability including the genus Tillandsia (Dillon, 2005:132–135). According to Rundel and Dillon (1998), “nowhere in the world is the biomass of epiphytic Bromeliaceae greater than in these [Peruvian] desert habitats” (263). Tillandsia are epiphytic plants, having almost no root system and therefore capable of fixing on unstable surfaces such as sand dunes. Tillandsia is so ubiquitous in these belts during the summer and into the austral winter months that the plant communities are referred to as “tillandsiales” (Dillon, 2005, Dillon et al., 2011, Oka and Ogawa, 1984, Rundel et al., 1991, Rundel and Dillon, 1998). Tillansidoideae diversity and dominance in the coastal lomas areas suggest a deep evolutionary history in these environments (Rundel and Dillon, 1998). Many Tillandsia are slow-growing and extremely tolerant of dry periods, therefore their presence is not necessarily indicative of events such as short-term droughts. In general, however, the presence of tillandsia is a reliable indicator of dry, sandy conditions around herbaceaoous lomas belts, and its relative density over time may point to the expansion or contraction of lomas communities.

The Solanaceae, in particular Nolana and Solanum also demonstrate remarkable antiquity in lomas formations, with approximately 90 of the 128 species identified as endemic to these communities (Dillon, 2005:135). However, unlike Tillandsia, this family requires significantly more moisture for plant growth. El Niño conditions create the rare opportunity for excess moisture on the coast. El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO describes a climatic phenomenon that involves perturbations in normal sea surface temperatures and winds over the Pacific Ocean. ENSO has two extreme phases: El Niño, which results in heavy rains on the Peruvian coast and La Niña, which reduces precipitation on the coast. Dillon (2005) reported the affects of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on both Tillandsia and Solanaceae, and determined that Solanaceae, specifically Nolana and Exodeconus maritimus, increased during ENSO years and diminished after water availability returned to normal conditions, while Tillandsia persisted through non-ENSO years (132). In fact, Dillon observed the cultivation of Solanum tuberosum in lomas during ENSO years, suggesting that the species' presence in these formations may be attributed to human activity (2005: 141).

The presence, extent and make-up of lomas formations depend on two variables: altitude and precipitation (see Péfaur, 1982); however, these variables have not held constant through time. Both short-term events, such as ENSO, and long-term change, such as eustatic sea level stabilization, have had significant and varied impacts on lomas formations. For example, Beresford-Jones et al. (2015), Dillon et al. (2011) and Manrique et al. (2010), have observed that ENSO has an overall positive effect on the extension, density (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015, Muenchow et al., 2013) and diversity (Dillon, 2005, Muenchow et al., 2013) of lomas plant species.

During ENSO cycles, lomas communities expand and rare species often appear from dormant seeds due to the abundance of water (Cano et al., 1999, Dillon et al., 2011, Manrique et al., 2010, Muenchow et al., 2013). Moreover, there is a higher degree of plant diversity and abundance, overall, with the Solanaceae, Asteraceae, and Brassicaceae families exhibiting the greatest species diversity (see Cano et al., 1999: 131; Dillon and Rundel, 1990, Muenchow et al., 2013). ENSO bolsters lomas plant communities and the history of their geographic distribution and endemic plant life is likely closely tied to the history of ENSO frequency.

ENSO frequency has varied over time. Studies drawing from sedimentary lake and marine cores (Moy et al., 2002, Rein, 2007, Rein et al., 2005, Rodbell et al., 1999), isotopic analysis of marine shell (Carré et al., 2005, Carré et al., 2014), foramnifera (Koutavas and Joanides, 2012) and corals (Cobb et al., 2013, Cobb et al., 2003), geological (Wells, 1987, Wells, 1990) and malacological (DeVries et al., 1997, DeVries, 1990, Sandweiss, 1996, Sandweiss et al., 1996, Sandweiss et al., 2001) data point to two major transitions in Holocene ENSO activity.2 It is generally accepted that ENSO activity on the Central and North Coasts (Lurín to Chira Valleys) was suppressed between 6000 and 3000 cal BP, followed by increasing frequency, peaking at 3200 cal BP and then reaching modern conditions by 3000 cal BP (for summaries see Carré et al., 2014, Sandweiss et al., 2007). Several El Niño events have been identified archaeologically for this period. At the site of Caballo Muerto in the north coast Moche Valley, Nesbitt, 2016 dates a flood-laminate layer to 3550–3400 cal BP (647), while in the Casma Valley at Huerequeque, Pozorski et al., 2016 find evidence for a major flood around the time of site abandonment circa 3350 cal BP (444). Finally, the present study produces a date of 3725-3577 cal BP for an ENSO-related plant florescence–at the site of El Paraíso. Sandweiss et al. (2001) suggest a correlation between monumental-site abandonment on the coast and the frequency of ENSO around this time, however the authors stop short of arguing causation. The relationship between human settlement and ENSO is not straightforward; however, the effects of ENSO on the local ecology, as discussed above, likely influenced site location and subsistence practices.

