Maritime Communities In Ancient Peru

The archaeology of the Late Preceramic (3500–1800 b.c.) and Initial Periods (1800–800 b.c.) on the north coast of Peru is focused on monumental ceremonial buildings and little attention has been paid to small residential settlements. Here, I introduce the excavations carried out at Gramalote, a fishing settlement that was interpreted as a specialized producer of seafood with a narrow range of non-subsistence activities. Current data support a broader view of fishing communities during the second millennium b.c. in northern Peru. In this view, the discovery of a ceremonial facility at the Gramalote site opens a discussion about the role of community-level ceremonies and how these local practices are related to those at religious monumental centers of the same period.

Excavations conducted at Pampas Gramalote, an early Initial Period fishing village located in the Moche valley, have focused on the social dynamics of the site and on ritual activities performed by its inhabitants. Human burials and a number of caches, mostly composed of local shells, sea lion and shark bones, were found along with domestic structures. This evidence suggests that marine resources in formative Andean cultures had an importance beyond subsistence. Sea products appear to have had a crucial role in early local cosmology and religion. These early beliefs might have been bases for later maritime-oriented Moche and Chimu ideologies.