Seaside life in Early Horizon Peru: Preliminary insights from Samanco, Nepeña Valley

Abstract

Studies of social complexity increasingly acknowledge the crucial role maritime communities play in the constitution of societies. Research at Samanco, a seaside center in the Nepeña Valley, north-central Peru, provides new evidence on coastal life during the Early Horizon (900–200 b.c.) ascribed to early urban developments. Samanco comprises hundreds of structures organized into distinct compounds spread over 30 ha in the northern margin of the Nepeña River, bordering the ecologically rich Samanco Bay. Fieldwork in 2012 mapped and excavated the site, currently under threat by encroaching human developments. Test and block excavations indicate that Samanco was primarily occupied during the Early Horizon and reused later in prehistory as a cemetery. This article presents the 2012 excavations, focusing on the nature of Samanco's Early Horizon occupation and connection with contemporary inland Nepeña centers. Results point towards the presence of a significant residential population and a settlement focused on the processing of agrarian and marine resources, camelid husbandry, and possibly trade.

Keywords:

• Maritime societies
• coastal Peru
• Early Horizon
• urbanism
• ancient economy
• daily life

Acknowledgments

Fieldwork at Samanco was possible thanks to the financial support of the Curtiss T. and Mary G. Brennan Foundation, University of East Anglia's Sainsbury Research Unit, Louisiana State University's Department of Geography and Anthropology, and the Sir Philip Reckitt Educational Trust. Many thanks to the Ministerio de Cultura Lima for the permission to excavate and the Chimbote office for supervising field operations (Resolución Directoral Nacional 402–2012). Special thanks to Jeisen Navarro Vega for his support in the field and the Mora family for the warm hospitality in Samanco. We wish to acknowledge the help of Kyle Stich and Ámparo Gomez Diaz in the identification of the plant remains, Carol Rojas Vega and Daniel Pérez Bustamante in the identification of shellfish remains, and Ali Altamirano and Isabel Salvatierra Berrocal in the identification of faunal remains.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew Helmer

Matthew Helmer (Ph.D. 2015, University of East Anglia). His research interests include maritime societies, the performance of daily life, early urban political economies, and local engagements with archaeological heritage.

David Chicoine

David Chicoine (Ph.D. 2007, University of East Anglia) is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Louisiana State University. His research focuses on ancient Andean civilizations and his publications have explored the built environment, urbanism, foodways, funerary practices, visual arts, and marine exploitation.