Sea level affects where lomas formations occur on the landscape. Today, approximately one third of lomas species are found between 600 and 900 masl, while the greatest increase in inter-seasonal plant variety occurs at 300 masl (PéFaur 1982:167–168). Lower sea levels (~ 35 m) during the Early Preceramic (10,000–8000 cal BP) would have resulted in lomas communities located closer to the modern-day coastline (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015, Dillon et al., 2011, Fairbanks, 1989, Richardson, 1998, Sandweiss et al., 2009). Eustatic sea levels stabilized between 7000 and 5800 cal BP, during which time early beaches were inundated (Wells and Noller, 1999). Lomas vegetation migrated upslope, likely resulting in the displacement of many Middle PreCeramic (8000–4500 cal BP) settlements (cf Lanning, 1963). Today's beaches are the result of progradation that began after 5000 cal BP, when eustatic sea level reached modern levels (Wells, 1996:14; Wells and Noller, 1999:775, 763).

Lomas were also vulnerable to human impact. Excavations at the Middle Preceramic site of Paloma demonstrate a marked decrease in mass of woody species at the site over time, indicating over-exploitation of nearby plant communities (Benfer, 1986, Weir and Dering, 1986). Dillon et al., 2011 support this hypothesis by arguing that woody lomas species (Caesalpinia spinosa, Carica candicans) were likely felled for firewood or animal grazing (10). Indeed, the abandonment of Middle Preceramic sites located in lomas formations may have been related to anthropogenic degradation. Archaeologists Edward P·Lanning, 1963, Lanning, 1967 and Frederic Engel (1973) argued that a combination of all three factors, anthropogenic, sea level and ENSO change, contributed to the abandonment of lomas environments at the end of the Middle Preceramic in favor of overlapping ecological niches and riparian environments by the end of the Late Preceramic.

Lanning (1963) first made the prescient assertion that the abandonment of lomas formations by early farmers was due to climate change, specifically a shift shoreward of the cold Humboldt Current. The movement of colder air masses over the coast would have caused the fog belt to lift and lomas formations to migrate to higher elevations (300–900 masl). Both Lanning (1963:271) and Engel (1973:360) observed that the majority of pre-agricultural sites were located in ‘extinct’ or ‘fossil’ lomas, visible thanks to preserved rootlets and snail shells, which occurred a mere 75 masl. Artifacts collected in these extinct lomas included grinding stones, milling stones, pestles and mortars, projectile points and scrapers, indicating a mixed economy of hunting, seed processing and gathering. Both Lanning and Engel pointed to the presence of cotton, beans, and later, maize, as indicators of early experiments with agriculture within lomas formations; these early experiments overlapped with a shift toward farming and fishing activities located at a distance from the lomas. Patterson and Lanning's (1964) work on settlement history in the Ancón area and greater Chillón Valley points to a large-scale movement from lomas winter camps to near-shore ‘villages’ around 4000–3200 cal BP (114). Ultimately, both Lanning, 1963, Lanning, 1967 and Engel (1973) attributed large-scale abandonment of the lomas first, to climate-related changes, including the upward migration of lomas communities and extended dry seasons, but also to increased sedentism related to farming practices, and an increasingly mixed economy reliant on riparian and marine resources. Their hypotheses have held up against the archaeological record in the Nazca and Ica region of the South Coast (Beresford-Jones et al., 2015). Lanning, Engel, and Beresford Jones et al.'s work demonstrates that lomas reached their greatest extent and their lowest altitudes during the Middle Preceramic Period and their retreat was likely in full swing during the Late Preceramic Period. Here, we test site-scale microbotanical data against this hypothesis, in an effort to trace the human-environment dynamics at the end of the Late Preceramic Period.

El Paraíso is a complex of several large stone buildings located 2 km from the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Chillón River (Fig. 1). It is one of many sites of the Late Preceramic Period on the Central Coast, such as Caral (4600–3900 cal BP), that held religious ceremonies and supported large numbers of people both as residents or possibly pilgrims (Solis et al., 2001:725). Although these sites have been cited as examples of early “complexity” (Haas et al., 2004, Solis, 2006, Burger and Salazar-Burger, 1991), they nevertheless also exhibit signs of relatively simple social and economic systems.

The 16-radiocarbon samples collected in 1983 and analyzed shortly after produced a date range of site occupation between 4500 and 2800 cal BP (Quilter, 1985). Such dates are late for the Late Preceramic Period, possibly due to the limited excavations that took place in Quilter's investigations. It is likely that the site has older components perhaps in deeper deposits that remain to be recovered. In addition, we have dated two charred seeds, samples JQ02 and JQ10, recovered from the soil samples of the present study that confirm a late date range for Unit I Pit 2 (Table 3).

