El Paraíso, Peru

The occupation period for El Paraíso was relatively short, lasting approximately 300 to 400 years, from 3790 cal BP to 3,065 cal BP (calibrated radiocarbon years before present).[3] While it is generally accepted as a Preceramic site by most archaeologists, the occupation appears to have continued into the early Initial Period.[4]

Also known as the Cotton Preceramic (a term coined by Fréderic Engel in 1957) site, the Preceramic designation is disputed by some researchers, especially Pozorski and Pozorski, who argue that it actually was occupied primarily in the early Initial Period, by which time many areas had ceramics. Since it is not associated with ceramics during its main occupation sequence, they consider El Paraíso to be an example of an "aceramic" site instead.[5]

The purpose for the centre is unclear. The lack of substantial midden deposits in recognized dump areas, designated burial areas or cemeteries, and thick wall construction consisting of stone quarried in local hills, suggests that it was not a residential or domestic complex.[6] Evidence instead promotes the contention that El Paraíso was either an economic or religious centre, and possibly both. As well, it may also have been a centralized hub for control and development of cotton rather than food production.[7]

Archaeological findings suggest a possible connection to the Kotosh Religious Tradition of the Central Highlands (es:Cordillera Central (Perú)).[8]

The site is notable for having a U-shape creating a 7 ha plaza; this layout resembles many nearby sites located in the Chillón-Rimac-Lurin Valleys from the later Ceramic Period, and therefore El Paraíso maybe a possible precursor to later architectural developments.[9]

Stanish suggests that the social organization required to build El Paraíso represents what is known as a chiefdom level society, with no central polity but a series of autonomous settlements and regions that allowed for the collaboration of regional groups.[10]

Unlike Aspero and Caral, which were part of a developed socio-economic interaction region (known as Norte Chico civilization) during the Late Preceramic, El Paraiso was part of a group of regionally isolated centers that developed along various parts of the Peruvian coast.[11] Moseley considers it a major supporter of his Maritime Foundations Theory which argues that a heavy reliance on rich marine resources were instrumental in the early establishment of social complexity in the region.[12]

As the name implies, the Preceramic period in the Andes is marked by the absence of ceramic material. This was a period of general growing social complexity along the Peruvian coast, which saw the introduction and increase in centers with monumental architecture, including indications for increasing trade and greater regional interactions, both up and down the coast, and between groups in low and high elevations.[11] Population estimates range from between 1500 and 3000 people.[12]

El Paraíso does not appear to have suffered any catastrophic final event, but shows evidence of gradual and relatively rapid abandonment in the early Initial Period; there is no indication for the cause for its decline and there is no evidence for a reoccupation phase.[3]

El Paraiso

• 1950s

Louis Stumer completes survey work in the Chillón Valley; names the site Chuquitanta, after a nearby hacienda

• 1964

Thomas C. Patterson and Edward P. Lanning first publish on the site, noting it as Preceramic[13]

• 1965

Fréderick Engel conducts test excavations on Units I- VII; maps the site; restores the most southerly building, Unit I which also is the primary focus of his excavation work Renames the site El Paraíso, which becomes the official name and is used by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. Confirms the site as Preceramic, based on textile remnants and lack of ceramics

• 1968

Thomas C. Patterson and Michael E. Moseley identify the existence of between nine and thirteen buildings

• 1982

Jeffrey Quilter begins the first of several field-seasons of a multi-disciplinary study, El Proyecto Bajo Valle del Chillón

• 1983

Jeffrey Quilter concentrates the project efforts on El Paraíso for the purpose of establishing a chronology, and establishing a better understanding of the architecture and subsistence economy of the site

The importance of El Paraíso as the "largest and earliest example of monumental architecture in the New World", has not resulted in a significant amount of archaeological investigation.[3] The first mention of the site was in the 1950s when Louis Stumer surveyed the Chillón valley and includes it in his report.[3] He initially named it Chuquitanta, after a local hacienda, however this name was later changed to El Paraíso by Fréderick Engel.

Early work suggested to excavators that the site was Preceramic, a fact that was later confirmed by radio carbon dating done by Jeffrey Quilter, who placed it in the latter part of the Preceramic.[3]

There have been two independent excavation projects. The first excavations were done in the early and mid-1960s by Engel. This was followed up in the early to mid-1980s by Quilter, who headed a multi-year, multi-discipline orientated research project in the lower Chillon valley, El Proyecto Bajo Valle del Chillón. After a more regional focus in the first year, he concentrated subsequent efforts on El Paraíso itself.[3]

There has been some uncertainty over the number of buildings on the site, primarily due to recent surface disturbance. For example, Unit VI appears to have been transected by a tractor since the 1960s when Patterson first reported it as a complete structure.[3] In 1983, a surface survey determined that there were eleven buildings in total, seven of which were still free standing structures; though archaeologists are uncertain if more buildings once stood on the site.[3]

Approximately two kilometers inland on the Rio Chillón flood plain, El Paraiso is surrounded by over 90 hectares of arable land and 150 hectares of lowlands capable of sustaining irrigation supported agriculture.[12]

It is just one of the six Preceramic sites in the Ancón-Chillón Valley, which also include the site of Pampa de los Perros, and Buena Vista.[18]

Ancon (archaeological site) is another important site in the area.