While the area around El Paraíso is under cultivation and urban sprawl today, A. Weberbauer recorded the plant communities in the area in 1910 noting the species in the coastal areas of the Lurín to Chillón Valleys (1945[1911]). Weberbauer notes lomas communities and tillandsiales to the north near Ancón, west in the Islas San Lorenzo and south of Chillón near the Río Rimac. He states that while traveling to Ancón from Chillón he observed lomas on either side of the Panamerican Highway beginning around 250 masl to 460 masl (Weberbauer (1945[1911]:258–259). However, as of 1910, Weberbauer did not report the presence of lomas, tillandsiales, or wetlands in the immediate surroundings of the El Paraíso site or the Oquendo Hills. Meanwhile, archaeological excavations by Proyecto Valle Chillón Bajo 1983 recovered macrobotanical remains that suggested Preceramic reliance on all three of these ecological areas, suggesting significant environmental transformations have taken place since that Period (Quilter, 1991).

Quilter (1985) and his team set out to establish a basic chronology and investigate the nature of subsistence at El Paraíso. Frederic Engel (1967) first excavated the site in 1965 and carried out extensive renovation of a central four-tiered structure known as Unit I, a relatively small but important structure within the site complex. Quilter expanded research into El Paraíso subsistence by targeting middens identified throughout the site.

The midden excavations suggested a diet that relied on bony fish, mollusks and limited deer and camelid, complemented by a variety of plant resources (Quilter, 1985, Quilter et al., 1991). The macrobotanical remains consisted of domesticates, including gourds (Lageneria siceraria), squash (Cucurbita ficifolia, C. maxima, C moschata), chili pepper (Capsicum sp.), and cotton (Gossypium barbadense); cultigens such as achira (Canna edulis), jicama (Pachyrrhizus tuberosus), and beans (Phaseoulus vulgaris, P. lunatus); and managed plants, such as guava (Psidium guajava), lucuma (Lucuma bifera), and pacae (Inga feuillei) (Quilter et al., 1991). Wild plants, likely gathered nearby, made up a significant component of the record as well. These included grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae), cattails (Typha), groundcherry (Physalis sp.), and Solanum spp. (1991:280). Conspicuously absent from the macrobotanical record are other known domesticates from this time period, namely maize (Zea mays).

Rather than dependence on either early domesticates or high protein marine resources, evidence from El Paraíso suggests its occupants exploited a variety of resources with a mixed economy following a Broad Spectrum (Flannery, 1969), or Low Level Food Production strategy (Smith, 2001). It included shellfish and bony fish, wild fauna and plants, domesticated plants, and even managed tree stands (Quilter and Stocker, 1983:554; Quilter, 1991:397). Macrobotanical data has convincingly addressed questions surrounding subsistence, however, little is known about how occupants at the site experienced seasonality, ENSO events, or environmental change. Here, we return to Quilter's 1983 excavation of Pit 2 in Unit I to address these questions through the analysis of microbotanical remains.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The data presented here are derived from fourteen (14) soil samples collected from eight (8) stratigraphic layers of the excavation profile of Pit 2 in Unit I. Pit 2 measured 80 × 80 cm and was placed in a NE corner room of Unit I, one that was not subject to Engel's restorations (Quilter, 1985). The stratigraphy consisted of burned midden layers occasionally sealed with floors (Fig. 2). Each sample was divided for phytolith and pollen analysis, and processed following guidelines published by

Results

The pollen and phytolith records presented here point to three central postulates: first, an important plant florescence occurred around 3700–3600 cal BP (see Table 2, Table 3); second, rare, moisture-dependent plants indicate seasonal subsistence strategies, and third, in later levels, lomas and marshland contract, become increasingly saline, and these plants communities are largely replaced by important cultigens and disturbed-soil-preferring species (Fig. 3).

Due to an overall low concentration

Future research

The results from our analysis express a high degree of concordance between phytolith, pollen and macrofossil records from El Paraíso. One important exception is related to the issue of maize. No macrofossil remains were recovered from the site in the course of the 1983 Project. The current archaeological project being carried by José Joaquín Narváez Luna and the Ministry of Culture have recovered multiple macro-botanical remains, including several corn cobs, from excavation in a sector of the

Conclusions

Archaeological contexts are often imperfect samples for uninterrupted environmental reconstruction but they do provide a rare window into human-plant dynamics within a specific space and time scale. The samples extracted from Quilter's 1983 Unit I Pit 2 excavation speak to three central elements of the Late Preceramic Chillón environment. First, the site of El Paraíso was located near marshlands, as aquatic and wetland species are numerous in early layers of the site. Lomas, the fog-drip

Acknowledgements

We like to thank the many individuals and their institutions that provided support for this research, including the National Science Foundation, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and the National Science Foundation. Special thanks to John Yellen and Anna Kerttula de Echave, Daniel H. Sandweiss, José Joaquín Narváez Luna and

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