El Paraiso is located just north of the other Preceramic and Ceramic sites, such as La Florida, which is situated in the nearby Rimac and Lurin valley river systems.[19]

Site plan

Architecture has been the subject of considerable focus at El Paraíso. In 1965, Engle identified seven major structures and designated them Units I-VII. This naming convention was continued by Quilter's research team when five more structures were identified in the 1983 survey of the site.[3] Unfortunately for archaeologists, modern machinery, roads, and irrigation canals have disturbed the ground in the immediate vicinity of the features, especially in the western half of the site.[3] Because of this, the exact nature of the relationship between Units III and IX is unknown; additionally, Quilter has speculated that Unit III, a structure identified as a rubble pile, may in fact be two structures that have collapsed on themselves.[3] In the eastern part of the site, a brick storage yard has been constructed on the remains of Unit VI, one of the two largest structures at the site; preliminary investigation suggests that the structure once extended under the brick yard.

Huaca El Paraíso

Comparing the general layout of the site to other pre-ceramic sites in the region, such as Aspero and Rio Seco, reveals some interesting dissimilarities. Those sites are organized in a typical "U-shape," with monumental structures forming the sides and bottom of the "U". The structure at that bottom of the "U" is the largest in area and height, and creates a focus for the site at one end. At El Paraíso, the structure at the bottom of the "U" is neither the largest nor tallest. Instead the structures forming the sides of the U are larger than those at the bottom of the "U," and are roughly the same in height and length.[3]

The geographic position of El Paraíso is also different from the other Preceramic period Peruvian sites. Those sites are situated overlooking the largest fields in the area, and with a view of the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, the view of the ocean at El Paraíso is blocked by hills, and the site does not over look the largest adjacent fields. Coprolites from El Paraíso indicate a higher riverine component to the diet at the site; the positioning of the site farther from the ocean, and with no view shed coupled with the dietary data may suggest an inland focus at this site but this hypothesis is untested.[23]

Maritime-adapted hunter-gatherers are people who have learned to harvest the resources of the sea and for whom marine foods make up the majority of their diets.[29] In the material left by ancient people, archaeologists look for the kinds of food people were eating as well as the tools that they used to collect and process that food.[30] In cultural deposits, if the remains of fish, shellfish, marine mammals and seabirds make up a majority of the faunal assemblage, and tools used to fish, hunt marine mammals and seabirds are found in the same context, the people would be considered to be maritime-adapted. Such is the case for the El Paraiso people.[31]

It is significant that the El Paraiso people were maritime-adapted because the finds on the site provide the first direct evidence[31] for the theory that the early civilization of Peru was founded on seafood resources and not upon domesticated plants and animals.[12] Analysis of faunal remains showed that fish was the primary source of protein with anchovy as the most common fish. Clams were the most common molluscs but they represented a far less significant protein source.[31] Analysis of ten coprolites showed that eight contained evidence of bony fish and crawfish.[31]

Normally the cold Humboldt Current flows from south to north bringing nutrient rich plankton and with it an abundance of marine life along the Peruvian coast. For a few years every century, an El Niño event occurs that reverses the flow of the current resulting in extremely poor marine catches. In response to such a period of extreme poverty of resources, a priestly class may have arisen to provide leadership and to appeal to the gods for relief.[29] Archaeological evidence for the existence of such elites includes prestige burials with status items such as elaborate clothing and jewelry.[32] Since no prestige burials were found at El Paraiso, there is no direct evidence for the existence of elites.[3] However, indirect evidence for elites lies in the size and complexity of the site. Division of labour and specialization is implied by the existence of a brick factory[3] and the use of rock filled fibre bags.[3] From measuring the structures, archaeologists determined that El Paraiso was built according to a standardized set of engineering principles and measurements.[3] This means that the El Paraiso site was carefully planned and was not just an ad hoc group of buildings. The conclusion is that a hierarchy was necessary to plan the site and to organize and coordinate a large labour force but the precise nature of the social organization remains elusive.[3]

El Paraíso is situated near the mouth of the Chillón River Valley and is 2 km from the Pacific Ocean. The temperature averages at 70 °F (21 °C) ranging from 55 °F (13 °C) to 90 °F (32 °C). El Paraíso is a river valley, which provides rich resources and is surrounded by barren desert land. There is a large flood plain near the site, which supports the growth of cotton fields.[33] The Pacific Ocean brings the Humboldt Current through, creating rich and diverse marine life as well as lush tropical vegetation.[31] The Humboldt Current most likely provided an extremely important food source before the advent of agriculture on the coast.[33] Due to the lack of geologic and climatic evidence, it is assumed that the current climate on the Peru Coast is much the same as it was 4–5000 years ago.[34] Studies conducted by Reitz et al.[35] found mollusc remains which indicated at least two major El Niño events took place during the occupation of El Paraíso. El Niño would have affected the abundance, diversity and species composition of available resources.[35] Most likely, El Niño only affected two separate human life-times and there is evidence that people subsisted from remaining marine life and the lush vegetation which El Niño brings to desert lands.[33]

The diet of the inhabitants of El Paraíso consisted of a mix of domesticated and gathered resources. El Paraíso had a rather simple subsistence economy. There is a high amount of non-domesticated foods found in the archaeological record, which supports that there were sufficient resources that could be hunted or collected.[31] Wild plants such as the roots of sedges, groundcherry and cat tails may have accounted for a substantial portion of the diet.[31] More than 90% of their protein came from marine resources, predominantly bony fishes and molluscs. Based on minimum number of individuals (MNI) results, the bony fishes mainly consisted of anchovies and the most common molluscs were mussels.[31] There is almost a complete absence of terrestrial fauna found at El Paraíso.[31] The predominance of marine resources may have prevented any need for a complex agricultural subsistence economy. Cotton was cultivated to provide nets for fishing as well as clothing for the inhabitants of El Paraíso showing a prominence in industrial agriculture in subsistence strategies.

The integration of plant cultivation in El Paraíso occurred slowly as there were plentiful sources of marine organisms. Due to the evidence of such high marine resources, agriculture mainly acted as an industrial resource. The earliest cultigens are found to be cotton (Gossypium barbadense) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) which date back to 2500 B.C.[31] Other cultigens include squash (Cucurbita ficifolia, C. maxima, and C. moschata), chili pepper (Capiscum sp), the common bean (P. vulgaris), achira (Canne edulis) and jicama (Pachyrrhizus tuberosus). There are remnants of guava, lucuma and pacay which insist on a varied diet as well as management over some crops that were not cultivated.[31] An abundance of Solanum spp., found within coprolite remains indicates there were plants ranging from night shades to potatoes most likely being domesticated as well.[31] Cotton is one of the highest found crops at the site. It was important as an industrial crop to build nets and lines for catching fish and other marine resources. It also doubled as a resource manufactured into textiles to make clothing.[31]

• Nohmul, Belizean pyramid destroyed in 2013

• 3D Model

• Benfer et al. (2007). La Tradición Religioso-Astronómica en Buena Vista. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 11: 53–102.
• Cornejo, Cesar (2012). Pampa de los Perros y el Precerámico Final en la Costa Central del Perú. Tesis para optar el título profesional de Arqueología de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Perú.
• Dillehay, T.D., 2000 The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory. Basic Books, New York. P.91.
• Haas, J. and W. Creamer. 2006. Crucible of Andean Civilization: the Peruvian coast from 3000 to 1800 BC. Current Anthropology 47(5): 745–775
• Hayden, B. 2003 Shamans, sorcerers and saints: a prehistory of religion. Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC. pp. 125.
• Moseley, M. E. 1975. The Maritime foundations of Andean Civilization. Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., Philippines.
• Parsons, M. H. 1970. Preceramic Subsistence on the Peruvian Coast. Society for American Archaeology 35:292–304.
• Pozorski, S. and T. Pozorski. 1990. Examining the critical Preceramic/Ceramic Period transition: new data from coastal Peru. American Anthropologist 92(2): 481–491.
• Pozorski, S. and T. Pozorski. 2008. Early cultural complexity on the coast of Peru. From Handbook of South America, edited by H. Silverman and W. H. Isbell. New York: Springer Science+Business Media.
• Reitz, E.J. 2008. Case studies in environmental archaeology. edited by E.J. Reitz, C.M. Scarry, and S.J. Scudder. New York: Springer Science.
• Quilter, J. 1985. Architecture and Chronology at El Paraíso, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 12:279–297.
• Quilter, J. 1991. Late Preceramic Peru. Journal of World Prehistory 5(4): 387–438.
• Quilter, J., B. Ojeda E., D.M. Pearsall, D.H. Sandweiss, J.G. Jones and E.S. Wing 1991 Subsistence Economy of El Paraiso, an Early Peruvian Site. Science 251(4991):279,281.
• Silva, J. (1996). Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Chillon River Valley, Peru. A dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Michigan.
• Stanish, C. 2001. The origins of states societies in South America. Annual Review Anthropology 30:41–64.
• Yesner, D.R. 1980 Maritime Hunter-Gatherers: Ecology and Prehistory. Current Anthropology 21(6):735.